DE102011086947B4 - Process for pressing cocoa butter and cocoa cake from a cocoa raw material and a device for this purpose - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for pressing cocoa cake and cocoa butter from a cocoa raw material, wherein the raw material is placed in a pressing device, carried out a pressing operation and cocoa butter and cocoa cake are separated separately. It is envisaged that at least part of the separated cocoa cake will be returned to the pressing process. Furthermore, a device is provided.

Description

The invention relates to a method for pressing cocoa cake and cocoa butter from a cocoa raw material, wherein the raw material is placed in a pressing device, carried out a pressing process and cocoa butter and cocoa poppy cake are separated separately. Furthermore, the invention relates to a device for pressing cocoa cake and cocoa butter from a cocoa raw material.

For the production and processing of cocoa mass cocoa beans are fermented, dried and roasted. Subsequently, the cocoa beans are broken and germs and peels are removed from the cocoa beans. As a rule, the slightly brittle cocoa beans break during their processing, so that the reclaimed cocoa beans are often present as a cacao break. The cocoa pulp or cocoa mass obtained by grinding the cacao break can be further processed into cocoa powder on the one hand and cocoa butter on the other. For this purpose, the cocoa mass is placed in a press, wherein during the pressing process, the cocoa butter and the cacao cake are separated from each other by so-called pressing off each other. From the cocoa cake is extracted after crushing and powders cocoa powder. Depending on the proportion of cocoa butter contained in the cocoa powder is called the cocoa powder as strongly de-oiled if it contains about 10% to 12% fat or slightly de-oiled if it contains about 20% to 22% fat. Cocoa cake with more than 30% fat is very difficult to process. Slightly de-oiled cocoa powder is darker, milder, easier to dissolve and fuller in flavor, which is why it is mainly used for cocoa drinks. The cocoa butter is extracted from the cocoa mass - as described - by pressing in a grease gun, with or without filtration. Cocoa butter is a pale yellow aromatic fat with a pleasant cocoa-like odor and a melting point between 30 ° and 38 ° C. Cocoa butter is not only an important ingredient in the production of chocolate. It is used outside of food chemistry and technology, especially in pharmacy and cosmetics. Because of its skin-care properties, cocoa butter is a classic natural ingredient for cosmetics. It is used for the production of lipsticks and as a nourishing additive for lotions, bath products and skin creams. For a high quality and light color of the cocoa butter, the liquid cocoa butter must be separated from the pressing residue, the cocoa cake, after pressing.

As a rule, pre-processed cocoa beans are used as cocoa raw material. The term cocoa raw material is understood in the application of the starting material to be processed in the pressing process. If the cocoa beans are broken, cocoa fruit or cocoa nibs are produced. Immediately after breaking, the cocoa fruit or cocoa nib is mixed with peels, which are usually separated by suction.

The pressing process of cocoa can be carried out with four different starting materials: whole beans, cocoa nibs with shell mix, cocoa nibs without peel or with only a small proportion of shell and cocoa mass. Pressing with whole beans and cocoa nibs with shell mix and cocoa nibs with no peel or with a low shell content of less than 2% is carried out in expeller presses. Cocoa mass is usually pressed with hydraulic piston presses.

The pressing process with whole beans has the disadvantage that the press cake has only very low quality because of the shell content. The pressing process with cocoa nibs with shell mix also brings no advantage over the pressing of whole beans for this reason. Cocoa mass pressing is a very common process, but at a high cost. The fat content of the cocoa mass is about as high as with cocoa nibs.

For pressing cocoa mass and cocoa presscake from cocoa raw material with high fat content pressing methods are known, which are carried out by means of screw presses (expeller). In the DE 33 38 630 A1 describes a process for pressing cocoa mass and cocoa cake in a screw press. In this process, the cocoa mass is added to sugar in crystalline form prior to processing. The addition of granulated sugar ensures that processing of finely ground cocoa mass in a screw press is possible. The granulated sugar acts as a kind of filter aid, so that a required structure is created, which leads to the construction of the Expeller cake.

