Physically stable liquefied blue cheese composition and process for making it

Abstract

The present invention relates to a process for preparing a liquid cheese composition comprising a blue cheese, a fresh cheese and a vegetable oil, wherein the liquid cheese composition does not comprise a food additive added beyond the food additives present in the cheeses. A further aspect of the present invention is the resulting blue cheese composition.

Claims

1. A liquid cheese composition comprising: 30-60 wt % blue cheese; 20-35 wt % fresh cheese; 2-12 wt % vegetable oil; and a liquid aqueous component selected from the group consisting of water, milk and whey; wherein the liquid cheese composition has a pH from 4.5 to 6.0, and a viscosity from 50,000 to 350,000 cP at a temperature of 8° C.; and wherein the liquid cheese composition does not comprise diglycerides.

2. The liquid cheese composition according to claim 1, wherein the blue cheese is selected from the group consisting of Roquefort, Gorgonzola, blue Stilton, Stichelton, Bleu d′ Auvergne, and combinations therefrom.

3. The liquid cheese composition according to claim 1, wherein the fresh cheese is selected from the group consisting of cottage cheese, cream cheese, curd cheese, fromage blanc, goat cheese, ricotta, mozzarella, and combinations therefrom.

4. The liquid cheese composition according to claim 1, wherein the vegetable oil is selected from the group consisting of sunflower oil, safflower oil, rapeseed oil, corn oil, olive oil, soybean oil, peanut oil, palm oil and combinations thereof.

5. The liquid cheese composition according to claim 1, wherein the liquid aqueous component is liquid skimmed milk or liquid whey.

6. The liquid cheese composition according to claim 1 having a pH from 5.0 to 5.5.

7. The liquid cheese composition according to claim 1, wherein the total fat/oil content of the liquid cheese composition is less than 21 wt % of the composition.

8. The liquid cheese composition according to claim 1, wherein the total content of saturated fatty acids is below 8 wt % of the liquid cheese composition.

9. A process for preparing a liquid cheese composition comprising 30-60 wt % blue cheese, 20-35 wt % fresh cheese, 2-12 wt % vegetable oil, a liquid aqueous component selected from the group consisting of water, milk and whey, wherein the liquid cheese composition has a pH from 4.5 to 6.0, and a viscosity from 50,000 to 350,000 cP at a temperature of 8° C., and wherein the liquid cheese composition does not comprise diglycerides, the process comprising the steps of: a) mixing the blue cheese, the fresh cheese, the vegetable oil and the aqueous component in a mixer to form a mixture; b) heating the mixture of step a) to a temperature above 55° C.; and c) homogenizing the mixture of step a) at a temperature of above 55° C. and under pressure of at least 250 bars.

10. The process according to claim 1, wherein homogenizing the mixture in step c) is at a temperature of at least 65° C.

11. The process according to claim 1, wherein in step a) the aqueous component is liquid skimmed milk or liquid whey, and the liquid aqueous component is mixed with the vegetable oil first before adding and mixing with the blue cheese and the fresh cheese.

12. A food product comprising a liquid cheese composition comprising 30-60 wt % blue cheese, 20-35 wt % fresh cheese, 2-12 wt % vegetable oil, a liquid aqueous component selected from the group consisting of water, milk and whey, wherein the liquid cheese composition has a pH from 4.5 to 6.0, and a viscosity from 50,000 to 350,000 cP at a temperature of 8° C., and wherein the liquid cheese composition does not comprise diglycerides.

13. The liquid cheese composition according to claim 1, wherein the total fat/oil content of the liquid cheese composition is less than 19 wt % of the liquid cheese composition.

14. The liquid cheese composition according to claim 1 comprising 3.0-9.0 wt % of the vegetable oil.

15. The liquid cheese composition according to claim 1, wherein the total fat/oil content of the liquid cheese composition is less than 19 wt % of the composition.

16. The process according to claim 1, wherein homogenizing the mixture in step c) is at a temperature of at least 70° C.

17. The process according to claim 1, wherein homogenizing the mixture in step c) is at a temperature of up to 121° C.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1: Evaluation of consistencies of Recipes 1, 2, and 3 before and after baking.

(2) FIG. 2: Evaluation of consistencies of Recipes 3, 3A, 3B, and 3C before and after baking.

(3) FIG. 3: Evaluation of consistencies of Recipes 3, 3B, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 before and after baking.

