EMULSIFIED FOOD FORMULATION

Abstract

A ready-to-use emulsified food formulation containing a vegetable in a finely divided form, vegetable oil, water, and an oleaginous seed in a finely divided form and, present in an amount of between 0.1% and 15% by weight, is disclosed. The emulsified food formulation is free of thickeners, emulsifiers and stabilizers and is obtained by homogenization carried out at a pressure greater than or equal to 10000 kPa. The emulsified food formulation is characterized by having a modal diameter of the particles contained therein of greater than or equal to 300 μm and by containing a vegetable fiber in a finely divided form having a fiber content of greater than (70)% w/w and a water binding capacity of greater than 5 g water/g dry matter.

Claims

1. A ready-to-use emulsified food formulation, being free of food additives consisting of thickeners, emulsifiers and stabilizers, comprising a vegetable in a finely divided form, vegetable oil, water, and a oleaginous seed in a finely divided form, wherein said oleaginous seed is present in a quantity of between 0.1% and 15% by weight of the total weight of said formulation, said emulsified food formulation being obtained by homogenization carried out at a pressure equal to or higher than 10000 kPa and having a modal diameter of the particles contained therein greater than or equal to 300 μm and by additionally containing a vegetable fiber in a finely divided form, having a fiber content greater than 70% w/w and a water binding capacity greater than 5 g water/g dry matter.

2. The food formulation according to claim 1, wherein said vegetable fiber in a finely divided form has a humidity content less than 10%.

3. The food formulation according to claim 1, wherein the fiber content of said vegetable fiber is between 75% and 80% w/w and the water binding capacity of said vegetable fiber is between 6.0 and 28.0 g water/g dry matter.

4. The food formulation according to claim 1, wherein the modal diameter of the particles contained in said formulation is between about 300 and 1500 micrometers.

5. The food formulation according to claim 1, wherein said homogenization is carried out at a pressure of between 15000 kPa and 30000 kPa.

6. The food formulation according to claim 1, wherein said vegetable fiber in a finely divided form is selected from the group comprising citrus fiber, apple fiber, pea fiber, potato fiber, carrot fiber and rice fiber, and has an average particle size less than or equal to 1500 μm.

7. The food formulation according to claim 1, wherein said oleaginous seed in a finely divided form is selected from the group consisting of almond, cashew, pistachio, hazelnut, walnut, pecan nut, macadamia nut, pine nuts, hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, peanuts, and chia seeds, and has an average particle size equal to or less than 1500 μm.

8. The food formulation according to claim 1, wherein said vegetable fiber is citrus fiber, and said oleaginous seed is cashew.

9. The food formulation according to claim 1, wherein said vegetable fiber is apple fiber, and said oleaginous seed is almond.

10. The food formulation according to claim 1, wherein said vegetable in a finely divided form is selected from the group consisting of basil, parsley, thyme, marjoram and oregano.

11. The food formulation according to claim 1, wherein said at vegetable in a finely divided form is present in a quantity of between 10% and 15% by weight of the total weight of the formulation and has an average particle size equal to or less than 1500 μm.

12. The food formulation according to claim 1, wherein said vegetable oil is selected from the group consisting of sunflower oil, corn oil, rice oil, sesame oil, peanut oil and olive oil.

13. The food formulation according to claim 12, wherein said vegetable oil is present in a quantity between 10% and 15% by weight of the total weight of the formulation.

14. The food formulation according to claim 1, further comprising an ingredient selected from the group consisting of salt, sugars, starches, vegetable proteins, legumes, garden vegetables, leafy greens, cereals and natural flavourings.

15. The food formulation according to claim 1, further comprising an acidifying ingredient selected from the group consisting of citrus juices and vinegar.

16. A food formulation according to claim 1, wherein said food formulation has a rotational viscosity greater than 80 Pa.Math.s, at a temperature of 22° C.

17. A food formulation according to claim 1, wherein said food formulation has a pH of between 3.0 and 5.0.

18. A food formulation according to claim 1 wherein said food formulation has a value of water activity (a.sub.w) greater than or equal to 0.95.

