Confectionery product

Abstract

A shelf-stable mousse comprising (i) an aerated fat-free composition of a protein whipping agent, water and a sugar syrup, which composition is in admixture with (ii) at least one of a fat-containing substance; wherein the mousse has a water activity of less than 0.75, a hardness of less than 0.8N (measured as the force required to insert a probe to a depth of 7 mm into the mousse), and a loss factor tan δ value of greater than 0.95.

Claims

1. A shelf-stable mousse comprising (i) an aerated fat-free composition of a whipping agent, water and a sugar syrup, which composition is in admixture with (ii) at least one of a fat-containing substance; wherein the mousse has a water activity of less than 0.75, a hardness of less than 0.8N (measured as the force required to insert a probe to a depth of 7 mm into the mousse), and a loss factor tan δ value of greater than 0.95, wherein the absolute shear modulus G* is from 1-5 k Pa wherein the whipping agent is a protein, wherein the whipping agent is present in an amount of from 0.6 to 1.5 wt % and wherein the mousse contains a fat-containing substance and this is present in the mousse in an amount of from 5-30 wt %.

2. A shelf-stable mousse according to claim 1 wherein the water-activity of the mousse is from 0.4 to 0.7.

3. A shelf-stable mousse according to claim 1 wherein the hardness is less than 0.79N.

4. A shelf-stable mousse according to claim 3 wherein the hardness is from 0.1-0.3N.

5. A shelf-stable mousse according to claim 4 wherein the loss factor tan δ is from 0.95 to 2.

6. A shelf-stable mousse according to claim 1 which has a volume fraction of air of from 30% to 60%.

7. A shelf-stable mousse according to claim 1 which has a stickiness of less than 0.5N.

8. A confectionery product comprising a shelf-stable mousse according to claim 1.

9. A shelf-stable mousse according to claim 1 which comprises a fat-containing substance which is a fat-containing flavouring selected from chocolate, caramel, fruit, nut, vanilla, dairy, malt, or coffee flavouring or combinations thereof.

10. A shelf-stable mousse according to claim 1 wherein the fat-containing substance comprises a non-dairy fat.

11. A shelf-stable mousse according to claim 10 wherein the non-dairy fat is cocoa liquor.

12. A shelf-stable mousse according to claim 11 which has a density of less than 1 g/ml.

13. A shelf-stable mousse according to claim 12 wherein the density is in the range of from 0.50 to 0.8 g/ml.

14. A shelf-stable mousse according to claim 13 which comprises from 10 to 25 wt % water.

15. A shelf-stable mousse according to claim 14 wherein the whipping agent is milk protein, egg protein or a mixture thereof.

16. A shelf-stable mousse of claim 15 wherein the whipping agent is egg protein.

17. A method for preparing a shelf-stable mousse said method comprising: i) forming a base syrup from a sugar syrup or solution; ii) forming a whipping solution by creating a mixture of a whipping agent, water and sugar syrup; iii) mixing the base syrup at elevated temperature with the whipping solution to form a mixture; iv) aerating the mixture of whipping solution and base syrup to form an aerated frappe; and v) mixing the aerated frappe with a fat-containing substance in solid or liquid form wherein the mousse has a water activity of less than 0.75, a hardness of less than 0.8N (measured as the force required to insert a probe to a depth of 7 mm into the mousse), and a loss factor tan δ value of greater than 0.95, wherein the absolute shear modulus G* is from 1-5 k Pa wherein the whipping agent is a protein, wherein the whipping agent is present in an amount of from 0.6 to 1.5 wt % and wherein the mousse contains a fat-containing substance and this is present in the mousse in an amount of from 5-30 wt %.

18. A method according to claim 17 wherein the base syrup is formed by heating a sugar syrup or solution to form a syrup having a solids content of 80-85 wt %.

19. A method according to claim 17 wherein in step (ii), a whipping agent is mixed with water and sugar syrup and the mixture allowed to stand for a period of 30 minutes to 2 hours.

20. A method according to claim 19 wherein the aeration in step (iv) is carried out until the density of the frappe is from 0.2 to 0.4 g/ml.

