Patented Apr. 24, 1934' ' 1,956,426 ' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ‘ 1,956,426 _ SPICE PRODUCT Ronald B. McKinnis, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to Continental Can Company, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York N 0 Drawing. Application March 2'1, 1933, Serial No. 663,103 1 Claim. (Cl. 99-11) The invention relates to new and useful .im or comminuted in ‘order to render their soluble provements in aromatic vegetable tissues pre aromatic principles readily accessible to the ex pared for extraction. tracting liquid. This ?nely ground material is An object of the invention is to provide vege di?icult to separate from the resulting extract 5 table tissues having the properties of spices in by ?ltration by reason of the clogging of the ?lter 60 form for use in the preparation or preservation of medium. When the ?nely ground material is food products in which the cooking or preserving extracted by percolation, there is often a swelling liquor will have ready and equal access to all of the tissue on ?rst contact with the menstruum parts of the tissue and the soluble aromatic prin which clogs the percolating apparatus and im 10 ciples thereof. 7 pedes the ready flow of the extracting liquid. (35 A further object of the invention is to prepare The purpose of the present invention is to such vegetable tissue in a form suitable for ex prepare the leafy, woody and seed tissues of traction by either maceration or percolation with spices for extraction, so as to avoid the objections either a hot or cold extracting liquid. stated above. This has been accomplished by 15 The invention is directed more particularly to reducing the tissues to the form of ?rm coherent 70 aromatic spice products for use in the prepara ?akes 'of such thinness as to render all of the tion or preservation of foods and for the prepara soluble principles readily accessible to the ex tion of ?avoring extracts. The word “spice" is tracting liquid.- I have found it expedient to used to de?ne an aromatic, pungent vegetable reduce the tissues of spices to approximately a 20 tissue used to ?avor foods and beverages and thinness of .001 of an inch. This is accomplished 75 also such substances collectively. The term‘ by breaking the tissues, when necessary, into “spice" is de?ned further as applying to a vege particles, tempering the particles to render them table tissue which may comprise seeds, or the re-v pliable and then subjecting the same to pressure. ceptacles thereof, arils, ?owers, unexpanded The ?akes are produced by a plastic ?ow within 25 ?owers, ?ower buds and in?orescences, leaves, the tissues so that the particles are simultane- so barks, woods and roots, used separately or col ously made ‘thinner and increased in area, rup lectively, either directly or as extracts thereof turing the cells but without completely disinte by reason of their content of aromatic principles grating the tissues; The ?ake thus formed is of which are known to chemists as volatile, essential such thinness that all of the soluble principles 30 or ethereal oils. As speci?c examples thereof are rendered substantially equally accessible to 35 may be mentioned pepper, allspice, nutmegs, the extracting liquid and the extraction takes ' cloves, vanilla beans, balm of Gilead buds, bay place in certain products almost instantly. The leaves and celery tops, cinnamon bark, sandal ?akes are irregular in outline and as to size may wood and ginger root, and many other such tis vary from one-sixteenth to three-eighths of an 35 sues known to chemical, pharmaceutical or food inch in diameter, depending upon the product 90 specialists. Such tissues are used in the prepa being prepared and the size of the particles ration of soups, ketchups, pickles and other which are reduced to ?ake form. comestibles, and in the preparation of extracts It is thought that the product will be better for the ?avoring of foods and beverages, and for understood by a brief description of the preferred 40 use as carminatives in the compounding of various method of making the same. The ?rst step in the 95 medicinal preparations. reducing of the tissues of the spices to ?aked It has been a common practice to use spices as form consists in moistening or tempering the whole spices and also in a comminuted condition spices so that they become pliable. This may be in the preparation of many food products such as accomplished by applying a spray of water or a 45 mixed pickles, jams, mince meats, etc. Whole jet of steam to the spices. Inasmuch as steam 100 spice is often used for the reason that when the vaporizes the aromatic substances, it is preferred spices are used in ground form, they contribute to temper the spices by tumbling them in a warm an unsightly, muddy appearance to the food prod room or in a container, the atmosphere of which uct by reason of their ?ne, state of comminution. is saturated with water vapor. The spices slowly 50 When, however, the spices are used in whole form, absorb the moisture and become pliable. One 105 they often contribute an unfavorable quality to or two days may be necessary for uniformly com the food product by introducing disagreeable pleting the tempering of the spices. masses of woody tissue. It is also found in the The next step in the method of producing the manufacture of spice extracts by maceration or ?akes consists in passing the spice tissue par 55 percolation that the spices must be ?nely ground ticles between rolls whereby the tissues are sub- 110 2 1,956,426 jected to tremendous crushing pressure. The rolls flow within the particles and the particles are are preferably hot and the spice particles pass simultaneously made thinner and increased in from the rolls in thin coherent ?akes, which, in area, rupturing many of the cells but without dis the case of leaves, are almost transparent. The integrating the ?bers. Not only is the particle spices treated in this manner produce a product reduced to a coherent ?ake but the ?ake is of 80 which gives up its aromatic principles almost in such thinness that all of the soluble aromatic stantly to cooking, preserving or extracting liq principles are rendered substantially equally ac uors. The ?akes are of such a coherent charac cessible to an extracting liquid. Such clove ?akes ter as to remain intact and thus the unsightly, are almost instantly penetrated by water, vinegar 10 muddy appearance given to the food products by or alcohol and they are more suitable to the man-v 85 the ?nely comminuted spice is avoided. Inasmuch ufacture of preserves and mixed pickles and for as all of the aromatic principles are readily ac the manufacturing of clove extract by percola cessible to the extracting liquid, a much smaller tion with alcohol or acetic acid. I have also found quantity of the spice is necessary for the purpose that the volatile oil of cloves may be more easily of ?avoring the food product and the woody tis separated from this ?aked product by the method 90 sues introduced into the food product are reduced of steam distillation. , Whatever method may be used for moistening to a > When the spice particles are reduced to ?ak the particles for the tempering of the same, only form, they are instantly wettable by the cook su?icient moisture is introduced to cause the ing, preserving or extracting liquid. During the woody particles to ?ow into ?aked form under 95 process of maceration or brewing the ready wet the extreme pressure produced by the rolls. The ting of the ingredients results in a rapid settling ?nished ?akes are not wet, but are dry, and con of the particles. When the ?akes are used in a tain little moisture in excess of that present in percolator they overlie and overlap and any swell the unground or un?aked spice product. There ing of the ?ake is in a lateral direction and this fore, the ?aked spice product may be kept inde?- 100 does not appreciably restrict the ?ow of the ex nitely, provided, of course, that it is sealed in tracting liquid. proper containers so as to prevent the circulation As an example, the preparation of a ?aked prod of air therethrough. ‘ uct from whole cloves will be described. The Having thus described the invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Pat- 105 03 (I? cloves are tempered by the addition of water va por in the manner above described. By this ent is: ‘ moistening of the cloves, it is possible to hydrate A dry spice product for ?avoring consisting of the ?bers and gummy materials su?iciently to aromatic vegetable tissues in the form of ?rm in cause them to. ?o'w during rolling and to produce dividual ?akes, each having a coherent crushed thin coherent ?akes. The cloves may be coarsely ?brous structure containing many of the cells in 110 ground before or after tempering. The tempered a ruptured state and with the tissues thereof only particles of the cloves are then passed between partially disintegrated, which ?akes are of such heated rollers or subjected in some other way to uniform thinness as to render the aromatic prin heavy pressure, the result of which is to reduce ciples thereof substantially equally accessible to the particles to the form of ?akes which are thin an extracting medium. 115 and coherent. This pressure produces a plastic RONALD B. McKINNIS.