BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION EP-0 603 467-B claims a process for plastically extruding a fat-containing confectionery material which comprises feeding the fat-containing confectionery material having a moisture content of less than 10% by weight into an extruder, and applying pressure to the fat-containing confectionery material in a solid or semi-solid non- pourable state upstream of a flow constriction at a temperature of from 0°C to 35°C, a pressure of from 1 to 1000 bars, a contraction ratio of greater than 1.5 and an extrusion rate of greater than 0.1 cm/s such that the fat-containing confectionery material is extruded and remains in a solid or semi-solid non-pourable state to produce an axially homogeneous extruded product having a cross section that is of the same profile as the exit of the flow constriction, which is capable of retaining its shape and which has a temporary flexibility or plasticity enabling it to be physically manipulated or plastically deformed before losing its flexibility or plasticity. The fat-containing confectionery material may be chocolate or similar materials such as compound chocolate. Such a process will be referred to herein as"cold extrusion".

A wide variety of die shapes may be used and the extruded fat-containing confectionery material may have a solid profiled or hollow section and essentially has the same shape as the die e. g. rods, spirals, twists, springs, hollow sections such as tubes and more complex shapes such as the letters of the alphabet as well as thin films having a thickness which may be as little as 100 microns. The dimensions of the die depend on the desired size of the extruded product. A multi-orifice die head could also be used, if desired.

Multi-material co-extrusion is also possible with this technique and the extrusion of the fat-containing confectionery material may be carried out as a co-extrusion with other food materials. Co-extrusion with other food materials such as ice cream, fondant, etc. is especially advantageous when the fat-containing confectionery material is extruded in a hollow or tubular form.

Co-extrusion with other food materials as disclosed in EP-A-0 603 467-B involves the simultaneous extrusion of the cold extruded fat-containing confectionery material (solid shape or hollow structure) alongside other food materials either onto the outside or into the hollow channels of the extruded chocolate wherein each of the materials are separated from one another into their own discrete contiguous regions.

EP-A-0 775448 B 1 claims a confectionery product comprising chocolate together with a chewy sweet component having a base of a continuous syrup comprising a solution of sugars, sugar substitutes and/or glucose syrups in water characterised in that the confectionery product comprises a chocolate matrix having veins or strands of chewy sweet dispersed throughout. This product is made by extruding a mixture of the chocolate together with the chewy sweet component at a temperature at which both ingredients are in a solid or semi-solid non-pourable or non-flowable form throughout the extrusion process from being fed into the extruder to emerging from the die. The product comprises a chocolate matrix with strands of toffee running through in a roughly longitudinal direction, the surface of which has a marbled appearance and it has a smooth mouth feel and bite like chocolate with a toffee flavour and chewiness and does not readily stick to the teeth.

Cold extrusion is currently only for chocolate or with other food materials as disclosed in EP-A-0 603 467-B wherein each of the materials are separated from one another into their own discrete contiguous regions (or a chewy chocolate type product as described in EP-A-0 775448 B1), and therefore has limited application and consumer appeal.

Chocolate with inclusions within the mass of the chocolate is well known and popular,

for example, Matchmakers in which the inclusions protrude from the surface to give a knobbly surface appearance.

It would be very desirable to produce solid sticks or hollow tubes of fat-containing confectionery material containing inclusions which are discrete materials randomly dispersed throughout the solid stick or throughout the fat-containing confectionery material of the hollow tube but which do not protrude from the surface, to achieve different flavours, textural and/or visual effects..

In this invention we have devised a way of putting inclusions into the mass of cold extruded chocolate products, thereby expanding its appeal and application. This has the same overall advantages as cold extrusion (such as any shape possible, no flat side, exact die profile plus all the processing advantages) with the additional benefit of textural, visual, sensorial interest of the inclusions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention involves intimately mixing the inclusions with fat-containing confectionery material and subjecting the mixture to a cold extrusion process so that the resulting extruded product is a solid or hollow extrudate of a fat-containing confectionery material with a random dispersion of inclusions throughout the fat-containing confectionery material, with the overall shape of the extrudate defined by the die profile.

By a"cold extrusion"process in this invention we mean an extrusion process where the fat-containing confectionery material remains in a solid non-pourable state throughout the extrusion as in the process of EP-A-0 603 467-B.

According to the present invention, there is provided an extruded fat-containing confectionery product in the form of a solid stick or hollow tube containing a plurality of inclusions randomly dispersed throughout the solid stick or throughout the fat-containing

confectionery material of the hollow tube but which do not protrude from the surface of the solid stick or hollow tube.

