Formulations and methods of preparing products with meat-like texture with plant-based protein sources

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11737476-B2
Application number	US-202016957630-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 17, 2019
Priority date	Jan 17, 2018
Publication date	Aug 29, 2023
Grant date	Aug 29, 2023

Abstract

Product formulations and methods of preparing products having a texture, flavor, and/or nutrition profile similar to meat jerky, with the primary protein source including or being a plant-based protein source.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A process of forming a plant-based, meat-free comestible product, the process comprising,
forming a dry blend of a composition by combining at least two plant-based protein sources, wherein the at least two plant-based protein sources provide at least 50% of the dry blend by weight;
extruding the composition while heating the composition, wherein extrusion comprises a specific mechanical energy in the range from about 120 kJ/kg to about 180 kJ/kg;
cooling the composition under laminar flow in a cooling die to provide an extrudate; and
drying the extrudate, wherein the dried extrudate has at least one of a strain-force-max tension in a range of 1.35 to 1.45 on a log-scale and a hardness in a range of 2.8 g to 3.3 g.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein the at least two plant-based protein sources provide at least 90% of the dry blend by weight.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein the at least two plant-based protein sources are not soy proteins.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein composition does not include gluten.

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein the composition does not include additional starch.

6. The process of claim 1 , wherein the composition does not include additional oil.

7. The process of claim 1 , wherein each of the at least two plant-based protein sources have a combined normalized cysteine content of 5 mg to 15 mg per gram.

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein the at least two plant-based protein sources comprises a first plant-based protein source and a second plant-based protein source in a weight ratio in the range of 30:70 to 70:30.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein the extrudate is dried to a water activity of 0.78 to 0.84.

10. The process of claim 1 , wherein water is supplied at a rate relative to a rate of supplying the dry blend of the composition such that moisture is, by percentage of a combined weight of the water and the dry blend, 45% to 60%.

11. The process of claim 1 , wherein the composition is extruded through a heating die, the heating die having a first portion that heats the composition to a temperature from about 60° C. to about 90° C. and a second portion that heats the composition to a temperature from about 90° C. to about 160° C.

12. The process of claim 1 , wherein the cooling die comprises an inlet temperature of about 135° C. and an outlet temperature from about 50° C. to about 70° C.

13. The process of claim 1 , further comprising:
freezing and thawing the extrudate; and
marinating the thawed extrudate.

14. A plant-based, meat free product comprising:
a fibrous structure formed from a composition comprising at least two plant-based protein sources, wherein the at least two plant-based protein sources provide at least 50% of the composition by weight; and
wherein the fibrous structure has at least one of a strain-force-max tension in a range of 1.35 to 1.45 on a log-scale and a hardness in a range of 2.8 g to 3.3 g, resulting from an extrusion process that heats the composition to a temperature of about 160° C. and comprises a specific mechanical energy in the range from about 120 kJ/kg to about 180 kJ/kg before cooling the composition under laminar flow through a cooling die comprising an outlet temperature from about 50° C. to about 70° C.

15. The plant-based product of claim 14 , wherein the plant-based product has a water activity of about 0.78 to about 0.84.

16. The plant-based product of claim 14 , wherein each of the at least two plant-based protein sources are selected to have a normalized cysteine content in a range of 5 mg per gram to 15 mg per gram.

17. The plant-based product of claim 14 , wherein the at least two plant-based protein sources provide at least 80% of the weight of the composition.

18. The plant-based product of claim 14 , wherein the at least two plant-based protein sources provide at least 90% of the weight of the composition.

19. The plant-based product of claim 14 , wherein the plant-based product is gluten-free.

20. A plant-based meat-free comestible product formed by a process comprising:
forming a dry blend of a composition by combining at least two plant-based protein sources, wherein the at least two plant-based protein sources provide at least 50% of the dry blend by weight;
extruding the composition while heating the composition, wherein extrusion comprises a specific mechanical energy in the range of about 120 kJ/kg to about 180 kJ/kg;
cooling the composition under laminar flow in a cooling die to provide an extrudate, the cooling die comprising an outlet temperature of about 50° C.; and
drying the extrudate, wherein the dried extrudate has at least one of a strain-force-max tension in a range of 1.35 to 1.45 on a log-scale and a hardness in a range of 2.8 g to 3.3 g.

Assignees

• Hershey Co

Inventors

• Mudgal Prashant
• Siris Supapong

Classifications

• A23J3/227 Primary

  Meat-like textured foods (meat extenders A23L13/00) · CPC title

• A23J3/14

  Vegetable proteins · CPC title

• A23J3/24

  using freezing · CPC title

• A23J3/26

  using extrusion or expansion · CPC title

• A23L19/09

  Mashed or comminuted products, e.g. pulp, purée, sauce, or products made therefrom, e.g. snacks (A23L19/01, A23L19/10, A23L27/63 and A23L21/00 take precedence) · CPC title