WO2004071217A1

WO2004071217A1 - Encapsulated flavouring for foods

Info

Publication number: WO2004071217A1
Application number: PCT/GB2004/000385
Authority: WO
Inventors: Victor Morrisson Young; James Savage
Original assignee: Mw Encap Limited
Priority date: 2003-02-12
Filing date: 2004-02-02
Publication date: 2004-08-26
Also published as: GB0303113D0

Abstract

A method of flavouring foodstuffs is provided using a hard gelatin capsule which contains one or more essential oils. The capsule is suitable for long term storage without the need for refrigeration, and can be added to foodstuffs in order to provide a measured dosage and reproducible results.

Description

Encapsulated flavouring for foods

The present invention relates to a flavouring capsule which can be added to foods during cooking. Specifically the present invention relates to a flavouring capsule with superior shelf life and storability.

When cooking, it is often desirable to improve the flavour by adding herbs, spices or other flavourings. It is often difficult for inexperienced cooks to determine the correct amount of herbs and spices to be added. Therefore it is relatively easy for the food to be spoiled by under, or perhaps more commonly, over flavouring due to the addition of too much, or too little of the flavour. This is particularly the case if very strong flavours such as chilli or curry powder are being used. Additionally, it is often the case that a combination of two or more herbs and spices may be required to give the desired effect. As a result the cooking process can be complicated as it will be necessary for the cook to ensure they have all of the flavourings available before commencing. This can also increase the cost of preparing the meal if a large number of different bottles or jars are required to obtain the desired result. It is also often necessary to allow the flavouring to "stew" in the foodstuff before any discernible difference in taste can be obtained, for example when using cinnamon sticks or bay leaves.

Another problem often faced by cooks is that in certain recipes, the actual flavouring material needs to be removed from the food before serving as it is inedible or unpleasant to eat, for example in the case of bay leaves or cinnamon sticks.

Attempts have been made to provide more convenient methods of flavouring foodstuffs, such as is shown in European Patent Application No 87304534.8. In this Patent soft gelatin is used to manufacture a capsule which is inserted between the meat and skin of poultry during cooking. However, the disadvantage of this product is that soft gel is relatively permeable to oxygen, and contains glycerol. As a consequence the contents of the capsule are likely to oxidise on exposure to oxygen. This reduces the intensity and taste of the essential oil. When soft gelatin capsules are used, oxygen can permeate the capsule and as a result the essential oil contained within will have a very short shelf-life. Cellulose can be used help to overcome this problem, however there are other problems with cellulose, including the fact it does not dissolve particularly well during the cooking process.

It can be seen that it would be beneficial to provide flavourings such as essential oils in an encapsulated form, such that an exact amount of flavouring can be added to a dish, simply and without the need for further work, such as the removal of herb fragments . It would also be advantageous to provide a method of flavouring foodstuffs which does not need to be left in the food for a considerable period of time in order to impart the flavour. It would also be beneficial to be able to provide such encapsulated flavourings in a form, which can be stored over many weeks or months, without a significant deterioration of the product.

It is therefore a first object of the present invention to provide food flavourings in a capsule form, which can be added to foodstuffs. It is a particular object to provide food flavouring in a capsule form, which can be used in cooking to produce reproducible results.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide encapsulated flavourings, which have an improved shelf-life and do not require refrigeration.

A yet further option of the present invention is to provide flavourings in a form that can be easily added to food during cooking.

According to the present invention, there is provided a capsule for imparting flavour to foods, wherein the capsule contains at least one flavouring constituent, and is manufactured from hard gelatin.

Typically the capsule is added to the food during cooking. Preferably the flavouring constituent comprises one or more essential oils. These may be pure oils or oleo- resin.

The hard gelatin may be from any source, for example, bovine, porcine, or fish. The hard gelatin may be genetically modified.

Advantageously, the hard gelatin dissolves almost instantaneously in warm to hot water.

The flavouring constituent may comprise or be manufactured from one or more herbs or spices.

The food being flavoured will preferably have an aqueous content. Advantageously, this allows the capsule to dissolve.

The flavouring constituent may be in the form of a light fluent paste.

