The present invention relates to a bouillon tablet. In particular the invention relates to a bouillon tablet comprising a low solid fat content fat, fibres and having a moisture content below 2 wt.%. A further aspect of the invention is a process for the production of a bouillon tablet.

Background of the Invention

A bouillon tablet formed by compressing ingredients into a tablet shape, for example a cube, is widely used as a concentrate to prepare a bouillon, a broth or a soup. The bouillon tablet is normally added to a hot aqueous solution, allowing it to dissolve. A bouillon tablet may be also be used when preparing other dishes, as a seasoning product. The dissolution time of bouillon tablets highly depends on its degree of compaction which can be measured and expressed by the hardness of such a product. The reason to compact powders in a regular form presents several advantages for the commercialisation (e.g. reduction of volume, optimisation of packaging material usage, shelf life and convenience). A ritual developed by users of bouillon tablets is the crumbling of the tablet or cube into the dish during preparation process either to ensure good distribution and or to accelerate its dissolution time in the cooking water. A minimum hardness is necessary to allow wrapping the tablet. Typically a bouillon tablet would be expected to have a hardness greater than 50-100 N. An optimum hardness ensures that a normal user can break the tablet within fingers without the use of additional tools or appliances. A typical bouillon tablet or bouillon cube comprises salts, taste enhancing compounds, sugars, starch or flour, fat, flavouring components, vegetables, meat extracts, spices, colourants etc. The amounts of the respective compounds may vary depending on the specific purpose of the product, the market or taste of the consumer that is aimed at. A conventional way of manufacturing bouillon tablets comprises mixing powdered bouillon components with a high-melting fat and pressing the mix into a tablet. In this type of bouillon tablet the high-melting fat is the main ingredient holding the structure together. Nowadays there is a nutritional trend to avoid or at least reduce the consumption of fats rich in saturated fatty acids and to preferably consume oils rich in monounsaturated fatty acids and/or polyunsaturated fatty acids. W02004/049831 describes how it is possible to have very little solid fat entrapped in a hard bouillon tablet provided the tablet also comprises crystals, a filler and a sticking agent. The sticking agent may comprise ingredients the addition of which (combined with an adequate increase of the water activity) impart a glass transition temperature to the final mixture which may be relatively easily exceeded during tableting. Such ingredients include meat extract, processed flavours, powdered vegetables and maltodextrins. Sticking agents used to bind together bouillon cubes with low fat contents are typically hygroscopic amorphous ingredients. These are activated in the bouillon mixture by the addition of water. This process of water addition can be problematic, for example it is difficult to ensure homogenous distribution of the water. Crust formation may occur which requires stopping the mixer for cleaning. Sometimes lumps are formed in the mixtures which causes quality defects in the finished pressed tablets.

Maltodextrins are commonly used as sticking agents or bulking agents in bouillon tablets. However, consumers increasingly wish to buy food products which have familiar ingredients, such as they might find in their own kitchen cupboard. Maltodextrin is not a common ingredient in domestic kitchens and so may be viewed with suspicion by some consumers. Maltodextrins in bouillon tablets may cause undesirable texture evolution over time. Hence, there is a persisting need in the art to find improved bouillon tablets where binding is not predominantly achieved hygroscopic amorphous ingredients and so the problematic addition of water can be avoided, and also to find bouillon tablets which avoid the need to use high-melting fats to bind the ingredients.

Any reference to prior art documents in this specification is not to be considered an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of the common general knowledge in the field. As used in this specification, the words "comprises", "comprising", and similar words, are not to be interpreted in an exclusive or exhaustive sense. In other words, they are intended to mean "including, but not limited to".

Summary of the invention

An object of the present invention is to improve the state of the art and to provide an improved solution to overcome at least some of the inconveniences described above or at least to provide a useful alternative. The object of the present invention is achieved by the subject matter of the independent claims. The dependent claims further develop the idea of the present invention.

Accordingly, the present invention provides in a first aspect a bouillon tablet comprising 5 to 20 weight % fat, the fat having a solid fat content below 50 % at 20 °C; salt; 6 to 14 weight % dietary fibres; and optionally sugar, spices, flavours, taste enhancers, dehydrated vegetables, herb leaves and/or plant extracts; wherein the dietary fibres have a particle size distribution D50 of between 5 and 100 pm and wherein the total moisture content of the bouillon tablet is less than 2 wt.%.

