1. Field of the Invention
This field of the present invention is the manufacture of imitation cheese-like food products.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
The manufacture of natural dairy cheese conventionally involves the treatment of milk products, including inoculation with particular and specific strains of microorganisms, treatment with enzymes (especially coagulating enzymes of which rennin is the preferred enzyme) allowing a cheese curd to form, separating the cheese whey, collecting the cheese curd, and pressing of this curd into molds, followed by ripening and aging for various periods of time, depending upon the established standard of identity for the particular cheese product. These processes are described in detail in standard reference books such as "Cheese and Fermented Milk Foods", by F. V. Kosikowski published in 1966 by F. V. Kosikowski (printed and distributed by Edwards Bros., Inc., Ann Arbor, Mich.).
In view of the costs, both in respect to raw material and holding time involved in traditional procedures for natural cheese manufacture, the food industry has attempted to produce processed cheese or cheese-like food material which have a relatively high food value, similar in many cases to naturally produced cheese, at least with respect to the protein content thereof, and which, furthermore have the general taste and texture of natural cheese. The products are made from other edible foodgrade starting materials, preferably lower in cost than the milk products used for cheese manufacture. There has long been a need in the industry for such imitation cheeses which would be acceptable to the public from the point of view of taste, texture and nutritional value, especially when the cheese materials are used as a component or ingredient in traditional recipes which employ natural cheese such as, for example, salad dressings, pizzas, lasagna, omelets, cheese-flavored pastries and the like.
Some approaches producing such processed imitation or synthetic cheeses are as follows:
A synthetic cheese is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,806,606, patented Apr. 23, 1974, which is prepared by homogenizing a composition containing 10 to 40% of a narrow melting range fat having a solid content index of less than 3 at 92.degree. F. and from 15 to 25 at 70.degree. F.; from 10 to 25% of wheat gluten; from 3 to 6% of egg white, from 3 to 6% gelatin, flavor and water followed by heat treatment to set the composition.
The product is said to have the eating qualities of natural cheese to a great extent and is a successful synthetic imitation of a natural dairy cheese product.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,694,219, patented Sept. 26, 1972, describes a spreadable food material from heat-treated soybean flour, water and a cheese processing salt. This product is sometimes mixed with additional cheese material and is described as having a taste or flavor similar to cheese.
An edible pasteurized process cheese composition is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,244,535, which includes a homogeneous reaction mixture of cheese and an emulsifying proportion of sodium aluminum phosphate. This process, however, uses a natural cheese starting material to produce a processed cheese food which has good storage stability. A similar process is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,615,586.
One of the difficulties with the prior art processes has been a cost problem since many of the techniques for making process cheese or imitation cheese involve the use of natural cheese materials which constitute a substantial portion of the imitation of synthetic cheese product. Obviously, the elimination of the natural dairy cheese or milk components would represent a cost savings over these processes. Likewise, many of the processes of the prior art rely on natural cheese products for a flavor or taste of the material and, therefore, present a problem from the point of view of uniformity of flavor and control over the composition of the final product. Finally, one of the difficulties of the prior art methods has been the obtaining of a synthetic or imitation cheese product which has uniformity of taste and texture normally associated with natural cheese products. Obviously, it is necessary to achieve these desiderata in order for the imitation cheese product to be acceptable to the consuming public.