Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02441956 2003-09-23
Multi-component stock articles
The present invention relates to a novel product for
the culinary preparation of liquid foods or food
ingredients such as stocks, sauces or soups made from
solid stock mixes which are brought onto the market in
the form of solid, generally individually packaged,
shaped bodies.
It is known, in order to prepare liquid foods or food
ingredients, to use dry products which can be converted
into the desired culinary product by adding water,
general hot to boiling water. Such products, in the
context of the present application, are termed stock
products based on stock mixes, the reference to
"stocks" not being intended to be in any way limiting
to a preparation using hot or boiling water. Stock
mixes for the purposes of the present invention can
thus also be mixes which may be dissolved or dispersed
in cold or moderately warm water forming the desired
culinary product.
In addition to. stock products brought onto the market
in pulverulent or granular form, for many years, in
particular what are called stock cubes have been known,
which are generally cubic or parallelepipidal,
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individually packaged shaped bodies which exist in two
basic types, that is to say in the form of what are
called hard stock cubes which are pressed from powder
and crumble on being compressed, and also in the form
of what are called soft stock cubes which are produced
from pasty mixes by molding and have a somewhat plastic
consistency.
The present invention relates primarily to a novel
development in the field of products which can be
called stock cubes in the customary meaning, but which,
in the context of the present invention, to avoid being
fixed to a specific shape, are called "stock articles".
Conventional stock cubes are shaped from uniform stock
mixes of predetermined composition by pressing, molding
or extrusion. Commercially conventional stock cubes
which are generally brought onto the market packaged in
paper in angular form and individually or as a
plurality, in the unpackaged state generally have a
uniform appearance, and it is not usually possible to
see from them as such what type of product having what
taste and flavor notes can be produced from them.
It is an object of the present invention to design in a
novel manner stock mixes which are brought onto the
market as shaped bodies and, in the context of the
present invention, are termed "stock articles", in such
a manner that the consumer obtains directly from the
appearance of the respective unpackaged stock article
information on the type of product obtained therefrom,
and that in a single stock article different types of
starting ingredients can be combined for the liquid
food to be prepared therefrom.
This object is achieved in the case of an inventive
stock article for the culinary preparation of liquid
foods or food ingredients using solid stock mixes or
stock mixtures by means of the fact that the stock
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article is a shaped multicomponent stock article which
has at least two subdivisions which can be
differentiated from one another visually and/or by
tactile means, and which correspond to foodstuff
ingredients having different compositions.
The at least two subdivisions can in this case be body
sections of an essentially dimensionally stable stack
article having different colors which can be related to
differently colored stock mixes, and/or having
differing surface structures, for example differing
surface roughnesses and/or surface profiles. The at
least two subdivisions, however, can also be
subdivisions of a stock cube package unit, in which
case one of the subdivisions can be a layer of a solid
stock mix and the other subdivision, however, can also
be present as a loose non-coherent or only slightly
coherent layer of a powder and/or small plant pieces,
for example herbs, spices or vegetable pieces, that is
to say in the same package of stock cube shape.
Shaped here also means "essentially dimensionally
stable", which means that the term "stock article" is
not to mean flowable or pourable mixes, for example
loose powders or granules or liquids. "Shaped" or
"dimensionally stable" is to mean that the stock
article, as such or in packaging enclosing it,
essentially retains during distribution the shape given
it during production, provided that no significant
external mechanical forces act. Thus, stock articles
are also "dimensionally stable" within the meaning of
the present invention if they can be, for example,
crushed or plastically deformed by hand.
An inventive multicomponent stock article can be
produced in a manner known per se by pressing powder
materials, by molding moldable mixes, to casting or
extruding. To produce a stock article which is packaged
in packaging paper or packaging film directly during
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production, known tableting-molding machines, for
example those of the Corazza type can also be used, in
which the starting mixes are tableted or molded in
molding cavities which are charged in advance with
packaging material.
In an inventive multicomponent stock article, stock
mixes of the most varied type can be combined, more
precisely 2, 3 or more differing mixes which are
differently colored.
