Fabricated protein fiber bundles
AssigneeGeneral Foods Corporation
InventorSoliman Y. K. Shenouda
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A wide variety of meat-like textures are simulated by a process requiring the unidirectional freezing of an aqueous mixture of protein and alginate to form vertically-aligned protein fibers, slicing the frozen mass to form fiber bundles, gelling the alginate in each bundle to reinforce the well-defined fiber structure, permanently heat-setting the protein fiber structure and then adjusting the texture with a sequestering agent. The resulting product has certain textural and nutritional properties of natural meat and can be flavored, colored, texturized, shaped, molded, cooked and substituted for meat.
Claims15
A process for preparing white, bland-tasting protein fiber bundles which are texturally and nutritionally similar to the meat flesh of mammals, poultry or seafood, said process comprising the steps of:
- (a) preparing a mixture comprising heat coaguable protein which is water-soluble or partially water-soluble, a water-soluble alginate and water;
- (b) cooling the mixture to unidirectionally freeze the water into elongated ice crystals and to separate the protein into well-defined, well-ordered, substantially independent fibers;
- (c) slicing the solid mass of step (b) in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the ice crystal formation to form fiber bundles, each slice having a predetermined thickness
- (d) melting the ice crystals;
- (e) gelling, via infusion of gelation ions, the water-soluble alginate in each fiber bundle to reinforce the well-defined, well-ordered, fiber-like structure wherein the rate of gelling the water-soluble alginate is at the same speed as the melting rate of ice crystals in the fiber bundles and wherein the thickness of each slice permits ion infusion into the solid mass such that the rate of gelling is at the same speed as the rate of melting;
- (f) heating the resulting fiber bundles to coagulate the protein;
- (g) treating the coagulated protein fiber bundles with an aqueous solution of a sequestering agent for texture modification and to extract undesirable salts contributing off-flavors;
- and
- (h) separating the white, bland-tasting protein fiber bundles from the bath containing the sequestering agent.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.