(4) FIG. 4: Evaluation of the impact of homogenization and heat treatment of Recipes 3, 3A, 3B, and 3C.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(5) The present invention pertains to a liquid cheese composition comprising: 30-60 wt % blue cheese, 20-35 wt % fresh cheese, 2-12 wt % vegetable oil, and a liquid aqueous component selected from water, milk and/or whey;

(6) wherein the liquid cheese composition has a pH from 4.5 to 6.0, and a viscosity from 50,000 to 350,000 cP at a temperature of 8° C.; and

(7) wherein the liquid cheese composition does not comprise a food additive added beyond the food additives present in the blue and/or fresh cheese.

(8) In a preferred embodiment, the liquid cheese composition of the present invention is physically stable. “Physically stable” means that the composition has a homogeneous aspect and does not show phase separation or oiling out at room temperature for at least several hours. Preferably the liquid cheese composition is physically stable for at least one day, preferably for at least 1 week, 2 weeks or longer.

(9) The term “blue cheese” of the present invention relates to any type of cheese that is made and/or ripened with the addition of a mold, typically a Penicillium mold. The blue cheese is typically spotted or veined throughout with blue or blue-grey mold. It generally carries a distinct smell that is due to the mold and to types of bacteria encouraged to grow on the cheese together with the mold.

(10) “Fresh Cheese” of the present invention relates to any type of cheese that is made and ripened, if at all, in a relatively short time and has a soft, creamy or almost runny texture. For these cheeses, milk is curdled and drained with very little other processing.

(11) “Viscosity” refers to a measure of the resistance of a fluid to gradual deformation by stress. It corresponds to the informal concept of thickness of a fluid. Viscosity is determined herein in cP, wherein 1 cP is equal 1 mPa.Math.s. The term “food additive” of the present invention relates to substances added to a food product in order to add or enhance a certain function in said food product such as taste, texture, appearance. Originating in Europe, today, each food additive is assigned a unique number, termed E-number, which has now been adopted and extended by the Codex Alimentarius Commission to internationally identify all additives, regardless of whether they are approved for food use at a National level.

(12) In one embodiment, the present invention relates to the absence of a food additive from the liquid cheese composition of the present invention, wherein the food additive is a non-dairy food compound. “Non-dairy” in this context means that the additive is not naturally found in milk.

(13) As of the present invention, the food additive is an emulsifier, a sequestering agent, a texturing agent, a humectant and/or a milk protein replacer. Particularly, the food additive is one of the group consisting of melting salts, starches, gums, celluloses, alginates, chelating agents, phosphate salts, citrate salts, pectin, gelatin, agar, glycerol, polyol, egg proteins and soy proteins. Preferably, the cheese composition of the present invention does not comprise an added non-milk based emulsifier, stabilizer and/or thickener, wherein for example such emulsifier, stabilizer and/or thickener is selected from the group consisting of melting salts, xanthan gum, gum Arabic, guar gum, locust bean gum, cellulose, alginate, pectin, agar, carrageenan, starch, lecithin, mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, esters of fatty acids, sorbitol, glycerol, polysorbate, konjac, cassia gum and gelatin, or a combination thereof. Modern consumers do not like to have food ingredients with a lot of artificial, non-natural additives. Hence, advantageously, the present embodiment relates to an all-natural cheese composition which is presently much preferred by modern consumers, conscious of health and wishing to reduce artificial additives.

(14) An advantage of not adding a food additive to the liquid cheese composition of the present invention is that the resulting product is ‘clean label’, meaning that the product does not contain food additives which would need for example in Europe to be labelled with an E-number. Today's consumers clearly prefer composite food products which are natural and made with natural ingredients, and which do not contain the addition of ‘artificial’ food additives.

(15) In one embodiment, the blue cheese is selected from the group consisting of Roquefort, Gorgonzola, blue Stilton, Stichelton, and Bleu d'Auvergne, or a combination therefrom. Preferably the blue cheese is present in the liquid cheese composition of the present invention in an amount from 30-50 wt %, more preferably from 35-45 wt % of the total liquid cheese mass.

(16) In another embodiment, the fresh cheese of the present invention is selected from the group consisting of cottage cheese, cream cheese, curd cheese, fromage blanc, goat cheese, ricotta, and mozzarella, or a combination therefrom. Preferably, the fresh cheese of the present invention is present in the liquid cheese composition in an amount from 25-35 wt % of the total liquid cheese mass.