Where the flavouring constituent comprises one or more essential oils, the one or more essential oils may include, but are not limited to:

basil bay chilli mild chilli hot coriander garlic ginger lemon grass marjoram nutmeg oregano parsley rosemary sage tarragon thyme

A combination of oils may be used, such as mixed herbs, Chinese 5 spice, herbs d'provence, Italian herbs, Rogan Josh, Green Thai curry and bouquet garni.

Preferably, the flavouring constituent is diluted in a carrier oil.

The carrier oil is typically a natural oil. This may be, but is not limited to coconut oil, fractionated coconut oil, olive oil, vegetable oil, sunflower oil or a combination thereof.

The capsule is typically transparent. Alternatively, the capsule may be translucent.

Preferably between 5 and 50mg of flavouring product is encapsulated into the hard gelatin capsule.

Preferably the capsules contain no E numbers.

Preferably the capsules are suitable for long term storage, without the need for refrigeration. According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of producing a capsule suitable for imparting flavour into foods, wherein hard gelatin is formed into a capsular shape comprising two segments which can be pulled apart, and wherein:

1. at least one flavouring constituent is incorporated into the capsule; 2. the capsule is click-locked together; and 3. the capsule sealed so that it cannot be reopened.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of reproducibly flavouring a foodstuff during cooking, by adding the capsule of the first aspect of the present invention.

In order to provide a better understanding of the present invention, examples will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying Figures, in which:

Figure 1 shows a capsule prior to it being sealed.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a capsule made from hard gelatin which contains essential oils and which can be used to add flavour to food. Typically the capsule is added to the food during cooking. Ideally, the materials used to make the capsule are obtained from a natural source. The capsule of the present invention is easy-to-use and consistently gives the same strength of flavour in a measured dosage, therefore providing reproducible results. Standard methods of manufacturing hard capsules can be used. For example, artificial "finger" like protrusions can be dipped into the hard gelatin to be coated and then allowed to cool. The resultant capsule-like moulds can then be cut in two to allow filling before finally being sealed.

A range of different flavours can be provided in capsule form such as:

Alternatively, in combination capsules, a number of different essential oils or other suitable flavouring substances are incorporated to give an easy to use measured dosage. Different flavour strengths can be produced depending on the amount of flavouring incorporated or, in an alternative embodiment, containing a combination of flavours, such as mixed herbs, Chinese 5 spice, herbs d'provence, Italian herbs, Rogan Josh, Green Thai curry and bouquet garni. In these embodiments a number of different flavourings are encapsulated together in the desired amounts.

Packs of flavours can be sold, for example, as an "Italian" pack or an "Indian" pack containing a number of the most widely used flavours in the region.

The capsules can be produced in different shapes or sizes, for example, they could be regular capsule shape or of the type known in the art as "fat" or "double blind" capsules. The size of the capsules may range between, but is not limited to sizes 4 to 00 on the standard capsule size scale, known to the art.

The food flavourings are typically essential oils extracted from flowers, herbs, fruit and nuts and may be pure oil or oleo-resin (i.e., complete oil). The essences are extremely volatile substances and therefore need to be protected from oxygen, as the presence of oxygen causes the flavour to be spoiled. In the current invention, the essences are encapsulated in hard gelatin to dramatically increase the shelf-life. Hard gelatin from a variety of sources is suitable, e.g., bovine, pig or fish. HPMC may also be used. Hard gelatin is particularly suitable as it dissolves in warm to hot water. Hard gelatin provides a number of benefits, in that as well as being impermeable to oxygen and thus having a longer shelf-life, it melts quickly when added to a foodstuff, flavouring at least a small quantity of water, so that the essences are incorporated into the food. As the flavouring constituents within the capsule are concentrated, and the capsule dissolves very quickly, typically within a matter of seconds, it will be appreciated that the capsule does not need to be left in the foodstuff for any length of time in order for the flavouring to be imparted into the food. In fact, the capsule may be added to the foodstuff near the end of cooking and will still provide the same flavouring result as if it had been added at the start of the cooking process.

Hard gelatin has a number of benefits over other materials; for example soft gelatin allows oxygen to permeate, thereby reducing the shelf-life of the product; and cellulose, although better with regard to oxygen permeability, does not melt particularly well when incorporated into the foodstuff. Soft gel also takes a considerable time to dissolve in hot water - often up to 5 minutes, whereas hard gel dissolves much quicker, in fact almost instantaneously. This is due in part to the fact that hard gelatin capsules can be manufactured with much thinner shells. Hard gel also does not need to be stored in a refrigerator, as it is stable at room temperature.

