WO 2012/041631 Al
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(12) INTERNATIONAL APPLICATION PUBLISHED UNDER THE PATENT COOPERATION TREATY (PCT) (19) World Intellectual Property Organization International Bureau (10) International Publication Number (43) International Publication Date n Λ 5 April 2012 (05.04.2012) WO 2012/041631 Al (51) International Patent Classification: [CN/US]; 4012 Linkwood Road, Apartment D, Baltimore, A23G 1/00 (2006.01) A23G 1/52 (2006.01) Maryland 212 10 (US). ZHU, Shiping [GB/GB]; Unilever A23G 1/36 (2006.01) R&D Colworth, Sharnbrook, Bedford Bedfordshire MK44 1LQ (GB). (21) International Application Number: PCT/EP201 1/065 105 (74) Agent: HUGOT, Alain, Eric, Philippe; Unilever PLC, Unilever Patent Group, Colworth House, Sharnbrook, (22) International Filing Date: Bedford Bedfordshire MK44 1LQ (GB). 1 September 201 1 (01 .09.201 1) (81) Designated States (unless otherwise indicated, for every English (25) Filing Language: kind of national protection available): AE, AG, AL, AM, (26) Publication Langi English AO, AT, AU, AZ, BA, BB, BG, BH, BR, BW, BY, BZ, CA, CH, CL, CN, CO, CR, CU, CZ, DE, DK, DM, DO, (30) Priority Data: DZ, EC, EE, EG, ES, FI, GB, GD, GE, GH, GM, GT, 10183814.2 30 September 2010 (30.09.2010) EP HN, HR, HU, ID, IL, IN, IS, JP, KE, KG, KM, KN, KP, (71) Applicant (for AE, AG, AU, BB, BH, BW, BZ, CA, CY, KR, KZ, LA, LC, LK, LR, LS, LT, LU, LY, MA, MD, EG, GB, GD, GH, GM, IE, IL, KE, KN, LC, LK, LS, MT, ME, MG, MK, MN, MW, MX, MY, MZ, NA, NG, NI, MW, MY, NA, NG, NZ, OM, PG, QA, RW, SC, SD, SG, NO, NZ, OM, PE, PG, PH, PL, PT, QA, RO, RS, RU, SL, SZ, TT, TZ, UG, VC, ZA, ZM, Z W only): UNILEVER RW, SC, SD, SE, SG, SK, SL, SM, ST, SV, SY, TH, TJ, PLC [GB/GB]; a company registered in England and TM, TN, TR, TT, TZ, UA, UG, US, UZ, VC, VN, ZA, Wales under company no. 41424, Unilever House, 100 ZM, ZW. Victoria Embankment, London Greater London EC4Y (84) Designated States (unless otherwise indicated, for every 0DY (GB). kind of regional protection available): ARIPO (BW, GH, (71) Applicant (for all designated States except AE, AG, AU, GM, KE, LR, LS, MW, MZ, NA, SD, SL, SZ, TZ, UG, BB, BH, BW, BZ, CA, CY, EG, GB, GD, GH, GM, IE, IL, ZM, ZW), Eurasian (AM, AZ, BY, KG, KZ, MD, RU, TJ, IN, KE, KN, LC, LK, LS, MT, MW, MY, NA, NG, NZ, TM), European (AL, AT, BE, BG, CH, CY, CZ, DE, DK, OM, PG, QA, RW, SC, SD, SG, SL, SZ, TT, TZ, UG, US, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HR, HU, IE, IS, IT, LT, LU, VC, ZA, ZM, ZW): UNILEVER N.V. [NL/NL]; Weena LV, MC, MK, MT, NL, NO, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SI, SK, 455, NL-3013 AL Rotterdam (NL). SM, TR), OAPI (BF, BJ, CF, CG, CI, CM, GA, GN, GQ, GW, ML, MR, NE, SN, TD, TG). (71) Applicant (for IN only): HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LIMITED [IN/IN]; Unilever House, B.D. Sawant Marg, Published: Chakala, Andheri East, Maharashtra, Mumbai 400 099 — with international search report (Art. 21(3)) (IN). — before the expiration of the time limit for amending the (72) Inventors; and claims and to be republished in the event of receipt of (75) Inventors/ Applicants (for US only): WILLIAMS, An¬ amendments (Rule 48.2(h)) drea [GB/GB]; Unilever R&D Colworth, Sharnbrook, Bedford Bedfordshire MK44 1LQ (GB). XU, Qingguo © o (54) Title: AERATED CHOCOLATE COMPOSITION AND PREPARATION THEREOF (57) Abstract: This invention relates to an aerated chocolate composition having an overrun of between 40% and 200%, prefer ably under 100% and wherein 80% of the cumulative area weighted size air bubble distribution is below 100 µπ , preferably below 90µπ , more preferably below 80µπ . AERATED CHOCOLATE COMPOSITION AND PREPARATION THEREOF This invention relates to an aerated chocolate composition and preparation thereof. It particularly relates to a n aerated chocolate composition having small air bubbles, invisible to naked eye, over a large overrun range. Background of the invention The pleasant flavour and superior texture are the two major characteristics of chocolate. Chocolate must be solid in room temperature, and yet melt rapidly in the mouth at 37°C to give the smooth mouth feeling. Dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate are the three major flavours. Chocolate is often used as a coating in the food industry. The inventors have investigated means for reducing the calorific value of the chocolate but without reducing the sensory experience provided by the chocolate coating. Aerated or foamed chocolate are well known products on the market. Examples are Nestle aero, and Mars Skye bar. The main methods for the manufacturing of aerated