(17) In one embodiment, the vegetable oil of the present invention is selected from the group consisting of sunflower oil, safflower oil, rapeseed oil, corn oil, olive oil, soybean oil, peanut oil, palm oil and a combination thereof. Preferably, the vegetable oil is selected from a healthy oil having a low content of saturated fatty acids (SFA). Preferably the oil is selected from safflower oil, rapeseed oil or sunflower oil.

(18) In one preferred embodiment, the vegetable oil is present in the liquid cheese composition of the present invention in an amount of 3.0-9.0 wt %, more preferably in an amount of 4.0-5.0 wt % of the total liquid cheese composition.

(19) In one embodiment, the aqueous component is liquid milk or liquid whey. Preferably, the aqueous component is liquid skimmed milk.

(20) In a preferred embodiment, the liquid cheese composition of the present invention has a pH from 4.5 to 6.0. Preferably, the pH is from 5.0 to 5.5.

(21) In one embodiment, the liquid cheese composition according to the present invention has a total fat/oil content of the composition of less than 21 wt % of the composition, preferably of less than 19 wt % of the composition. Preferably, the liquid cheese composition of the present invention has a total content of saturated fatty acids of below 8 wt % of the composition. The term “fat” of the present invention refers to a lipid composition which is solid at 20° C.; the term “oil” of the present invention refers to a lipid composition which is liquid at 20° C. “Total fat/oil content” refers to the total amount of fats and oils in a said composition.

(22) Healthy eating is presently one of the main trends worldwide, and the food industry has a growing interest in the development of new food products having less fat and oil, but still excellent organoleptic properties. Oil and Fat are important providers and carriers of taste and aroma, and it is difficult to maintain a similar good taste and aroma profile of a food product having little oil and fat than a same product having lots of oil and fat. The present invention now allows to reduce the amount of fat and/or oil in a cheese composition of the present invention if compared to an equal volume of none liquefied cheese. At the same time also total amounts of saturated fatty acids of such a liquefied cheese mass can be reduced.

(23) The liquid cheese composition of the present invention has a viscosity from 50,000 to 350,000 cP at a temperature of 8° C. Preferably, the cheese composition of the present invention has a viscosity from 55,000 to 250,000 cP at a temperature of 8° C. It has been found by the inventors that these value ranges are optimal ranges for achieving a smooth, firm liquefied blue cheese product which does show minimal syneresis over time and does not give a gritty sensation on the tongue when consumed.

(24) In a preferred embodiment, the liquid cheese composition of the present invention further comprises herbs and/or spices. This relates to an incorporation of herbs and/or spices directly into the liquefied cheese composition even before its application e.g. onto a food product. Advantageously then herbs and/or spices do not need to be applied separately onto such a food product, which would result in an additional production step, increasing complexity and costs of production. Furthermore, dosing of such herbs and/or spices would be much easier and more consistent for an industrial application. And still further, as the herbs and/or spices would not need to be applied anymore individually e.g. on a production line, the dust level generated by such an application would be drastically reduced.

(25) Another aspect of the present invention relates to a process for preparing a liquid cheese composition of the present invention, comprising the steps of: a) mixing the blue cheese, the fresh cheese, the vegetable oil and the aqueous component in a mixer; b) heating the mixture of step a) to a temperature above 55° C.; c) homogenizing the mixture of step a) at a temperature of above 55° C. and under pressure of at least 250 bars.

(26) In a preferred embodiment, homogenizing the mixture in step c) of the present process is at a temperature of at least 65° C., more preferably of at least 70° C. Preferably, the homogenizing is not at a temperature above 121° C.

(27) A preferred embodiment of the present invention is a process, wherein in step a) the aqueous component is either liquid skimmed milk or liquid whey, and where said aqueous component is mixed with the vegetable oil first before adding and mixing with the blue cheese and fresh cheese. The inventors have found that it is very convenient to first prepare an emulsion between the skimmed milk or liquid whey with the vegetable oil, before then mixing this emulsion with the blue and fresh cheese components. In this way a very homogenous and smooth liquid cheese composition can easily be obtained.

