CHEESE PRODUCT WITH CARRAGEENAN CASING

Abstract

A cheese product with a carrageenan casing comprises soft cheese encapsulated in a casing comprising carrageenan. The cheese product can be manufactured by forming a coating comprising carrageenan around a soft cheese, for example by co-extruding the soft cheese within a liquid coating material comprising carrageenan such that the coating material forms a tubular coating around the cheese. The cheese product can be used to form the stuffing in a stuffed-crust pizza.

Claims

1. A cheese product comprising a soft cheese encapsulated in a tubular casing, the casing comprising sodium kappa carrageenan.

2. The A cheese product according to claim 1 wherein the casing is a coating.

3. (canceled)

4. The A cheese product according to claim 1 wherein the carrageenan is a mixture comprising Iota carrageenan and kappa carrageenan.

5. The A cheese product according to claim 1 wherein the carrageenan comprises, semi-refined carrageenan, or gel press carrageenan.

6. The A cheese product according to claim 1 wherein the carrageenan is, or comprises alcohol precipitated carrageenan.

7. The A cheese product according to claim 1 wherein the casing comprising sodium kappa carrageenan comprises at least 0.1% sodium kappa carrageenan.

8. The A cheese product according to claim 1 wherein the casing comprising sodium kappa carrageenan comprises no more than 8% sodium kappa carrageenan.

9. The A cheese product according to claim 1 wherein the casing comprising sodium kappa carrageenan comprises 0.1% to 15% carrageenan.

10-11. (canceled)

12. The A cheese product according to claim 1 wherein the casing comprises 0.1-8% carrageenan, 0-10% additives and 82-99.9% water.

13. The A cheese product according to claim 12 wherein the casing consists essentially of 0.1-8% carrageenan, 0-10% additives and 82-99.9% water, optionally also including incidental impurities.

14. The A cheese product according to claim 1 wherein the casing comprises 1-8% sodium kappa carrageenan, 0-10% other hydrocolloids and 82-99% water.

15. The A cheese product according to claim 14 wherein the casing consists essentially of 1-8% sodium kappa carrageenan, 0-10% other hydrocolloids and 82-99% water, optionally also including incidental impurities.

16. (canceled)

17. The A cheese product according to claim 1 consisting essentially of soft cheese encapsulated by the casing.

18. The A cheese product according to claim 1 wherein the casing breaks down and completely disintegrates leaving no trace visible to the naked eye, when heated, wrapped in bread dough in a pizza crust, at a temperature of 200° C. for 5 minutes.

19. The A cheese product according to claim 1 wherein the casing is a solid and not a gel.

20. A method of forming a cheese product comprising soft cheese encapsulated in a casing, the casing comprising sodium kappa carrageenan; the method comprising forming a coating comprising carrageenan around a soft cheese; the method comprising co-extruding a soft cheese with a liquid coating material comprising carrageenan such that the coating material forms a tubular coating around the cheese; wherein the co-extrusion is a cold-fill co-extrusion carried out at a temperature of less than 40° C.

21. The A-method according to claim 20 further comprising passing the coated cheese product through a potassium chloride setting solution to set the coating.

22. The A-method according to claim 21 comprising washing the set coated cheese product with water.

23. (canceled)

24. A method of forming a stuffed-crust pizza comprising providing a pizza base; providing a cheese product comprising soft cheese encapsulated in a tubular casing, the casing comprising sodium kappa carrageenan ; and encasing the cheese product in the pizza base.

25. The A-method according to claim 24 comprising encasing the cheese product in the pizza base without first performing any further processing steps on the cheese product to initiate degradation of the casing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0071] In order that the invention may be more clearly understood an embodiment thereof will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

[0072] FIG. 1 shows a lateral cross section through the cheese product of the invention;

[0073] FIG. 2 shows a plan view of the cheese product of FIG. 1;

[0074] FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of a part formed pizza base including the cheese product of FIGS. 1 and 2; and

[0075] FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of the apparatus used in the manufacture of the cheese product of FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0076] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a cheese product 1, consists of a casing 3 (shown at a much exaggerated thickness in FIG. 1), which encapsulates a heat-stable soft cheese 2. The casing is a coating comprising carrageenan made in accordance with the examples set out below. The casing 3 is tubular, and is secured at both ends by an inwardly extending flange in order to encapsulate the soft cheese 2, covering the entire outer circumferential surface and all but at the centre of the ends.

[0077] With reference to FIG. 4, the cheese product 1 may be produced by placing the soft cheese 2 in a first hopper 7 of a co-extrusion machine 8, and placing a coating composition comprising carrageenan made in accordance with one of the examples below into a second hopper 9 of the co-extrusion machine, and pumping the soft cheese 2 and coating composition through a co-extrusion head 10, such that the coating composition forms a coating film on the outer surface of the cheese product. The coated cheese product then passes into a bath 11 containing a curing agent 12, for example, potassium chloride solution, to cure the coating composition to form the coating/casing 3. The cheese product can be cut into lengths (e.g. of about 50 cm) as it leaves the co-extrusion head 10, such that the coating coats at least part of the ends to form the inwardly extending flange which secure the casing. Suitable machines to carry out this method are available from Handtmann (RTM). In particular, the following machines can be used: Handtmann (RTM) VF 616; Handtman (RTM) VF608 Plus and AL Handtmann (RTM) 152-21.

