Solid Fat Encapsulation for High-Water Liquid Food Centers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for preparing center-filled foods with high water content face challenges in maintaining structural integrity, flavor, and stability at normal temperatures, as they often result in high sugar content, water leakage, or require heating to maintain fluidity, limiting their applicability and storage duration.
Innovation Solution
A liquid center-filled composition is developed using a solid fat layer encapsulating a liquid core with a water content of 10-100%, utilizing high melting point solid fats like tempered cacao or cocoa butter to maintain stability and prevent leakage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If high water content liquid is directly added to center-filled food, then flavor and naturalness are improved, but structural integrity and stability deteriorate due to water leakage and poor structure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a fat layer as an intermediary substance between the water-based liquid core and the outer shell. This fat layer acts as a barrier that prevents water from directly contacting and dissolving the shell material, while also providing structural support. The fat layer is formed by adding fat powder (such as cocoa butter powder or vegetable fat powder) to the liquid mixture, creating a stable emulsion structure that maintains both high water content and structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite filling structure consisting of multiple components: water-based liquid (providing high water content and natural flavor), fat powder (providing structural stability and preventing water migration), and shell material (providing encapsulation). This composite approach allows each component to fulfill its specific function while working together to achieve both high water content (10-100%) and structural integrity simultaneously.
2Reliability
If sugar syrup is added to maintain liquid stability, then structural stability is improved, but sugar content increases causing excessive sweetness and health concerns
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the stabilizing mechanism from sugar-based to fat-based. Instead of relying on sugar syrup to maintain liquid stability and prevent water migration, the patent uses fat powder to create a fat layer that provides structural stability. This parameter change allows the liquid filling to maintain stability without adding excessive sugar, thus avoiding excessive sweetness and health concerns while still achieving the desired liquid consistency and water retention.
3Adaptability or versatility
If essence and saccharin are added to compensate for low liquid proportion, then flavor requirements are met, but naturalness and taste quality deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent allows for the use of flavoring agents (essence) and sweeteners (saccharin) as copies or substitutes when direct liquid ingredients cannot meet flavor requirements due to space constraints. However, the fat layer structure enables these additives to be used more effectively by preventing water from dissolving the shell, thereby maintaining better overall taste quality and naturalness compared to traditional methods where additives must be used in higher quantities to compensate for structural instability.
4Reliability
If emulsifier is added to create water-in-oil emulsion, then liquid encapsulation is achieved, but structure stability and transportability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the emulsion type from water-in-oil (where water droplets are dispersed in continuous oil phase) to oil-in-water or a different fat-based structure where fat powder forms a stabilizing layer. This parameter change in emulsion configuration, achieved by adding fat powder to the liquid mixture, creates a more stable structure that maintains encapsulation capability while improving structure stability and transportability, as the fat layer provides rigid support compared to traditional emulsifier-based structures.
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 composition allows for high water content liquids to be encapsulated without leakage, maintaining flavor and structural integrity, enabling long-term storage and transportation, and providing diverse flavor options for center-filled foods.
Implementation Method 1
utilizing high melting point solid fats like tempered cacao or cocoa butter to maintain stability and prevent leakage
Implementation Method 2
high melting point solid fats like tempered cacao or cocoa butter to maintain stability
Data Source
Figure 1(1)~1(6)
Figure 2
AI summary
Disclosed are a liquid center-filled composition and a preparation method and use thereof. The liquid center-filled composition comprises a solid fat layer and a liquid core enclosed within the solid fat layer. The water content of the liquid core is 10-100%. Solid fat is adopted innovatively as a shell layer in the present disclosure, which realizes the coating for liquid with high water content, and the variety of the liquid cores that can be coated is greatly increased. The prepared liquid center-filled compositions can be widely applied to center-filled food to obtain different flavors and tastes, and have great commercial application prospects. Moreover, the liquid center-filled composition prepared according to the present disclosure has the advantages of high stability and the liquid core being difficult to leak, so that long-distance transportation and long-time storage become feasible, thereby having great potential and practical significance.