SZABOVIK, Tibor (SZENTATONYAI ÚT 4/a, Orosháza, H-5904, HU)
SÁRAINÉ, Sipos Judit (Mrs) (NAGY LAJOS KIRÁLY ÚTJA 3/1, Budapest, H-1149, HU)
SZABOVIK, Tibor (SZENTATONYAI ÚT 4/a, Orosháza, H-5904, HU)
CLAIMS
1. A method for manufacturing a curd dessert, comprising the steps of producing a curd body by extrusion and cutting, and coating said curd body with a coating material, c h a r a c t e r i s e d by carrying out said extruding in a vertically downward direction and carrying out said cutting at an essentially right angle to the direction of the extrusion, dropping the curd body separated by the cutting step onto a conveyor and transporting the curd body by means of the conveyor for coating.
2. The method according to claim 1 , characterised by carrying out said cutting step with a diaphragm cutter comprising at least three, preferably six blades.
3. The method according to claim 2, characterised by extruding a composite shape by co-extrusion of an outer coat comprising curd and of an inner stuffing, and kneading the coat around the stuffing by means of said cutting of the curd body with the diaphragm cutter.
4. The method according to claim 3, characterised by cutting the curd body into a cone-like shape with the diaphragm cutter, and flattening by means of a flattening roller the top of the curd body transported on the conveyor, thus manufacturing a coin-like shaped curd body.
5. The method according to in any of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that pre- shaped sheets of edible material are fed onto the conveyor, and the curd bodies are dropped onto said sheets, being preferably made of biscuit, wafer or sponge cake material.
6. The method according to any of claims 1 to 5, characterised by conveying the curd body without cooling into a bottom bath comprising the coating material, then conveying it under a curtain-shower feeding the coating material from above, and finally removing a part of the coating material adhered to the curd body by downward blowing.
7. A curd dessert comprising a curd body, flavouring and an outer coating, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that it is manufactured with the method according to claim 3 or claim 4, it comprises a core (11) of flavouring, said core (11) of flavouring being enclosed by the curd body (10) from all directions, thus separating the core (11) from the coating (13).
8. The curd dessert according to claim 7, characterised by comprising a bottom part, in which a layer of edible material (12), preferably of a biscuit, wafer or sponge cake material is arranged between the curd body (10) and the coating (13).
9. The curd dessert according to claim 7 or claim 8, characterised in that the flavouring comprises hazelnut cream, caramel, fruit pulp, dried fruit, candied fruit, rice or biscuit.
10. The curd dessert according to any of claims 7 to 9, characterised by further comprising a decoration material, being a decorative coating of a different colour from that of the coating, or pieces of coloured candies, seeds, dried fruit or candied fruit sprinkled over the surface. |
CURD DESSERT AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THEREOF
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a curd (i.e. curd or curd cheese) dessert comprising the steps of producing a curd body by extrusion and cutting, and coating said curd body with a coating material. The invention further relates to the curd dessert produced in said manufacturing method.
BACKGROUND ART
It is a known fact that there is an ever-growing demand for milk product-based desserts in order to promote healthy nutrition habits from a very early age. As of today, however, only chocolate- or sugar-based bonbons, crackers and desserts are available on the market.
Aside from milk and milk products to be consumed fresh, , sour milk products or such products (e.g. curd, curd cheese, cheese) with flavour additives, fruit, fruit pulp, seeds, dried fruit or hazelnut cream are being more and more sought after.
Methods for manufacturing base materials, such as milk, curd, cream, cheese and sour milk products are described in full details in the technical literature, e.g. in the Hungarian Food Book (Provision No.1-3/51-1). Hungarian patent specifications No. 224341 , 217908 and 219988 give specific descriptions of desserts made of curd and milk products as well as their production technology.
It has been realised that if curd products are shaped in line with a general design of the confectionery industry, it might help to encourage customers - the youth in particular - to consume curd products ensuring a healthier nutrition. However, prior art manufacturing methods do not allow using the general design of the confectionery industry in producing curd products and curd desserts, with a special regard to the consistency and plasticity of the base material.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention to provide a method for manufacturing a curd dessert without the drawbacks of the current technology as well as to provide a curd dessert featuring a general shape and structure used in the confectionery industry. A further object of the invention is to provide a manufacturing method and a curd dessert, which result in a multiple-layer product common in the confectionery industry, comprising a core surrounded from all sides by a curd body and a coating having no direct contact with the core. It is a further object to provide a low-budget and simple method for the above purpose.