An inventive multicomponent stock article can have the
shape and the consistency of a conventional hard or
soft stock cube, but if appropriate the shape can also
be different, so that, for example, a stock article is
obtained in block form, similar to a chocolate block,
or else in rounded form, in which case, in particular,
in the case of production in molds or in the case of
extrusion, in principle a large variety of shapes is
possible.
It can also have the shape of a conventional packaged
stock cube, in which case the packaging holds together
two subdivisions which can readily be separated from
one another and of which one can also comprise a loose
mix, for example of plant parts such as spices and
vegetable pieces, which disintegrates after removing
the packaging.
The invention will be described in more detail below
with reference to products which have the conventional
parallelepipidal or brick shape of customary stock
cubes. Reference is made here to four figures which
show examples of designs of inventive multicomponent
stock articles made of two stock mixes or stock
mixtures for various food ingredients.
In the figures:
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Figure 1 shows a first embodiment of an inventive
stock article in the form of a dimensionally
stable body having a layer structure of two
solid stock mixes in two layers one above the
other (1, 2);
Figure 2 shows another embodiment of a two-component
stock article in which the two stock mixes
(1', 2') are joined laterally to one another,
so that a different visual structure is
obtained:
Figure 3 shows a view of a section through another
embodiment in which the two components of the
stock article are present in a shared film
packaging (3) as subdivisions (1", 2")
arranged in layers one above the other, of
which the lower is formed by a loose mix of
herbs (4) and vegetable pieces (5); and
Figure 4 shows a view of the stock article shown in
section in Figure 3 after the packaging film
has been opened (3).
The figures show three different examples of
possibilities for combining two different stock mixes
or stock mixtures to give a two-component stock cube.
Apart from the fact that they have a different
appearance, the various two-component stock cubes shown
can also be produced using differing processes.
In a stock cube according to Figure 1, two differently
colored stock mixes 1 and 2, which expediently can also
be of different composition, are arranged in layers one
above the other and joined to form a dimensionally
stable stock cube body, which can be achieved, for
example, by layering one above the other in a mold
starting mixes of different composition, if appropriate
after precompressing the first layer, and processing
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them under a more or less high pressure and under
compression/pressing to give tablet-like products.
Production systems for tablets made up in layer form of
this type are known in principle, and all suitable
production processes can be employed without a
limitation to any specific process being made. The
molding can also take place in one step together with
the packaging of the stock cube by simultaneously
wrapping the molded stock cube with a packaging paper
or a packaging film, for example in a Corazza type
tableting machine.
The same applies to a two-component stock cube in which
the differing stock mixes 1' and 2' are arranged as
shown in Figure 2. A stock cube of this type can also
be produced in molds, but it can also be produced in an
expedient manner by extruding two stock mixes side by
side through a shared shaping die and cutting the
resultant extrudate.
Two-component stock articles in which one of the
components is a layer of a loose mix having no internal
coherence, or only slight internal coherence, as is
shown by way of example in Figures 3 and 4, can in
principle be produced in a similar manner to stock
articles according to Figure 1, more precisely by
charging molding recesses of a tableting press in which
packaging material 3 is laid out, firstly with a loose
mix 2" of plant pieces 4, e.g. herbs, spices and/or
vegetable pieces 5, and thereon a pasty stock mix 1",
after which the contents of the molding recess are
compressed to a greater or lesser extent and thus
molded and enclosed by a packaging material 3 which
holds together the two components in cube shape.
The inventive multicomponent stock cubes can be
produced in any desired size, and the side lengths can
be, for example, from 10 mm to 400 mm, depending on the
intended final use.
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In an inventive multicomponent stock cube, the most
varied stock mixes can be combined with one another.