In the above-mentioned document DE 33 38 630 A1 It is described that cocoa mass with a high fat content is not well suited for pressing in expeller presses, because it not only exits between crowbars, but also because no pressure build-up in the press can be achieved due to a lack of grain structure in the cocoa mass. The attached granulated sugar serves as a substitute for the missing grain structure. However, this is the cocoa butter as well as the cocoa cake with granulated sugar added, which is not desirable in the rule.

Generally, there is the problem that a high-fat cocoa source such as cocoa mass and cocoa nibs is unsuitable for processing in screw presses. For example, it is known that cocoa mass clumps at a fat content above 30%.

In the German translation DE69832597T2 the European patent specification EP0969729B1 discloses a process for separating cocoa fat and cocoa powder. For this purpose, the cocoa mass is mixed with a solvent and in a liquid extraction, the components are separated from each other. Liquid extraction with the help of chemical solvents negatively affects the taste and consistency of the products obtained. The cocoa fat contains all oils and also fatty acids, whereas the cocoa powder is dry and free of flavoring fatty acids.

The subject of the present invention is to improve the quality of the cocoa butter. This quality determines the physical properties of the end products made from it, such as chocolate. It has been shown, on the one hand, that the cocoa butter pressed out by means of screw presses (expeller) contains undesirable residues of press cake or other components when cocoa raw material with shells or core skins is used as cocoa raw material. These residues reduce the quality of the cocoa butter. The addition of granulated sugar in the pressing process for high-fat cocoa mass - as in DE 33 38 630 A1 However, it does not prove desirable to obtain an optimum separation of press cake and residue-free non-sugar cocoa butter.

The processing of high-fat ingredients in expeller presses is problematic because of the low pressure build-up. Surface and grain properties also play a role. Pressing the cocoa butter from unpeeled cocoa beans as a starting material would reduce the processing problems due to the lower fat content. The peel residues inevitably contained in the pressed cocoa butter reduce the quality of the cocoa butter. The peel residues accumulate in the cocoa cake. Nevertheless, the proportion of shell can adversely affect the cocoa butter by mixing different impurities or the like with the butter. The use of cocoa nibs without peel or with a very low shell content of less than 2% as a starting material, however, would avoid the undesirable shell residues; However, cocoa nibs have a higher fat content than cocoa beans, which leads to the aforementioned processing problems in screw presses.

The object of the invention is therefore to provide a method and a device with which a reduction of unwanted impurities avoided and the quality of the pressed cocoa butter can be improved.

The object is achieved with a method and a device having the features of claims 1 and 7.

Advantageous embodiments of the invention are specified in the subclaims.

The inventive method for pressing cocoa cake and cocoa butter from a cocoa raw material, wherein the raw material placed in a pressing device, performed a pressing process and cocoa butter and cocoa cake separately separated, is characterized in that at least a portion of the separated cocoa cake is returned to the pressing process.

The device according to the invention for pressing cocoa presscake and cocoa butter from cocoa raw material comprises a pressing device with at least one feed device for continuous filling of raw material, an outlet for cocoa butter and an outlet for cocoa presscake and is characterized in that a return device for returning at least one part of the pressed cocoa cake is provided in the feeder.

It has surprisingly been found that the quality of the pressed cocoa butter can be increased by the addition of a portion of the already pressed cocoa cake in the (re) pressing operation. When the pressing process is carried out, the presscake returned to the pressing process contributes to the better dissolution of the unwanted constituents from the cocoa butter. It acts as a filtration aid in the separation between cocoa butter and press cake. Furthermore, it is achieved that the described disadvantages are avoided during pressing, since the total fat content of the material to be pressed is reduced by returning a portion of the press cake. Added to this is the positive change in the product quality that the proportion of press cake entails. The already pressed cake is stronger and thus brings a rougher and more compact molding compound with it, which positively influences the pressure build-up in the expeller.

The return device can be formed in the simplest case of a conveyor belt.

In a preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention it is provided that the cocoa raw material and / or the separated part of the press cake are added continuously.

In terms of process technology, the pressing process can also be carried out in the continuous process or in the feed process (so-called fed-batch process). Preferably, the pressing operation is operated in a continuous process, whereby the filtering effect of the recirculated press cake is optimized.

In another preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention, it is provided that cocoa nibs are added as raw material into the pressing device.