Preferably, when made by extrusion the surface of the product is smooth in the direction of extrusion and retains substantially the exact shape of the die. However, it should be understood that the die profile may be ridged or have any of a variety of cross-sectional shapes, e. g. circles, stars, triangles, squares, rectangles, polygons, oval or irregular, non- symmetrical, cartoon characters, etc. which shape is imparted to the surface of the product.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The fat-containing confectionery material may be, for instance, dark, milk or white chocolate. The fat containing confectionery material may also include products derived from sugar with or without milk derived components, and fat and solids from vegetable or cocoa sources in differing proportions having a moisture content less than 10%, more usually less than 5% by weight. The fat containing confectionery material may include chocolate substitutes containing direct cocoa butter replacements, stearines, coconut oil, palm oil, butter or any mixture thereof ; nut pastes such as peanut butter and fat; praline; confectioner's coatings also known as compound or couvertures, used for covering ice cream or cakes usually comprising chocolate analogues with cocoa butter replaced by a cheaper non-tempering fat; or"Caramac"sold by Nestle comprising non-cocoa butter fats, sugar and milk. Traditional chocolate normally contains from 30 to 35% fat and in this invention, the fat-containing confectionery material may, if desired, contain normal amounts of fat or less than the normal amount of fat present in chocolate, e. g. it may contain from 16 to 28% fat and preferably from 18 to 25% fat. If desired, any mixture of two or more fat-containing materials may be used and such a mixture may give a variety of visual effects such as marbled effects, e. g. any mixture of dark, milk or white chocolate may give a marbled effect.

The external surface of the wall of the fat-containing confectionery material may have a wide variety of cross-sectional shapes, e. g. circles, stars, triangles, squares, rectangles, polygons, oval or irregular, non-symmetrical, cartoon characters, etc. to conform with the shape of the die. When the fat-containing confectionery material is in the form of a hollow tube the internal surface of the wall of the fat-containing confectionery may have a similar shape to the external surface or it may have a different shape.

The inclusions are discrete solid materials and a wide variety of inclusions may be incorporated in the mass of the fat-containing confectionery material and examples of inclusions are one or more of cornflakes, crisped rice, other cooked cereals and grains, desiccated coconut, fruit pieces (dried, freeze dried, glazed etc. ), nuts and nut pieces, sugar crystals, sugar-based components (e. g. pressed sugar, gums, jellies, nougat, nougatine etc. ), cocoa nibs.

It should be understood that although the inclusions are entirely within the fat-containing material and do not protrude from the surface of the solid stick or hollow tube, they may be visible at the surface of the solid stick or hollow tube and, as a result, may give visual effects to the confectionery product.

The size of the inclusions at the point of feeding into the extruder may vary from a very fine powdery form, e. g. from 50 microns mean diameter to 5 cm mean diameter, preferably from 0. lmm to 10 mm and more preferably from 0.25mm to 5mm diameter.

When the product is a hollow tube, the size of the inclusions within the fat-containing confectionery material forming the wall of the hollow tube may depend on the thickness of the wall, e. g. they may be smaller when the wall is thinner. It should be understood that in a cold extrusion process, the size of the inclusions will be smaller at the exit than at the point of feeding owing to crushing as they travel through the extruder.

The weight of inclusions present in the fat-containing confectionery material may vary within wide limits, e. g. from 1% to 50% by weight of inclusions based on the weight of the fat-containing confectionery material and preferably from 5% to 35% by weight of

inclusions based on the weight of the fat-containing confectionery material. The actual weight of inclusions will depend on various factors such as a) the desired appearance, texture and flavour of final product, b) the die design used in the extrusion process-a smaller or complex cross-section die or a thin-walled hollow product will limit maximum size and proportion of inclusions, and c) the extrudate strength-a higher inclusion ratio will produce a weaker structure as there is less fat-containing confectionery material to hold the product together. d) the density of the inclusions When the fat-containing confectionery material is in the form of a hollow tube containing inclusions, the hollow tube may surround one or more fillings of another confectionery material. The filling comprising the other confectionery material surrounded by the fat- containing confectionery material in a hollow or tubular form may be fat-based or water- based, for example, ice cream, sorbet, yoghurt, mousse, fondant, praline, marshmallow, nougat, peanut butter, truffle, marzipan, nut pieces, sugar wafer pieces, jelly or mixtures thereof. Advantageously, flavours or colourings may be added to the filling. It is also possible to add inclusions as is known in the art to the filling comprising the other confectionery material. The consistency of the filling should be such that it is not substantially flowable on cutting the product.

The product length may vary within a wide range because as will be appreciated, when made by extrusion, by the nature of the extrusion process, any product length is possible since the product is extruded as a continuous rope. For example, the length may be from 0. 1mm to 1000mm but most typically is from 0. 5mm to 300mm and preferably from 1 mm to 150mm. The product diameter may be from 1 mm to 50mm, preferably from 2mm to 25mm.

