Multi-Piece Starch Confection with Intertwined Fruit Strands
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
There is a need in the food industry for a multi-piece food product with multiple, intertwined strands made from a starch-based confectionary formulation that includes high levels of fruit, which is not addressed by existing fruit-based confection products.
Innovation Solution
A starch-based confectionary formulation comprising at least 20% sweetener, 15% starchy material, and 1% fruit, combined with water to form a slurry, cooked to achieve starch gelatinization, and extruded into intertwined strands, providing a nutritious and aesthetically appealing product with varying colors and flavors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If fruit-based confection products are made using prior art formulations, then nutritional value is improved, but the ability to form multiple intertwined strands is not achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The patent modifies the formulation parameters by incorporating starch-based confectionary ingredients alongside fruit pieces, adjusting the ratio and composition to enable proper extrusion and strand formation while maintaining high fruit content. This parameter adjustment resolves the contradiction between high fruit content and manufacturability of multi-strand structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses a composite material formulation combining starch-based confectionary ingredients with fruit pieces. This composite approach allows the mixture to possess both the nutritional value from fruit and the structural properties needed for extrusion into multiple intertwined strands, thereby resolving the contradiction between nutrition and formability.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multi-piece food products are created with multiple strands, then play value and aesthetic appeal are improved, but product complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the food product into multiple separate strands that are intertwined but can be easily separated by consumers. This segmentation provides play value and aesthetic appeal while keeping the individual strand structures relatively simple, thus resolving the contradiction between versatility and complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention combines multiple strands into an aggregate food mass through intertwining, creating a unified product structure that appears complex but is actually composed of simple, separable components. This merging provides aesthetic appeal and play value while maintaining ease of manufacture and consumption.
3Ease of manufacture
If starch-based formulation is used, then strand extrusion is enabled, but nutritional value compared to fruit-based products is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a composite formulation that combines starch-based confectionary ingredients with fruit pieces, allowing the starch to provide extrusion capability while the fruit provides nutritional value. This composite approach resolves the contradiction between manufacturability and nutrition by having each component fulfill its primary function.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention assigns different functional qualities to different components of the formulation: starch-based ingredients provide the structural and extrusion properties, while fruit pieces provide the nutritional content. This local quality differentiation allows each ingredient to excel at its specific function, resolving the contradiction between extrusion capability and nutritional value.
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 solution creates a multi-piece food product with enhanced nutritional value and play value, offering consumers a fun and healthy snack option with the option to separate or pull apart strands, addressing the need for a fruit-rich, starch-based confectionary product with multiple strands.
Implementation Method 1
cooking the slurry to a certain degree of starch gelatinization
Data Source
AI summary
A multi-piece food product (10) comprising a plurality of strands (12A-12K) that are extruded and aggregated to form an aesthetically pleasing food product is provided. A formulation used to make each of the strands (12A-12K) includes a mixture comprising at least 20% sweetener, at least 15% starchy material, and at least 1% fruit by weight based a total dry weight of the mixture to yield a starch-based confectionary food product. One process for forming the multi-piece food product (10) includes extruding a food stream from a slurry, dividing the food stream into three separate food streams (24A, 24B), injecting color, flavor, and ascorbic acid into the food streams (24A, 24B), conveying the food streams (24A, 24B) into a former (26) and extruding the strands (12A-12K) therefrom, forming the strands (12A, 12B) into an aggregate food mass (31), cooling the food mass (31), and cutting the food mass (31) into individual portions.