Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
Case 3279
. SUMMA~Y OF T~E INVENTION
The present invention relates to flowable~ dried aromatic
plant product and a proc~ss for making same. In particular,
the present invention relates ~o a product containing dried
aromatic plant materials, such as herbs, which have superior
flavor and appearance. Such a product may be advanta~eously
employed in commercial dehydrated food mixtures; particularly
in dehydrated soups, dehydrated sauces or dehydrated stew
mixtures.
BACRGROUND ~F T~E lNV~hl ION
One of the factors which ha~ always determined the qual-
ity of a food or a prepared dish, reflecting therefore of the
abilities of the cook who prepared itr has been the kind and
variety of seasonings employed. Apart from such common and
readily available ingredients as salt, sugar and vine~ar,
~arious herbs and vegetables which have a distinctly aromatic
fl~vor (referred to colleotively hereinafter a~ "aromatic plants~)
have always played a major role by providing more subtl2 but di~-
tinctive flavor notes to prepared foods. In addition, ~ome aro
mati~ plants particularly when fresh, provide a prepared ood
wit~ a.more attractive appearance~ Such aromatic plants, when
they are available, are often employed primarily for decoration.
Unfortunately, most aromatic plant~ do not keep well~ and
their flavor and appearance suffer noticeably during periods of
3L3~
storage. In additiony freshly harvested aromatic plants are
sometimes available only in certain regions, and because of
their various climatic requirements, they are generally only
available on a seasonal basisO Because the desire for such
materials continues thro~ghout the year, various methods have
been employed in order to overcomP the poor keeping properties
of these materials.
The various approaches which have been pursued can be
classif.ied into three general groups:
l) Supplement the local supply of freshly harvested
aromatic plants by such methods as providing facilities for
growing such plants independent of climatic conditions or high-
speed transportation of plant materials from great distances.
2) Extend the storage life of such materials through
various "wet pres~rvation" techniques, including stacking~
salting~ pot~ing, candying and more recently, freezing.
31 Extend the storage life of such materials by con-
verting them into dried products9 that is dried aromatic plants
or essences.
- While the first two of these approaches have shown
remarkably good results for many applications, aromatic plants
in these forms generally contain at least their original water
content. As such, such materials are not suitable for use in
-- 2 --
dehydrated food products, ~uch as the dehyrated soups and ~auces
which make up a ~ubstantial part of commercially produced foods.
Notwiths~anding the enormous development of technology
in general and of food technology in particular over the last
several decades, the procedures employed in drying aromatic
plants have remained basically unchanged. The quality of such
dried aromatic plants is practically unchanged from what it was
hundreds of years ago.
Various aromatic plantsl particularly certain species
of plant origin like cloves~ nutmeg, saffron or pepper, are-
commonly and almo~t exclusively used in dried orm. There are
even some, such as bay leaf r which are actually improved by the
traditional drying process. Others, such as savory, are ef-
fected little if at all, particularly with regard to flavor
properties.
Traditional methods of drying, however, are no~ably un-
successful with such aromatic herbs as-~hives, dill~ basil,
lovage and especially parsley. When dried according to commonly
known methods such herbs loose nearly all of their flavor and
color and are little more than aromatic ~hayn. In truth, their
use in dehydrated foods and in home cooking is more because of
habi'c than the ~lavor or color such herbs contribute in the
dried state.
3~
Even the newly adopted techni~ue of 0freeze-drying",
which is relatively complicated and costly, does not produce
much of~an improvement.
In addition to the loss of their color, the appearance
of most tradi~ionally dried aromatic plants suffers further
because herbs dried in this manner unvariably show unsatis-
factory mechanical properties. The impact of various shearing
orces which are unavoidable during the manufacture, packaging
and handling of dehydrated foods causes the brittle dried herbs
to ~rumble, oten resulting in an unslightly p~wder.
Another approach which has proven to be unsatisfactory
is the preparation of essences. Apart from their natural lack
of eye appeal, e~perience has shown t~at such essences exhibi~
a flavor spectrum which is; as a rule, distinctly changed from
the flavor of the original herbs,
Objects of the Present Invention
It is an object of the present invention to provide
dried aromatic plant products which are superior to those of
the prior art~
; It i~ a further o~ject of the present invention to provide
dried aromatic plant product~ with improved me~hanical properties
including increased resistance to shear forces.
