Composition for Gelled Food with Soft Mouthfeel and Preparation Method Therefor

Abstract

The present application relates to a composition for a gelled food including vegetable cream, and a gelling agent which includes agar and guar gum, a gelled food including the composition for a gelled food, a method for preparing a composition for a gelled food, the method including (A) mixing a gelling agent which includes agar and guar gum in water to prepare a gelled product and (B) mixing the gelled product with vegetable cream to prepare a mixture, and a method for producing a gelled food, the method including heat sterilizing a composition for a gelled food produced by the method for producing a composition for a gelled food.

Claims

1. A composition for a gelled food comprising: vegetable cream; and a gelling agent including agar and guar gum.

2. The composition of claim 1, wherein the content of the vegetable cream is 7 to 14 wt % based on the total weight of the composition for a gelled food.

3. The composition of claim 1, wherein in the vegetable cream, a vegetable fat is included in an amount of 25 to 35 wt % based on the total weight of the vegetable cream.

4. The composition of claim 1, wherein based on the total weight of the composition for a gelled food, the agar is included in an amount of 0.25 to 0.7 wt %, and the guar gum is included in an amount of 0.1 to 0.8 wt %.

5. The composition of claim 4, wherein the total content of the gelling agent is 0.5 to 1.2 wt % based on the total weight of the composition for a gelled food.

6. The composition of claim 1, wherein the gelling agent further comprises at least one selected from locust bean gum, gelatin, and tara gum.

7. The composition of claim 6, wherein based on the total weight of the composition for a gelled food, the locust bean gum is included in an amount of 0.1 to 0.5 wt %, the gelatin is included in an amount of 0.1 to 0.5 wt %, or the tara gum is included in an amount of 0.1 to 0.5 wt %.

8. The composition of claim 1, further comprising at least one selected from an acidulant, a flavoring, a sweetener, an acidity regulator, fruit concentrate, lactic acid bacteria, a vitamin, an excipient, a colorant, an antioxidant, dietary fiber, or a combination thereof.

9. A gelled food comprising the composition for a gelled food of claim 1.

10. The gelled food of claim 9, wherein the gelled food has a compression strength of 0.6 to 2.5 N.

11. The gelled food of claim 9, wherein the gelled food has a hardness of 8.2 to 11.5 N.

12. The gelled food of claim 9, wherein the difference in brightness L* between the CIE color coordinate value of an upper layer portion and that of a lower layer portion of the gelled food is 0.8 or less.

13. The gelled food of claim 9, wherein the gelled food comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of jelly, spread, and pudding.

14. A method for preparing a composition for a gelled food, the method comprising: (A) mixing a gelling agent which includes agar and guar gum in water to prepare a gelled product; and (B) mixing the gelled product with vegetable cream to prepare a mixture.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of preparing the gelled product comprises mixing the gelling agent with water and then maintaining a gelling temperature of 80 C. or higher.

16. A method for preparing a gelled food, the method comprising heat sterilizing a composition for a gelled food produced by the method for preparing a composition for a gelled food of claim 14.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0120] FIG. 1 are images taken of gelled foods of Examples 1 to 7 of the present application; and

[0121] FIG. 1 are images taken of gelled foods of Comparative Examples 1 to 5 of the present application.

MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0122] Hereinafter, the present application will be described in detail with reference to Examples.

[0123] However, the following Examples are merely illustrative of the present application, and the contents of the present application are not limited by the following Examples.

EXAMPLES AND COMPARATIVE EXAMPLES

[0124] In order to produce a gelled food of the present application, processes were sequentially performed in the order of gelling agent weighingpurified water mixingstirring and heating (for 10 minutes at 80 C. or higher)vegetable cream, acidulant, flavoring, and sweetener input and stirringfillingsterilizationcooling.

[0125] In addition, by varying the type and content of gelling agents, gelled foods of Examples 1 to 7 were produced using compositions in Table 2 below as main raw materials, and gelled foods of Comparative Examples 1 to 5 were produced using compositions in Table 3 as main raw materials. In addition to the main raw materials in Table 2 and Table 3, purified water, an acidulant (hydrous citric acid, WEIFANG, China), a flavoring (mango flavoring, Givuadan Korea, Singapore, a sweetener, and GC an additive were included as other raw materials.

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Classification (Unit: parts Example Example Example Example Example Example Example by weight) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Vegetable cream 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 (Taeyang Chemicals, South Korea) Agar (MSC, 0.5 0.4 0.27 0.27 0.27 0.2 0.2 South Korea) Guar gum 0.15 0.4 0.27 0.27 0.27 0.2 0.05 (PREMCEM GUMS, India) Locust bean 0.15 0.27 0.2 0.1 gum (TATE & LYLE ITALIA SPA, Italy) Gelatin 0.27 0.2 (Sammi, South Korea) Tara gum 0.27 (SILVATEAM, Peru) indicates data missing or illegible when filed

TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Classification (Unit: parts Comparative Comparative Comparative Comparative Comparat by weight) Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 4 Example Vegetable 14 14 14 14 14 cream (Taeyang Chemicals, South Korea) Agar (MSC, 0.5 0.4 South Korea) Guar gum 0.5 0.3 (PREMCEM GUMS, India) Locust bean 0.5 0.3 gum (TATE&LYLE ITALIA SPA, Italy) Gelatin 0.4 (Sammi, South Korea) Tara gum 0.3 (SILVATEAM, Peru) indicates data missing or illegible when filed

Experimental Example 1

[0126] The results of evaluating the appearance of a mixture and the shape retainability of a gelled product with respect to the gelled foods of Examples 1 to 7 and the gelled foods of Comparative Examples 1 to 5 are shown in Table 3 and Table 4 below.

