Textural magic – designing texture into your new products
Marketplace
developments suggest that consumers — and product developers — are very
focused on texture.
The texture movement began around 2010, when the
number of best-selling new products with a texture claim doubled over
the previous 10-year period; growth has been strong and steady ever
since.
The time to flaunt texture is now. Texture has enormous
appeal to foodies, who are looking to find more adventure in foods.
Texture is increasingly being used to confirm if a product is “real”,
“fresh”, or “less processed”. Pieces of real nuts or dried fruit signal
quality in cookies and bars. Moreover, texture claims are also helping
to manage shoppers’ taste expectations for new products. For example,
will that cookie be soft and chewy or crisp and hard?
The GRANULE COMPACTION RIG (HDP/GCR*)
Granule hardness/compressibility testing is
important to provide an indicator of the tabletting potential of some
materials, or a measure of friability or compaction strength of granules.
Where granules are irregular in form, the testing of single granules is discouraged as repeatability is compromised. In this instance, the testing of a fixed area of sample creates an averaging effect and improves the repeatability of the results.
Breakfast cereals and snack foods such as tortilla chips, potato crisps, corn puffs and prawn crackers have many features in common, both in their manufacturing processes and in their product characteristics.
Many of these products are made from similar types of raw materials and tend to be processed as doughs at much higher temperatures than those used for conventional baked products.
Although the final products in the breakfast cereal and snack food markets are distinctly different in their appearance, they all tend to have low residual moisture contents and similar brittle crispy textures.
Performing textural magic with the use of new food preparation techniques
The Croquanter Technique – creating crunchy fruit and vegetables
Dehydrating
foods is a process which has been carried out forever but, more
recently, molecular gastronomy chefs have been using the dehydration
technique in very creative ways.
Crunchy Sheets is a technique developed
by molecular gastronomy Chef Ferran Adria to create a variety of shapes
of crispy sheets of ingredients such as fruit, vegetable and yogurt
with the addition of caster sugar, isomalt and/or glucose. The crunchy
sheets are made at relatively low temperatures (under 80°C) to preserve
the delicate aromas of the main ingredient and a dehydrator is used to
obtain the crunchy texture.
GELS (Bloom test):
P/0.5 - AOAC method;
P/0.5R - ISO method
XT/BL - Bloom jar
The measurement of gel strength is of widespread interest in the manufacture of pharmaceutical, medical and cosmetic products, and also in areas of the food industry such as confectionery.
Gel
properties such as elasticity and rupture force of, for example,
pectin, gelatine, agar etc. are important in the development of such
products as coronary stents where hydrogel polymers are selected due to
their soft, rubbery nature which gives them a strong, superficial
resemblance to living, soft tissue.
Performing textural magic with
the use of texturising agents
Continuing our look at the world of Molecular Gastronomy...
Texture Trick No. 1: Spherification:
creating multi-textured gel balls
The
spherification technique (created by el Bulli in 2003) consists of a
controlled jellification of a liquid which forms spheres when submerged
in a bath.
The sphere of liquid surrounded by a delicate membrane of
jelly breaks very easily when placed in the mouth, releasing an
explosion of flavour.
The spheres can be made in different sizes
and have been given names like ‘caviar’ when they are small; or ‘eggs’,
‘gnocchi’ and ‘ravioli’ when they are larger. They are
flexible and need to be carefully manipulated. It is possible to
introduce solid elements in the sphere which will remain in suspension
in the liquid, giving the possibility of introducing multiple flavours
and textures in one preparation.
Just about anything can be given
the appearance of balls of caviar with this trick. Sodium alginate is
mixed with any liquid which is then dripped into a calcium salt and
water solution. Scooped out at the optimum time, they should be jellied
on the outside and still liquid in the middle as the calcium solution
will set the sodium alginate gel. Fruit juices make a nice choice for
spherification as you can add them to desserts for a touch of
decoration. Alternatively, balls of consommé, or balsamic vinaigrette
balls can be presented for an interesting savoury garnish.
The KIEFFER DOUGH & GLUTEN EXTENSIBILITY RIG (A/KIE) was invented by Dr. Kieffer at the Kurt-Hess Institute, Munich, as an improved method for the accurate determination of dough and gluten extensibility.
Parallel tests of dough and gluten can reveal particular characteristics arising from homogenisation, long relaxation times or from adding oxidants, salts, emulsifiers or enzymes.
An introduction to Culinology, Texture and Molecular Gastronomy
Molecular gastronomy, originally a term coined to describe the scientific study of food and cooking, is now more associated with innovative modern cuisine.
Successful chefs have realised that to be at the top of their game they need to create new culinary experiences using a combination of unusual tastes, textures and theatrical twists to give the eating experience a new multi-sensory dimension. This is enabled by a variety of new high-tech equipment, adjusted traditional preparation techniques and a handful of clever chemicals.
Whilst molecular gastronomy has been the application of scientific principles to the understanding and improvement of small scale food preparation, a recent explosion in food technology and the demand for gourmet, nutritious and unique sensory experiences has created a new career opportunity called Culinology. This blends the training of a culinary arts chef with food science and nutrition education to form an exciting new highly desirable career path.
