CA1187737A - Process for preparing beads of fat - Google Patents

Process for preparing beads of fat

Info

Publication number
CA1187737A
CA1187737A CA000395797A CA395797A CA1187737A CA 1187737 A CA1187737 A CA 1187737A CA 000395797 A CA000395797 A CA 000395797A CA 395797 A CA395797 A CA 395797A CA 1187737 A CA1187737 A CA 1187737A
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
fat
drops
beads
solids
temperature
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
CA000395797A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
John P. Mcnaught
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Unilever PLC
Original Assignee
Unilever PLC
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Unilever PLC filed Critical Unilever PLC
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA1187737A publication Critical patent/CA1187737A/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A23FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
    • A23DEDIBLE OILS OR FATS, e.g. MARGARINES, SHORTENINGS, COOKING OILS
    • A23D7/00Edible oil or fat compositions containing an aqueous phase, e.g. margarines
    • A23D7/02Edible oil or fat compositions containing an aqueous phase, e.g. margarines characterised by the production or working-up
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A21BAKING; EDIBLE DOUGHS
    • A21DTREATMENT, e.g. PRESERVATION, OF FLOUR OR DOUGH, e.g. BY ADDITION OF MATERIALS; BAKING; BAKERY PRODUCTS; PRESERVATION THEREOF
    • A21D10/00Batters, dough or mixtures before baking
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A21BAKING; EDIBLE DOUGHS
    • A21DTREATMENT, e.g. PRESERVATION, OF FLOUR OR DOUGH, e.g. BY ADDITION OF MATERIALS; BAKING; BAKERY PRODUCTS; PRESERVATION THEREOF
    • A21D2/00Treatment of flour or dough by adding materials thereto before or during baking
    • A21D2/08Treatment of flour or dough by adding materials thereto before or during baking by adding organic substances
    • A21D2/14Organic oxygen compounds
    • A21D2/16Fatty acid esters
    • A21D2/165Triglycerides
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A23FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
    • A23DEDIBLE OILS OR FATS, e.g. MARGARINES, SHORTENINGS, COOKING OILS
    • A23D9/00Other edible oils or fats, e.g. shortenings, cooking oils

Landscapes

  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Food Science & Technology (AREA)
  • Oil, Petroleum & Natural Gas (AREA)
  • Polymers & Plastics (AREA)
  • Edible Oils And Fats (AREA)

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
A process for preparing beads of fat comprising:
a) melting a fat at a temperature below about 175°F;
b) cooling the melted fat to a temperature about 3-8°F below the clear point of the fat;
c) allowing the formation of an amount of solids sufficient to permit the fat to hold its shape when formed into drops at the temperature de-scribed in step (b);
d) forming the melted fat containing the solids into drops; and e) cooling and collecting the drops.

Description

~L~87~737 The present application relates to an improved process for preparing beads of fat, and more particularly to a process for preparing beads from fat which completely melts at tem-peratures below 175F.
Fats such as butter and margarine are well known as flavoring for food. Occasionally, the fat is in the form of discrete particles referred to as beads, bits, chips, drops and the like.
For example, beads of butter for flavoring pancakes and similar food products are disclosed in co-pending Canadian Patent application serial no. 393,635. The beads contain real butter and a higher melting triglyceride. Other examplès of the use of fat particles in food are disclosed in U.S. Patents 3,388,997 and 4,086,367.
Various methods have been described for making par-ticles of fat suitable for use in food. In one such method, the fat is extruded and diced to make beads of the desired size. In another method, the fat is melted and added to a mixer contain-ing dry ice. These and other methods, such as are described in U.S. Patents 3,388,997 and 3,867,556, however, lead to drops which are sticky and are not free flowing. Such drops often must be coated in order to prevent agglomeration and clumping.
Moreover, the prior art methods lead to drops which are not uniform in size, causing large amounts of particles that are either too large or too small and which must be reworked into beads of the proper size.
A more promising me-thod for preparing beads of fat is the process used for making the familiar truncated cones from chocolate known as chocolate chips. Chocolate is a mixture of cocoa butter and solid matter from cocoa beans. According to this method, the chocolate is melted and forced into a dropping head containing nozzles. At the end of the nozzles the chocolate forms drops in the form of truncated cones. The 73~7 drops fall onto a belt, are cooled and collected.
This process, however, leads to poor results when a fat rather than chocolate is used. In such cases, the fat cannot be made to form drops in the nozzles. If the fat is too fluid, it flows through the nozzles and collects in puddles on the belt on whlch the beads are collected. If t~e fat is not fluid enough, it solidifies in and clogs the nozzles. The need continues to exist, therefore, for a pro-cess capable of producing beads of fat which are not sticky and have uniform size.