In a second aspect, the invention relates to a process for the production of a bouillon tablet according to the product of the invention, the process comprising; a. mixing fat, dietary fibres and optional other ingredients wherein the fat has a solid fat content below 50 wt% at 20 °C and the dietary fibres are selected from the group consisting of cereal fibres, vegetable fibres, fruit fibres and combinations of these and have a particle size distribution D50 of between 5 and 100 pm and wherein water is present at a level of less than 10 wt.% of the dietary fibres; b. optionally mixing further ingredients with the mixture from step a; c. pressing the mixture to form a bouillon tablet and; d. packaging the bouillon tablet.

It has been surprisingly found by the inventors that the a high-melting fat providing binding in a bouillon tablet may be replaced by a combination of low-melting fat and fibres, as long as the dietary fibres have a specific particle size. This avoids the need for hygroscopic amorphous ingredients as sticking agents and, in doing so, avoids the need to incorporate significant amounts of water, with associated problems of mixing and increased risk of microbiological spoilage. Replacing high-melting fats with low-melting ones improves the nutritional profile of the bouillon tablet.

The inventors studied a model bouillon tablet recipe where there are no hygroscopic amorphous ingredients to provide binding. A low-melting fat such as a vegetable oil liquid at room temperature provides almost no binding alone. Such an oil cannot form a cohesive tablet. However, by including dietary fibres having a D50 particle size distribution between 5 and 100 pm, the bouillon tablet is cohesive after pressing and has a comparable hardness to a bouillon tablet made with a hard fat such as palm stearin. Larger dietary fibres were found not to work well and produced tablets with low hardness. There are a number of interactions in a bouillon cube that contribute to binding the components together. Without wishing to be bound by theory, the inventors believe that during mixing and pressing of the bouillon mixture, fat and fibres aggregate and act as fillers between the larger particles of the bouillon mixture such as salt. Fat, forced into the voids in the mixture creates a network which binds the bouillon together. Fibres enhance the strength of the fat network, allowing softer fats to achieve similar binding to that obtained by a hard fat. Flowever, fibres which are too large serve to separate the bouillon components such as salt crystals and act as spacers.

Detailed Description of the invention

Consequently the present invention relates in part to bouillon tablet comprising 5 to 20 weight % fat, the fat having a solid fat content below 50 % at 20 °C; salt; 6 to 14 (for example 8 to 12) weight % dietary fibres; and optionally sugar, spices, flavours, taste enhancers, dehydrated vegetables, herb leaves and/or plant extracts wherein the fibres have a particle size distribution D50 of between 5 and 100 pm and wherein the total moisture content of the bouillon tablet is less than 2 wt.%, for example less than 1 wt.%, for further example less than 0.8 wt.%. The weight percentages being of total bouillon tablet weight.

In an embodiment of the invention, the bouillon tablet comprises 8.5 to 15 weight % fat. In the context of the present invention, the term fat refers to triglycerides. Fats are the chief component of animal adipose tissue and many plant seeds. Fats which are generally encountered in their liquid form are commonly referred to as oils. In the present invention the terms oils and fats are interchangeable.

In an embodiment of the invention, the fat has a solid fat content below 40, 30, 20, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 or 1 percent at 20 °C. For example, the fat may have a solid fat content of 0 at 20 °C. The solid fat content of a fat may be measured by low resolution NMR, for example pulsed NMR. For example, the solid fat content of the fat according to the invention may be measured for example according to the lUPAC Method 2.150 (a), method without special thermal pre-treatment [International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Standard Methods for the Analysis of Oils, Fats and Derivatives, 7 ^th Revised and Enlarged Edition (1987)].

In an embodiment of the invention, the fat has a saturated fatty acid content of less than 20 %, for example less than 10 %. In the context of the present invention the saturated fatty acid content is the weight of saturated fatty acid moieties of the fat as a percentage of total fatty acid moieties of the fat. The fatty acids are part of the triglyceride molecule rather than free fatty acids. Commercial fats generally have only trace amounts of free fatty acids.

In an embodiment of the invention the dietary fibres have a particle size distribution D50 of between 10 and 60 pm, for example between 20 and 50 pm. The particle size D50 is used in the conventional sense as the median of the particle size distribution. Median values are defined as the value where half of the population resides above this point, and half resides below this point. The D50 is the size in microns that splits the distribution with half above and half below this diameter. The particle size distribution may be measured by laser light scattering, microscopy or microscopy combined with image analysis. For example, the particle size distribution may be measured by laser light scattering. Since the primary result from laser diffraction is a volume distribution, the D50 cited is the volume median (sometimes written as Dv50).

