Xinova seeks the disclosure of inventions that produce sheetable doughs using vegetable puree.
Cracker dough using vegetable puree is too wet and sticky for mass production. Too bad, because consumers want healthier baked snacks that incorporate that flavor and nutrition benefits of vegetables.
Sweet potato puree and other vegetable purees typically contain 85-90% water. However, the water trapped within the vegetable cells of purees and bound to fiber components does not behave like the unbound water added to form dough and, thus, is not as effective in hydrating dry ingredients.
A mixture of dry ingredients and puree containing 50% of water by weight does not form sheetable dough like unbound water. Because of this, excess water is required to form a sheetable dough. Yet, this excess water must be removed by additional baking to achieve target water activity for shelf stability. In addition, excess water can lead to sticky dough resulting in processability issues. Finally, the resulted product often has undesired texture.
Additional baking and processing time as well as product and processability challenges with high-moisture dough make it difficult to produce snacks containing vegetable purees with existing plant equipment. Methods to produce sheetable doughs that can leverage the water contained in purees are desired.
Why this Problem is Valuable to Solve:
Consumers are demanding healthier snacks. They want less sugar, less salt, less artificial ingredients and less processing. They want a “clean label.” The use of vegetable purees to create snacks addresses this issue. Xinova can improve the health of its consumer by reducing the water content of the vegetable puree before it is mixed with the dough, Xinova can add more puree to the dough without exceeding the desired water content, leading to a healthier snack
This opportunity comes from the efforts of Xinova’s R&D Consulting team.
Are you up for the challenge?