[0078] Having formed the cheese product 1, it is used to form a stuffed crust pizza. Thus, with reference to FIG. 3, a circular pizza base 4 of, in this embodiment, a 35 cm diameter is provided on a surface and two 50 cm long cheese products 1, 1' are placed end to end around the circumference of the pizza base on its upper surface 6, to form a circle, approximately 5 cm inwards of the edge 5 of the base 4. The edge 5 is then folded inwards over the cheese products 1 1’ to encapsulate them and form a stuffed crust. Toppings are then applied to the upper surface 6 of the pizza base and it is baked in a pizza oven (at e.g. 350° C.) to form a pizza.

[0079] During baking, the coating 3 will reach a high enough temperature, in a moist environment (owing to the bread dough surrounding it) at which point it will disintegrate, whilst the soft cheese 2 within will remain stable.

[0080] Tests carried out using coating compositions manufactured in accordance with the examples below all produced stuffed crust pizzas in which (with the bread dough removed) no visible trace remained of the coating composition.

EXAMPLES

[0081] In each example of the invention, a heat stable soft cheese, in particular a cream cheese, was formed by the following method for a 72 kg batch:

[0082] Ingredients: 33% (23.76 Kg Ireland/UK) Full Fat Soft Cheese, 14% (10.08 Kg Ireland/UK) Fresh Curd, 11% (7.92 Kg Ireland/UK) Low Fat Soft Cheese, 11% (7.92 Kg Ireland/UK) Mild Cheddar, 11% (7.92 Kg Ireland/UK) Mature Cheddar, 10% (7.2 Kg Ireland) Water, 6% (4.32 Kg Ireland) Natural Cheese Flavour, 2% (1.44 Kg / Thailand) Starch, 1.9% (1.37 Kg Germany) Stabilisers (E331, E339, E452), <0.1% (<0.072/Kg China) Potassium Sorbate (E202), <0.1% (<0.072/Kg Belgium) Lactic Acid (E270).

[0083] All cheese ingredients are placed in a Stephan ® Cooker UMSK80and blended with direct steam heat injection to 40° C. The Stephan ® Cooker UMSK80 is reopened and all remaining ingredients added. The mix is further blended with direct steam heat injection to 78° C. Direct steam is shut off at this point and product held for 1 minute at this temperature. The contents of the Stephan Ⓡ Cooker UMSK80are then pumped directly to a stainless steel holding vessel. The product is then chilled and allowed to cool fully to <5° C.

[0084] In each example, the cooled heat stable soft cheese was loaded into one hopper of a co-extrusion machine and co-extruded at room temperature within a casing formed by the coating compositions set out below, loaded into another hopper thereof. In example recipes 1-5 and 7 the sodium kappa carrageenan used was Carrageenan TS1980 by CP Kelco®. Example 6 uses iota carrageenan, GenutineⓇ 310-C by CP Kelco®.

Example Recipe 1

[0085] Sodium kappa carrageenan (3.25%) is slowly added under stirring to water (96.75%) at room temperature. Solution is stirred for 2 hours. Casing is extruded immediately and set in a 3M KCl bath.

Example Recipe 2

[0086] Sodium kappa carrageenan (2-6%) is slowly added under stirring to water (98-94%) at room temperature. Solution is stirred for 2 hours. Casing is extruded immediately and set in a 1-3M KCl bath. Casing washed with water directly after setting bath.

Example Recipe 3

[0087] Sodium kappa carrageenan (1.75%) and guar gum (0.5%) are dry-blended. Blend is slowly added under stirring to water (97.75%) at room temperature. Solution is stirred for 2 hours. Casing is extruded immediately and set in a 3 M KCl bath.

Example Recipe 4

[0088] Sodium kappa carrageenan (1.5%) and locust bean gum (0.5%) are dry-blended. Blend is slowly added under stirring to water (98%) at room temperature. Solution is stirred for 2 hours. Casing is extruded immediately and set in a 3M KCl bath.

Example Recipe 5

[0089] Sodium kappa carrageenan (1.5%) and xanthan (0.5%) are dry-blended. Blend is slowly added under stirring to water (98%) at room temperature. Solution is stirred for 2 hours. Casing is extruded immediately and set in a 3M KCl bath.

Example Recipe 6

[0090] Iota carrageenan (6%) is slowly added under stirring to water (94%) at room temperature. Solution is stirred for 2 hours. Casing is extruded immediately and set in a 3M KCl bath.

Example Recipe 7

[0091] Starch (4.5%) is precooked in water (55.5%) and cooled. Sodium kappa carrageenan is slowly added under stirring to water (38.5%) at room temperature. Solution is stirred for 30 min, followed by addition of the starch solution (<40° C.) to the carrageenan dough. Dough is further mixed for 1.5 hours. Casing is extruded immediately and set in a 3 M KCl bath.

[0092] The cheese product 1 using the coating composition of each example recipe was then manually handled and placed on a pizza base formed from a dough consisting of bread flour, sugar, salt, instant yeast, olive oil and water, with a moisture content of circa 60% - the product could be picked up with ease and would even suffer a degree of squeezing without breaking or collapsing, in a manner completely impossible prior to encapsulation. The base was folded to enclose the product in the crust, and baked in an oven at 250° C. for 6 minutes. When the cooked pizza base was cut, the casing had completely disintegrated, leaving no visible residue and in view of its heat stability, the soft cheese did not leak out of the crust, nor collapse considerably during cooking to form a cavity within the crust. The mouthfeel and flavour of the cheese in the crust was excellent.

[0093] The above embodiments and examples are described by way of example only. Many variations are possible without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. For example, shorter cheese products may be placed into bakery products such as bagels or croissants prior to cooking, or meat/poultry products such as chicken breast, steaks and so forth may be sliced (by hand or machine) and stuffed with the cheese products of the invention (by hand or machine). Sausages, such as chorizo, could even be formed around these cheese products, to provide a soft cheese stuffing.