The invention relates to an aqueous spread or sauce having distributed therein particles of a cheese product.

The spread or sauce has usually a savoury, sour or sweetsour taste and flavour e.g. a slightly acidic tomato sauce or a salad dressing; and should be suitable both for cold use and mostly for heating after application on bread, crackers, pasta or similar base material. For the hot application it is desirable that the cheese melts easily and that the molten cheese has a texture similar to mozzarella cheese. The texture behaviour may also differ to some extent from that of mozzarella cheese. For example, mozzarella, after having been molten upon cooling down, quickly becomes rather hard and somewhat rubbery. It is preferred that the cheese remains softer longer upon cooling down. Also, molten mozzarella is rather stringy. Stringiness is however not essential for satisfactory product. Non-stringy cheese may be appreciated as well by customers.

In practice this type of spreads or sauces is prepared shortly before use, as otherwise problems with the cheese particles are experienced getting either weak and soggy or dry and tough. Moreover using unpasteurized cheese products will result in keepability problems, mainly due to the activity of lactic organisms. As a consequence commercial products were either unacceptable if supplied in a ready mixed condition or should be made available in a two package form: the sauce and cheese product in separate packages for mixing right before consumption.

It is an object of the invention to provide a spread or sauce product devoid of the above imperfections.

The invention provides to that purpose an aqueous spread or sauce having distributed therein particles of a pasteurized cheese product, characterized in that both the spread or sauce and the cheese product have an a _w between 0.90 and 0.98, the difference between the two values being not more than 0.03 units preferably not more than 0.02 units and more preferably not more than 0.01 unit.

By aqueous spread or sauce a product is meant having a continuous aqueous phase. Usually the spreads or sauces having an acceptable taste will have an a _w value between 0,94 and 0,98 and preferably between 0.95 and 0.98. Reasons of keepability taken into account 0.96 to 0.97 is the most preferred- range. These ranges reflect the preferred a _w of the end product. The a _w of the sauce or spread prior to incorporation of the cheese product therein, preferably is 0.96-0.98, particularly 0.97-0.98. The a _w of the cheese product prior to inclusion in the sauce or spread preferably is 0.94-0.98, more preferably 0.95-0.98.

For reasons of keepability and taste the pH value of the final spread or sauce having a cheese product dispersed therein is preferably between 4.0 and 5.2 and in particular between 4.0 and 5.0. These ranges encompass the preferred pH of the end product immediately after production as well as the pH of the product after storage. The sauce or spread used for making the product preferably has a pH of 3.8-4.6, more preferably 4.0-4.4, particularly 4.1-4.3. The cheese product employed preferably has a pH of 4.8-5.5, more preferably 5.0-5.4, particularly 5.2-5.4. After preparation of the product some change in pH may occur. The equilibrium pH of the product preferably is 4.3-5.0, more preferably 4.5-4.9.

It has been found that the use of conventional processed cheese comprising melting salts or emulsifying salts like phosphates and citrates may lead to loss of structure of the original cheese which may adversely affect the meltability at increased temperature after the processed cheese has been stored for some time in direct contact with the sauce.

For that reason it is preferred that the cheese product particles contained in the spread or sauce be essentially devoid of melting salts.

Taking these precautions a spread or sauce results having cheese product particles contained therein which even after storage for several weeks or months are readily meltable to a flowable mass at temperatures in excess of 65°C, in particular in excess of 70°C and especially in excess of 80°C. Preferably the sauce or spread is a tomato-based sauce or spread.

The amount of cheese product in the sauce or spread preferably is 5-50%, preferably 10-30%, particularly 15- 25%. The cheese product should be present in the product as discrete particles. The weighted average of the largest dimension of the particles is preferably 1-15 mm, particularly 3-10 mm. The sauce or spread may include other particles as well e.g. vegetable particles like discrete particles of tomato, pepper, ginger, herbs, cucumber, sellery etc. The product may also include for example pieces of meat, sausage, fish and the like, as well as whole shrimps, mussels etc.

The product can be prepared in several ways. For example, the cheese product and the sauce or spread can be prepared separately, both preparations including a pasteurisation step. The products are cooled down and under hygienic conditions the cheese is divided into particles which are

incorporated in the sauce and the combined product is packed, e.g. filled into jars, cold. Such a process requires very high hygiene standards and it may be desirable to include preservative in the product.

Alternatively, after packing the product, the packs e.g. jars or cans can be pasteurised. In such a case the packs while hot, should be handled carefully to prevent smearing of the molten cheese through the sauce or spread. Therefore the packs are preferably subjected to minimal movement and shaking, just sufficient to prevent damage to the product by local overheating. The amount of movement that can be tolerated depends to some extent on the viscosity of the sauce or spread used for making the product at the pasteurisation temperature. In practice, this viscosity is suitably caused to be at least 10000 cP, preferably 15000 - 25000 cP at the pasteurisation temperature.

Preferably, however, the product is prepared by means of a process wherein cheese product particles are incorporated in the spread or sauce at a temperature of at least 70°C, preferably 73-85°C, more preferably 75-80°C. This can be done by heating the sauce to a sufficiently high temperature and incorporating cold pieces of cheese therein, e.g. in line. Preferably, however, both the sauce and the cheese are at the indicated high temperature. For example the hot sauce or spread and the hot molten cheese are each pumped through a pipe. At the connection of the 2 pipes, a switch allows intermittent flow of sauce or spread and of cheese, the switch cutting off a piece of molten cheese at every other position change, thus creating the particles of cheese product. In a preferred embodiment, hot sauce or spread is pumped continuously through a pipe. Particles of molten cheese are injected therein e.g. through a T-piece provided with a nozzle with cutting facility which breaks up the flow of molten cheese from the

nozzle into discrete molten cheese product particles. In all cases of such "hot mixing", the hot sauce or spread with cheese particles distributed therein should not be subjected to excessive movement or shear to minimize smearing of the molten cheese. Preferably the incorporation of the hot or cold cheese into the hot sauce is done very close to the filling station, where the product is filled into packs. This not only minimizes loss of shape of the cheese particles but also facilitates filling and closing of the packs at a product temperature that will ensure that the end product has excellent microbiological quality. A further advantage of such a hot mixing process is that it allows minimal handling, processing and energy consumption as well as minimum stocks. Both the preparation of the sauce or spread as well as the preparation of the cheese product will usually provide products which are at elevated temperature at the end of the preparation process. These products can be used directly in the hot mixing process. In this way end product with optimal taste and flavour can be obtained at minimal production costs.

