Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
10 ~1 0 ~ ~ A.177
This invention relates to ~ats, ~ore especially to bakery
iats which are normally plastic in consistency.
In the preparation o~ baked goods the fats used are oiten
plastic in consistency at a~bient te~peratures, that is up to
about 25C. According to use, these fats ~ay consist o~ mixed
~at co~ponents ~ro~ one or more sources o~ vegetable or animal
fats, or emulsions of ~at and water such as ~argarines. Special
~at for~ulations are devised for such purposes as the preparation
o~ pu~i pastry, cakes and bread, but in general a plastic
consistency is required at temperatures up to about 25C at which
the pastry or other mix is worked in the bakery beiore being
baked.
Solid fats for such purposes are com~only supplied to the
cook in the ~orm of slabs or blocks which ~or use ~ust be cut
into s~aller pieces to ~ollow the recipe accurately and produce a
pastry or other ~ix io which the ~at is uni~ormly distributed.
Ii the fat i9 supplied in pre-cut ~orm, provision has had to be
made in the past to prevent the pieces sticking together in the
package and thus losing their identity. According to our
British Patent 1,170,081, plastic cooking fat is supplied in the
~orm oi rods provided with a coating o~ particles of hard iat
and are packed into a container. According to our British
Patent 1,170,082, cooking fat is provided in the ~orm of strands
having an edible non-sel~-adhesive coating, while in our
British Patent 1,238,336, pre-cut pieces o~ rods of cooking ~at
are coated with a substantially coherent homogeneous layer o~ a
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109~4 A.177
~atty coatiag ~aterial which is suiiiciently soiter or harder
than the cooking iat ior the pieces to be stored in contact
with each other without sticking inseparably together.
We have now iound that plastic cooking iat baving a
suitable consi~tency range can be packed in the ~orm oi
cylindrical or spherical pieces which without special suriace
treatment will nevertheless not stick inseparably together
providing that the di~ensions oi the pieces are between
prescribed limits.
According to the present invention thereiore iat pieces
suitable ior use in pastry and other bakery mixes comprise a iat
composition having a slip melting point oi at least 32C and a
dilatation at 20C oi at least 600, the iat piecesjbeing oi
cylindrical or spherical shape with a diameter oi irom 10 to 60
; 15 ~m and length ior cylindrical pieces oi irom 20 to 150 mm, the
pieces being diametrically homogeneous and packed loosely togetber
at least iour at a time.
The composition oi the iat pieces according to the
invention is homogeneous across the diameter, in contrast to the
2Q pieces already described elsewbere, in which a coating layer,
eitber coherent with the bulk oi the iat or dusted or otherwise
applied separately thereto, is provided. While the pieces
according to the invention may stick together in the bag or
package in wbich they are loose, at ambient temperatures, i.e. up
to 25C they are readily prized apart without losing their identity
; and usually without breakage, since there is normally only line
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lV~ A.177
contact in the case of cylindrical pieces and point contact
ior spherical pieces. Suitable regular cylindrical pieces
are 30 mm in circular diameter and 50 to 70 mm long but
the corresponding preferred dimensions are from 10 to 60 mm
and around 20 to 150 mm respectively. They are prererably
made by extrusion. Where as is customary the fat or
margarine composition for the ~at pieces i~ prepared in a
B scraped surface heat exchanger (~otator A unit) in which
the composition is crystallised by chilling ~ollowed by
passage through resting tubes (B units), the ~at pieces
may be e~truded through an ori~ice plate located in the
outlet of the B unit, the extruded pieces being cut o~
as required by a transverse kni~e or wire which may be
heated. Spherical pieces may be cast.
~he diameter of the ~at pieces may be uni~orm or
variable, providing that the minimum diameter requirement
is observed. Cylindrical pieces may be tapered along
their length and they also exhibit a variable sectional
diameter with the same proviso, providing a dumb-bell,
trefoil or other polyioliated lobate section, instead o~
the circular cross-section oi a regular cylinder.
~imilarly spherical ~at pieces may be oblate or prolate
spheroids.
In addition to the required minimum slip melting
point and dilatation at 20C, pre~erably the fat pieces
e~hibit the following dilatations: D20 600 to 2000,
D30 200 to 500 and D35 0 to 500. The ~at composition
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~ A.177
may comprise animal, vegetable or marine iats which may
be hardened, iractionated or interestiiied as required.
Animal iats are preierred and include lard and beei or
tallow mutton, and vegetable iats, palm, palm stearine or
soyabean oil. Permitted emulsiiiers and other additives
may be present. In a particular example beei tallow was
blended with approximately iour times its weight oi lard,
half oi which was previously hydrogenated to a slip
melting point oi 46C, and 0.5~ Or monodiglyceride
emulsirier prepared irom soyabean oil iatty acids.
Aiter working in a Votator unit assembly consisting oi
two A units in series with an exit temperature oi 12C
and iour B units in series/parallel equipped with two
texturiser units in series and providing an extrusion
temperature oi 20 to 21C through oririces 30 mm diameter,
the product was cut into cylindrical bloc~s 30 mm
~iameter and 50 to 70 mm long, having a slip melting
point oi 43.5C and a dilatation at 20C of 1200. In
this speciiication dilatation values refer to the
isothermal expansion Or a iat in mm3 at a particular
temperature determined by the method described in British
Patent Speciiication No. 827 172, reierring to 25 gms of iat.
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1~9i~4 A.177
It will thus be seen that the invention provides uncoated
cooking fat pieces suitable for separably packing together and
comprising a fat composition having a slip melting point of
at least 32C and a dilation at 20C of at least 600, the fat
pieces being spherical or cylindrical with a diameter from
lO to 60 mm and length for cylindrical pieces from 20 to 150 mm.
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