The object of the invention is achieved with a method as defined in claim 1 and with a curd dessert as defined in claim 7. Preferred embodiments are defined in the dependent claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will hereinafter be described on the basis of preferred embodiments depicted by drawings, where
Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a particularly advantageous embodiment of the curd dessert;
Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of another particularly advantageous embodiment of the curd dessert; and
Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a further particularly advantageous embodiment of the curd dessert.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a milk product-based dessert, namely a curd dessert and a method for manufacturing thereof. The base material of the curd dessert is curd and is preferably mixed with condiments, flavouring materials, absorbing functional additives (e.g. calcium) and consistency improving additives or colourings. This base material is then shaped into a curd body, i.e. the into a unit of the base material, as described in the following. After all the flavouring are added, the base material is stirred until all the ingredients are evenly mixed in to reach the required consistency.
According to the invention, the curd dessert contains flavourings as well, which are advantageously hazelnut cream, caramel, fruit pulp, dried fruit, candied fruit, rice or biscuit.
The curd dessert is covered with a coating being of a coating material, which is advantageously made of milk chocolate coating, dark chocolate coating or white coating known per se.
According to the invention the curd body is produced by extruding in a vertically downward direction and cutting at a right angle to the direction of the extrusion. It is the high plasticity of the base material that makes this steps necessary, because the great variety of axially symmetrical bonbon shapes common in the confectionery industry, e.g. hemisphere-like or disc shapes, is extremely difficult to realise with horizontal extrusion according to the prior art. When processed by horizontal extrusion, the cut shape would inevitably fall apart or get distorted.
To the contrary, by means of a vertically downward extrusion a low-cost and simple method is ensured for producing shapes used in the confectionery industry.
In a particularly advantageous embodiment of the inventive method, the curd mass is cut with a diaphragm cutter comprising at least three, preferably six blades. The diaphragm cutter works in the same way as the diaphragm shutter known from photography. Its characteristic is that the blades shutting centrally from different directions do not only move towards the center but their movements also contain a component of a direction being tangential to the diaphragm aperture. As a result, the material being cut is not only exposed to the strain of cutting, but to twisting and kneading as well.
One of the advantages of the diaphragm cutter is that by regulating the speed of the extrusion in relation to that of the cutting (i.e. locking) of the cutter, a wide range of shapes (e.g. cone, pyramid, hemisphere) can be achieved. Preferably, a cutter having six blades is to be applied in order to achieve an even cutting
surface. So, shapes in line with the current market demands can be formed with this particular cutter.
A further advantage of the diaphragm cutter can be observed in the process of extruding a composite shape by means of a vertical co-extrusion of an outer coat comprising curd and an inner stuffing consisting of flavouring. Here, during the cutting step, the coat is kneaded around the stuffing due to the twisting and kneading motions as a result of applying the diaphragm cutter. In order to "enclose" the stuffing and to enhance the kneading effect, the blades are advantageously designed as 40° wedges or spikes rather than flat blades, which move inwards during cutting to achieve a common position, in which the blades are abutting onto each other sideways. To ensure this abutting cutting position, the wedges are also tapering in the cutting plane, i.e. they are spike-shaped. The wedge shape provides the required kneading effect in addition to cutting. The blades are practically made of plastic.
The result of this method is a curd dessert with a core of stuffing consisting of flavouring surrounded by the curd body, as if the core was stuffed in the very center of the curd material. The end product of multiple layers has a unique aesthetic and taste quality. As a further advantage, the core typically softer than the material of the curd body is not in direct contact with the coating, therefore any damage to the coating will not result in the core leaking.
The curd body cut off the extruded shape is dropped by gravitation onto a conveyor, e.g. a belt-conveyor, whereby the bottom of the curd mass is flattened. Therefore the act of dropping is considered as part of the shaping process. Preferably, the curd body is cut to a pyramid shape with the diaphragm cutter, then the top of the curd body on the conveyor is flattened by a flattening roller and thus a coin-shaped curd body is obtained with a flat top and rounded edge. This method proves to be simple, and does not require any complex control system (e.g. a shutter speed of the cutter varying in time).
To ensure particularly advantageous taste and aesthetic effects, the curd dessert is provided with a bottom part by placing pre-shaped flat sheets of edible material, advantageously made of biscuit, wafer or sponge cake, on the conveyor belt and dropping the curd bodies on them. The sheets are practically fed onto the conveyor belt from a feeder located close to the extruder, by means of a pushing device. Surface-treating or in the given case a coating might be applied to the sheets before feeding.
The curd body is transported on the conveyor belt for coating with the coating material. According to the prior art, foodstuff to be coated was pre-cooled to achieve the required adherence of the coating. However, it has been realised that, due to its relatively small size, the taste of the product would be excessively influenced by a coating having a normal thickness, therefore a coating thinner than the known coats is required. This aim is achieved by omitting the pre-cooling step used in the prior art before forming the coating.