chocolate are that (1) gas is mixed thereinto by dissolving or under high pressure followed by solidification of the chocolate and then the quickly released gas cells can be locked in the solid chocolate matrix ; (2) The molten chocolate is continuously stirred to foam followed by cooling, so called whipped chocolate (EP 1 166 639 A1). In the first method, the gases such as air or carbon dioxide, can be dissolved in molten chocolate under high pressure with or without the help of stirring. After de- pressurisation, the dissolved gas will come out to form gas cells in the chocolate, and these gas cells will be locked in the chocolate matrix if the temperature is quickly cooled down below the melting temperature of chocolate during the de-pressurisation process. The solidified chocolate will keep the gas cells and stabilised the prepared chocolate foam. However, the gas cells are normally big and the aeration is not easy to control. If the chocolate is above its melting temperature, the chocolate foam is not stable and thus the coating, dipping and rolling which are common for chocolate application, can not be applied to the chocolate foam prepared by this method. In the second method, molten chocolate is stirred t o foam and normally extra emulsifiers and shortenings will be required. It has now been found that it is possible t o aerate chocolate under certain conditions by carefully selecting emulsifiers and aeration conditions. Moreover, the aeration characteristics remain largely untouched if the chocolate is later melted and re solidified. It has now been found that certain sucrose esters can aerate chocolate at temperature above 40°C. The resulting aerated chocolate can stay stable at temperatures where the chocolate is molten. The prepared chocolate foams have naked-eye invisible bubbles, which can add extra benefits t o the texture, mouth-feeling, calorific reduction et al. They also should exceptionally good stability upon melting and re-solidifying Tests and definitions Sucrose esters Sucrose esters of fatty acids can be obtained by esterifying one or more of the hydroxyl group of a sucrose molecule with fatty acids. The fatty acids react with one or more hydroxyl groups t o form mono, di, tri or multi-fatty acid ester, or mixture thereof. Preferably the sucrose ester emulsifier comprises a mixed ester or homo-ester. The fatty acid is preferably selected from the group consisting of lauric acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid and mixtures thereof. The sucrose esters including L-195 (sucrose laurate), S070 (sucrose stearate), S-170, S270, S370, S570, S770, S970, S1670, P170 (sucrose palmitate), O170 (sucrose oleate) and B370 (sucrose behenate), et al. were obtained from Mitsubishi-Kagaku Foods Corporation, Tokyo, Japan. SP10 and SP50 from Cisterna were also used. Chocolate By the term "chocolate" is meant dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, flavoured chocolate, couverture chocolate, compound chocolate (which is made from a combination of cocoa solids, non-cocoa butter vegetable fat and sweeteners) and mixtu res thereof. The chocolate may also com prise inclusions such as nuts or pieces thereof, dried fru it, such as raisi ns, or pieces thereof, biscu it and mixtu res thereof. The chocolate must, however, rema in su bstantial ly anhyd rous. By the term "su bstantial ly anhydrous" is mea nt com prisi ng no more than 5%, prefera bly no more than 3%, more preferably no more than 1% w/w water. HLB value The HLB value is given by the equation HLB = 20*Mh/M, where M is the molecu lar mass of the hyd rophi lic part of the molecu le and M is the molecu la r mass of the whole molecu le thus givi ng a value on an arbitra ry sca le of 0 to 20. For fatty acid esters, HLB = 20 ( 1-S/A) where S = Sa pon ification value A = Acid number of the fatty acid Therefore an HLB value of 0 corresponds to a com pletely hydrophobic molecu le and an HLB value of 20 corresponds to a com pletely hydrophi lic molecu le. Typica l HLB values are: O o 3 an anti-foam ing agent 4 to 6 a water-i n-oi l emu lsifier 7 to 9 a wetti ng agent 8 to 18 an oil-i n-water emu lsifier 13 to 15 a detergent 10 to 18 a solu biliser or a hydrotrope Overrun "Overru n" is a measu re of aeration com monly used in the ice cream industry and is defi ned in percentage terms as fol lows: Overru n = (Weight difference before and after aeration / weight after aeration) x 100 wherei n the sample weight both before and after aeration is for the same given fixed volu me. optical microscopy Optical microscopy was used to measure the bubble morphology in the aerated chocolate.