[0127] Mixture Appearance

[0128] The state of a mixture (composition for a gelled food composition, combination solution) prior to filling in Examples and Comparative Examples was observed with the naked eye.

[0129] (Evaluation criteria: If the mixture was uniform without particles observed therein, it was evaluated as excellent, if the mixture was uniform without particles observed therein but had viscosity, it was evaluated as good, and if the mixture had a viscosity which was too high, or had particles observed therein, it was evaluated as poor.)

[0130] Degree of Oil Separation

[0131] In order to compare degrees of oil separation, images taken of the gelled foods of Examples 1 to 7 are shown in FIG. 1, and images taken of the gelled foods of Comparative Examples 1 to 5 are shown in FIG. 2. The images were taken against a dark background such that the presence or absence of oil separation was visible, which was compared and evaluated with the naked eye.

[0132] (Evaluation criteria: Based on the evaluation with the naked eye, if there was no oil separation, it was evaluated as excellent, and if there was oil separation, or there were cracks observed, it was evaluated as poor.)

[0133] Shape Retainability Evaluation

[0134] A portion of the gelled food produced in each of Examples and Comparative Examples was spooned, and then the appearance of the portion was observed with the naked eye.

[0135] (Evaluation criteria: If the appearance was firm, it was evaluated as excellent, if the shape was not distinct, or in a liquid phase or in a viscous liquid phase, it was evaluated as weak, and if the shape retainability was too poor to determine a shape, it was denoted by not measurable.)

TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Classifi- Example Example Example Example Example cation 1 2 3 4 Mixture Excellent Good Good Excellent Good appearance Degree of oil No oil No oil No oil No oil No oil separation separation separation separation separation separati (excellent) (excellent) (excellent) (excellent) (excelle Shape Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellen retainability indicates data missing or illegible when filed

TABLE-US-00005 TABLE 5 Comparative Comparative Comparative Comparative Comparative Classification Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 4 Example 5 Mixture Excellent Excellent Excellent Poor Poor appearance (Slopping (Small (Transparent without particles particles being with observed, viscous) unstable which is emulsification determined observed) to be caused by incomplete gelling due to high viscosity) Degree Poor (Oil Excellent Poor Poor (Oil Poor of oil separation (Cracks separation (Transparent separation observed observed observed granules at about at about at 80% or observed 50% of the 20% of the greater at the lower end) lower end) of the lower end) lower end) Shape Weak (weak Not Not Weak (weak Not retainability shape measurable measurable shape measurable retainability) (Viscous (Viscous retainability) (Viscous liquid phase) liquid phase) liquid phase)

[0136] According to Table 4 and Table 5, Comparative Example 1 in which guar gum was not used as a gelling agent had weak shape retainability and had oil separation. Compared to Comparative Example 1, Example 1 in which agar and guar gum were simultaneously used had no oil separation and had excellent shape retainability, so that it was confirmed that guar gum should be necessarily included as a gelling agent in order to prevent oil separation of the gelled food of the present application.

[0137] Comparative Example 2 in which agar was not used as a gelling agent had no oil separation but had a problem with shape retainability. Compared to Comparative Example 2, Example 2 in which agar and guar gum were simultaneously used had no oil separation and had excellent shape retainability, so that it was confirmed that agar should be necessarily included as a gelling agent for the shape retainability of the gelled food of the present application.

[0138] Comparative Example 3 in which only the locust bean gum was used as a gelling agent had oil separation and had poor shape retainability, and thus, had a problem in that it was impossible to conduct the TA analysis. Therefore, it was confirmed that agar and guar gum should be necessarily included as a gelling agent as in Example 1 other than locust bean gum to prevent the gelled food of the present application from oil separation and to allow the gelled food to have excellent shape retainability.

Experimental Example 2

[0139] For the gelled foods of Examples 1 to 7 and the gelled foods of Comparative Examples 1 to 5, the results of measuring L*, a*, and b* values of the CIE color coordinates using a colorimeter (spectrophotometer (CM-3500d, MINOLTA, Japan) are GC shown in Tables 6 and 7 below.

