Spray-Cooked Waxy Corn Starch Coatings for Hardness and Expansion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing corn starch coatings do not effectively balance expansion and hardness characteristics, resulting in softer snack foods, while pregelatinized waxy maize starch coatings produce crispy but not hard textures.
Innovation Solution
A method using spray cooked, agglomerated waxy corn starch with specific hydration viscosity and particle size, combined with optional second starches and adhesion layers, is applied to edible substrates and baked at controlled temperatures and times to achieve desired hardness and expansion ratios.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If corn starch is used as a coating material, then expansion characteristics are improved, but hardness decreases resulting in softer food snacks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by modifying the starch through spray cooking and agglomeration processes, transforming regular corn starch into spray cooked agglomerated waxy corn starch with specific viscosity characteristics (peak time of 5.5-7.5 minutes). This parameter modification enables the starch to achieve both expansion and hardness properties that ordinary corn starch cannot provide alone.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses composite materials by combining spray cooked agglomerated waxy corn starch with optional second starches (such as tapioca starch, potato starch, or wheat flour) in specific ratios. This composite approach allows the coating to achieve a balance between expansion (from the waxy corn starch) and hardness (enhanced by the combination with other starches), resolving the contradiction between these two properties.
2Strength
If pregelatinized waxy maize starch is used to provide crispy texture, then hardness is improved, but expansion characteristics are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action through the spray cooking and agglomeration processes that pre-treat the waxy corn starch before coating application. This preliminary processing creates starch particles with specific hydration and viscosity characteristics that will expand properly during baking, unlike pre-gelatinized starches that have already undergone gelatinization and lost expansion capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent modifies the physical and chemical parameters of the starch through spray cooking and agglomeration, creating a product with peak hydration viscosity of 5.5-7.5 minutes. This parameter change preserves the starch's ability to expand during baking while providing the necessary hardness, unlike pre-gelatinized starches that have altered parameters preventing expansion.
3Strength
If coating thickness is increased to improve hardness, then hardness is improved, but expansion ratio decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves this contradiction through parameter changes in the starch itself - using spray cooked agglomerated waxy corn starch with specific viscosity characteristics (peak time 5.5-7.5 minutes) that enable thin coatings to achieve both high hardness and high expansion. The modified starch parameters allow the coating to expand more vigorously during baking, compensating for reduced thickness while maintaining or increasing hardness.
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 coatings with controlled expansion and hardness, achieving a hardness-to-expansion ratio of 1100:1 to 2200:1 g/mm, suitable for creating harder snack foods.
Implementation Method 1
the coating comprises at least one layer of a coating mixture comprising a spray cooked agglomerated waxy corn starch... baking the coated edible substrate at a temperature from 130° C and 190° for a time between 10 and 60 minutes... the coating described herein expands during baking to a coating expansion of between about 1.7 and about 2.6mm
Data Source
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AI summary
Disclosed herein is a coated foodstuff comprising an edible substrate and a coating comprising at least one layer of a coating mixture comprising a spray cooked agglomerated waxy corn starch. The coating mixture comprising the spray cooked agglomerated waxy corn starch has unique expansion and hardness properties compared to coatings made from other corn starches.