Processes for preparing dried legume flakes, a shaped food mass based on dried legume flakes and associated products

Abstract

The invention relates to a process for preparing dried legume flakes and a food mass, comprising the following steps: mixing (100) legume grains (1) with water (2); soaking (200) the grains (1) with water (2); grinding (300) the soaked grains (3) to obtain ground grains (4); heating (400) the ground grains (4) in an oven; dehydrating (500) the ground grains (4) in a dehydrator to obtain dehydrated ground grains (5); crushing (600) the dehydrated ground grains (5) to obtain dried legume flakes (6); mixing (700) the dried legume flakes (6) with a food excipient (7) and a food additive (8) to obtain a food mass (9); and shaping the food mass (800) to obtain a shaped food mass based on dried legume flakes (10). The process results in products with higher nutritional value, improved flavour and a suitable texture, avoiding chemical and thermal degradation of the vegetable components.

Description

[0001] DESCRIPTION

[0002] PROCESSES FOR PREPARING DRIED FLAKES OF A LEGUME, OF A SHAPED FOOD PASTA BASED ON DRIED FLAKES OF A

[0003] Legumes and related products

[0004] The present invention relates to the technical field of the production of food compositions, namely dried legume flakes and pasta, including said dried flakes.

[0005] Background of the invention

[0006] Patent application GB2486873 discloses a process for preparing dried flakes of black peas or chickpeas comprising the steps of soaking the grains, heating the soaked grains in water at 77°C and drying at 100°C in order to obtain dried flakes of the legumes.

[0007] Patent RU2663988 discloses a process for manufacturing chickpea chips comprising the steps of soaking the chickpeas in cold water for 12 hours, heating the chickpeas in water between 90 and 95 °C for 40 minutes, drying the chickpeas at 185 °C in a fryer for 60 to 90 seconds, and grinding the chickpeas until homogeneous chickpea chips are obtained.

[0008] Patent application CN116420843 describes a process for preparing legume particles comprising the following steps: supplying grains of a vegetable, namely black beans, red beans, green beans or peas; soaking the grains, namely in the range of 10 to 50 °C for 4 to 16 hours; heating the grains with steam for 10 to 40 minutes; removing the husks; drying the grains in the range of 35 to 60 °C for 8 to 30 hours; and grinding the dried grains.

[0009] US patent application US3489571 describes a process for preparing dried legume flakes comprising the steps of supplying lima bean grains (Phaseolus lunatus), soaking the grains, preferably in cold water with subsequent removal of the husks, grinding the soaked grains with subsequent addition of a binder and a flavoring, cooking the ground grains in a pressure cooker for about 1 hour, crushing the mass to form flakes, drying the flakes in a first stage at 190 °C for 10 minutes and subsequently in a vacuum oven in the range of 115 to 143 °C until the flakes are completely dehydrated.

[0010] Problems with the previous technique

[0011] The processes for preparing dried legume flakes known in the state of the art present several disadvantages related to the degradation of nutrients naturally present in vegetables, considering that they involve heating and drying steps that must be carried out at high temperatures.

[0012] Additionally, the use of higher temperatures in the processing of these foods leads to higher energy consumption, harming the economic viability and carbon footprint of the manufacturing processes.

[0013] Therefore, the state of the art requires processes for preparing dried legume flakes that can be carried out under less drastic operating conditions and simultaneously contribute to the production of food with as much of its original nutritional and organoleptic characteristics preserved as possible. Solution to the problem

[0014] The present invention solves the problems of the prior art by developing a process for preparing dried legume flakes based on a sequential combination of heating and dehydration at lower temperatures, which results in better preservation of nutrients sensitive to thermal degradation.

[0015] Advantages of the invention

[0016] The process of the present invention results in a lower production of acrylamides, obtaining dry legume flakes with a higher nutritional value and, therefore, healthier for the consumer.

[0017] The process of the present invention also prevents the caramelization reaction of the sugars present in legumes, which is particularly advantageous in the processing of chickpeas. Additionally, there is greater control over the development of Maillard reactions throughout the processing time, which, together with the low caramelization rates, contributes to the enhancement of the flavor of the resulting dry flakes.