TABLE-US-00006 TABLE 6 Classification Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 4 Example 5 Example 6 Example 7 Upper L* 84.43 84.24 84.09 86.78 85.51 86.29 86.02 layer a* 1 1.02 0.96 0.93 0.87 0.89 0.72 portion b* 1.71 1.63 2.14 2.22 1.97 2.1 1.15 Lower L* 84.28 84.58 84.04 85.98 85.35 86.35 52.4 layer a* 1.01 1.06 1.01 0.97 0.89 0.94 1.28 portion b* 1.82 1.33 1.86 1.52 1.92 2.14 4.08 L* difference 0.15 0.34 0.05 0.8 0.16 0.06 33.62 (|upper layer portion-lower layer portion|) indicates data missing or illegible when filed

TABLE-US-00007 TABLE 7 Comparative Comparative Comparative Comparative Comparat Classification Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 4 Example 5 Upper L* 88.82 83.05 82.71 90.78 80.99 layer a* 0.77 0.74 0.7 0.73 0.81 portion b* 2.04 0.16 0.21 1.87 0.33 Lower L* 65.66 83.66 53.21 48.4 81.03 layer a* 1.21 0.71 0.63 0.31 0.81 portion b* 3.08 0.34 2.94 1.32 0.33 L* difference 23.16 0.61 29.5 42.38 0.04 (|upper layer portion-lower layer portion|) indicates data missing or illegible when filed

[0140] Comparative Example 1, Comparative Example 3, and Comparative Example 4 in which guar gum was not used as a gelling agent, there was oil separation, so that it was confirmed that the difference in L* between the upper layer portion and the lower layer portion was great. In the cases of Example 1 to Example 6, it was confirmed that the difference in L* between the upper layer portion and the lower layer portion was 0.8 or less, which means that oil separation does not occur in the gelled food of the present application.

Experimental Example 3

[0141] Among Examples and Comparative Examples, except for Comparative Example 2, Comparative Example 3, and Comparative Example 5, which are samples each of whose shape retainability was not measurable, the results measured using a Texture Analyzer (TA XT-plus, Stable Micro System, UK) for the gelled foods of Examples 1 to 7 and the gelled foods of Comparative Example 1, and 4 are shown in Table 9 below. The TA analysis results were measured three times to determine an average value.

[0142] The measurement conditions are as follows.

TABLE-US-00008 TABLE 8 Sample amount: 90 g Items Conditions Probe Circular shape, diameter 35 mm Pre-test speed 5 mm/sec Test speed 2 mm/sec Post-test speed 2 mm/sec Pressure 98% compression Height 50 mm

[0143] It was determined that the height of the first peak was compression strength, the difference value between the first peak and the negative peak was fracturability, the height of the second peak was hardness (degree of firmness), and the absolute value of the second negative peak was viscosity.

TABLE-US-00009 TABLE 9 Fractur- Hardness Com- ability (Hardness Number pression (Fractur- (Degree of Viscosity Classifi- of mea- strength ability) firmness)) (Viscosity) cation surements (N) (N) (N) (N) Example 1 2.46 0.87 11.85 1.24 1 2 2.08 0.4 10.3 1.14 3 1.86 0.28 8.88 0.93 Average 2.13 0.52 10.37 1.10 Example 1 1.93 0.73 9.11 1.1 2 2 1.7 0.49 8.79 1.1 3 1.81 0.41 8.75 0.97 Average 1.81 0.54 8.88 1.06 Example 1 1.52 0.19 10.85 1.12 3 2 1.66 0.26 11.36 1.19 3 1.51 0.21 10.43 1.27 Average 1.56 0.22 10.88 1.19 Example 1 0.73 0.07 7.79 1.26 4 2 0.65 0.04 8.29 1.28 3 0.54 0.05 8.79 1.01 Average 0.64 0.05 8.29 1.18 Example 1 0.84 0.05 9.03 1.07 5 2 0.84 0.06 10.82 1.28 3 0.78 0.03 9.48 0.99 Average 0.82 0.05 9.78 1.11 Example 1 0.56 0.16 8.15 1.39 6 2 0.52 0.15 8.58 1.09 3 0.48 0.13 7.56 1.12 Average 0.52 0.15 8.10 1.20 Example 1 0.42 0.09 7.65 0.89 7 2 0.42 0.08 7.34 0.87 3 0.4 0.1 6.31 0.84 Average 0.41 0.09 7.10 0.87 Comparative 1 0.5 0.03 6.45 0.69 Example 2 0.48 0.04 7.37 0.77 1 3 0.48 0.04 7.02 0.75 Average 0.49 0.04 6.95 0.74 Comparative 1 0.48 0.06 5.32 0.79 Example 2 0.49 0.04 4.33 0.59 4 3 0.46 0.05 6.37 0.93 Average 0.48 0.05 5.34 0.77

[0144] According to Table 9, in the cases of Comparative Example 2, Comparative Example 3, and Comparative Example 5 in which agar, which affects the shape retainability of a gelled food, was not included as a gelling agent, it was impossible to conduct the TA analysis. Meanwhile, Comparative Example 1 and Comparative Example 4 in which agar was included as a gelling agent respectively had a hardness (degree of firmness) of 6.95 (N) and 5.34 (N) since guar gum was not used together. Therefore, it was confirmed that the shape retainability required of a gelled food of the present application was not satisfied.

[0145] That is, in order to allow the gelled food of the present application to smoothly melt in the mouth while maintaining the shape retainability of the gelled food, agar is required as a gelling agent. However, it was confirmed that it was only possible to achieve desired physical properties when guar gum was used together, instead of using agar alone.