Starch Extrusion Processing for Shape-Stable Matte Cooking Compositions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional compositions for heat cooking often disintegrate during cooking and lack a matte appearance, compromising the food's shape and texture.
Innovation Solution
A method using an extruder to process a composition containing specific amounts of starch, insoluble dietary fiber, and protein, involving pressurization, heating, kneading, rapid depressurization, and cooling to create a strong starch matrix structure with a matte appearance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If a sugar composition containing 35 mass % or more of maltotriose is used as an anti-disintegration agent during stewing, then the vegetable tissues resist collapsing and losing shape, but the food product acquires a unique flavor and texture of maltotriose and lacks a matte texture with an inferior appearance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the harmful maltotriose sugar composition from the system and replaces it with a starch-based anti-disintegration mechanism. The invention extracts the anti-disintegration function from the sugar composition and implements it through controlled starch gelatinization and matrix formation during cooking, thereby eliminating the unwanted flavor and appearance defects while maintaining shape stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the fundamental parameter of the anti-disintegration agent from sugar (maltotriose) to starch, and controls the starch's gelatinization degree through specific cooking conditions (temperature, time, pH). This parameter change transforms the mechanism of action from sugar-based structural support to starch-based matrix formation, achieving both shape stability and desirable appearance without the harmful effects of maltotriose.
2Ease of manufacture
If conventional starch-containing compositions are used for heat cooking, then the composition can be processed, but the composition disintegrates during cooking in liquid and lacks a matte appearance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-gelatinizing the starch to a specific degree (30-70%) before the actual cooking process. This preliminary gelatinization creates a stable starch matrix structure that prevents disintegration during subsequent cooking in liquid. The starch is treated with enzymes or heat to achieve the optimal gelatinization state before formulation, ensuring shape stability throughout the cooking process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite material system combining starch with specific additives (proteins, fats, or other food materials) in controlled ratios. This composite formulation enhances the starch matrix structure and improves shape stability during cooking. The composite approach allows the starch to work synergistically with other ingredients to maintain both processability and cooking stability.
3Strength
If the starch gelatinization degree is increased to improve matrix structure, then the composition gains strength, but the texture becomes less matte and the appearance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent precisely controls the gelatinization degree parameter within the optimal range of 30-70% and adjusts related parameters such as cooking temperature, time, and pH to achieve the desired balance. By optimizing these parameters, the starch matrix gains sufficient strength while preserving the matte texture and appearance, avoiding the harmful effects of over-gelatinization.
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 method produces a starch-containing composition that maintains its shape during cooking and achieves a highly matte texture with excellent appearance.
Implementation Method 1
heating the composition prepared at step (i) along a course from the first flight section to the kneading section so as to reach a temperature of 100 °C or more but 200 °C or less at the kneading section
Implementation Method 2
kneading the composition with an SME value of 350 kJ/kg or more
Implementation Method 3
depressurizing the composition kneaded at step (ii), from the pressurized state at the kneading section to atmospheric pressure or less at the vent section
Implementation Method 4
lowering the degree of gelatinization in the composition kneaded at step (ii) by 6 mass % or more at the kneading section and onward
Data Source
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AI summary
Provided is a manufacturing method for a starch-containing composition for heat cooking that is not prone to collapse of shape in a liquid during heat cooking, is highly lusterless, and has excellent appearance. This manufacturing method utilizes an extruder that comprises: a screw that is turned by a motor; a barrel that encircles the outer periphery of the screw; a feeder, attached to the base side of the barrel, for loading a food material; and a die part, attached to the tip side of the barrel, for discharging the food material after kneading while shaping the food material. The screw has, in order from the base side to the tip side, a first flight section, a kneading section, and a second flight section, and the barrel has a bend section at a position corresponding to a first-half section of a the second flight section of the screw. Moreover, the manufacturing method includes the following steps (i)-(iv). (i) A step in which a composition containing at least 3.0% by mass in wet-basis equivalent of insoluble dietary fiber, at least 10.0% by mass in wet-basis equivalent of starch, and at least 3.0% by mass in wet-basis equivalent of protein, and having a dry-basis water content of at least 25% by mass is prepared; (ii) a step in which the composition from step (i) is heated from the first flight section to the kneading section by at least 10°C, bringing the temperature thereof under pressurized conditions in the kneading section to 100°C-200°C, and is kneaded at an SME value of at least 350 kJ/kg; (iii) a step in which the composition, having been kneaded in step (ii), is depressurized from the pressurized state in the kneading section to atmospheric pressure or below in the bend section; and (iv) a step in which the degree of gelatinization of the composition after kneading in step (ii) is lowered by at least 6% by mass in the kneading section and beyond.