Methods for reduced refining during cocoa liquor processing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11812762-B2
Application number	US-202217572967-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 11, 2022
Priority date	Dec 29, 2016
Publication date	Nov 14, 2023
Grant date	Nov 14, 2023

Abstract

Methods and systems for providing processed cocoa nibs are provided. The methods involve coarse grinding cocoa nibs to form a slurry and subjecting less than all of the cocoa slurry to refining. The refined and unrefined volumes or portions of cocoa slurry are then recombined to provide a recombined cocoa product. The cocoa nibs produced by the method may be further processed to provide cocoa liquor or chocolate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for producing a recombined cocoa product, which method comprises the steps of:
grinding cocoa nibs to create a coarse cocoa,
separating the coarse cocoa slurry in a single separating step to create a precipitate and a supernatant, wherein less than 50% of the coarse cocoa slurry by weight is in the precipitate after the separating step, and wherein the separating step is filtration, centrifugation or decantation,
mixing the precipitate composition ingredients with a sweetener ingredient,
refining that mixture comprising the precipitate in a
refining step to create a refined precipitate composition, and
combining the refined precipitate composition and the supernatant to form the recombined cocoa product.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coarse cocoa slurry is input to separating at a temperature in the range of 45 to 130° C., wherein the apparent viscosity of the precipitate is between 150,000 and 730,000 cP.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the supernatant comprises a cocoa butter and cocoa particles, the cocoa solid particles have a D90 value equal to or less than about 40 μm, and the cocoa particles comprises at least 15 weight % of the total weight of the particulate portion.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the cocoa solid particles have a D90 value equal to or less than about 30 μm.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the precipitate comprises sugar and cocoa powder.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising adding additional cocoa butter, and the additional cocoa butter in the combining step.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the recombined cocoa product is a chocolate and the combining step mixes and conches the cocoa product ingredients.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the recombined cocoa product is a chocolate liquor.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the separating step is centrifugation.

10. A method for processing cocoa nibs, the method comprising:
coarsely grinding cocoa nibs to form a cocoa slurry comprising a cocoa liquid and cocoa solid particles, wherein the cocoa liquid comprises cocoa butter;
separating the cocoa slurry in a single separation step into a liquid portion and a precipitate portion, wherein the liquid portion comprises a portion of the cocoa solid particles forming a particle portion within the liquid portion, and wherein the particle portion comprises cocoa solid particles having a D90 value equal to or less than about 40 μm, and wherein the separating step is filtration, centrifugation or decantation;
mixing the precipitate composition ingredients with a sweetener ingredient;
refining the precipitate portion to form a refined precipitate portion; and
combining the liquid portion and the refined precipitate portion to produce a recombined cocoa product.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the liquid portion is not subjected to a process that significantly reduces particles sizes of the portion of the cocoa solid particles.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the particle portion has a D90 value equal to or less than about 30 μm.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the refining step further comprises adding an emulsifier to the precipitate portion.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the refining step further comprises adding sugar and optionally milk powder to the precipitate portion.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the combining step further comprises adding an additional cocoa butter.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the combining step provides conching of the recombined cocoa product.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the recombined cocoa product is a chocolate.

18. The method of claim 10 , wherein the separating step is conducted in a centrifuge.

19. The method of claim 10 , wherein the liquid portion is at least 50% by weight is the cocoa slurry.

Assignees

• Mars Inc

Inventors

• Josyula Aditya
• Slesser Dale
• Kaiser John
• Shafi Rogaite
• Kelley Matthew
• Gonzalez Jose

Classifications

• A23G1/0006 Primary

  Processes specially adapted for manufacture or treatment of cocoa or cocoa products (A23G1/002 - A23G1/005 take precedence) · CPC title

• A23G1/002 Primary

  Processes for preparing or treating cocoa beans or nibs · CPC title

• A23G1/0033

  Chocolate refining, i.e. roll or mill refining · CPC title

• A23G1/0036

  Conching · CPC title

• A23G1/46

  containing dairy products · CPC title