A low sugar content sweet food spread is provided said food spread comprising at least one of a cocoa product and a nut product, at least one vegetable oil and at least one sweetener. The at least one vegetable oil is substantially free or free of palm oil and the sugar content of the spread is less than about 20% by weight of the total spread. The food spread possesses excellent properties and is advantageously spreadable at low temperature.

A method and apparatus is provided for forming at least a portion of a beverage from a co-milled powdered composition. An amount of a co-milled powdered composition is combined with a fluid to produce at least a portion of a beverage. The co-milled powdered composition is obtained from co-milling together at least one powdered ingredient having a difficult to disperse or dissolve portion with one or more dispersion facilitator components to form a co-milled powder effective to enhance the dispersion or dissolving of the powder when forming a food or beverage.

A method and apparatus is provided for forming at least a portion of a beverage from a co-milled powdered composition. An amount of a co-milled powdered composition is combined with a fluid to produce at least a portion of a beverage. The co-milled powdered composition is obtained from co-milling together at least one powdered ingredient having a difficult to disperse or dissolve portion with one or more dispersion facilitator components to form a co-milled powder effective to enhance the dispersion or dissolving of the powder when forming a food or beverage.

A method for producing a cellulose composite containing cellulose and a polysaccharide, wherein a median size of colloidal cellulose composites contained in the cellulose composite as measured by a dynamic light scattering method is 0.85 m or more, the method including treating a mixture containing cellulose, a polysaccharide and an aqueous medium together in a wet process, wherein a solid content is controlled to be 35 mass % or more, and temperature is set at 80 C. or less.

A method for producing a cellulose composite containing cellulose and a polysaccharide, wherein a median size of colloidal cellulose composites contained in the cellulose composite as measured by a dynamic light scattering method is 0.85 m or more, the method including treating a mixture containing cellulose, a polysaccharide and an aqueous medium together in a wet process, wherein a solid content is controlled to be 35 mass % or more, and temperature is set at 80 C. or less.

A method for producing an aroma composition from an animal or plant material, including fragmenting an animal or plant material to give a crude fragmented pieces of the material that contains minor fragments, removing minor fragments from a gas that contains aroma compounds emitted from the material in fragmenting the material and minor fragments, applying the gas from which minor fragments have been removed to an adsorbent to thereby make the aroma compounds adsorbed by the adsorbent, and collecting the aroma compounds from the adsorbent to prepare an aroma composition containing the aroma compounds. The adsorbent is held in an adsorbent holder in an aroma compound adsorbing device, and the adsorbent holder has a mesh lid at both ends thereof in the gas flowing direction therethrough.

A method for producing an aroma composition from an animal or plant material, including fragmenting an animal or plant material to give a crude fragmented pieces of the material that contains minor fragments, removing minor fragments from a gas that contains aroma compounds emitted from the material in fragmenting the material and minor fragments, applying the gas from which minor fragments have been removed to an adsorbent to thereby make the aroma compounds adsorbed by the adsorbent, and collecting the aroma compounds from the adsorbent to prepare an aroma composition containing the aroma compounds. The adsorbent is held in an adsorbent holder in an aroma compound adsorbing device, and the adsorbent holder has a mesh lid at both ends thereof in the gas flowing direction therethrough.

This invention provides edible compositions comprising pharmaceutically or nutraceutically active agents in particulate form homogeneously dispersed in a fat matrix, such as chocolate or chocolate compound coating.

The invention relates to a method of producing a food or beverage product, comprising the steps of: providing an ingredient composition comprising, micellar caseins and whey proteins and having a pH of 6.1-7.1 and a concentration of 1-15 wt. % of proteins, and wherein the ingredient composition has a casein to whey protein ratio of 90/10-60/40, adding 3-25 mM divalent cations to provide a concentration of 3-8 mM free divalent cations in the ingredient composition, homogenising the ingredient composition; and subsequently pasteurising and stirring the ingredient composition at a temperature of 80-100 C. for a period of 0.5-3 min to form agglomerated proteins comprising caseins and beta-lactoglobulin from the whey proteins, the agglomerates having a size of 5-50 microns as measured by D.sub.(4, 3) mean diameter. The invention relates also to a food or beverage product comprising aggregated proteins comprising micellar casein and whey protein aggregates, wherein the product has a pH of 6.1-7.1, a concentration of 6-40 wt. % milk solids, a casein to whey protein ratio of 90/10-60/40, and a concentration of 3-8 mM free divalent cations, and wherein the agglomerates having a size of 5-50 microns mean diameter D.sub.(4, 3) as measured by laser diffraction.

A lyotropic composition related to the food industry field, and particularly to the chocolate industry field is described. Specifically, a lyotropic composition comprising carbohydrates in fats is described. Also described is a method for producing the lyotropic composition. Moreover, different uses of said composition, particularly for the manufacture of chocolates and chocolate substitutes, including chocolate with honey and fruity chocolate are described.