.
SU~ARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a process capable of producing beads of fat that are not sticky and are uniform in size.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a process for producing beads of fat by the same gen-eral process used in making chocolate chips.
These and other objects of the present invention as will be understood by the following description have been ~; obtained by providing a process for preparing beads of fat comprising:
a) melting a fat at a temperature below about 175 F;
b) cooling the melted fat to a tempera-ture about 3-8F below the clear point of the fat;
c) allowing the forma-tion of an amount of solids sufficient to permit the fat to hold its shape when formed into drops at the temperature de-scribed in step (b);
d) forming the melted fat containing the solids into drops; and e) cooling and collecting the drops.

. --2--DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In order to form commercially useful beads, a fat must be sufficiently firm to retain its shape at room temperature.
In order to be sufficiently firm, the fat at room temperature should be at least 20~ solid and preferably 50~ as measured by NMR. The method for determining the percent solid in a fat is described in Madison et al, "Solid Fat Determination by Pulse NMR", J. Amer. Oil Chem. Soc., 55, 328 (197~).
The butter beads disclosed in Canadian patent appli-cation serial no. 393,635 are well suited to be made by the present process.
It is preferable that the fat not be heated to a temp-erature at which volatile components are lost. The loss of vol-atile components causes the fat to lose its desirable flavor and taste. Therefore~ the fat should not be heated above 200F, preferably 175~F.
The beads can be made on the same equipment used to make chocolate chips. An exampl2 of the equipment suitable for use in the present invention is the chocolate depositor made hy the National Equipment Corp. of the Bronx, New York and Chicago~ Illinois. The chocolate depositer contains a dropping head which is a series of nozzles through which the fat is for-ced by means of pistons. The fat forms drops at the end of the nozzles and the drops fall onto a belt as truncated cone-shaped beads. The beads are directed by the belt to a cooling chamber in order to promote further crystallization.
Auxilliary equipment includes a processing vessel for melting the fat. One very suitable vessel is a hemispheric ket-tle with centrally mounted agitators. These kettles are avail-able from the Hamilton, Groen and Cherry ~urrell Companies.
Further auxilliary equipment includes a heat ex-changer. Although any suitable heat exchanger may be used, a preferred heat exchanger is a water-cooled scraped surface heat exchanger 7~'7 kno~n as a therm~tator.
In order to prepare the beads by the process of the present invention, fat which contains at least 20~ solids at room temperature is first heated to a temperature above its melting point in a suitable vessel such as a water-jacketed kettle.
It is preferable that the fat be completely melted before being shaped. If the fat is not completely melted, the melt cannot solidify uniformly, the composition of the beads is not homogeneous upon solidifying and the beads have a sandy feel.
The batch size is not critical. An appropriate batch size is about 500 to 3000 pounds and preferably 1000 to 1400 pounds.
After the fat has completely melted, it is cooled.
It is important that the fat be cooled slowly. If the fat is cooled too rapidly, the solids that form are too hard and the mlxture loses its fluidity. This results in difficulties in forming the drops and in drops that are not uniform. The low-ering of the temperature is sufficiently slow if it occurs in a water-cooled kettle or heat exchanger. The heat exchanger should not be cooled by ammonia or freons.
Cooling is continued until the fat is at a -temperature between about 3 and 8F below the clear point of the fat. The clear point is defined as the temperature at which soli.ds are first ~isible when the completely melted fat is cooled.
It is preferable that solids be added to the melted fat in order to aid the crystallization process by providing seed nucleii. The solids are added either when the temperature of the.~elt reaches its maximum or shortly thereafter during the cooling process. The solids preferably have a composition the same as or very similar to the melt. It is desirable for economic reasons to re-use scrap solids from previous processes.