19. The food formulation according to claims 1, wherein said food formulation is storable at a temperature of between 2° C. and 30° C. for a time period of at least two weeks.

20. (canceled)

21. The food formulation according to claim 1, wherein the modal diameter of the particles contained in said formulation is between 700 and 900 micrometers.

22. The food formulation according to claim 1, wherein said vegetable in a finely divided form is basil.

23. The food formulation according to claim 1, wherein said vegetable oil is extra virgin olive oil.

24. The food formulation according to claim 1, wherein said vegetable oil is sunflower oil.

25. The food formulation according to claim 1, wherein the food formulation has a rotational viscosity greater than 115 Pa.Math.s at a temperature of 22° C.

26. The food formulation according to claim 1, wherein the food formulation has a pH of between 3.5 and 3.9.

27. The food formulation according to claim 1, wherein the food formulation has a value of water activity (a.sub.w) of between 0.95 and 0.99.

28. The food formulation according to claim 1, wherein said food formulation is storable at a temperature of between 2° C. and 30° C. for a time period of 24 months.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0064] FIG. 1 refers to a series of photographs which show how the stability of a same emulsified food formulation changes by varying the homogenization conditions and the concentration of the oleaginous seed (cashews) contained in the formulation.

[0065] FIG. 2 is an image of the formulation according to Example 2 of the present invention, obtained by the optical microscope Eclipse E400 Nikon ®, 10× objective lens.

[0066] FIG. 3 shows a graph of the modal distribution of the diameter of the particles contained in the formulation according to Example 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

EXAMPLE 1

Example of Formulations According to the Present Invention

[0067] Some examples of recipes of the emulsified food formulation according to the present invention are reported below:

TABLE-US-00002 Ingredient weight (g) Recipe a) Water 60 Basil leaves 13 Sunflower oil 11.7 Cashews 5 Concentrated lemon juice 9 Citrus fiber 0.30 (HERBACEL ® AQ ® Plus Citrus) Salt 1 Recipe b) Water 59.3 Basil leaves 13 Sunflower oil 11.7 Almonds 5 Concentrated orange juice 9 Apple fiber 1 Salt 1 Recipe c) Water 60 Oregano leaves 13 Sunflower oil 11.6 Pistachios 5 Concentrated lime juice 9 Citrus fiber 0.40 (HERBACEL ® AQ ® Plus Citrus) Salt 1 Recipe d) Water 59.6 Parsley leaves 13 Corn oil 11.7 Cashews 5 Concentrated lemon juice 9 Pea fiber 0.70 Salt 1

EXAMPLE 2

Method of Production of a Food Formulation According to the Present Invention

[0068] Below is shown an example process for obtaining a ready-to-use emulsified formulation according to the invention starting from recipe a) according to the above-shown Example 1.

[0069] Among the ingredients listed in the above-mentioned recipe a), the fresh basil leaves were initially washed.

[0070] About 2% w/w of the basil leaves were isolated and set aside for later addition.

[0071] Sunflower oil, concentrated lemon juice, citrus fiber (HERBACEL® AQ® Plus Citrus), salt and cashews were then added to the remaining part of the basil leaves in a colloidal mill (model MZ 80, Frymakoruma®, motor rotation speed 2888 min.sup.-1).

[0072] The outer element of the colloidal mill (that is the stator) was fixed, while the internal cone (the rotor) was moving at high speed.

[0073] Crushing was caused by a simultaneous cutting and rubbing action of the material moving through the grooves of the surfaces and by an induced action of high-frequency vibration. These actions exerted high pressure-tensile forces on the product particles so that they were crushed and ripped. An intense vortex inside the grinding passage and the action connected thereto determine the high crushing, mixing and homogenizing power operated by the colloidal mill. The basil leaves and cashews are thus comminuted and simultaneously mixed with the sunflower oil and the other ingredients.

[0074] Subsequently, the mixture was introduced into the NS2006 L homogenizer by the company GEA Niro Soavi®, at a feed rate of 40 litres/hour, and was treated according to the following steps: [0075] First homogenization stage at 12000 kPa, at 40° C. and 40 litres/hour; [0076] Second homogenization stage at 28000 kPa, at 40° C. and 40 litres/hour.