21. A method according to claim 20 which further comprises the step of depositing the mousse into a container.

22. A method according to claim 21 wherein the container is a chocolate shell.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(1) The invention will now be particularly described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying figures in which:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a schematic of a process according to the invention;

(3) FIG. 2 is a series of graphs showing comparative values of (A) water activity (B) moisture content (C) volume fraction of air (D) hardness/firmness (E) stickiness (F) (shear) Storage modulus G′ (G) (Shear) Loss modulus G″ (H) Absolute shear modulus G* (I) G′ and G″ values shown on the same graph where crosses show G′ and filled circles show G″ values and (J) shows values of loss factor, tan δ for a range of mousses and mallows including mousses of the invention, a refrigerated mousse and commercially available shelf-stable mallows;

(4) FIG. 3 is a series of confocal micrographs showing (A) a mousse of the invention; (B) a commercially available refrigerated mousse (Aero® mousse), (C) a commercially available shelf-stable aerated mallow (Milky Way® nougat); and

(5) FIG. 4 is a graph showing the correlation Hierarchical Clustering on the principal components of the Correlation PCA (Principal Component Analysis) following sensory testing of a range of products including mousses of the invention.

EXAMPLE 1

(6) Preparation of Mousse

(7) A mousse was prepared using the following ingredients:

(8) TABLE-US-00001 % Whipping Water 2 solution Albumen 1 Glucose 17 syrup 69DE Base Syrup Glucose 70 syrup 69DE Flavouring Cocoa 10 Liquor

(9) Specifically, a hydrated whipping solution was prepared by mixing water, albumen and glucose syrup 69DE in the above-mentioned proportions. The mixture was left for 1 hour in a refrigerator at 4° C.

(10) The whipping solution was added to a whipping chamber of a Ter Braak Preswhip mixing machine and the chamber was closed.

(11) A base syrup was prepared by heating glucose 69DE syrup to 112° C. When the base syrup reached temperature, it was dosed into the whipping chamber with the beater rotating at 50% speed. The mixture was whipped under 3 bar pressure (compressed air) at 100% speed, with the cooling jacket set to 5° C. Aerated frappe was recovered from machine after the 15 minutes. At this stage, the protein content of the frappe was 0.89 wt %, and it had a density of from 0.25 g/ml to 0.35 g/ml.

(12) The cocoa liquor was then folded through the frappe by hand using spatula. The resultant mousse was allowed to cool to 35-40° C. before being deposited into chocolate shells. The density of the mousse was 0.64 g/ml, and it had a water activity of 0.62.

EXAMPLE 2

(13) Alternative Preparation Method

(14) A mousse comprising similar ingredients to those described in Example 1 above was prepared on a larger scale in a pilot plant as illustrated in FIG. 1.

(15) As before, a hydrated whipping solution was prepared by mixing water, albumen and glucose 69DE in the above-mentioned proportions and left for 1 hour in a refrigerator at 4° C. In this case however, the base syrup was prepared by heating glucose 69DE syrup to 112° C. in a syrup cooking plant.

(16) Once at temperature, the syrup was pumped to a continuous aerator (CA) (Mondo-Mix). An appropriate quantity of the hydrated whipping solution and compressed air was injected into the flow just prior to entry into the aerator.

(17) The contents then flowed into a scraped surface heat exchanger (SSHE) to cool the mixture to 30-40° C.

(18) The back-pressure valve (BPV) of the aerator was adjusted to 3 bar. By appropriate adjustment of the rotational speed, cooling & back pressure, a frappe of density of 0.3 g/ml between 35-40° C. was obtained in a continuous process.

(19) The continuously produced frappe is admixed with an appropriate amount of the flavouring before flowing through a static mixer. After mixing, a pressurised depositor was used to deposit the resultant mousse into pre-prepared chocolate shells.

(20) After cooling, the chocolate shells were backed off using tempered chocolate and further cooled to form a product.

(21) Sensory testing of the mousse within the chocolate shells was carried out after 4 and 45 weeks in storage. In all tests, all samples were found to be within the range of reference, so the mousse of the invention appears to be highly shelf-stable.