Most of the re-used bead solids melt in the kettle.
Thehigher melting portion of the re-used solids does not melt.
The unmelted solid pàrticles aid in promoting crystallization of the melted fat.
The amount of re-used solids added is about 5 to 25 preferably 10 to 20~ by weight.
When the temperature of the fat is 3 to 8 F below the clear point, a waiting period begins. During the waiting period, an amount of solid is allowed to form. The amount of solid is that sufficient to permit the fat to retain its shape when it forms a drop at the end of the nozzle of the dropping equipment. The amount is best determined by trial and error.
One helpful guideline is that when the correct amount of solid is present, the fat changes from being almost clear or slightly translucent to being very translucent or nearly opaquer It is believed that the amount of solid that will permit the fat drop to retain its shape is about 5 to 15% of the weight of the drop.
The waiting period may be as short as three minutes or as long as fifteen minutes, preferably five to ten minutes.
It is critical that the waiting period be long enough to permit -~ sufficient solids to form in the melt.
When the proper amount of solids has formed, the mixture is directed to the dropping head where it is formed into drops at the end of the nozzles. The drops fall onto a belt, are cooled and collected. The beads of fat may be coated in order to prevent agglomeration, but when made by the pro-cess of the present invention, coating is not necessary. Suit-able coatings include confectioners sugar and flour.
^ The butter beads may also contain other ingredients, -30 if desirable. Thus, common colorants and preservatives, if necessary, may be added. Suitable coloring agents include ~-carotene, annatto, carrot oil, corn gluten and the like.

7~3~7 Suitable preservatives include tertiary butyl hydroquinone, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate and the like.
The shape of the drops should be that of a trtmcated cone, although depending upon conditions such as temperature and the amount of time the drops spend in the nozzle, the drops may also be spherical. The size of the beads is not critical. Commercially useful beads may be formed that are .
as small as 3 millimeters in diameter or as large as 25 mili-meters or even higher. The size of the beads is determined mainly by the size of thenozzles in the dropping head.
When making beads according to the present process, , ( the dropping head is preferably made from stainless steel due to its inertness and resistance to corrosion. Brass is to be avoided because of the tendency of brass to oxidize fat.
Such oxidation causes the fat to become rancid and acquire a poor taste.
The pxesent process is virtùally the same as that used to make chocolate chips. When making chocolate chips, however, it is not necessary to hold the temperature of the melted fat 3-8 F below the clear point of the fat in order ~r to permit solids to form. It is~theorized that chocolate contains in addition to fat various solids that do not readily melt. Therefore, when the heated chocolate is cooled, suf-ficient solids are already present to permit drop formation.
Fats such as butter and margarine, on the other hand, melt to an essentially clear state, although some milk solids are present. These milk solids, however, are not suf-ficient to permit the formation of drops according to the pres~nt process. ~pon coolin~ the melted butter or margarine, therefore, it is necessary to precipitate sufficient solids in order to form ~rops which retain their shape.
Having generally described the invention, a more . . .

'773~
complete understanding ca~ be obta.ned by reference to certain specific examples, which are provided herein for purposes of i]lus-tration only and axe not intended to limit the invention unless otherwise specified.
EXAMPLE I
A fat bead is produced which contains 66.4~i KLX flakes supplied by the Durkee Industrial Foods Group of SCM Corp., 33.6~ deh~drated butter and .0009~i beta-carotene. KLX is a trade mark and KLX flakes are formed with a chill roll from hydrogenated soyabean and cotton seed oils.
Two 200 gallon Hamilton kettles equipped with scraper blade agitators and a second counter revolving agitator are used for batch blending. The fat size is 1000 to 1~00 pounds.
The butter is allowed to stand over night at room temperature or slightly above (i.e., 70-90F). The KLX flakes are added to the kettles and melted. The pre-softened butter and a mixture of the beta-carotene and about 100 grams of KLX flakes are added to the melted XLX flakes in the kettle. The mixture is heated to 165 to 170F and then cooled to 130 to 135F. At this temperature, approximately 100 to 200 lbs. of beads made in a previous process are added to the blend. The re-used beads sub-stantially melt althouqh some solids remain as an aid in crystallizing the melted fat. When most of the re-used beads have melted, the blend in the kettle is further cooled. At a temperature of 110 to 115F, solids begin to form. 'rhe batch is held at this temperature until it is judged that sufficient solids have formed to permit proper bead formation.
The batch is then pumped through a thermutator in order further to lower the temperature of the melt to 107 to 109F and to assure a uniform temperature. The mixture next passes to a feed hopper and then to a stainless steel dropping head having special exterial heat tracer tapes to unclog the 3~

nozzles. The beads form at the end of the nozzles and drop onto a 75 foot belt which leads the beads to a coolin~ tunnel.
The cooled beads are removed from the belt by a scraper bar, screened, and placed into bags. The packed beads are trans-ferred promptly to a cooled are a for storage at between 40 to50 F in order to avoid clumping.
Having now fully described the invention, it will be apparent that many changes and modifications can be made thereto without departing fromthe spirit or scope of the in-vention as set forth herein.