The stock mixes can be those for different types of
meat stocks and/or vegetarian stocks which can be
combined in any manner with one another. For example, a
stock mix for meat stock can be combined with a stock
mix for a vegetable stack, for example beef flavor with
onion flavor. Differing animal stocks can also be
combined, for example chicken stock and pork stock. In
the same manner, differing vegetable stocks can also be
combined with one another, for example those having
tomato flavor and having garlic flavor, or herbs and
spices solidified in layers having a soluble binder. In
the inventive multicomponent stack cubes, the combined
stock mixes can be present at about the same
proportions, but an inventive multicomponent stock cube
can alternatively consist of up to 990 of a single
stock mix and be combined with an only relatively thin
layer of a different stock mix.
The stock mixes combined with one another preferably
have different colors, either owing to their base
composition, or owing to a special coloring with
suitable food dyes, the colors preferably being chosen
in such a manner that a defined color is assigned to a
certain product, and in particular a professional cook,
on the basis of the color, can immediately recognize
the type of stock mix. The different stock mixes
combined with one another in a stock article can,
however, if appropriate, in addition, also differ in
tactile properties, that is to say can be recognized by
feeling different regions. The differences can be
expressed as different roughnesses which can be caused,
for example, by the type of composition, but the
differences can also be caused or intensified by
ensuring different surface structures or surface
profiles during the molding of the stock article, for
example by using corresponding mold halves or extrusion
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dies having differing profiles in the peripheral
region.
The differing stock mixes or stock mixtures can also
have differing furnaces and a different internal
cohesion. For example, stock mixtures of plant pieces
can be present as compact layers) of a stock cube
according to Fig. 1 or Fig. 2 which are bonded via a
suitable sticky binder, or can be present as loose
layers) of a stock cube according to Fig. 3 and 4 of
relatively low internal cohesion.
In principle, the compositions of the stock mixes
combined with one another which are used in the
inventive multicomponent stock cubes correspond to
conventional mixes for stock cubes, more precisely
corresponding to the formulas for customary hard or
soft stock cubes. Compositions of this type generally
have:
from 30 to 70o by
weight of salt
up to 25~ by weight, preferably from 5 to 25o by
weight, of glutamate,
from 1 to 59o by weight of fillers (for example
maltodextrin to improve
cohesion, one or more
starch(es), for example corn
starch or potato starch, and
if appropriate lactose or whey
powder)
from 0 to 50o by weight of fat, for example an animal
fat or vegetable fat, in which
case in particular palm fat is
to be emphasized,
from 1 to 15o by weight of flavor ingredients, for
example meat flavors, spicy
flavor concentrates, spices or
flavors produced by food
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engineering,
from 0 to 10% by weight of meat, for example in the
form of meat extract or meat
powder,
from 0 to 10% by weight of vegetable ingredients, for
example parsley, small pieces
of carrots, onions and similar
vegetables or vegetable
extract,
from 0 to 10% by weight of pigments, for example
caramel color, turmeric,
paprika (which can also be
added in the form of a liquid
oleoresin with spraying),
from 0 to 10% by weight of further functional
ingredients, including
ribotides, vitamins, minerals,
remaining water.
Said ingredients are customarily weighed out as dry
ingredients or pasty raw materials and mixed with one
another with or without addition of solid or liquid
fat, and the resultant different stock mixes are then,
for example, placed in a conventional tableting
machine, another conventional press or a two-component
extruder, in order to produce therefrom two- (or
multi-)component stock cubes.
Advantages of inventive multiple component stock
articles are, firstly, the visual and/or tactile
identifiability of the products owing to the visible
layer structure. Additional advantages can also result
from being able to combine with one another stock mixes
which comprise constituents which, when they are mixed
directly, interact in an undesirable manner, and thus
as a result, for example, adversely affect the storage
times. In addition, products having differing
dissolving time can also be combined, which can
likewise be advantageous for certain applications.
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Products of the type of the multi-component stock
article shown in Figures 3 and 4 have two layers
(subdivisions), which can be parted from one another
relatively readily and as a result can be processed
independently of one another at a distance in time, for
example, from the stock mix of the upper layer, a meat
stock or chicken stock can first be prepared, to which
then the loose herb ingredients of the lower layer can
be added only just before serving. This can avoid the
herb ingredients coming into contact with hot or
boiling water for an undesirably long time and as a
result losing flavor.