It is a stil~ urther object of the present invention to
provide dried aromatic piant products which exhibit improved
fla~r.properties.
It is another object o~ the present invention to provide
dried aromatic plant products which exhibit improved appearance
propertiesO
It is still another object of ~he present inventton
to provide dried aromatic plant products which exhibit greater
storage stability.
The objects, features and advantages of the present
invention will become more apparent in light of the following
detailed description thereof.
According to the present invention, there is provided a
process for the preparation o~ a flowable, dried aromatic plant
product having an aromatic plant component and an edible,
water-soluble carrier component, which process comprises the
Qteps o~:
( a) treating an aromatic plant component comprised of one
or more comminuted aroma~ic herbs or vegetables in at
. least one stabilizing step selected from the group
consisting of~
(1) mixing said aromatic plant component with an
electrolyte selected from the group consis~:ing
3~3~
of alkaline and alkaline earth salts of organlc
and inorganic acids, and
~2) quickly heatiny said arom~tic plant component to
a temperat~re of from 50C to 150C and maintaining
said temperature for a period of from 2 seconds to 1
hour,
to form a stabilized ~omponent;
,,
(b) adding to said stabiliæed component and uniformly mixing
therewith a carrier component in a proportion which will
yield from 10 ~o 90 percent by weight of the total dry
matter of the final dried product, which carrier
component c~mprises at least one edible, water-soluble
compound select~d from the group consisting of:
(1) an electrolyte selected from the group consisting
of alkaline and alkaline earth salts of organic
and inorganic acids, all or any portion of which
may have been previously added in s ep ~a~(l),
: (2) proteins, and
(3) hydrogenated and non-hydrogenated carbohydrates,
to produce a stabilized plant/carrier mi~ture; and
(c) drying the stabilized plant/carrier mixture for a suPfi-
cient period of time to produce a flowable, dried aromatic
plant product in such a manner that the temperature of the
mixture is not permitted to exceed 70C~
~ 6 --
Detailed Description of the Invention
The advantages of the present invention are mo~t clearly
demonstrated with aromatic plants which have previously been
known for their poor properties when dried in the traditional
manner. .In particular, these are such vegetables as leek,
fennel, red and ~reen peppers, celery leafstalks and sweet
marjoram as well as such herbs as thyme, chervilr ~ress, ~hives,
dill, lovage, basil, tarragon and parsleyO
The central feature of the present Invention is the
drying of aromatic herbs and vegetables in ~he presence of
an edible, water-soluble carrier which may be any combina~ion
of
1) an electrolyt2 chosen from the group consisting
of alkaline and alkaline earth salts of orga~ic
and inorganic acids,
2) proteinsy and
3) hydrogenated and non-hydrogenated carbohydrates~
Aromati~ herbs and vegetables prepared in this manner have
better flavor and color ~roperties than herbs and vegetables
prepared by the methods of the prior art.
In order for this drying procedure to be efective, however,
the herbs and vegetables must first be subjected to a ~tabiliza-
tion step.
-- 7 --
l :L91~
If the carrier chosen for the drying step is an electro-
lyte~ such a compound has the ability to reduce the avaiiable
water l~vel ~AW~ of an aqueous li~uid containing the herbs or
veget~bles. If the quanti~y of such electrolyte is sufficient
to reduce the AW-value enough, no further stabilization step is
necessary. Thus, if the AW-value is below 0.9, preferably
below 0.85 and still more preferably below 0.8, drying may be
accomplished without further treatment~
Sodium chloride is the preferred electrolyte for this
purposel although calcium chloride is also ef~ectivë. The
problem inherent in this approach, however, lies in the high
levels of such electrolytes which must be employed if adequate
stabili2aticn is to be achieved solely in this manner, De-
pending on the nature of the aromatic plant~ its natural water
content and the like, the amount of electrolyte required may
vary from about 25~ to as much as 300% by weight of the plant.
dry matter. Aromatic plants dried in this manner may not be
suitable for some uses, as the electrolyte may be considered
annoying~ Further~ such a preparation may be proscribed where
low sodium diets are necessary~
; This problem may be avoided by replacing part or even
all of the electrolyte with other carriers. Sugars, which may
optionally be hydrogenated r are particularly useful for this
purpose, and mixtures of salt and sugars~ when used in connec-
-- 8 --
v
tion with vacuum drying, are particularly preferred becau ethe procedure is simple and provides particularly good flavor
preservation.
