Shelf-stable spreadable cream

Abstract

The invention refers to a shelf-stable spreadable cream comprising, in dry weight percent, based on the total dry weight of the spreadable cream, 5-45% legumes and 5-55% nuts. The invention also refers to a method for the production of the shelf-stable spreadable cream of the invention comprising the steps of: a) mixing the ingredients of a spreadable cream composition comprising, in dry weight percent, based on the total dry weight of the spreadable cream composition, 5-45% legumes and 5-55% nuts, thus obtaining an emulsified spreadable cream composition; b) heat treating the spreadable cream composition of step a); and c) packaging the emulsified spreadable cream composition. The invention also refers to the shelf-stable spreadable cream obtainable by the method of the invention.

Claims

1. A shelf-stable spreadable cream composition having a creamy texture, comprising, in dry weight percent, based on the total dry weight of the spreadable cream, 5-30% legumes, wherein said legumes are selected from the group consisting of cannellini beans, navy beans, great northern beans, white beans, kidney beans wax beans, pinto beans and cranberry beans, 5-45% nuts further comprising, 3-15% dietary fiber; 10-20% total fats; less than 5% saturated fatty acids and 1-10% legume protein, wherein water activity (a.sub.w) of the shelf-stable spreadable cream is between 0.60 and 0.85 wherein the shelf-stable spreadable cream has a moisture content, in weight percent, of at least 20%, based on the total weight of the spreadable cream; wherein the legumes are chosen from the group consisting of the common beans having in dry weight percent, based on the total weight of the legumes, a protein content between 17 and 30%, a total carbohydrate content, including dietary fibre, comprised between 45 and 75%, a lipids content comprised between 1 and 5%, and an ash content comprised between 2.5 and 4.5%; wherein the shelf-stable spreadable cream is an oil-in-water emulsion; wherein the shelf-stable spreadable cream has a viscosity at 20 C. comprised between 8,000 and 200,000 cP measured with a Brookfield viscometer at 12 RPM, wherein the legumes and the nuts have an average particle size of 500 m or less; and wherein the spreadable cream has an energetic value of 450 Kcal per 100 g of product or lower.

2. The shelf-stable spreadable cream of claim 1, wherein said legumes comprise all edible parts of a whole legume.

3. The shelf-stable spreadable cream of claim 1 further comprising, in dry weight percent, based on the total dry weight of the spreadable cream, 1-70% of a sweetening agent.

4. The shelf-stable spreadable cream of claim 1 further comprising, in dry weight percent, based on the total dry weight of the spreadable cream, 1-30% of a flavoring ingredient.

5. A method for the production of the shelf-stable spreadable cream composition according according to claim 1 comprising the steps of: a) mixing the ingredients of a spreadable cream composition comprising, in dry weight percent, based on the total dry weight of said spreadable cream composition, 5-45% legumes and 5-45% nuts, thus obtaining an emulsified spreadable cream composition; b) heat treating said spreadable cream composition of step a); and c) packaging said emulsified spreadable cream composition wherein said mixing step a), is optionally preceded by a pre-mixing step a) of two or more ingredients of a spreadable cream composition.

6. Method according to claim 5, wherein said mixing step a) comprises subjecting two or more of the ingredients of said spreadable cream composition to a high performance treatment which comprises any comminuting, compressing, refining, grinding or shearing process capable of inducing both size reducing and mixing of the two or more of the ingredients of said spreadable cream composition.

7. Method according to claim 6, wherein said high performance treatment of mixing step a) is selected from the group comprising: shearing with rotating tools; compressing between rotating cylinders; grinding; refining by both compressing and shearing; and combinations thereof.

8. Method according to claim 6, wherein said high performance treatment of step a) is carried out at a peripheral speed of 20-500 rpm.

9. Method according to claim 6, wherein said high performance treatment of step a) is carried out until an average particle size of said two or more of the ingredients of the spreadable cream composition of 500 m or less is obtained.

10. Method according to claim 6, wherein in said high performance treatment of step a), said two or more of the ingredients of the spreadable cream composition consist of dry ingredients.

11. Method according to claim 6, wherein, in step a), said high performance treatment is preceded by a pre-mixing step a) of two or more ingredients of a spreadable cream composition.