,, . ' .

Claims (8)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY
OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A non-spray process for preparing beads of fat comprising:
a) melting a fat at a temperature below about 175°F;
b) cooling the melted fat to a temperature about 3-8°F
below the clear point of the fat;
c) allowing the formation of an amount of solids sufficient to permit the fat to hold its shape when formed into drops at least 3mm in diameter at the temperature described in step (b);
d) forming the melted fat containing the solids into drops at least 3mm in diameter; and e) cooling and collecting the drops.
2. A process of claim 1 wherein the drops are in the form of truncated cones.
3. The process of claim 1 wherein the melted fat is nearly opaque before being formed into drops.
4. The process according to claim 1 wherein solids are added to the melt before the melt reaches the temperature of 3 to 8°F below the clear point of the fat in order to aid crystallization.
5. The process according to claim 1 wherein the fat contains butter or margarine.
6. The process according to claim 1 wherein the fat contains butter.
. 7. The process according to claim 6 wherein the butter is dehydrated.
8. The process according to claim 7 wherein the fat further contains a higher melting triglyceride.
CA000395797A 1981-02-09 1982-02-08 Process for preparing beads of fat Expired CA1187737A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US06/232,499 US4343826A (en) 1981-02-09 1981-02-09 Process for preparing beads of fat
US232,499 1981-02-09

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA1187737A true CA1187737A (en) 1985-05-28

Family

ID=22873360

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA000395797A Expired CA1187737A (en) 1981-02-09 1982-02-08 Process for preparing beads of fat

Country Status (2)

Country Link
US (1) US4343826A (en)
CA (1) CA1187737A (en)

Families Citing this family (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4469710A (en) * 1982-10-14 1984-09-04 The Procter & Gamble Company Pourable solid shortening
GB8711256D0 (en) * 1987-05-13 1987-06-17 Unilever Plc Protection
JPH0614639Y2 (en) 1989-01-31 1994-04-20 株式会社ジャパンアート企画 Picture frame
US5866187A (en) * 1996-08-28 1999-02-02 Bunge Foods Corporation Baking formulation containing pelletized shortening
US6054167A (en) * 1996-08-28 2000-04-25 Bunge Foods Corporation Pelletized shortening
AU4985497A (en) 1996-10-25 1998-05-22 Mccormick & Company, Inc. Fat-coated encapsulation compositions and method for preparing the same
EP1101410B1 (en) 1999-11-16 2005-06-15 Loders Croklaan B.V. Edible fat based flakes
EP1101409A3 (en) * 1999-11-16 2002-01-02 Unilever N.V. Edible fat based flakes
US20090301504A1 (en) * 2007-10-31 2009-12-10 Worthen David R Method for producing flavored particulate solid dispersions

Family Cites Families (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2785983A (en) * 1953-06-23 1957-03-19 Buckeye Cellulose Corp Flavoring material and method of making the same
US3856699A (en) * 1969-08-08 1974-12-24 Fuji Photo Film Co Ltd Process for producing capsules having walls of a waxy material
US3892880A (en) * 1969-08-19 1975-07-01 Erhard Grolitsch Method for the manufacture of crystalline, flowable, stable fat powders or mixtures of such fat powders with other powdery materials
US3973046A (en) * 1971-06-23 1976-08-03 N.V. Houdstermaatschappij Holland Agro Method for preparing a mixture of finely crystallized fat and a powder
US3867556A (en) * 1972-12-21 1975-02-18 Procter & Gamble Fats with encapsulated flavors
US3949094A (en) * 1974-07-31 1976-04-06 Scm Corporation Condiment-treating process and product
US3973053A (en) * 1975-09-24 1976-08-03 Scm Corporation Process for tempering beaded fat quickly

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
US4343826A (en) 1982-08-10

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