Optionally~ the salt content of the products of this
invention may be kept low or eliminated by replacing the ele~-
trolyte carrier wholly or partially by protein(s) and/or
optionally hydrogenated oligo~ and/or polysaccharides, option-
ally hydrogenated maltopolysaccharides, more preferably malto-
dextrins, pregelatinized starch and/or so-called soluble or
thin-boiling starch. In this case care should be ~ken, as
already noted, to ensure that where little or no electrolyte
is added the necessary thermal treatment is carried out ~o
stabili~e flavor and-color.
This thermal treatment involves a fast and uniform
heating of the aromatic plant. The aromatiç plant is firs~
mixed with a carrier, such as a carbohydrate~ protein and/or
caseinate, together with very little water~ The resulting
viscous liquid will uniformly encapsulate the aromatic plant
particles. This method provides a shear-stable dried product
which, probably due to an "encapsulating effect~, shows a high
degree of storage stability. In addition, an exact, uniform
and precise temperature control is possible during the thermal
treatment because the viscous liquid ensures good heat trans~erD
_ g _
Carriers which have proved to be particularly suitable
for this embodiment of the invention are optionally hydrogenated
maltopolysaccharides like maltodextrin and pregelatinized starch
as ~ell as, in particular, so-called soluble, liquefied or thin-
boiling starches.
It has also been found to be advantageous to buffer the
mixture to be dried by adding other alkaline and/or alkaline
earth salt(s) of inorganic and/or organic acids, in particular
monosod.ium glutamate, sodium citrate, a lactatev carbonate
andjor phosphate, and/or a protein~ in particular albumin,
and/or ~ caseinate~ The p~ of the cell liquor of the aromatic
plan~(s), which is normally within a natural ran~e of from about
4 to 5~ and tends to go down in the process of dryin~. It has
been found to be advantageous to raise the pH to range ~rom
4~5 to 7~5, preferably from 5.0 to 7.0 and more pre~erably from
5.4 to 6.7, and maintain the p~ within this range during ~he
drying procesæ~ This appears to provide increased sta~ilization
with regard to flavor and, in particul~r, colorO
. A substance that has proved to be particularly advantageous
for this purpose is monosodium glutamate which also provides the
finished dried aromatic plant products with its previously known
taste-intensifying properties~
It is noted here that some of the starting materials des-
cribed above as being suitable for use in the invention may haYe
-- 10 --
several functions at the same time~ Most of the above-mentioned
buffers, for instance, are also carriers.
On the other hand, it is possible to have the ~unction
of carrier fulfilled by several substances at the same time.
It is preferable as a rule to employ such mixtures.
~ his is exemplified by the following batch proportions,
which have proved to be excellent for embodiments involving
electrolyte carriers (parts by weight):
Fresh ~erb Salt Sugar MSG
S0 15 30 5
With other types of carriers, in particular, so-called
~soluble starch" (e.g. SNOWPLAKE(R~ 6598, a product of Maizena
~;mbH) the advantages of using mixtures as carriers are not a~
apparent. It is s~iIl preferable, however, to add small amounts
of salt and monosodium glutamate to the mixture that is to be
dried I
As far as drying itself is concerned, it is possible,
in principle, to apply any of .the ~ommon drying processes for
the.purposes of this invention, but vacuum drying has thus far
been found to yield the best results.
With this * pe of drying it is recommended to maintain a
layer thickness of drying material of about 20 to 30 mm and to
dry the product down to a residual moirture of 2 to 3%, at a
temperature of about 60~C. ~t is also advantageous to stop
heating the material during the last third of the drying period,
thereby allowirlg the material to gradually cool to about 40C.
Va~uum drying produces mostly solid blocks which are,
however, easy to comminute.
The following examples will illustrate the practlce o~
the invention. The stabilization step ~i.e~ heating or combining
with the electrolyte) took place wi hin 5 to lO hours of harvest
ing where fresh aromatic plant products were used. The products
resulting from the examples were all characterized by excellent
flavors and colors, and were virtually indistinguishable ~rom
fresh products.