The dietary fibres according to the invention may have been milled, for example in a ball mill. In addition to providing the desired size, milling has a beneficial effect on the ability of the dietary fibres to enhance the hardness of the bouillon tablet. Without wishing to be bound by theory, the inventors believe this may be due to an enhancement of the fibres ability to strengthen the fat network, possibly due to changes in porosity and surface properties such as lipophilcity.

In the context of the present invention, dietary fibres comprise (for example consist of) non-starch polysaccharides and lignin. For example, dietary fibres may be oligo- and polysaccharides and their derivatives wherein at least 40 wt.% cannot be decomposed to absorbable components in the upper alimentary tract by human digestive enzymes. The dietary fibres according to the present invention may be obtained from plants, for example vegetables, pulses, cereals or fruits, or from microorganisms (e.g. algae). In an embodiment, the dietary fibres may be obtained from plants selected from the group consisting of cereals, vegetables, pulses, fruits and combinations of these. Pulses are the seeds of leguminous crops (e.g. pea, lentils, chickpeas, beans) and represent an important food source of protein and dietary fibres. Most of the fibres in pulses are found in the hull (or seed coat) which is currently a by-product of both flour and protein extract production. Pulses also contain 'inner fibres' which are found in the cotyledon and constitute a structural part of the plant cell wall material. The terms vegetables and fruits are used in the current specification in the culinary sense of the words. Fruits are the fleshy seed-associated structures of a plant that are sweet and edible in the raw state, such as apples, oranges, grapes, strawberries and bananas. This includes fruits from cultivated varieties of plants which produce seedless fruits. The dietary fibre particles according to the present invention may be fibrillar in shape, for example they may have a shape such that they are significantly longer than they are wide.

In an embodiment, the dietary fibre may not be maltodextrin or starch.

In an embodiment the dietary fibre in accordance with the present invention may be a plant hull fibre. In another embodiment the dietary fibre may be from a fibre-rich fraction of a vegetable or fruit.

The dietary fibre according to the invention may be selected from the group consisting of pea fibre (such as pea hull fibre or pea cell wall fibre), lentil fibre, fava bean fibre, lupin fibre, chick pea fibre, black bean fibre, potato fibre, carrot fibre, beetroot fibre, pumpkin fibre, kale fibre, psyllium fibre, apple fibre, citrus fibre (such as cellulose rich fractions of citrus fibre or pectin rich fractions of citrus fibre), oat bran, maize bran, rice bran, barley bran, wheat bran, fibre from microorganisms and combinations of these. For example, the dietary fibre may be selected from the group consisting of pea fibre, lentil fibre, fava bean fibre, lupin fibre, chick pea fibre, black bean fibre, potato fibre, carrot fibre, beetroot fibre, pumpkin fibre, kale fibre, apple fibre, citrus fibre and combinations of these. For example, the dietary fibre may be selected from the group consisting of pea fibre, lentil fibre, fava bean fibre, lupin fibre, chick pea fibre, black bean fibre, potato fibre, carrot fibre, beetroot fibre, pumpkin fibre, kale fibre and combinations of these. For further example, the dietary fibre may be selected from the group consisting of pea fibre, potato fibre, carrot fibre and combinations of these. For still further example the dietary fibre may be carrot fibre or potato fibre. The dietary fibre according to the invention may be carrot fibre which has been milled. The dietary fibre according to the invention may comprise cellulose, for example the dietary fibre may comprise at least 20 wt.% cellulose. The dietary fibre according to the invention may comprise hemicellulose, for example the dietary fibre may comprise at least 20 wt.% hemicellulose. The dietary fibre according to the invention may comprise pectin, for example the dietary fibre may comprise at least 20 wt.% pectin.

In an embodiment the dietary fibres may have been treated with an enzyme, for example an enzyme capable of degrading the dietary fibre. Such a treatment can both reduce the particle size of the dietary fibre and also alter its surface properties, increasing its ability to bind with other components of the bouillon.

In one embodiment the dietary fibre may be selected on taste as well as other characteristics. By way of example the dietary fibre may be one with a neutral taste or one which is tasteless.

In one embodiment the dietary fibre may be selected on colour as well as other characteristics. By way of example the dietary fibre may be one which is light in colour or neutral in colour or colourless.

