FAT REDUCED GROUND MUCILAGINOUS SEEDS AS AFFORDABLE BINDER

Abstract

A method of making a food product, said method comprising mixing 1.0 to 20.0 wt % flaxseed and 80.0 to 99.0 wt % inclusions in water, wherein the flaxseed has a fat content of less than 30 wt %; shaping the mixture of flaxseed and inclusions by one Nor more of (i) molding, (ii) rolling and cutting, and/or (iii) extruding and cutting; and drying the mixture to form a food product. The invention further relates to a food product comprising between 1.0 to 20.0 wt % flaxseed, wherein said flaxseed comprises less than 30 wt % fat, and wherein said food product is devoid of animal products.

Claims

1. A method of making a food product, said method comprising a. Mixing 1.0 to 20.0 wt % flaxseed and 80.0 to 99.0 wt % inclusions in water, wherein the flaxseed has a fat content of less than 30 wt %; b. Shaping the mixture of flaxseed and inclusions by one or more steps selected from the group consisting of (i) molding, (ii) rolling and cutting, and/or (iii) extruding and cutting; and c. Drying the mixture to form a food product.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the flaxseed has a fat content of between 1 to 5 wt %.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the flaxseed is flaxseed presscake.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the flaxseed is hydrated in water before step 1a) to provide a flaxseed mixture comprising a total solid content of between 2.0 to 6.0 wt %.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the flaxseed has a fibre content between 40 to 60 wt %.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the average particle size of the inclusions is between 5.0 to 10.0 mm.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the average bulk density of the inclusions is between 0.5 to 1.0 g.Math.cm.sup.3.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the inclusions are or comprise chickpea.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the food product is devoid of added sugar, wherein added sugar is defined as an ingredient comprising at least 90 wt % sucrose.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the food product is a vegetarian or vegan food product.

11. A food product comprising between 1.0 to 20.0 wt % flaxseed and between 80 to 99.0 wt % inclusions, wherein said flaxseed comprises less than 30 wt % fat.

12. Food product according to claim 11, wherein said food product has a sucrose content of less than 5.0 wt %.

13. Food product according to claim 11, wherein said food product is a snack bar or a cracker.

14. Food product according to claim 11, wherein said food product is devoid of animal products.

15. (canceled)

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0072] Further description is provided below for the features of the invention and, where appropriate, apply to all product, method, and use embodiments.

[0073] As used herein, mucilaginous seeds can be flaxseed, basil seed, chia seed, or mustard seed. Preferably, the mucilaginous seeds are flaxseed, chia seed, or basil seed. Most preferably, the mucilaginous seeds are flaxseed.

[0074] The mucilaginous seeds have a fat content of less than 30 wt %, more preferably less than 25 wt %, more preferably less than 20 wt %, more preferably less than 15 wt %, more preferably less than wt %, most preferably the fat content is between 1 to 5 wt %. This reduction in fat content can be achieved by several methods known in the art. Preferably, the mucilaginous seed is pressed to form a presscake. Presscake may be defined as the remaining material after oil extraction by pressing of the mucilaginous seed. Alternatively, the mucilaginous seed can be solvent extracted, or pressed and solvent extracted.

[0075] As used herein, and unless otherwise stated, the term wt % refers to dry weight of an ingredient or component per 100 g. For example, mixing 1.0 to 20.0 wt % flaxseed and 80.0 to 99.0 wt % inclusions refers to mixing 1.0 to 20.0 g dry weight of flaxseed and 80.0 to 99.0 g dry weight of inclusions per 100 g dry weight of food product. Also, flaxseed having a fat content of less than 30 wt % refers to flaxseed comprising less than 30 g dry weight of fat per 100 g dry weight of flaxseed.

[0076] Preferably, the mucilaginous is mixed separately in water to provide a mixture comprising a total solid content of less than 10 wt %, or between 0.5 to 8.0 wt %, or between 2.0 to 6.0 wt %.

[0077] Fibres, particularly soluble fibres, are responsible for visco-elastic properties and thus, the binding properties. Preferably, the mucilaginous seed has a fibre content greater than 30 wt %, preferably between 30 to 85 wt %, more preferably between 40 to 60 wt %.

[0078] Preferably, the food product comprises about 90 wt % of inclusions.