12. Method according to claim 6, wherein, in step a), said high performance treatment is followed by a step a) of further mixing the ingredients of the spreadable cream composition.

13. Method according to claim 5, wherein said heat treatment of step b) is a sterilization.

14. Method according to claim 5, wherein said step b) of heat treatment comprises subjecting the spreadable cream composition to a heat treatment at 60-130 C. for 3-1800 seconds.

15. A shelf-stable spreadable cream obtainable by the method of claim 5.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a flow chart representing the process for the manufacture of the shelf-stable spreadable cream of the present invention according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

(2) FIG. 2 is a flow chart representing the process for the manufacture of the shelf-stable spreadable cream of the present invention according to another preferred embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(3) The present invention will be further described making reference to the examples provided hereafter by way of illustrative and non-limiting cases.

Example 1

(4) Production of a Cocoa-Hazelnut Shelf-Stable Spreadable Cream (see FIG. 1)

(5) The following dry ingredients (Table 1) were weighed and dosed in a ball mill refiner (model Roboqbo Qb8-3, produced by Roboqbo, Bologna, Italy) having a rotor shaft with arms for stirring, having a capacity of 8 l, tank dimensions of 856588 cm, and provided with inox stainless steel beads and mixed at a peripheral speed of 80 rpm at room temperature until a smooth semi-processed composition was formed (about 6 hours).

(6) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 List of dry ingredients Ingredient Weight (g) Pre-cooked cannellini bean flour 2560 Hazelnut paste 4220 Cocoa powder 420

(7) After this operation, the semi-processed paste was mixed, at room temperature, with 12800 g of grape sugars in liquid form (35% (w/v) concentration) in a multifunctional mixer cutter (Roboqbo NS25, produced by Roboqbo, Bologna, Italy) having a capacity of 25 l and provided with a rotor blade until a smooth and emulsified spreadable cream composition was formed.

(8) The emulsified cream thus formed was then heat treated by use of a scraped surface heat exchanger at 80 C. for 50 seconds. The cream was then hot-filled into sterile glass jars. The glass jars had a capacity of 315 ml and were each filled with about 300 ml of cream. The filled glass jars were then sealed with screw caps (of the type having the security capsule for the maintenance of vacuum) and turned upside down so that all the internal surface of the jar and the screw cap had been heat treated by the hot product. The jars were then cooled to 25 C.

Example 2

(9) Production of a Cocoa-Hazelnut Shelf-Stable Spreadable Cream (see FIG. 2)

(10) The following ingredients (Table 2) were weighed and dosed, at room temperature, in a batch tank multifunctional cutter mixer (Roboqbo NS25, produced by Roboqbo, Bologna, Italy) having a capacity of 25 l and provided with a rotor blade and mixed to obtain a semi-processed composition.

(11) TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 List of ingredients Ingredient Weight (g) Pre-cooked rehydrated cannellini bean flour 7040 Hazelnut paste 4220 Cocoa powder 420 Grape sugars in crystal form 8320

(12) The content was then transferred to a ball mill refiner (Roboqbo Qb25-3, produced by Roboqbo, Bologna, Italy) having a rotor shaft with arms for stirring, having a capacity of 25 l, tank dimensions of 11098155 cm, and provided with inox stainless steel beads and mixed at a peripheral speed of 80 rpm at room temperature until a smooth and emulsified spreadable cream composition was formed (about 6 hours).

(13) The emulsified cream thus formed was then heat treated by use of a scraped surface heat exchanger at 80 C. for 50 seconds. The cream was then hot-filled into sterile glass jars. The glass jars had a capacity of 315 ml and were each filled with about 300 ml of cream. The filled glass jars were then sealed with screw caps (of the type having the security capsule for the maintenance of vacuum) and turned upside down so that all the internal surface of the jar and the screw cap had been heat treated by the hot product. The jars were then cooled to 25 C.

Example 3

(14) Characteristics of the Cocoa-Hazelnut Shelf-Stable Spreadable Cream

(15) The following parameters of the shelf-stable spreadable cream of Example 1 were measured after production: water activity (a.sub.w), moisture content, viscosity, pH, presence of phase separation. The following Table 3 lists the method of measurement and the measurement value for each parameter. Each measurement value is an average of three measurements.