(28) The present invention further pertains to a process which does not comprise a step of adding separately a food additive which can be an emulsifier, a stabilizer and/or a binder to the liquid cheese composition. Preferably, the process of the present invention does not comprise a step of adding a non-milk based emulsifier, stabilizer and/or binder selected for example from the group consisting of xanthan gum, gum Arabic, guar gum, locust bean gum, carboxymethyl cellulose, alginate, pectin, agar, carrageenan, gelatin, native starches, modified starches, lecithin, mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, esters of fatty acids, sorbitol, glycerol, polysorbate, konjac, cassia gum or a combination thereof. Modern consumers do not like to have food ingredients with a lot of artificial, non-natural additives. Hence, advantageously, the present embodiment relates to a process for producing an all-natural liquid cheese composition which is presently much preferred by modern consumers, conscious of health and wishing to reduce artificial additives.

(29) A still further embodiment is a process according to the present invention, comprising a step of adding herbs and/or spices. This allows incorporating herbs and/or spices directly into the cheese composition as part of the production process. A correct dosing of such herbs and/or spices is much easier as they are then not anymore in powdered form and can be dosed in usually much larger quantity batches. Furthermore, complexity and costs for applying herbs and/or spices onto a food product can be reduced considerably.

(30) A still further aspect of the present invention pertains to a food product prepared with making use of the liquid cheese composition of the present invention. Preferably, the food product of the present invention is a pizza, a hot-pocket sandwich or a prepared dish, topped or containing the disclosed liquefied cheese composition.

(31) Those skilled in the art will understand that they can freely combine all features of the present invention disclosed herein. In particular, features described for the product of the present invention may be combined with the process of the present invention and vice versa. Further, features described for different embodiments of the present invention may be combined. Further advantages and features of the present invention are apparent from the figures and examples.

(32) Example 1: A blue cheese preparation was produced using the following ingredients: Skim milk and oil blend: The blend was produced using a mixture of skimmed milk (70%) and vegetal oil (30%) at 40° C. The sunflower oil used had a saturated fat content of 10%. The mixture was homogenized in a bench scale piston-type homogenizer (APV Lab series Homogenizer) at different homogenization pressures. Among the different homogenization pressures tested (30, 50, 100, 200, 400, 500 bars), 400 bars homogenization pressure produced a highly texturized blend (pH=6.67). It was realized that the pressured below 200 bars, the blend was not stable for 4 days and exhibited phase separation during storage. Fresh cheese: The fresh cheese (0% fat) was obtained from Lactalis (France) (pH=4.24). Gorgonzola: The cheese was obtained from Bassi (Italy) (pH=5.48).

(33) The above 3 ingredients/blends were mixed for 1 min at ambient temperature in a Thermomix at 3 different ratios (Table 1). Total and Saturated Fat content was calculated for each recipe; the pH and apparent viscosities were measured using a Brookfield viscometer (Table 1).

(34) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Formulations of Recipe 1, 2, and 3 with physical- chemical parameters: Ingredients [%] Recipe 1 Recipe 2 Recipe 3 Gorgonzola 60 50 40 Fresh cheese 20 25 30 Skim milk:Oil blend 20 25 30 (70:30) SUM 100 100 100 % Fat (calculated) 21 19.5 19 % Saturated Fat 11.1 9.5 7.9 (calculated) pH 5.34 5.28 5.22 Brookfield viscosity 340,000 187,000 112,000 D + 1, 8° C. (cP)

(35) The texture and consistency at a temperature of 15° C. after 1 day of storage are shown in FIG. 1. To assess their performance in baking conditions, the three cheese slurries were then baked in oven (160° C., 7 min) over crackers.

(36) Based on the textural and baking performance evaluation, Recipe 3 was selected as the best recipe. The Recipe 3 was also recognized to have a significant organoleptic character of the Blue cheese, despite a high dilution (40% of Blue cheese).

(37) Example 2. Recipe 3 from Example 1 was further evaluated for the impact of homogenization and heat treatment. Following experimental design was used as shown in FIG. 4:

(38) Viscosity and pH of the recipes were measured (Table 2). As the uncertainty of measurement for the viscometer is 18%, the viscosities between the recipes were not different.