[0018] The process of the present invention also contributes to reducing the pyrolysis reactions of legumes, decreasing or preventing the chemical and thermal degradation of plant components.

[0019] Furthermore, the process of the present invention enables the production of dry flakes of a legume and shaped pasta based on dry flakes of a legume with a suitable texture. Brief description of the figures.

[0020] For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the principles in accordance with the embodiments of the present invention, reference will be made to the embodiments illustrated in the figures and to the language used to describe them. In any case, it should be understood that there is no intention to limit the scope of the present invention to the content of the figures. Any subsequent alterations or modifications of the inventive features illustrated herein, as well as any additional applications of the principles and embodiments of the invention illustrated, which would normally occur to a person skilled in the art possessing this description, are considered within the scope of the claimed invention.

[0021] Figure 1 - illustrates a diagram of the preparation of dried flakes of a legume and of a shaped food mass based on dried flakes of a legume;

[0022] Figure 2 - illustrates a frequency histogram of the average particle size for the ground grains after the grinding stage of the dry flake preparation process of a legume;

[0023] Figure 3 illustrates a frequency histogram of the average particle size for the dry flakes of a legume.

[0024] List of references marked in the figures:

[0025] 1. Legume grains

[0026] 2. Water or an aqueous solution

[0027] 3. Soaked grains

[0028] 4. Ground grains

[0029] 5. Dehydrated ground grains

[0030] 6. Dried flakes of a legume

[0031] 7. A food delivery vehicle

[0032] 8. A food additive. 9. A food paste.

[0033] 10. A pasta-based food made from dried legume flakes.

[0034] 100. A mixing step

[0035] 200. A soaking stage

[0036] 300. One grinding step

[0037] 400. A warm-up stage

[0038] 500. A dehydration step.

[0039] 600. A grinding stage

[0040] 700. A mixing step for the formation of a food dough.

[0041] 800. A step in shaping a food dough based on dried flakes of a legume.

[0042] Detailed description of the invention

[0043] The present invention relates, in a first aspect, to a process for preparing dry flakes of a legume comprising the following steps: a) Mixing legume grains with water or an aqueous solution; b) Soaking the legume grains in water or an aqueous solution, preferably in the range of 0°C to 15°C, obtaining soaked grains; c) Grinding the soaked grains, obtaining ground grains; d) Heating the ground grains in an oven at a temperature in the range of 50°C to 140°C; e) Dehydrating the ground grains, obtained in the previous step, in a hot air dehydrator at a temperature in the range of 30°C to 100°C, obtaining dehydrated ground grains; f) Crushing the dehydrated ground grains, obtaining dry flakes of the legume.In preferred embodiments, the legume subjected to the dry flake preparation process is at least one from the group consisting of chickpeas, black beans, cowpeas, red beans, white beans, butter beans, peas, mung beans, lupins, pinto beans, azuki beans, and lentils. Even more preferably, the legume is chickpeas.

[0044] The soaking step of legume grains in water or an aqueous solution aims to deactivate the undesirable activity of certain enzymes naturally present in legumes, as well as increase the availability of vitamins, minerals, and plant proteins. The soaking step can be performed with the legume grains in static contact with the water or aqueous solution. Preferably, the soaking step is carried out by contacting the legume grains with water or an aqueous solution at a temperature ranging from 0°C to 30°C, more preferably from 0°C to 15°C, and even more preferably from 0°C to 5°C. Preferably, the soaking step is carried out for 10 to 40 hours.

[0045] Preferably, the soaking step for the legume grains is carried out with water. Alternatively, the soaking step can be carried out with an aqueous solution, which refers to a solution of at least one additive selected from the group consisting of a salt and a sugar in water.

[0046] In particularly preferred embodiments, the ratio between the mass of the legume grains and the mass of the water or aqueous solution in step b) of soaking the legume grains is in the range of 1:3 to 1:7, more preferably in the range of 1:4 to 1:6. After the soaking step, the soaked grains are separated from the water or aqueous solution by means of a unit operation of solid-liquid separation, for example sieving, filtration or centrifugation. Then, the soaked grains are subjected to a grinding step, obtaining ground grains. The grinding operation can be carried out in a conventional mill or crusher, for example, a ball mill or a roller mill. In the process of the present invention, the practical aspect is that the grinding does not require the removal of the legume husks.