(16) TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Measurement values of parameters of the shelf-stable spreadable cream of Example 1 Measurement Parameter Method of measurement value Water Dew point method. Aqualab water 0.77 Activity (a.sub.w) activity meter T4e (Decagon Devices, USA) Moisture Drying with an air-ventilated oven 25.3 content (measurement of the weight loss) (MC %) Viscosity Brookfield viscometer @ 12 RPM 38000 cP and 20 C. pH pH meter 5.5 Presence of Visual No phase separation

(17) The nutritional information of the shelf-stable spreadable cream of Example 1 was calculated, based on the ingredient composition of the spreadable cream using, as reference, official databases (INRAN, USDA). The results are shown in Table 4, which includes the contents of carbohydrate (including sugars and dietary fiber), fat (including the content of mono- and poly-unsaturated fatty acids, saturated fatty acids and trans fatty acids), protein, and energetic value per 100 g. Considering two tablespoons (38 g) a standard serving size for this product type, the mentioned values are also expressed per serving size. As required by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), values for vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium and iron are listed in Table 4.

(18) TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Nutritional composition of the shelf-stable spreadable cream of Example 1 Value/serving Nutritional value Value/100 g size Calories 337.8 Kcal 125 Kcal Total Fat 13.6 g 5 g Saturated Fat 1.3 g 0.5 g Trans Fat 0 g 0 g Polyunsaturated 1.9 g 0.7 g Fat Monounsaturated 9.8 g 3.6 g Fat Cholesterol 0 mg 0 mg Sodium 41.7 mg 15.4 mg Total 49.7 g 18.3 g Carbohydrate Dietary Fiber 6 g 2.2 g Sugars 42.8 g 15.8 g Proteins 6.2 g 2.3 g Vit. A 0.742 g 0.274 g Vit. C 1.71 mg 0.63 mg Calcium 42.0 mg 15.5 mg Iron 2.4 mg 0.89 mg

Example 4

(19) Sensory Evaluation

(20) A sensory panel was set up to compare the shelf-stable spreadable cream of the present invention with a market leader cocoa-hazelnut spreadable cream in Italy, Nutella (Ferrero SpA, Italy).

(21) A sensory panel of 9 evaluators was set up and the panelists were asked to rate the test spreads according to the following parameters: smell (hazelnut note, cocoa note, off notes), taste (hazelnut note, cocoa note, off notes, sweetness), texture (spreadability, stickiness), overall acceptability.

(22) The scores ranged from 1 to 9, where 1 means that the parameter being measured is poorly represented and 9 means that the parameter being measured is highly represented.

(23) The product being analysed was at room temperature during the tasting.

(24) The results are presented in following Table 5 and the legend of the scores in presented in following Table 6.

(25) TABLE-US-00005 TABLE 5 Results of sensory analysis test 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 SCORE SMELL Hazelnut note Invention 4 5 7 5 2 5 5 4 4 4.5 Competitor 5 5 6 4 3 4 4 6 7 4.8 Cocoa note Invention 3 3 4 5 3 3 5 4 4 3.8 Competitor 4 5 5 3 7 4 6 5 6 5 Off notes Invention 1 1 1 3.sup.a) 1 1 1 1 1 1.2 Competitor 1 1 1 7.sup.b) 1 1 1 1 1 1.6 TASTE Hazelnut note Invention 3 5 6 6 5 6 5 5 6 5.2 Competitor 5 5 4 5 3 7 4 6 7 5.1 Cocoa note Invention 2 3 4 3 4 4 4 3 4 3.4 Competitor 4 5 6 5 4 3 6 7 8 5.3 Off notes Invention 2.sup.c) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1.1 Competitor 1 1 1 7.sup.d) 1 1 1 1 1 1.6 Sweetness Invention 5 5 4 5 6 5 4 4 4 4.6 Competitor 7 8 7 8 7 7 7 7 7 7.2 TEXTURE Spreadability Invention 3 5 4 5 7 5 4 3 4 4.4 Competitor 5 5 5 4 6 4 6 7 6 5.3 Stickiness Invention 5 7 5 6 1 5 7 5 4 5 Competitor 7 5 5 5 3 7 4 4 8 5.3 OVERALL Invention 5 5 4 8 7 8 6 5 4 5.7 ACCEPTABILITY Competitor 6 7 5 5 7 4 4 2 8 5.3 .sup.a)Comment from panelist: ripe fruit .sup.b)Comment from panelist: sugar .sup.c)Comment from panelist: grape .sup.d)Comment from panelist: sugar