EXAMPLE 3

(22) Comparison of Physical Properties of Mousses

(23) The physical properties of a range of mousses or related confectionery products were investigated. The mousses or mallows tested are set out in Table 1:

(24) TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 1 Mousse Designation Ambient Stable Mousse of the invention ASM Caramel including a Caramel flavouring Ambient Stable Mousse of the invention ASM Chocolate including a chocolate flavouring Ambient Stable Mousse of Example 1 ASM Example 1 Aerated frappe used in the preparation ASM Frappe of the Ambient Stable Mousse of the invention Ambient Stable Mousse of the invention ASM Gelled choco including a Gelled chocolate flavouring Ambient Stable Mousse of the invention ASM Mars  ® SO including a Mars ® standard flavouring Emulsion Mousse (Galaxy ® mousse) Emulsion Galaxy ® Nougat as found in Milky Way ® product Nougat Milky Way ® Refrigerated Aero ® Mousse Chilled Aero ® M′ se Ptasie Mieczko ® product Gelled P Mieczko Tunnocks ® tea cake mallow Mallow Tunnocks Fat-based Cream - Cadbury ‘Egg and FBC Egg and Spoon’ ® Spoon ®

(25) The water activity of each of these mousses was measured using Aqualab Series TE DUO 4 machine (Decagon Devices, Inc., USA). The calibration of the instrument was performed using 8.57 M LiCl solution. Mousse samples before were placed into small water activity pots and the measurement was carried out at 20° C. The samples were read in duplicate with an average value reported out. Results shown in FIG. 2A indicate that the mousse of the invention has a water activity below 0.75, in line with those of highly shelf stable mousses and far below that of refrigerated mousses.

(26) Moisture content in the samples was measured in triplicate using Karl Fischer method. The Turbo2 autotitrators (ThermoFisher Scientific, UK) were used to perform volumetric titrations using a single component Aquastar Composite 5 titrant (EMD chemicals) and methanol as the solvent with potentiometric end point determinations. Mougat samples were accurately weighed using an analytical balance (Mettler-Toledo, UK) after which they were transferred into the titration vessel, and blended at high speed (7500 rpm) for 5.5 min before beginning the titrations. The results are shown in FIG. 2B. The moisture content of the mousse of the invention was less than that of a refrigerated mousse.

(27) The volume fraction of air of each of the products was then analysed using X-ray microtomography. Specifically, the volume fraction of air was determined by using Skyscan X-ray micro-computed tomographic scanner (Bruker, UK). The samples were scanned inside the 32 ml pots. A median filtering operation was performed to remove the noise. The scan settings used were: scan resolution: 10.97 μm/pixel X-ray settings: 50 kV source voltage, 100 μA source current, 2×2 binning mode Scan settings: 0.4° rotation steps, 226° rotation Results are shown in FIG. 2C.

(28) Texture was then analysed using a texture analyser. The firmness and stickiness of the samples was measured using Stable Microsystems texture Analyser TA-HD plus equipped with 500 g load cell. The compression test was carried out on by using 10 mm diameter stainless steel probe and penetrating the samples deposited in the plastic 210 ml pots. The main set-up parameters were: mode: compression option: return to start test speed: 1 mm s-.sup.1 post-test speed: 5 mm s.sup.−1 target mode: distance distance: 15 mm trigger type: button data acquisition rate: 200 pps

(29) The firmness was measured as the maximum penetration force (N) at the deformation depth of 7 mm whereas the stickiness was determined as the maximum required to withdraw the probe after deformation at 15 mm.

(30) Results for the firmness are shown in FIG. 2D and for stickiness are shown in FIG. 2E. In this case, the hardness of and stickiness of the mousse of the invention was comparatively low, indicating that the texture of the mousse of the invention more closely resembles that of a soft mallow or refrigerated mousses than the commercially available shelf stable products.

(31) Viscoelastic properties were then analysed using a rheometer. The rheological properties of samples, such as storage modulus G′, loss modulus G″ and loss factor tan δ of the samples were measured using TA Instruments rheometer Discovery DHR-2. The amplitude sweep measurements may be carried out using 40 mm diameter crosshatched plates at a temperature of 20° C. The gap size of 2 mm was maintained during measurements. The amplitude sweep measurements were carried out by progressively increasing the amplitude in logarithmic fashion from 0.01 to 100% at the frequency of 1 Hz and measuring 5 points per decade. Each sample was carefully loaded into the rheometer and allowed to rest for 20 min before the measurement. The G′ and G″ values were determined from the linear viscoelastic region of the curve G′, G″ as a function of the amplitude. The value of the absolute shear modulus G* was also calculated.