In one embodiment the dietary fibre may be selected on smell as well as other characteristics. By way of example the dietary fibre may be one which is odourless. In one embodiment the dietary fibre is not wheat-bran (or wheat fibre).

In one embodiment the dietary fibre is not apple pomace or apple fibre.

In one embodiment the dietary fibre is not psyllium.

In an embodiment, the ratio of dietary fibre to fat by weight is between 1:0.5 and 1:2, for example between 1:0.8 to 1:1.25. These ratios provide an optimum increase in bouillon hardness while also avoiding or reducing oiling out. Oiling out is when fats, for example low-melting point fats, move to the surface of the bouillon tablet. This is unsightly and is not appreciated by consumers.

It is advantageous that the bouillon tablet of the invention does not necessarily need to comprise amorphous binders which are activated by water. In an embodiment of the invention, the bouillon tablet comprises less than 20 wt.% hygroscopic amorphous ingredients. For example the bouillon tablet may comprise less than 10, 5, 2, 1 wt.% hygroscopic amorphous ingredients. For example the bouillon tablet maybe free of hygroscopic amorphous ingredients.

The term hygroscopic amorphous ingredients according to this invention means ingredients that have a glass transition temperature (Tg) between -5°C and 60°C at a water activity (a _w ) between 0.1 and 0.6, for example a Tg of between 10°C and 45°C at an a _w between 0.2 and 0.5, for example a Tg between 10°C and 40°C at an a _w between 0.2 and 0.5, for further example a Tg between 10°C and 40°C at an a _w between 0.2 and 0.4, for further example a Tg between 10°C and 30°C at an a _w between 0.2 and 0.3.

The hygroscopic amorphous ingredients according to this invention may be selected from the group consisting of yeast extract, vegetable powder, animal extract, bacterial extract, vegetable extract, meat powder, reaction flavour, hydrolysed plant protein and combinations of these. In an embodiment of the invention the bouillon tablet comprises less than 20, 10, 5, 2 or 1 wt.% maltodextrin, for example the bouillon tablet may be free from maltodextrin. In a further embodiment the bouillon tablet comprises less than 5 wt.% starch, for example the bouillon tablet may be free from starch.

In an embodiment the fat is selected from the group consisting of sunflower oil, rapeseed oil, cotton seed oil, peanut oil, soy oil, olive oil, insect oil, algal oil, safflower oil, corn oil, rice bran oil, sesame oil, hazelnut oil, avocado oil, almond oil, walnut oil, poultry oil (for example chicken oil) and combinations of these. The fat according to the bouillon tablet of the invention may be fractionated. For example, the fat according to the bouillon tablet of the invention may be a chicken stearin. The fat according to the bouillon tablet of the invention may comprise a high oleic oil (for example containing more than 80 % oleic acid). For example the fat according to the bouillon tablet of the invention may comprise a high oleic oil selected from the group consisting of high oleic sunflower oil, high oleic safflower oil, high oleic canola oil, high oleic soybean oil, high oleic corn oil and mixtures of these. The fat according to the bouillon tablet of the invention may consist of a high oleic oil.

An aspect of the invention is a process for the production of a bouillon tablet according to the product of the invention, the process comprising; a. mixing fat, dietary fibres and optional other ingredients wherein the fat has a solid fat content below 50 wt% at 20 °C and the dietary fibres are selected from the group consisting of cereal fibres, vegetable fibres, fruit fibres and combinations of these and have a particle size distribution D50 of between 5 and 100 pm and wherein water is present at a level of less than 10 wt.% of the dietary fibres (for example less than 8 wt.% of the dietary fibres); b. optionally mixing further ingredients with the mixture from step a; c. pressing the mixture to form a bouillon tablet and; d. packaging the bouillon tablet.

Dietary fibres may have water contents of around 8-10 wt% as supplied, so essentially no water needs to be added to mixture (a). The water content of the mixture of step (a) may be less than 1.5 wt.% overall, for example less than 1 wt% overall.

The fat and dietary fibres may be pre-mixed to form a paste. This has the advantage of ensuring that all the fibres are intimately combined with fat in the final bouillon tablet. Mixing all together may lead to some of the fat coating ingredients such as salt and so being unavailable to combine with fibre. Forming a pre-mix paste of fat and dietary fibre first and then adding other ingredients such as salt avoids this.