(26) TABLE-US-00006 TABLE 6 Legend of the scores of sensory analysis test LEGEND Hazelnut note, cocoa Off- Sweet- Spread- Overall note notes ness ability Stickiness acceptability 1 Too light Absent Not Not Not sticky I do not sweet spreadable like it 5 Ideal Present Ideal Ideal Ideal I like it 9 Too strong Too Too Too fluid Too sticky I like it a lot much sweet present

Example 5

(27) Production of a Low-Calorie Cocoa-Hazelnut Shelf-Stable Spreadable Cream

(28) The following dry ingredients (Table 7) were weighed and dosed in ball mill refiner (model Roboqbo Qb8-3, produced by Roboqbo, Bologna, Italy) having a rotor shaft with arms for stirring, having a capacity of 8 l, tank dimensions of 856588 cm, and provided with inox stainless steel beads and mixed at a peripheral speed of 80 rpm at room temperature until a smooth semi-processed composition was formed (about 6 hours).

(29) TABLE-US-00007 TABLE 7 List of dry ingredients Ingredient Weight (g) Pre-cooked cannellini bean flour 2560 Hazelnut paste 4220 Cocoa powder 420

(30) After this operation, the semi-processed paste was mixed, at room temperature, with 12800 g of water in a multifunctional mixer cutter (Roboqbo NS25, produced by Roboqbo, Bologna, Italy) having a capacity of 25 l and provided with a rotor blade until a amooth and emulsified spreadable cream composition was formed.

(31) The emulsified cream composition thus formed was then heat treated by use of a scraped surface heat exchanger at 80 C. for 50 seconds. The cream was then hot-filled into glass jars. The glass jars had a capacity of 315 ml and were each filled with about 300 ml of cream. The filled glass jars were then sealed with screw caps (of the type having the security capsule for the maintenance of vacuum) and turned upside down so that all the internal surface of the jar and the screw cap had been heat treated by the hot product. The jars were then cooled to 25 C.

Example 6

(32) Characteristics of the Low-Calorie Cocoa-Hazelnut Shelf-Stable Spreadable Cream

(33) The nutritional composition of the shelf-stable spreadable cream of Example 5 was calculated, based on the ingredient composition of the spreadable cream using, as reference, official databases (INRAN, USDA). The results are shown in Table 8, which includes the contents of carbohydrate (including sugars and dietary fiber), fat (including the content of mono- and poly-unsaturated fatty acids, saturated fatty acids and trans fatty acids), protein, and energetic value per 100 g. Considering two table spoons (38 g) a standard serving size for this product type, the mentioned values are also expressed per serving size. As required by FDA, values for vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium and iron are listed in Table 8.

(34) TABLE-US-00008 TABLE 8 Nutritional composition of the shelf-stable spreadable cream of Example 5 Value serving Nutritional value Value/100 g size Calories 176.6 Kcal 65.3 Kcal Total Fat 13.6 g 5 g Saturated Fat 1.3 g 0.5 g Trans Fat 0 g 0 g Polyunsaturated 1.9 g 0.7 g Fat Monounsaturated 9.8 g 3.6 g Fat Cholesterol 0 mg 0 mg Sodium 22.3 mg 8.3 mg Total 8.1 g 3 g Carbohydrate Dietary Fiber 6 g 2.2 g Sugars 1.2 g 0.45 g Proteins 6.2 g 2.3 g Vit. A 0.742 g 0.274 g Vit. C 1.71 mg 0.63 mg Calcium 42.0 mg 15.5 mg Iron 2.4 mg 0.89 mg

(35) The spreadable cream had a creamy texture, a good taste, and had a good appearance. It was easily spreadable on bread using a knife or a spoon.