Plant Cell Wall Clusters for Instant Food Thickening
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing instant dry food products face challenges in achieving the desired textural properties, such as thickening and pulpiness, without requiring excessive mechanical energy or heat, and often rely on chemically modified ingredients or additives to maintain structuring properties during rehydration.
Innovation Solution
The use of plant parenchymal cell wall clusters as a structurant in instant dry food products, which are composed of at least 60 wt% cell wall-derived polysaccharides, with specific volumetric mass density, surface area, and rehydrated particle size characteristics, allowing for rapid rehydration without excessive stirring or heat, and maintaining structural integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If traditional thickening agents like starch or microfibrilated cellulose are used in instant dry food products, then the desired textural properties (thickening, pulpiness) can be achieved, but excessive mechanical energy (vigorous stirring, mechanical mixing) and/or heat (hot water, heating) are required for proper rehydration
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the physical parameters of the thickening agent by controlling particle size (d10 ≥ 10 μm, d90 ≤ 2 mm) and morphology (aggregated particle structure) to enable rapid rehydration without excessive mechanical energy or heat. This parameter optimization allows the material to achieve desired textural properties with minimal rehydration effort.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses composite material structures where aggregated particles consist of multiple cellulose microfibrils bound together in a specific architecture. This composite structure provides both the structural strength for textural properties and the surface area characteristics for rapid water absorption during rehydration.
2Ease of manufacture
If microfibrilated cellulose (MFC) is dried to create instant dry food products, then the product can be stored and transported conveniently, but at least part of the structuring properties are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The invention performs preliminary structuring of the cellulose material into aggregated particles with specific size and morphology characteristics before drying. This preliminary action ensures that the structuring properties are preserved through the drying process, allowing the material to maintain its thickening capability in the instant dry food product form.
Solution Approach 2:
The aggregated particle structure creates a porous morphology with high surface area to volume ratio, which facilitates rapid water absorption during rehydration while maintaining the structuring properties. The porous structure allows water to penetrate quickly without requiring excessive mechanical energy.
3Quantity of substance
If starch is used as a thickening agent in instant dry food products, then it is readily available and can provide thickening effects, but extensive shear is required to prevent lump formation and/or gelatinization (cooking-up) is needed to act as a thickening agent
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the physical parameters from starch granules to cellulose aggregated particles with specific size distribution (d10 ≥ 10 μm, d90 ≤ 2 mm). This parameter change eliminates the need for extensive shear to prevent lumping and removes the requirement for gelatinization cooking, as the cellulose structure naturally hydrates without these processes.
4Strength
If chemically modified starches are used to improve thickening properties, then the thickening performance is enhanced, but consumers may prefer to limit the amount and/or number of chemically modified ingredients in their foods
Solution Approach 1:
The invention uses native cellulose from plant cell walls, which is naturally occurring and does not require chemical modification. This approach provides sufficient thickening performance without the need for chemically modified ingredients, aligning with consumer preferences for natural food components.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The plant parenchymal cell wall clusters effectively thicken and impart a pulpy texture to ready-to-eat food products, rehydrating quickly over a broad temperature range without the need for extensive mechanical energy or heat, and are not sensitive to pH or salt/sugar concentrations, making them a suitable alternative to traditional thickeners.
Implementation Method 1
Speed and ease of rehydration of an instant dry food product and more specifically of the thickening agent used are important product attributes
Implementation Method 2
The cell wall clusters comprising at least 60 wt% of cell wall derived polysaccharides
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2A~2D
AI summary
The invention relates to a preparation of plant parenchymal cell wall clusters, wherein the cell wall clusters have a: a. volumetric mass density of at least 0.1 gram/ml; b. SBET of at least 3 m2/gram; and c. rehydrated particle size having a d(0.1) value higher than 20 micrometer and a d(0.9) value lower than 1500 micrometer. The invention further relates to instant dry food products comprising such preparations, a method for preparing a food product using such preparations and the use of such preparations as a structurant in instant dry food products.