[0047] Ground grains can exhibit different geometries, and the average particle size for ground grains ranges from 2 to 26 millimeters, preferably from 8 to 12 millimeters. Figure 2 shows a frequency histogram of particle sizes resulting from the measurement of 400 grains. Approximately 52% of the particles have sizes between 2 and 8 millimeters, 31% of the particles have sizes between 9 and 14 millimeters, 16% of the particles have sizes between 15 and 20 millimeters, and less than 1% of the particles have sizes between 21 and 26 millimeters.

[0048] The heating stage of the ground grains in an oven, for example an electric oven, a gas oven or a wood-fired oven, can preferably be carried out in the range of 20 to 180 minutes, preferably in the range of 45 to 70 minutes. Preferably, the heating stage of the ground grains in the oven is carried out in the range of 80 °C to 110 °C, preferably in the range of 90 °C to 105 °C.

[0049] The dehydration stage of the ground grains is preferably carried out in the range of 40 to 60 °C, even more preferably in the range of 40 to 45 °C. In preferred embodiments, the dehydration stage of the ground grains is carried out in the range of 3 to 25 hours, preferably in the range of 8 to 25 hours.

[0050] The dehydration stage of the milled grains is carried out in a hot air dehydrator, for example in an oven, a convection oven, a tunnel dryer, a fluidized bed dryer, a drum dryer, a tray dryer, a vacuum dryer, a microwave device or a radio frequency device.

[0051] Next, the dehydrated grains undergo a grinding stage, obtaining dry flakes of the legume. The grinding operation can be carried out in a mill or in a conventional crusher, for example, a ball mill or a roller mill.

[0052] Dry flakes can exhibit different geometries, and the average particle size for dry flakes ranges from 2 to 16 millimeters in length, preferably in the range of 6 to 10 millimeters in length. Figure 3 shows a frequency histogram of particle sizes resulting from the measurement of 400 grains. Approximately 36% of the particles have sizes between 2 and 6 millimeters, 34% of the particles have sizes between 7 and 9 millimeters, 23% of the particles have sizes between 10 and 13 millimeters, and less than 7% of the particles have sizes between 14 and 16 millimeters.

[0053] The present invention relates, in a second aspect, to a process for preparing a shaped food mass based on dried flakes of a legume comprising the following steps: a) Mixing the dried flakes of the legume, obtained by the process as defined in any of the preceding claims, with a food carrier, obtaining a food mass; and b) Shaping the food mass, obtained in the previous step, obtaining a shaped food mass based on dried flakes of a legume.

[0054] Preferably, a food vehicle is selected from the group consisting of water, animal fat, vegetable oil, milk, eggs, food sauces, mustard, flours, bread in particulate form and mixtures thereof. Flours comprise cereal, fruit or vegetable flours.

[0055] In preferred embodiments of the present invention, the process for preparing a shaped food mass based on dried flakes of a legume comprises adding to the food mass at least one component selected from the group consisting of a food additive, a salt, a sugar, and a spice.

[0056] Preferably, a food additive is selected from the group consisting of a food coloring, an emulsifier, a preservative, an antioxidant, an acidity regulator, a flour improver, a stabilizer, a thickener, an enzyme, a flavoring, and mixtures thereof.

[0057] In particularly preferred forms, before the dough-forming stage, the dried legume flakes are mixed with water, fruit flours, vegetable flours, a thickener, and spices.