In this specification parts and percentages refer to weights, unless otherwise indicated. Also percentages are related to whole product, unless otherwise indicated.

Example 1

Preparation of cheese product:

19.5 parts cheddar

50 parts mozzarella 4 parts whey protein concentrate having 80% protein

10 parts skim milk powder

4.5 parts butter

.5 parts xanthan gum

.6 parts cooking salt .11 parts preservatives

.12 parts colourant .8 parts water lactic acid 50% to pH 5.25

These ingredients are carefully mixed while heating to 90°C under shear and fed to an extruder from which the softened and homogenized cheese product was cooled down to 20°C and extruded through orifices of .5 cm square and chopped into lengths of .8 cm.

The cheese product had a dry matter content of 56.1%, a fat content of 37.6% on dry matter and an a _w of 0.96.

Preparation of the spread or sauce phase.

5 parts olive oil

35 parts tomato paste (28% dm)

.2 parts tomato seed

.75 parts wine vinegar

.04 parts citric acid

4 parts starchy thickener

.75 parts NaCl

.2 parts preservative

44.3 parts water

1.1 parts flavours

.3 parts herbs

3.3 parts onions and garlic sugar to match a _w of cheese product sweetener to taste

These ingredients are mixed while heating to 85°C. After cooling down to below 30°C 70 parts of this spread or sauce phase having a pH value of about 4.4 is mixed with 30 parts of the particulate cheese product and filled into glass jars which are hermetically closed. After one week storage at 5°C the pH value of the product is about 4.9.

The mixture can be used at ambient or refrigerator temperature as a spread on bread or toast, whereby the cheese product particles may be spread out more or less if desired. For hot use the mixture can be put on bread, toast, a pizza or a prepared portion of pasta and heated under the grill or in a MW oven. This heating transfers the cheese product particles into a molten condition. Even after storage for 10 weeks no appreciable deterioration of the cheese particles as regards texture was noticed.

Example 2

Preparation of cheese product:

50 parts Gouda cheese

11 parts of a green cheese prepared from ultrafiltration retentate.

9 parts dairy protein powder

15 parts butter

1 parts gelatin p.m. flavour and preservatives 14 parts water

The cheese was prepared by mixing all ingredients in a Stephan cutter and heating to 90°C. After 10 minutes at 90°C, the product was filled hot in bag-in-boxes and stored at 5°C.

As sauce, Ragu® pizza sauce ex van den Bergh Foods Baltimore, USA, was employed.

The a _w of the sauce was 0.98, that of the cheese 0.97. The pH of the sauce was 4.4, that of the cheese was 5.3. The cheese contained 57% dry matter and 29% fat.

The cheese was cut into pieces with some variations in dimensions. Mostly the particles were more or less in the shape of little cubes or somewhat elongated in one dimension. The weighted average of the larger dimensions of the particles was about 6 mm.

20 Parts of the cheese particles were mixed with 80 parts of the sauce at 10°C. The product was filled in jars, which were hermetically closed. The jars were then pasteurised in a retort system, such that all of the product reached a temperature of at least 90°C and was kept at this temperature for at least 10 minutes. The product was then cooled back to 5°C and stored. After 1 week storage the pH of the product was 4.9.

The product was spread on bread and eaten as such. The product was also spread on a slice of toast and heated in a microwave oven for 15 seconds at 900 W. After this treatment the cheese particles had molten. Both the hot and the cold product were much appreciated.

The product was again evaluated as above, after 4 months storage at 5°C. The cheese particles had maintained their original size and colour. They had not swollen nor had they taken up colour from the red sauce. The melting behaviour as well as the taste and flavour of the product, in both the hot and cold evaluations were still very good.

Example 3 Example 2 was repeated except that no gelatin was used in the cheese product. As a result the cheese obtained was somewhat softer. This could also be perceived in the endproduct. Especially when eaten cold some people particularly appreciated the product with this texture.

The influence of not using gelatin on the water activity and pH were within measurement error, i.e. the water activities and pH-values were as in example 2.

Example 4

Sauce of example 1 immediately after production, while still at 85°C was fed through a pipe. Cheese product of example 2, while still at a temperature above 75°C was injected into the stream of hot sauce in such a way that droplet-like pieces were formed having a main dimension typically of about 10 mm. The amount of cheese product was 15%, calculated on the weight of the total product. About 10 cm downstream of the cheese injection point the product emerged from the pipe and was filled into jars while the temperature of the product was still above

75°C. The jars were closed and the product was stored at 5°C.

The obtained product was very good and had satisfactory keepability. Particularly the shape of the cheese particles in the product was appreciated.

Product with even better keepability, e.g. which can be kept for prolonged periods of time at ambient temperature, can be obtained with this process by subjecting both the cheese and the sauce immediately before injecting the cheese into the sauce, to UHT conditions, e.g. 145°C for 6-8 seconds, cooling both streams back to e.g. 80°C, injecting the cheese and filling the product, while using aseptic conditions downstream of the UHT treatment.