The invention will be described in more detail below on
the basis of two specific exemplary embodiments.
Example 1: Production of a hard two-component stock
cube made up in layers
To produce a hard two-component stock cube in which
stock mixes for chicken stock and beef stock are
combined with one another, the following process is
followed: two 500-kg batches are produced for chicken
stock and beef stock, respectively. The mix for chicken
stock is produced using the following ingredients in
the amounts specified:
Ingredient
Salt 250 kg
Maltodextrin 40 kg
Glutamate 70 kg
Corn starch 40 kg
Vegetable fat 60 kg
Chicken fat 15 kg
Chicken powder 10 kg
Chicken flavor 11 kg
Turmeric ~ 4 ~ kg
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Said raw materials were mixed in a 1 200 liter mixer
with doubled mixing and single fat injection.
In a similar manner, the beef stock mix was produced
from the following ingredients:
Ingredient
Salt 250 kg
Maltodextrin 40 kg
Glutamate 70 kg
Corn starch 30 kg
Vegetable fat 60 kg
Beef fat 15 kg
Beef powder 10 kg
Beef extract 10 kg
Chicken flavor 11 kg
Caramel 4 kg
Said ingredients of the beef stock mix were mixed as
for the chicken stock mix.
1. 0
The two stock mix mixtures obtained exhibited good
flowability and could be stored in 1 000 liter
containers without problems for two days, for example.
Using a rotating tableting press, the stock mixes were
pressed to produce two-component stock cubes. For this
the two mixtures were fed to two different feed funnels
which feed two different metering systems of a press.
The beef mixture is first metered in 5 g portions into
the molding holes of the tableting press, after which
the chicken mixture is added to the beef mixture,
likewise in 5 g portions into the same molding holes.
The mixes layered one above the other are pressed to
form a two-layered tablet and ejected from the mold.
The resultant two-component tablets, each of 10 g, have
a uniform shape having two visually recognizable
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different layers. An example of such a product is shown
in Figure 1. The hardness and the other physical
properties of the resultant stock cube tablets are
satisfactory.
In addition to the solution of the abovementioned
objects, the inventive multi-component stock cubes are
also distinguished by an interesting pleasing
appearance and represent a novel kitchen product for
the individual consumer or for commercial "convenience
food" applications.
Example 2: Production of a packaged two-component stock
cube comprising two layered subdivisions (chicken stock
with herb mixture)
To produce a packaged two-component stock article as
shown in Figures 3 and 4, first by dry mixing, a herb
mixture of 20% by weight of parsley flakes and 80% by
weight of carrot pieces, and secondly a stock mix for a
chicken broth made of 5% by weight of chicken base,
21.7% by weight of palm fat, 45% by weight of common
salt, 2.4% by weight of yeast, 13% by weight of
glutamate, 3% by weight of sugar, 6.8% by weight of
wheat semolina, 0.8% by weight of chicken meat, 1.6% by
weight of onions, 0.2% by weight of inosine 5'-mono
phosphate (IMP) and 0.5% by weight of turmeric was
prepared, for the production of the latter, the molten
palm fat was mixed with the remaining ingredients and
allowed to crystallize.
Both mixtures were placed in differing feed funnels.
Then, using a powder metering apparatus, the herb
mixture, in individual portions, is placed into molding
holes of a tableting press which are prelined with
packaging paper, and immediately thereafter, using a
piston metering apparatus, the pasty mix for chicken
stock is placed into each molding cavity. The
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rectangular shaped bodies formed are wrapped by the
paper-like packaging material.
After opening the packaging of the stock cube, as shown
in Figure 4, two layers are exposed, of which the upper
layer consists of a shaped stock mix for chicken stock
and can be lifted off and used to prepare the chicken
stock. The herb mixture remaining on the packaging
paper can then be added later to the finished chicken
stock.
Obviously, inventive stock articles can also be
obtained by combinations of stock mixes and/or stock
mixtures different from those described by examples
above, and such modifications are obviously also
included in the protective a scope of the present
application. .