[0058] Figure 1 illustrates a process for preparing a shaped food paste based on dried flakes of a legume comprising the following steps: i. Mixing (100) legume grains (1) with water (2) or an aqueous solution (2); and ii. Wetting (200) the legume grains (1) with water (2) or an aqueous solution (2), obtaining soaked grains (3); and iii. Grinding (300) the soaked grains (3), obtaining ground grains (4); and iv. Heating (400) the ground grains (4) in an oven at a temperature in the range of 50 °C to 140 °C; and v. Dehydration (500) of the ground grains (4), obtained in the previous step, in a hot air dehydrator at a temperature in the range of 30 °C to 100 °C, obtaining dehydrated ground grains (5); and vi. Grinding (600) of the dehydrated ground grains (5), obtaining dry flakes of the legume (6); vii.Mixture (700) of dry legume flakes (6), with a food carrier (7) and with a food additive (8), obtaining a food mass (9); and viii. Shaping of the food mass (800), obtained in the previous step, obtaining a shaped food mass based on dry flakes of a legume (10).

[0059] The present invention relates, in a third aspect, to a dried flake of a legume prepared by the process as defined in the first aspect of the invention.

[0060] The present invention relates, in a fourth aspect, to a shaped food mass based on dried flakes of a legume prepared by the process as defined in the second aspect of the invention.

[0061] The shaping of a food dough based on dried legume flakes can be widely used in the food industry to efficiently and standardizedly create a variety of products, resulting in foods with consistent shapes. Shaped food dough based on dried legume flakes can be prepared in the form of hamburgers, meatballs, nuggets, sausages, breaded products, noodles, fresh pasta, tofu, breads, cakes, and cereal bars.

[0062] Examples

[0063] In order to demonstrate the advantages and technical effects related to the process of preparing dry flakes from a legume, an example of dry flake preparation was carried out according to the process of the present invention. With the aim of providing a comparison with prior art processes, four comparative tests were performed according to the conditions established in the prior art documents cited in the description.

[0064] Table 1 presents the identification of the process conditions for the immersion step of the legume grains. Table 2 presents the identification of the process conditions for the heating step of the ground grains. Table 3 presents the identification of the process conditions for the dehydration step of the ground grains. Example 1 corresponds to a process according to the invention. Comparative examples 1, 2, 3 and 4 correspond respectively to the processes described in patent documents GB2486873A, RU2663988C1, CN116420843A and US3489571A.

[0065] Table 1 Table 2

[0066] Table 3

[0067] The process of the present invention prevents the caramelization reaction of the sugars present in the legumes and allows greater control over the development of Maillard reactions throughout the processing time, which, together with the low caramelization rates, contributes to the enhancement of the flavor of the dry flakes obtained. These technical effects are particularly due to the low temperatures used in the soaking and dehydration stages, specifically when compared with the processes described in documents GB2486873A and RU2663988C1. The process of the present invention results in a lower production of acrylamides when compared with the process described in document US3489571A, as observed in Table 4, but contributes to a greater preservation of vitamin B1 originally present in the legumes compared to the processes disclosed in documents CN116420843A and US3489571A.In this way, the invention process contributes to obtaining dry legume flakes with a higher nutritional value and, therefore, healthier for the consumer.

[0068] Commission Regulation 2017 / 2158 of 20 November 2017, which establishes mitigation measures and reference levels for reducing acrylamide in foodstuffs, does not specifically define acrylamide limits for products containing legumes. However, the values ​​determined for foods produced by the referenced prior art processes are above the limit established in the Regulation for some specific products, namely, fresh wheat-based bread, fresh bread excluding wheat-based bread, baby food, and cereal-based foods intended for infants and young children, except biscuits and toast.

[0069] Table 4 As used in this description, the expressions "about" and "approximately" refer to a range of values ​​of plus or minus 10% of the specified number.

[0070] As used throughout this patent application, the term "or" is used in an inclusive rather than exclusive sense, unless the exclusive sense is clearly defined in a specific situation. In this context, a sentence such as "X uses A or B" should be interpreted as including all relevant inclusive combinations, for example "X uses A", "X uses B" and "X uses A and B".

[0071] As used throughout this patent application, the indefinite articles "a" or "an" should generally be interpreted as "one or more" and "an or more," unless the sense of a singular modality is clearly defined in a specific situation.

[0072] As presented in this description, terms related to examples should be interpreted as illustrating an example of something and not as indicating a preference.

[0073] As used in this description, the expression "substantially" means that the actual value is within about 10% of the desired value, variable, or related limit, particularly within about 5% of the desired value, variable, or related limit, or especially within about 1% of the desired value, variable, or related limit.