In an embodiment of the process of the invention, the mixture of step a comprises at least 90 wt.% fat and dietary fibre (for example consists of fat and fibres), and the further ingredients mixed in step b comprise salt. The mixture formed in of step a may be a paste. For example, the mixture formed in step a may have a viscosity greater than 0.075 Pa s ¹ measured at a shear rate of 40 s ^-1 . For example the mixture formed in step a may have a viscosity greater than 0.15, 0.3, 0.6, 1, 2, 4 or 10 Pa s ¹ measured at a shear rate of 40 s ^-1 .

Flowever, for ease of processing it may be desirable to directly mix some or all of the other ingredients of the bouillon tablet with the oil and fibre. In an embodiment of the process of the invention, the other ingredients mixed in step (a) comprise salt.

In an embodiment of the process of the invention the dietary fibres have been milled.

Those skilled in the art will understand that they can freely combine all features of the present invention disclosed herein. In particular, features described for the product of the present invention may be combined with the process of the present invention and vice versa. Further, features described for different embodiments of the present invention may be combined. Where known equivalents exist to specific features, such equivalents are incorporated as if specifically referred to in this specification.

Further advantages and features of the present invention are apparent from the non limiting examples.

Example 1

Carrot Fibers were ball milled using a ball mill from Retsch PM 200 - Conditions applied were 15 min at 500 rpm . The D50 of the carrot fiber was measured to be 11.8 miti using a CamSizer (Camsizer XT Retsch Xdry, using a pressure of 120 Pa, results being expressed on a volume basis). The fibers were added to chicken stearin. Chicken stearin was obtained by fractionating chicken fat and retaining the fraction with the highest solid fat content to be used. The fatty acid content as a percentage of the total fatty acids in the chicken stearin was: 06:0: 32.7%; 06:1: 3.27%, 08:0: 9.3%, 08:1 29.7%, 08:2: 12.2%, and 08:3 1.34% and the solid fat content at 20°C was 38.9%. As is conventional when describing fats, the fatty acid content refers to the fatty acid moieties of the triglycerides. The content of actual free fatty acids was very low.

8 wt% carrot fiber - 12 wt% chicken stearin were mixed at 65°C using a food processor (Thermomix, Vorwerk) for 3 minutes at 500 rpm to ensure homogeneity. The fat and fiber were mixed at 65°C with 80 wt% of salt (iodized NaCI, containing 20 ppm sodium ferrocyanides as anti-caking agent and having all the particles smaller than 1000 micrometer) and the food processor (Thermomix, Vorwerk) was used again for 3 minutes at 500 rpm. The mix was then left to rest for 1 day at room temperature.

A Zwick Z005 Material Testing Machine equipped with a 5kN pressure sensor was used to form the cubes on a laboratory scale, with the dimensions of 13.7 mm x 13.7 mm x 13.7 mm and weight 4 g. Hardness measurement were carried out also using the Zwick. To measure the hardness, tablets were placed upright along their vertical axis (same direction as the pressing) on a flat tool and crushed with a flat piston. The piston was lowered 5 mm with a speed of 0.5 mm/sec. During this, the necessary force (crushing force) to accomplish the movement of the piston was measured over time. The development of the crushing force was graphically presented by the software testXpert®. The peak force corresponds to the tablet hardness. Reported errors were as calculated by the Zwick system.

The measured hardness for this model chicken stearin-milled carrot fiber model cube (12 wt% chicken stearin, 8 wt% milled carrot fiber, 80 wt% salt) was: 190 ±40N.

Example 2:

The same ball milled carrot fibers as in example 1 were used. Those were mixed to high oleic sunflower oil (HOSFO). The fatty acid content as a percentage of the total fatty acids in the HOSFO was: C16:0: 3.76%; C18:0: 3.05%, C18:l: 79.3%, C18:2: 6.56%, and C22:0 0.925% and the solid fat content at 30°C was 0%.

10 wt% of ball milled carrot fibers and 10 wt% of HOSFO were first mixed in a food processor (Thermomix, Vorwerk) for 3 minutes at 500 rpm at room temperature (=20°C). 80 wt% salt (same as in example 1) was then added and again the mix was mixed for three minutes under the same conditions. Cubes were formed and hardness was measured using the same procedure as for example 1 and hardness was found to be 202 ±50N.