[0077] The resulting homogenized emulsified formulation had an average particle size equal to about 500 μm.

[0078] The previously isolated fraction of basil leaves, which was later roughly ground in order to keep the visibility of the basil leaves in the end product, was then added to such formulation.

[0079] At the end of this phase, the emulsified formulation was heated at 95° C., dosed inside glass jars, which were then sealed with a specific metal safety cap and immersed in boiling water (98° C.) for 30 minutes, so as to obtain the complete pasteurization of the formulation.

[0080] The thus-obtained formulation appeared as a viscous fluid with creamy and uniform consistency, characterized by an overall intense green and non-transparent colour.

[0081] The uniformity of the particle dispersion of basil, cashew and citrus fiber was verified by an optical microscope Eclipse E400 Nikon ®, 10× objective lens (FIG. 2).

[0082] The modal diameter distribution of the particles contained in the formulation is shown in FIG. 3.

EXAMPLE 3

Comparative Test

[0083] A comparative test was carried out between a formulation according to the invention (I) and formulations not according to the invention (II, III and IV), according to the following recipes, in order to evaluate whether, by varying the parameters of the type of homogenization and the quantity of an oleaginous seed incorporated in the formulation according to the invention, the latter showed changes from the point of view of the physical stability, by particularly analysing the phenomenon of the separation of the aqueous phase from the oil phase.

[0084] The tested samples were obtained according to the procedure described in Example 2, starting from ingredients as specified below for each sample and by applying specific homogenization steps according as follows : [0085] Formulation I (according to the present invention): water 50 g, basil 13 g, sunflower oil 15 g, cashews 6 g, citrus fiber (HERBACEL® AQ® Plus Citrus) 0.5 g; subjected to high-pressure homogenization (280 bar) by homogenizer NS2006 L by the company GEA Niro Soavi®. [0086] Formulation II (not according to the invention): water 56 g, basil 13 g, sunflower oil 15 g, citrus fiber (HERBACEL® AQ® Plus Citrus) 0.5 g; subjected to the high-pressure homogenization (280 bar) by homogenizer NS2006 L by the company GEA Niro Soavi. [0087] Formulation III (not according to the invention): water 56 g, basil 13 g, sunflower oil 15 g, citrus fiber (HERBACEL® AQ® Plus Citrus) 0.5 g; subjected to a simple grinding by a household blender (speed 10000 rpm). [0088] Formulation IV (not according to the invention): water 50 g, basil 13 g, sunflower oil 15 g, cashews 6 g, citrus fiber (HERBACEL® AQ® Plus Citrus) 0.5 g; subjected to a simple grinding by a household blender (speed 10000 rpm).

[0089] The formulations I and IV comprise 6 g of cashews (6% by weight of the total weight of the formulation), while the formulations II and III are free of any oleaginous seeds.

[0090] The formulations I and II were moreover obtained by high-pressure homogenization, while the formulations III and IV were homogenized by a household kitchen blender.

[0091] All samples were placed in glass jars, sealed and kept at room temperature (25°) for 15 days.

[0092] At the end of this time period, the stability of the samples was evaluated from a physical point of view.

[0093] As can be well seen from FIG. 1, the only tested formulation which maintains physical stability at the end of the 2 weeks period was the formulation according to the present invention (formulation I), containing 6% cashews and subjected to a step of high-pressure homogenization (280 bar).

[0094] On the contrary, formulations II and III, which were free of oleaginous seeds, showed a distinguishable separation of the aqueous phase from the fat phase, although in particular formulation II was subjected to high-pressure homogenization.

[0095] The formulation IV, which contained 6% of cashews but obtained by homogenization by a household kitchen blender, showed a beginning of separation of the aqueous phase from the fat phase.

[0096] It is therefore clear that only the high-pressure homogenization of a formulation containing a vegetable fiber and an oleaginous seed, as defined in the above-mentioned formulation I, guarantees the physical stability of the formulation for its entire shelf-life at room temperature.