[0074] The subject matter described above is provided as an illustration of the present invention and should not be interpreted as limiting it. The terminology used to describe specific embodiments according to the present invention should not be interpreted as limiting the invention. As used in the description, definite and indefinite articles, in their singular form, are intended to include plural forms as well, unless the context of the description explicitly indicates otherwise. It will be understood that the terms "comprise" and "include," when used in this description, specify the presence of the related features, elements, components, steps, and operations, but do not exclude the possibility of other features, elements, components, steps, and operations also being contemplated.

[0075] All modifications, provided they do not alter the essential characteristics of the following claims, shall be considered within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0076] List of citations

[0077] Patent documents:

[0078] UK patent application GB2486873A by Aruna Malhotra, published on July 4, 2012;

[0079] Russian patent RU2663988C1 by ovchinnikov et al., published on August 14, 2018;

[0080] Chinese patent application CN116420843A by Qingyu Y. et al., published on July 14, 2023;

[0081] US patent application US3489571A by Hannum Evelyn J., published January 13, 1970.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. A process for preparing dry flakes of a legume, characterized by comprising the following steps: a) Mixing legume grains with water or an aqueous solution; b) Soaking the legume grains in water or an aqueous solution, preferably in the range of 0 °C to 15 °C, obtaining soaked grains; c) Grinding the soaked grains, obtaining ground grains; d) Heating the ground grains in an oven at a temperature in the range of 50 °C to 140 °C; e) Dehydrating the ground grains, obtained in the previous step, in a hot air dehydrator at a temperature in the range of 30 °C to 100 °C, obtaining dehydrated ground grains; f) Crushing the dehydrated ground grains, obtaining dry flakes of the legume.

2. The process for preparing dried flakes of a legume, according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the legume is at least one of the group consisting of chickpeas, black beans, cowpeas, red beans, white beans, butter beans, peas, mung beans, lupins, pinto beans, azuki beans and lentils.

3. The process for preparing dried flakes of a legume, according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in step b) of soaking the legume grains being carried out within a range of 10 to 40 hours.

4. The process for preparing dried flakes of a legume, according to any of the preceding claims, characterized by the ratio between the mass of the grains of The mass of the legume and the mass of the water or aqueous solution in step b) of soaking the legume grains must be in the range of 1:3 to 1:

7.

5. A process for preparing dried flakes of a legume, according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that step d) of heating the ground grains in the oven is carried out in the interval of 20 minutes to 180 minutes, preferably in the interval of 45 to 70 minutes.

6. The process for preparing dried flakes of a legume, according to any of the preceding claims, characterized by step d) heating the ground grains in the oven being carried out in the range of 80 °C to 110 °C, preferably in the range of 90 °C to 105 °C.

7. The process for preparing dried flakes of a legume, according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in step e) of dehydrating the ground grains being carried out in the range of 40 to 60 °C, preferably in the range of 40 to 45 °C.

8. The process for preparing dried flakes of a legume, according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that step e) of dehydrating the ground grains is carried out in the interval of 3 to 25 hours, preferably in the interval of 8 to 25 hours.

9. A process for preparing a shaped food paste based on dried flakes of a legume, characterized by comprising the following steps: a) Mixing the dried flakes of the legume, obtained by the process as defined in any of the preceding claims, with a food carrier, a) Obtaining a food mass; and b) Shaping the food mass, obtained in the previous step, obtaining a shaped food mass based on dry flakes of a legume.

10. The process for preparing a shaped pasta based on dried flakes of a legume, according to the previous claim, characterized by comprising the addition to the pasta of at least one component selected from the group consisting of a food additive, a salt, a sugar and a spice.

11. The process for preparing a shaped pasta based on dried flakes of a legume, according to the previous claim, characterized by comprising adding to the pasta water, fruit flours, vegetable flours, a thickener and spices.

12. A dried flake of a legume characterized by being prepared by the process as defined in any one of claims 1 to 8.

13. A shaped food paste based on dried flakes of a legume, characterized by being prepared by the process as defined in any one of claims 9 to 11.

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