Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
involves chemical extraction using solvents such as hexane. The latter extraction
procedure falls outside the methods considered as appropriate for the active
material to be judged as 'natural'.
Salt is essential in bakery products for fl avour, but also plays an important
role in increasing the strength and stabilising dough systems during processing.
It also modifi es yeast fermentation and any reduction in salt needs to take into
account the impact on fermentation as well as the rheological properties of the
dough. The salt used in the baking industry is refi ned salt, and it is purifi ed to
improve storage and handling properties. The salt is mainly sodium chloride, but
sodium ferrocyanide is added in trace amounts as an anticaking agent. In light of
this, salt sold in this form would not be considered as a 'natural' product.
Baker's yeast is an essential ingredient for products made with some degree of
fermentation as part of the processing. Yeast is a single cell organism and releases
a number of enzymes that are responsible for producing the gas, carbon dioxide,
and ethanol from the metabolism of fermentable sugars. The ethanol vaporises in
the baking process to aid gas bubble expansion. The process of fermentation is
included in the list of processes that are considered to be appropriate while still
preserving the natural status of a product. Fermentation by the yeast is not
important merely for the production of carbon dioxide and ethanol, but also for
the production of enzymes that are expressed. But the importance of these
enzymes to the processes used in bakery systems has not been fully investigated
especially in no-time dough processes where there is limited time for yeast
metabolism to take place. The role of yeast as a source of other functional materials
is considered in Section 14.2.1.
Sucrose is a key ingredient in bakery products where it provides sweetness as
well as tenderising properties to bakery products. It is extracted from two plant
sources: sugar cane and sugar beet. The process of sucrose production includes
extraction of juice from the plant to form a syrup, which is then crystallised to
remove the liquor and centrifuged to remove molasses from the crystals. Prior to
crystallisation there is a step involving the use of calcium hydroxide to aid
precipitation of some impurities and this alkalinity has to be neutralised by
bubbling carbon dioxide through the alkaline solution. The sugar crystals are then
dried and can be used in this state, or refi ned further to remove colour to produce
white crystalline sugar that involves the use of activated carbon and ion exchange
resins. Such processes would then disqualify some sugars from being labelled
natural under the UK FSA guidelines. Other sugars such as brown, Demerara and
Turbinado are similar to the white sugar but have a decreasing degree of refi nement
compared with the white sugar. Other forms of sugar include syrups. For example,
corn syrup is obtained from the enzymatic hydrolysis of maize starch and sugar in
this form would fi t into the FSA guidelines of 'natural' if the type of enzyme
treatment was considered to be traditional.
There has been strong interest in replacing sugar with a view to reducing the
calorie content of confectionery products. Some of the replacers used in various
bakery products are produced chemically, for example, saccharin, aspartame and
sucralose, and consequently there is interest in replacing these with more natural
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