Without cooling, the curd body is conveyed into a bottom bath of the coating material, thus covering approximately the lower one-third of the curd body. The temperature of the coating material is practically between 35 to 45 0 C. A thin layer of coating is added to the curd body from below, while being conveyed on a perforated conveyor grill in the bottom bath. The optimal solidification temperature for the coating is 34 to 35 0 C and the curd body is approx. 25 0 C. In this way, a relatively thin coating is obtained; decreasing the average 33-37 weight percent coat-ratio of prior art curd products to 24 weight percent according to the invention.
The curd body is then conveyed under a curtain-shower feeding the coating material from above, and finally a part of the coating material adhered to the curd body is removed by downward blowing. By means of the downward blowing the excess coating adhering on the upper surface of the product can be removed. The advantage of the above-mentioned coin-like shape is here that even coating is ensured also after downward blowing. If the curd body was formed in a cone- shape, the coating would be removed from the tip by downward blowing, which
would have an adverse aesthetic affect on the product. Finally, the curd dessert is cooled to 2-15 0 C and packed.
Fig. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of a preferred embodiment of the curd dessert. It is clearly visible, that a core 11 of flavouring is surrounded from all directions by the curd body 10, while the curd body 10 is surrounded by coating 12. Coating 12 has no direct contact with core 11.
Fig. 2 shows another preferred embodiment of the curd dessert, in which a sheet 13 made of edible material is arranged below the curd body 10, the sheet 13 being preferably of biscuit, wafer or sponge cake material. In this way the curd dessert is formed with a more solid support also having a tasting effect.
Fig. 3 shows a coin-like shaped embodiment described above.
It can be seen that by selecting an appropriate aperture of the extruder, a wide range of shapes can be achieved, e.g. disc, oblong, cube, cone or star shapes, enabling that the product can be manufactured diversely and in line with the current requirements of the marketing policy.
As an additional step, the curd dessert can be provided with a decoration. The decoration material can be a decorative coating of a different colour from that of the coating, or pieces of coloured candies, seeds, dried fruit or candied fruit sprinkled over the surface.
The following advantageous, not restricting examples relate to the composition of the curd dessert according to the invention.
Example 1
Curd: 30-50 weight percent
Hazelnut cream: 10-25 weight percent
Dark chocolate coating: 15-35 weight percent Stabiliser: 0.01-2.5 weight percent
Once the curd mass is thoroughly stirred, at a temperature of 20 to 30 0 C it is co- extruded with walnut cream filling and cut as described above. The product is coated with dark chocolate mass of a temperature of 35 to 45 °C, is cooled to a temperature of 2 to 15°C in a cooling tunnel, after which the product is packed.
Example 2
Base curd: 60-70 weight percent
Milk chocolate coating: 25-35 weight percent Stabiliser: 0.01-2.5 weight percent
The procedure is as described in example 1 , the product, however, is not filled with stuffing, but pieces of hazelnut are added to the coating.
Example 3
The procedure is as described in example 1, but the stuffing comprises fruit, fruit pulp, seeds, a mixture of dried fruits or caramel.
Base curd: 30-50 weight percent
Dried/candied fruit: 5-25 weight percent
White, milk or dark coating: 15-35 weight percent Stabiliser: 0.01-2.5 weight percent
While being stirred thoroughly, the fruit is dispersed in the curd mass of a temperature of 20 to 30 0 C, then after cutting, a coating of 35 to 45 0 C is applied.
Finally, it is cooled down to a temperature of 2 to 15 0 C in a cooling tunnel and then packed.
Example 4
As described in example 3, with the difference that in this case the fruit product is stirred in the white coating of the product.
Example 5
As described in example 3, but the curd body without stuffing (example 2) or with stuffing (example 3) is provided with a sheet of wafer, sponge cake or biscuit at the bottom inside the coating.
Example 6
As described in example 1 , but the curd body with the not-yet-solidified coating is decorated. The decoration material may be a decorative coating of a material having a different colour than the coating, or sprinkled material, e.g. pieces of coloured candies, seeds, dried fruit or candied fruit.
The inventive curd dessert with or without stuffing is to be classified as a milk product with a high nutritional value according to its base material, but still represents a transition to the chocolate and bonbon products. The shaping and cutting of the base curd material is performed with filling and cutting machines, which are suitable for processing and cutting the curd according to its consistency, whereby the stuffing in the core of the finished product is enclosed from all sides by the base material. Regarding both its shape and taste, the product gained through said method is unique and special compared to the milk product desserts currently on the market, and accordingly offers more delight. The relative proportion of the curd base, stuffing and coating provides new and unique tastes. Minerals and trace elements can also be added to the product, which is normally impossible in the confectionery industry.
The invention is of course not restricted to the examples of preferred embodiments and implementations described above, but further modifications, variations and improvements are possible in the scope of the following claims.