[0079] The inclusion particle size can range from 0.5 mm to 2.0 cm. Ingredients with very small particle size like salt are not regarded as inclusions.

[0080] Preferably, the average particle size of the inclusions is between 1.0 mm to 20.0 mm, preferably between 3.0 to 15.0 mm, more preferably between 5.0 to 10.0 mm.

[0081] Preferably, the average bulk density of the inclusions is between 0.5 to 1.0 g.Math.cm.sup.3, more preferably about 0.75 g.Math.cm.sup.3.

[0082] Preferably, the water activity of the inclusions is less than 0.6.

[0083] Preferably, the inclusions are selected from chickpea, puffed quinoa, and puffed amaranth, puffed rice, nuts, seeds, cereals, dried fruits, or vegetables, preferably chickpea, puffed quinoa, and puffed amaranth. Most preferably, the inclusions are or comprise chickpea.

[0084] Preferably, the average particle size of the inclusions is between 5.0 to 10.0 mm, the average bulk density of the inclusions is about 0.7 g.Math.cm.sup.3, and the inclusions are or comprise chickpeas.

[0085] Preferably, the water activity of the food product is less than 0.6.

[0086] The definition of certain terminology used within the present application is provided below.

[0087] As used herein, about is understood to refer to numbers in a range of numerals, for example the range of 30% to +30% of the referenced number, or 20% to +20% of the referenced number, or 10% to +10% of the referenced number, or 5% to +5% of the referenced number, or -1% to +1% of the referenced number. All numerical ranges herein should be understood to include all integers, whole or fractions, within the range. Moreover, these numerical ranges should be construed as providing support for a claim directed to any number or subset of numbers in that range. For example, a disclosure of from 45 to 55 should be construed as supporting a range of from 46 to 54, from 48 to 52, from 49 to 51, from 49.5 to 50.5, and so forth.

[0088] As used herein, substantially devoid means being present in an amount less than 0.1 wt %, more preferably 0.05 wt %, more preferably being completely absent.

[0089] The term vegetarian refers to an edible composition which is entirely devoid of meat or fish products. The term vegan refers to an edible composition which is entirely devoid of animal products, or animal derived products. Non-limiting examples of animal products include meat, fish, eggs, milk, and honey.

EXAMPLES

[0090] By way of example and not limitation, the following examples are illustrative of various embodiments of the present invention.

Example 1

Breakage Test of Savory Snack Products

[0091] A 3-point-bending test was used to characterize the bending and breaking properties of the savory snack products of the invention (crackers). It involved placing a sample on two supports or points and recording the force needed to deform the sample when applying a load at equal distance from the 2 supports. The analysis was carried out with a TA TXT plus texture analyzer (Stable micro systems, Godalming, UK) and analyzed with EXPONENT software (Stable micro systems, Godalming, UK). The dimensions of the samples were approximately 35 mm in diameter and between 7 to 8 mm in height. The spacing between the two supports was 30 mm. The different value of diameter and height are important to ensure the repeatability of the measurements. The necessary force to break the sample was determined. The parameters used for the method with a 5 kg load cell are shown in Table 1.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Test Mode Compression Pre-Test Speed 1.00 mm/sec Test Speed 0.50 mm/sec Post-Test Speed 10 mm/sec Target Mode Distance Distance 10 mm Trigger Type Auto (Force) Trigger Force 0.049 N Advanced Options Off

[0092] Particle size was measured manually using a caliper. The diameter of 25 particles was measured and averaged. To determine the bulk density of the raw materials, the empty weight of a 100 ml glass cylinder was determined, filled with 100 ml of raw material and weighed again. The density was determined in triplicate.

Example 2

Stability of Cracker Products

[0093] The composition of the flaxseed presscake and (full fat) flaxseed meal binders used as ingredients to make the crackers are shown in Table 2.

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Flaxseed presscake in 100 g Flaxseed meal in 100 g Energy [kcal] 158 510 Fat [g] 2 40 Carbs [g] 0 2 Prot [g] 35 22 Fibres [g] 50 27 Sugars [g] 0 2

[0094] Flaxseed meal and fat reduced presscake binders were prepared as shown in Table 3 in order to align on fibre content.

TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Flaxseed presscake Flaxseed meal TS [%] 4.35 8.61 Fat free TS [%] 4.25 4.91 Fibre content 2.5 2.5 [%]

[0095] The particle size and density of the ingredients (inclusions) used to make the crackers are shown in Table 4.

TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Mean diameter Stdev Bulk density Stdev Inclusion [mm] [mm] [g/cm.sup.3] [g/cm.sup.3] Puffed quinoa 2.80 0.46 0.16 0.00 Puffed amaranth 1.62 0.20 0.19 0.00 Raw chickpeas 7.63 0.34 0.77 0.01

[0096] Crackers were produced by mixing all the ingredients, molding, and drying at 100 C. for 30 minutes.

[0097] In a first test, 40 grams binder and 60 grams quinoa pops were mixed. Only 2 crackers out of 16 produced with presscake binder were broken (FIG. 1A), whereas 9 out of 15 crackers produced with full fat flaxseed meal binder were broken (FIG. 1B). Crackers made with presscake binder were therefore judged to be the most stable.

[0098] The effect of varying binder quantity on binding strength was assessed. Wet binder and ingredients were mixed in a 1:1 ratio (50 g binder+50 g quinoa pops). For the presscake, this equated to 4.17% dry binder in the cracker. For the full fat flax meal, this equated to 7.93% dry binder in the cracker. Wet binder and ingredients were also mixed in a 2:1 ratio (67 g binder+33 g quinoa pops). For the presscake, this equated to 8.12% dry binder in the cracker. For the full fat flax meal, this equated to 14.88% dry binder in the cracker. Fat reduced presscake binder displayed a higher peak force, meaning that the crackers with that binder had higher stability and better binding strength compared to crackers with full fat flaxseed meal binder. No significant difference could be seen by increasing the binder:ingredient ratio from 1:1 to 2:1 (FIG. 2)

[0099] The effect of varying the size of ingredients on binding strength was assessed. Wet binder and ingredients were mixed in a 1:1 ratio (50 g binder+50 g quinoa pops or amaranth pops). For the presscake, this equated to 4.17% dry binder in the cracker. For the full fat flax meal, this equated to 7.93% dry binder in the cracker.

[0100] The performance of both binders was similar for ingredients with the smaller amaranth particles. There was a noticeable trend of better binding strength with presscake compared to full fat meal, but there was no significant difference due to high standard deviations (FIG. 3).

[0101] The effect of varying the size and density of ingredients on binding strength was assessed. Wet binder and quinoa pop ingredients were mixed in a 1:1 ratio (50 g binder+50 g quinoa pops). For the presscake, this equated to 4.17% dry binder in the cracker. For the full fat flax meal, this equated to 7.93% dry binder in the cracker. Wet binder and chickpea ingredients were mixed in a 1:3 ratio (25 g binder+75 g chickpeas). For the presscake, this equated to 1.43% dry binder in the cracker. For the full fat flax meal, this equated to 2.79% dry binder in the cracker.

[0102] Although the binding strength could not be directly compared due to different binder quantities, it could be seen that improved binding through presscake (compared to full fat meal) was more pronounced for the larger and more dense chickpea ingredients (FIG. 4).

Example 3

Comparison of Full Fat Flaxseed Meal, Semi Defatted Meal and Defatted Presscake

[0103] Composition of presscake and full flaxseed meal

TABLE-US-00005 In 100 g Defatted presscake Semi fat meal Full fat meal Energy [kcal] 158 331 510 Fat [g] 2 13 40 Carbs [g] 0 1 2 Prot [g] 35 30 22 Fibers [g] 50 41 27 Sugars [g] 0 1 2

[0104] Binder preparation

[0105] Binders were prepared in order to align on fiber content

TABLE-US-00006 Binder with Defatted presscake Semi fat meal Full fat meal TS [%] 4.35 6.12 8.61 Fat free TS [%] 4.25 5.35 4.91 Fiber content 2.5 2.5 2.5 [%]

[0106] Binding strength is shown in FIG. 5.

[0107] 1/1 wet binder/ingredients ratio: 50 g binder+50 g quinoa pops [0108] defatted: 4.17% dry binder in cracker [0109] semi fat: 5.77% dry binder in cracker [0110] Full fat: 7.93% dry binder in cracker