EXAMPLE 1
.- Six hundred grams (60Qg) of fresh deseeded red bell
pepper was first blanched in water at 90~C - 95C, 5ubsequently,
the pepper was mixed with three hundred ~rams ( 300g~ of a conuner-
~r~ cially available protein ( "Seralbin" ) containing sixty-~ive per~
cent (65%) by weight whey protein and twenty percent (20%) lactose,.
and comminuted for 2 to 3 minutes in a laboratory cutterO The
mix~ure was then vacuum dried in a layer of two to three centi-
meters (2 to 3 cm). The temperature of the heatin~ plate was
~ ~racQe rV1a~/~
11''3~
60C, the pressure was about ~even millimeters of mercury 17~m
~9~, and the drying ~ime was about 6 hours.
The dried product obtained was then grated to the de~ired
particle size, and compared favorably to the fresh pepper.
EXAMPLE 2
Six hundred grams (600g) of fresh deseeded red bell pepper
were blanched in water a~ 90C and subsequently mixed with three
hundred grams ~3GOg) of sodium caseinate, The mixture obtained
was then filled in tray~ and further processed in the same manner
as in Example 1. The final product compared favorably to the
fres~ pepper.
EXAMPLE 3
Fresh parsley leaves were blanched for 1 minute in a
boiling solution of 100 parts by weight sucrose in 100 parts
water~ After draining off the excess liquid, the blanched
parsley was dried in the same manner as in Example 1. The dry
product contained about 15 - 20~ by weight parsley dry substance,
and compared favorably to the fresh product.
EXAMPLE 4
- One hundred kilograms (lOOkgj of commercially available
deep-frozen basil was first tempered for twenty-four hours at
-10C. Thirty-two kilograms (32kg) of sodium chloride, nine
- 13 -
~ 3~
kilograms (9kg) of monosodium glutamate and nin~ kilograms (9kg)
of sucro~e were mixed in a laboratory cutter for thirty ~econds.
Then, fifty kilograms (50kg) of the basil were added and the
mixing continued for anQther thirty seconds. Finally~ the re-
maining fifty kilograms (50k~) of basil was added and mixing
continued for an additional thirty to forty seconds. The basil
thawed fully during the mixing.
The mixture, in portions of appr~ximately five kilograms
(5kg) each, was spread onto plastic trays in layers approximately
three centimeters (3cm) deep. The product was then vacuum dried,
with the heating plates at a constant temperature of SOC, for
a period of fifteen to seventeen hours. During the drying
process the pressure was initially ~et at twenty millimeters
of mercury (20mm~g) and was reduced to about seven to ten milli-
meters of mercury (7 to lOmmHg) during the last stage of the
drying.
The resulting dried herb mix contained about two to
three percent (2 to 3%) moisture; and was in the form of cakeg.
These cakes were easily broken to the desired particle size in
a Frewitt strainer. The final product was appro~imately thirty-
nine to forty percent (39 to 40~) by weight basil dry su~stance,
and compared favorably to fresh product.
- 14
3~
BXAMPLE 5
One hundred grams (lOOg) of fresh lovage leaves were
rinsed wi~h resh water and drained. Then, twelve hundred grams
(1200g~ of sodium chloride was placed in a laboratory cutter
and the washed lovage leaves were added while the cutter was
running on low speed. Mixing continued for about three minutes.
The mixture was then spread onto a plastic tray in a
layer approximately ~wo centimeters (2cm) deep, and dried for --
seven hours under a vacuum of ten millimeters of mercury (lOmmHg3O
The heating plate was kept at a constant temperature of about
65C.
The final product was approximately seven and seven-tenths
percent (7.7%) by weight lovage dry substance, and compared
favorably to the fresh product.
EXAMPLE 6
Six hundred grams (600g) of fresh parsley leaves were
washed with fresh water and drained. ~hen, two hundred grams
~200g) of sodium chloride and fifty grams (50g) of sodium
caseinate were pre-mixed in a laboratory outter. The washed
and drained parsley was then added while the cutter was still
running and mixing continued for about two to three minutes.
The mixture was then dried for about five hours according to
the conditions set out in Example 1.
- 15 -
3:~31~
The final product was approximately thirty-five to thirty-
six percent (35 to 36~) by weight parsley dry substance, and
compared favorably to the fresh product.
Other features, advantages and specific embodiment~ of
this invention will become readily apparent to those exerci~ing
ordinary skill in the art after readiny the foregoing disclo~
sure~. These specific embodiments are within the scope o~ the
claimed subject matter unless otherwise expressly indicated to
the contrary. Moreover, while specific embodiments of this
invention have been described in considerable ~etail, variations
and modifications of these embodiments can be effected without
departing from the spirit and scope of this invention as dis
closed and claimed.
. - 16 -