Example 3

Potato fibers were ball milled using the same procedure as for carrot fiber in example 1. The D50 was measured the same way as was done in example 1 and it was found to be 38.5 miti. The fibres were mixed to the same HOSFO as used in example 2. 10% of potato fibers and 10% of HOSFO were first mixed (same procedure as in example 1) and then 80% salt (same salt and procedure as in example 1) was added using the same procedure as in example 1. Cubes were formed and hardness was measured using the same procedure as for example 1 and hardness was found to be 199 ±60N.

Example 4

The same ball milled potato fibers, HOSFO and salt as in example 3 were used.

12% of these ball milled potato fibers and 8% of HOSFO were first mixed (same procedure as in example 1) and then 80% salt (same salt and same procedure as in example 1) was added using the same procedure as in example 1. Cubes were formed and hardness was measured using the same procedure as for example 1 and hardness was found to be 127 ±50N.

Example 5

The same ball milled carrot fibers, HOSFO and salt as in example 2 were used. 12 wt% of ball milled carrot fibers and 8 wt% of HOSFO were first mixed (same procedure as in example 1) and then 80 wt% salt (same salt and same procedure as in example 1) was added using the same procedure as in example 1. Cube was formed and hardness was measured using the same procedure as for example 1 and hardness was found to be 72 ±20N. Example 6

Larger carrot fibers were used with a D50 of 68 miti.

12 wt% of these carrot fibers and 8 wt% of HOSFO (same as in example 2) were first mixed (same procedure as in example 1) and then 80 wt% salt (same salt and same procedure as in example 1) was added using the same procedure as in example 1. Cubes were formed and hardness was measured using the same procedure as for example 1 and hardness was found to be 67 ±15N.

Example 7

The same ball milled potato fibers, HOSFO and salt as in example 3 were used. 14 wt% of ball milled potato fibers and 6 wt% of HOSFO were first mixed (same procedure as in example 1) and then 80 wt% salt was added using the same procedure as in example 1. Cubes were formed and hardness was measured using the same procedure as for example 2 and hardness was found to be 78 ±10N.

Example 8 (comparative) Potato fibers were used without ball milling them. The D50 was 132 miti.

The same HOSFO and salt as in example 3 were used.

12 wt% of these potato fibers and 8 wt% of HOSFO were first mixed (same procedure as in example 1) and then 80 wt% salt was added using the same procedure as in example 1. Cubes were formed and hardness was measured using the same procedure as for example 1 and hardness was found to be 28 ±10N. This hardness is not sufficient and the cube would break upon wrapping. This demonstrates that dietary fibers having a large particle size do not provide a bouillon tablet with sufficient hardness.

Example 9

The same ball milled carrot fibers and HOSFO as in example 2 were used. 10.5 wt% % of ball milled carrot fibers and 7 wt% of HOSFO were first mixed (same procedure as in example 1). The fiber and HOSFO were then combined with 8.5 wt% white sugar (sucrose), 15.4 wt% spices and 58.6 wt% salt and mixed in a food processor (Thermomix, Vorwerk) for 3 minutes at 500 rpm. Water activity was measured to be 0.25 using an Aqualab RTE / DECAGON apparatus at an equilibration temperature of 25°C. Cubes were formed and hardness was measured using the same procedure as for example 1 and hardness was found to be 256 ±60N.

Example 10 The same ball milled potato fibers and HOSFO as in example 3 were used.

10.3 wt% % of ball milled potato fibers and 6.9% of HOSFO were first mixed (same procedure as in example 1). The fiber/HOSFO, 8 wt% white sugar (sucrose), 20 wt% spices and 54.8 wt% salt were mixed in a food processor (Thermomix, Vorwerk) for 3 minutes at 500 rpm. Water content was measured to be 0.38 wt% by drying at 70°C overnight in an oven and measuring weight difference.

Cubes were formed and hardness was measured using the same procedure as for example 1 and hardness was found to be 236 ±70N.

Example 11

The same composition and raw materials as the ones used in example 10 were used but the sequence of mixing was different.

The 54.80 wt% salt, the 10.3 wt% potato fibres and the 6.9 wt% HOSFO were mixed in a food processor (Thermomix, Vorwerk) for 3 minutes at 500 rpm. This mixture was then mixed with the 8 wt% sugar and the 20 wt% spices using the food processor (Thermomix, Vorwerk) for 3 minutes at 500 rpm. Water content was measured to be 0.35wt% (same procedure as in example 10). Cubes were formed and hardness was measured using the same procedure as for example 1) and hardness was found to be 145.8 ±30N.