(32) Results for the storage modulus G′ are shown in FIG. 2F, for loss modulus G″ in FIG. 2G and for absolute shear modulus G* are shown in FIG. 2H. In this case, the mousse of the invention was similar to that of many shelf stable products, indicating that it may be handled in a manufacturing environment. However, when the values of G′ and G″ were compared (FIG. 2I), this showed that the mousses of the invention were distinct in that the value of G″ was generally higher than that of G′. This reflected in them having loss factor, tan δ values of close to or greater than 1 (FIG. 2J). This is indicative that the mousses of the invention will be more viscous and less elastic than other conventional mousses.

(33) The products were also imaged using confocal laser scanning microscopy. Representative results are shown in FIG. 3. It is clear from this Figure that the fat content in the mousse of the invention is present in largely irregularly shaped agglomerations, in contrast to the generally much smaller circular globules found in a mousse derived from an emulsion.

EXAMPLE 4

(34) Sensory Testing

(35) The mousses of the invention and other mousse products were subjected to a testing using an independent trained sensory panel. The products tested were those listed in Table 1 above, with the exception of FBC Egg and Spoon, which was replaced with a different fat-based cream, specifically, Lindt Petit Dessert® Mousse au Chocolate, Noir, designated as ‘FBC Lindt M.Se’.

(36) All panellists received about 10 hours training to become familiar with the different products to be tested and with the vocabulary. Each panelist was assessed during the training and those panelists showing acceptable levels of discrimination, repeatability and consensus were used in an analysis. The panel was asked to rate each product on the range of texture attributes set out in Table 2:

(37) TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 2 Left Right Attribute Name Long description Anchor Anchor Stringy Degree to which the sample Nil Extreme pulls away from your mouth Aerated Amount of air present in the Dense Aerated sample Resistance to Degree to which the sample Nil Extreme bite resists deforming or bending under the incisors Speed of Speed at which the sample Slow Fast breakdown breaks down Sticky Degree to which the sample Nil Extreme sticks around the mouth Chew amount Number of chews needed to get Nil Extreme the sample ready to swallow Thick Measure of how “thick” the Thin Thick sample is during chew down Moist How wet your mouth feels Dry Moist while chewing the sample Speed of melt How fast the sample goes from Slow Fast solid to semi solid Powdery Amount of fine particles Not v. (sand-like) on the surface of powdery powdery the mass measure by rubbing on the palate Residual mouth Amount of coating (=film) on Nil Extreme coating the mouth surface, i.e. palate, cheeks and gums Tooth Amount of material impacted Nil Extreme pack/Stick in the teeth crevices and crowns, or stuck on the teeth

(38) Each panelist was asked to rate all samples in a fully randomized sample set across three repetitions.

(39) To look at the products through a holistic approach while being able to compare products, the sensory common approach of PCA then clustering was applied to the results obtained. A correlation PCA was first performed on the attributes which were significant at 20% in the mixed model ANOVA. Then a Hierarchical Clustering was performed on the principal components. To select an appropriate number of clusters, three criteria were taken into account: 1) The level of inertia explained. 2) The ratio between inter cluster variance vs intra cluster variance. 3) The ability of a cluster to be discriminated from the others by at least one attribute (significant p-value in a v-test).

(40) Using this technique, the best explanation of the sample set obtained was given by 4 clusters as illustrated in FIG. 4.

(41) The results are summarised in the following Table 3.

(42) TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 3 Cluster Attribute v. test p-value Cluster 1 Speed of breakdown/cohesion 2.74 0.01 Speed of melt 2.42 0.02 Aerated 2.07 0.04 Toothpack Stick −2.08 0.04 Resistance to bite elastic −2.23 0.04 Thick −2.27 0.02 Chew amount −2.38 0.02 Cluster 2 Stringy 2.90 0.00 Sticky adhesive 2.47 0.01 Cluster 3 Residual mouthcoating −2.15 0.03 Cluster 4 Powdery 3.17 0.00 Thick 2.56 0.01 Stringy −1.99 0.05 Moist Mouthwatering −2.-1 0.04 Aerated −2.55 0.01

(43) Mousses of the invention where all contained within a single cluster characterised by higher stringy and higher sticky or adhesive properties. These observations are consistent with the mousse having a tan δ value of 0.95 and above.