According to the invention cocoa nibs are used with a fat content of about 52% to 55% as the starting material.

A next preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention is characterized in that 20% to 60%, preferably 25% to 35% of the respectively separated cocoa cake is returned to the pressing process.

The addition of already part of the pressed press cake into the pressing process causes the pressed cocoa butter to contain less residues of by-products, including residues of press cake.

In a further preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention it is provided that the cocoa raw material is preheated to 70 ° to 90 ° C before the pressing process.

When pressing cocoa butter, various preparatory treatment steps may be required. This includes u. a. the preheating of the raw material to certain temperatures, since it is known that the temperature of the liquid cocoa mass influences the willingness to press.

Returning the cocoa cake or a part thereof into the pressing process already after the first pressing process causes the fat content of the starting raw material to decrease, thereby facilitating processing in the screw press. Therefore, in a preferred embodiment of the inventive method is provided that the pressing process is performed with a cocoa raw material formed from cocoa nibs and at least a portion of the recycled cocoa cake, wherein the cocoa raw material thus formed each have a fat content in the range of 35% to 45%.

It is also possible that cocoa cake is added to the cocoa nibs already at the beginning of the (first) pressing process.

In a preferred embodiment of the device according to the invention it is provided that the pressing device is a screw press.

The invention is explained below by way of example with reference to a figure:

It shows

1 a simplified schematic representation of the device according to the invention.

In 1 a schematic representation of the device according to the invention is shown. The device 1 for pressing cocoa butter and cocoa cake from a cocoa raw material has a pressing device 20 in the form of a press screw with a feeder 10 for filling the pressing device 20 with cocoa raw on. The device 1 further comprises a screening device 30 and one outlet each 40 for the pressed cocoa butter and an outlet 50 for the cocoa cake. At the outlet 50 is a recycling device 60 for returning a part of the pressed press cake into the feed device 10 available. The device 1 sees electric drives 11 . 12 in front.

For the production of cocoa butter, cocoa nibs with a fat content of 45% to 55% are added to the feed device at the beginning of the production process 10 given by the arrow A. Subsequently, the pressing operation is carried out. About a screening device 30 The pressed liquid cocoa butter is in the outlet 40 guided and the device 1 taken. The cocoa cake is over the outlet 50 removed, represented by arrow B. About 20% of the pressed cocoa cake passes through the return device 60 in the feeder 10 and from there back into the pressing process. The pressing process is then repeated with the recycled 20% cocoa cake and cocoa nibs. The starting materials press cake and cocoa nibs or press cake provided from a second pressing process together have a fat content in the range from 35% to 45%.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

contraption

10

feeder

11

drive

12

drive

20

presser

30

screening

40

outlet

50

outlet

60

Return means

Claims (8)

A method for pressing cocoa presscake and cocoa butter from a cocoa raw material, wherein the raw material is placed in a pressing device, a pressing operation carried out and cocoa butter and cocoa presscake separated separately, characterized in that at least a portion of the separated cocoa cake is returned to the pressing process. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the cocoa raw material and / or the separated part of the press cake are added continuously. A method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that cocoa Nibs are given as raw material in the pressing device. Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that 20% to 60%, preferably 25% to 35% of the respectively separated cocoa cake are returned to the pressing process. Method according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the cocoa raw material is preheated to 70 ° to 90 ° C before the pressing process. Method according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the pressing operation is carried out with a cocoa raw material formed from cocoa beans and at least part of the recycled cocoa cake or a cocoa raw material formed from cocoa nibs and at least part of the recycled cocoa cake; wherein the thus-formed cocoa raw material each has a fat content in the range of 35% to 45%. Contraption ( 1 ) for pressing cocoa cake and cocoa butter from cocoa raw material, comprising a pressing device ( 20 ) with at least one supply device ( 10 ) for continuous filling of raw material, an outlet for cocoa butter ( 40 ) and an outlet ( 50 ) for cocoa cake, characterized in that a recycling device ( 60 ) for returning at least a portion of the squeezed cocoa cake into the feeder ( 10 ) is provided. Apparatus according to claim 7, characterized in that the pressing device ( 20 ) is a screw press.

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