Steeped cocoa compositions and functional cocoa beverages made from them

Abstract

The invention provides, in one aspect, a method of producing a cocoa-containing beverage, or a nutritionally fortified or energy-sustaining cocoa beverage, containing beneficial cocoa polyphenols. Ready-to-drink compositions, concentrates, primary beverage components, and packets for producing the beverages are specifically disclosed and prepared from a cocoa water composition made from steeping a cocoa-containing product in water or an aqueous solution. A number of vitamins, minerals, supplements, and nutriceutical compositions can be added.

Description

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation-in-part of and claims full priority benefit of prior U.S. application Ser. No. 11 / 717,163 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,919,135), and Ser. No. 11 / 717,165 (now), both of which claim priority to U.S. Provisional applications 60 / 781,327, filed Mar. 13, 2006, and 60 / 872,515, filed Dec. 5, 2006. The entire contents of each of these documents are hereby incorporated by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND INTRODUCTION[0002]The invention relates to new beverage products made from water steeped in a cocoa product or powder as well as combinations of this beverage with one or more functional or healthful ingredients, such as energy-producing, stimulating, immune-defense, heart health, detoxifying, muscle recuperating, cognition enhancing, or relaxing ingredients or supplements, for example. In general, the beverages contain a percentage of a cocoa water ingredient having beneficial or significant levels of cocoa antioxidants, o...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014]In particularly preferred embodiments, the invention comprises beverages that contain efficacious flavanols, flavanoids, polyphenols, antioxidants, cocoa polyphenols and / or cocoa antioxidants and / or other cocoa-derived compounds or compositions. These beverages can be used in a healthy diet, for example a diet to improve cardiovascular conditions or prevent cardiovascular disease or maintain weight. Another aspect of the invention is to provide a cocoa beverage composition that is a sugar-free and / or calorie-free cocoa beverage. Yet another aspect of the invention is to provide a cocoa beverage that is sugar-free and / or calorie-free and optionally contains other available or known supplements, active ingredients, appetite suppressing agents, and similar agents or ingredients, especially those also found in antioxidant-containing foods, herbs, teas, coffees, or food product ingredients. Further, the beverage or packet composition may also or in addition be combined with one or more other dietary nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc., to provide a nutritional or dietary supplement. Any of these combinations of the invention can advantageously provide benefits to human health and capture additional beneficial effects. Also, all of the ingredients or combinations may be combined with appropriate stabilizers, emulsifiers, preservatives, binders, carageenans, and other edible or ingestible compounds known to one of skill in the art in the industry to produce a packet or beverage.

[0015]In addition, the invention includes methods of selecting appropriate combinations of cocoa products, conditions, manufacturing steps, or additives or ingredients to produce a shelf-stable product, and particularly a product capable of being stored as a ready-to-drink beverage in a container for at least one month at room temperature, or at least two months at room temperature, or at least three months at room temperature, or at least six months at room temperature. In a similar aspect, the invention includes methods to produce a cocoa water composition, and the compositions themselves, whereby the propensity to form a fat ring on a storage container of the cocoa water or a final product is substantially reduced or minimized. In particular, the invention includes the use of acidifying conditions or low pH buffering additives, such as citric acid, lactic acid and / or phosphoric acid compounds or combinations, used at one or more steps in the production process. Preferably, a pH of about 3.5 or below can substantially reduce the appearance of a fat ring on the container after storage. Filtration steps, filter aids, centrifugation steps, and settling time, all at selected or different temperatures, can substantially reduce the appearance of a fat ring. Additionally, the use of low fat cocoa powder, with about 1.2% fat, can reduce the appearance of a fat ring. In general, low fat cocoa powder contains lees than 10% cocoa butter, and defatted cocoa powder contains less than 2% cocoa butter. The use of defatted cocoa powder combined with an acid additive is one preferred method for reducing the fat ring, but any cocoa powder, or cocoa product, that is defatted or low in fat can be used alone or in combination with other cocoa products. The use of defatted cocoa powder combined with an acid additive is one preferred method for reducing the fat ring, but any cocoa powder, or cocoa product, that is defatted or low fat can be used alone or in combination with other cocoa products. The products and the methods of the invention can, in any embodiment, also include aseptic processing, for example treatments of the water or aqueous solution, the cocoa product-water mixture, and / or the final steeped product. Beverage emulsifiers, beverage stabilizers, weighting agents, thickeners can also be added, and a preferred group is polysorbates, carrageenans, Tween 60, Tween 80, and gum arabic. Additional methods provide for selecting particular cocoa compositions, conditions for steeping, water, and other optional ingredients to optimize the taste, mouthfeel, or acidity of the ready-to-drink product.

Problems solved by technology

However, due to at least the technical problems in using cocoa products in steeping processes, none of these tea products have been based upon cocoa as a basic ingredient.