The encapsulated essences allow a fresh, measured dosage of pure extract to be used during food preparation, provided heat and liquid are applied. In the preferred embodiment, between 5 and 50mg of essence are incorporated. Typically one capsule will impart sufficient flavouring for one person and therefore the amount of flavouring which needs to be added to the food can be easily adjusted according to the number of people the food is being prepared for. For example, when following a recipe for 4 people, it would be desirable to add 4 capsules (unless a very subtle flavour was required in which case less could be added) .

A carrier oil is used to bulk out and dilute the essence within the capsule. In one envisaged embodiment, fractionated coconut oil is used, as this has a bland flavour, and therefore does impart any additional flavour to the foodstuff so is suitable for increasing volume. However, any natural real oil could be used, for example olive oil, sunflower oil or vegetable oil. The carrier oil may be used to increase volume of the capsule contents to 1 ml.

It can be seen that the present invention has a number of advantages over the prior art. In particular, it allows a measured and concentrated dose of flavouring to be added to a foodstuff whilst cooking. Importantly the result can be easily reproduced on a different occasion. It also allows flavourings to be kept over a long period of time without the quality of the flavouring being affected and with no need to refrigerate. Also, 100% natural materials can be used to produce the capsules and, if required, vegetarian forms of the capsules could be produced. The result of using the capsules is fresh tasting food without any difficult measuring or flavour addition.

It is envisaged that the present invention may have particular application in camping or military environments, as well as domestic and/or commercial use.

It can be seen that further modifications and improvements may be made without departing from the scope of the invention herein intended, and that the abovementioned description is by way of example only.

Claims

1. A capsule for imparting flavour to foods, wherein the capsule contains at least one flavouring constituent, and is manufactured from hard gelatin.

2. A capsule as claimed in Claim 1, which is added to the food during cooking.

3. A capsule as claimed any one of the preceding Claims, wherein the flavouring constituent comprises one or more essential oils.

4. A capsule as claimed in Claim 3, wherein the one or more essential oils are pure oils or oleo-resin.

5. A capsule as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, wherein the hard gelatin is from a bovine source.

6. A capsule as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 4, wherein the hard gelatin is from a porcine source.

7. A capsule as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 4, wherein the hard gelatin is from a fish source.

8. A capsule as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, wherein the hard gelatin dissolves in warm to hot water.

9. A capsule as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, wherein the flavouring constituent comprises one or more herb or spice flavoured essential oils.

10. A capsule as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, used to flavour food which has an aqueous content.

11. A capsule as claimed in any one of the preceding ■ Claims, wherein the flavouring constituent is in the form of a light fluent paste.

12. A capsule as claimed in Claim 3, wherein the one or more essential oils are selected from a group consisting of basil, bay, chilli mild, chilli hot, coriander, garlic, ginger, lemon grass, marjoram, nutmeg, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, tarragon and thyme.

13. A capsule as claimed in Claim 3, wherein a combination of oils is used and selected from the group consisting of mixed herbs, Chinese 5 spice, herbs d'provence, Italian herbs, Rogan Josh, Green Thai curry and bouquet garni.

14. A capsule as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, wherein the flavouring constituent is diluted in a carrier oil.

15. A capsule as claimed in Claim 14, wherein the carrier oil is a natural oil.

16. A capsule as claimed in Claim 15, wherein the natural oil is selected from the group consisting of coconut oil, fractionated coconut oil, olive oil, vegetable oil and sunflower oil.

17. A capsule as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims which is transparent.

18. A capsule as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims 1 to 16, which is translucent.

19. A capsule as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, wherein between 5 and 50mg of the flavouring constitutent is encapsulated in the hard gelatin capsule.

20. A capsule as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims suitable for long term storage, without the need for refrigeration.

21. A method of producing a capsule suitable for imparting flavour into foods, wherein hard gelatin is formed into a capsular shape comprising two segments which can be pulled apart, and wherein:

• at least one flavouring constituent is incorporated into the capsule; • the capsule is click-locked together; and • the capsule is sealed so that it cannot be reopened.

22. A method of reproducibly flavouring a foodstuff during cooking, by adding one or more capsules as claimed in Claims 1 to 20.