(39) TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Formulations of Recipe 3, 3A, 3B, and 3C with physical-chemical parameters: Analyte Recipe 3 Recipe 3A Recipe 3B Recipe 3C pH     5.28     5.32     5.33     5.39 Brookfield 130′000 176′000 156′000 103′000 viscosity D + 1, 8° C. (cP)

(40) To assess the performance of the 4 cheese preparations under baking conditions, the preparations were baked in an oven (160° C., 7 min) after 1 day of manufacturing (FIG. 2). Compared to the homogenized samples, the recipe 3 was the only recipe that exhibited a phase separation of fat. The samples heat treated at 70° C. (recipe 3B and recipe 3C) showed a more smooth and shiny texture compared to recipe 3 and 3A. Based on the evaluation, Recipe 3B was recognized to be the optimal cheese preparation.

(41) Example 3. Experiments were conducted to evaluate if the amount of oil can be reduced in the vegetable-oil blend to further reduce the fat and saturated-fat in the cheese preparations (Recipe 4 and 5). The recipes have been compared in Table 3.

(42) TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Formulations of Recipe 3B and 4 with physical- chemical parameters. Ingredient Recipe 3B Ingredient Recipe 4 Ingredient Recipe 5 Gorgonzola 40 Gorgonzola 40 Gorgonzola 40 Fresh cheese 30 Fresh 30 Fresh 30 cheese cheese Skim 30 Skim 30 Skimmed 30 milk:Oil milk:Oil milk blend (70:30) blend (85:15) SUM 100 SUM 100 SUM 100 % Fat 19 % Fat 14.5 % Fat 10 (calculated) (calculated) (calculated) % Saturated 7.9 % 7.45 % 7.0 Fat Saturated Saturated (calculated) Fat Fat (calculated) (calculated) pH 5.30 5.30 5.32 Brookfield 201,000 88,000 23,600 viscosity D + 1, 8° C. (cP)

(43) A few more recipes were created to assess the effect of milk protein concentrate (MPC 85) on the texture of the reduced fat cheese composition. The recipes have been tabulated below (Table 4).

(44) TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Formulations of Recipe 7, 8, and 9 with physical- chemical parameters. Ingredient Recipe 9 Ingredient Recipe 7 Ingredient Recipe 8 Gorgonzola 40 Gorgonzola 40 Gorgonzola 40 Fresh 30 Fresh 15 Fresh 30 cheese cheese cheese Skim 7.5 Skim 15 Skim 0 milk:Oil milk:Oil milk:Oil blend blend blend (70:30) (70:30) (70:30) MPC 85 in 22.5 MPC 85 in 30 MPC 85 in 30 milk 2.5% milk 2.5% milk 2.5% SUM 100 SUM 100 SUM 100 % fat 12.25 % fat 14.5 % fat 10 % SFA 7.225 % SFA 7.45 % SFA 7.0 Brookfield 77,200 34,800 28,400 viscosity D + 1, 8° C. (cP)

(45) Another recipe was created, where the Skim milk:oil blend was replaced with Crème Fraiche with 34% milk fat (i.e. 20% Saturated Fat) (Table 5).

(46) TABLE-US-00005 TABLE 5 Formulation of Recipe 6 with physical-chemical parameters. Ingredient Recipe 6 Gorgonzola 40 Fresh cheese 30 Crème fraiche 30 34% SUM 100 % fat 20.2 % SFA 13 pH 5.33 Brookfield 165,600 viscosity D + 1, 8° C. (cP)

(47) Without the addition of milk protein concentrate, the viscosity of the cheese slurries at 14.5% (recipe 4) and 10% fat (recipe 5) decreased drastically compared to the reference at 19% fat (recipe 3B) (Table 3).

(48) When MPC was added to the reduced fat cheese composition, the viscosity was not significantly different (recipe 8 versus recipe 5) (Table 4).

(49) The viscosity of the cheese composition containing 30% crème fraiche (recipe 6) was slightly less viscous than our reference containing 30% of vegetable cream (recipe 3B) (Table 5).

(50) To assess the performance of these recipes in baking conditions, the cheese preparations were baked in oven (160° C., 7 min) over the crackers.

(51) When MPC was added to the reduced fat cheese composition, the baking properties did not seem drastically different (recipe 8 versus recipe 5) (FIG. 3).

(52) Out of all the “further reduced fat content recipes”, the recipe 4 gave the best results in terms of organoleptic properties (sensory and appearance before/after cooking). Therefore, the best way to further reduce fat content in those cheese slurries is to reduce the quantity of sunflower oil in the vegetable cream.

(53) The cheese composition containing 30% crème fraiche (recipe 6) was more yellowish than our reference containing 30% of vegetable cream (recipe 3B) after baking; although the taste was similar.