The present invention also provides a process of preparing a fat-containing confectionery product in the form of a solid stick or hollow tube containing inclusions randomly dispersed throughout the solid stick or throughout the fat-containing confectionery material of the hollow tube but which do not protrude from the surface of the solid stick or hollow tube which comprises mixing the inclusions with the fat- containing confectionery material and then cold-extruding the mixture wherein the fat- containing confectionery material remains in a solid non-pourable state throughout the extrusion.

Inclusions can be mixed with the fat-containing confectionery material in one of three ways: 1) Add the inclusions along with the fat-containing confectionery material directly into the extruder feed throat at a controlled rate, so that the two streams are blended as they enter the screw flights to give a mixed end product.

2) Inclusions and solid pieces of the fat-containing confectionery material are pre- blended at the required ratio, and the blended mixture fed into the extruder feed throat.

Methods (1) and (2) enable the incorporation of"fines"into the product. Fines are small dust-like particles, usually smaller than the inclusions, which can arise from size reduction operations or which can be generated during the handling of friable products and can vary in size from a few microns upwards, e. g. between 2 and 50 microns.

Normally when mixed with liquid fat-containing confectionery material, very fine powdery material causes an unacceptable rise in viscosity which would make depositing difficult. Dry blending fines with solid fat-containing confectionery material particles does not cause such problems as cold extrusion is independent of the viscosity of the fat- containing confectionery material.

3) Preferably, the fat-containing confectionery material is melted, advantageously tempered, and then the inclusions are mixed with the fat-containing confectionery

material in the desired ratio. The liquid mixture may then be deposited into moulds (or onto belt as drops, etc. ) and solidified after which the solidified mixture may be then fed directly into the extruder, or, if necessary may go through a size reduction step such as kibbling prior to cold-extrusion. This method ensures the best possible distribution of inclusions in the final product with minimal risk of separation of the pieces of the fat- containing confectionery material and inclusions in the extruder.

Among the wide range of inclusions possible, some will behave differently during extrusion-for example, crisped rice is a light aerated structure and would be crushed under the extrusion pressure, therefore the resulting extrudate would contain very fine particles of crushed crisped rice. Harder, more dense inclusions such as cornflakes tend to suffer less crushing during extrusion and their hard gritty texture is still apparent in the extrudate. A variety of inclusions can be incorporated to achieve different flavours and textural and visual effects.

Nuts and nut pieces may be used, with differing results depending on the type of nut and the degree of roasting-hard nut pieces remain largely intact whereas softer nuts such as peanuts are crushed by the process.

Crushing of inclusions during extrusion does not mean that the product is unacceptable, as it can be used to create alternative textural and visual effects.

The cold extrusion may be carried out as described in EP-0 603467-B during which the fat-containing confectionery material remains in a solid non-pourable or non-flowable state throughout the extrusion, e. g. at ambient temperature such as from 16° to 30°C.

The present invention also provides the use of an extruder for preparing a fat-containing confectionery product in the form of a solid stick or hollow tube containing a plurality of inclusions randomly dispersed throughout the solid stick or throughout the fat-containing confectionery material of the hollow tube but which do not protrude from the surface of the solid stick or hollow tube.

The present invention further provides a fat-containing confectionery product in the form of a solid stick or hollow tube containing a plurality of inclusions randomly dispersed throughout the solid stick or throughout the fat-containing confectionery material of the hollow tube but which do not protrude from the surface of the solid stick or hollow tube obtainable by extrusion.

EXAMPLES The following Examples further illustrate the present invention.

Example 1 20 parts cornflakes granulated and sieved to a size range of 2-3mm are intimately mixed by stirring with 80 parts of melted and tempered milk chocolate. The mixture is deposited in small drops onto a belt and cooled to produce small chocolate buttons of 8- 1 Omm diameter containing cornflake pieces.

These are fed into a 50mm single screw extruder with a barrel temperature of 0°C, a screw temperature of 25°C, a screw speed of 30 rpm and extruded through a 5mm diameter die, to create solid sticks of exactly 5mm diameter with a smooth surface, comprised of solid chocolate with cornflake pieces dispersed throughout. The sticks are then cut to a desired length of 10cm.

Example 2 White chocolate buttons are kibbled to produce small free flowing granules of white chocolate. 90 parts of white chocolate granules together with 10 parts of freeze dried raspberry pieces of 2. 5mm mean diameter are fed into a 50mm single screw extruder with a barrel temperature 0°C, a screw temperature of 25°C, and a screw speed of 30 rpm. The chocolate and fruit pieces are intimately mixed as they pass through the extruder and are extruded through a 12mm diameter star-shaped profile die, to produce solid star-shaped rods of exactly the same cross-section as the die, comprising white chocolate with freeze-dried raspberry pieces dispersed throughout. The rods are cut to pieces of 1 cm length.