TIC Gums Offers Texture, Stability Solutions For Sauces

WHITE MARSH, Md. Leveraging the power of a more precise lexicon of descriptive terms and a methodology for planning food texture, TIC Gums will show manufacturers how they can lower costs on expensive ingredients (in this case cream and milk) without sacrificing taste during the Research Chefs Association Annual Conference and Culinology Expo in Charlotte, N.C.

Because of the fat content, milk and cream contribute mouth coating" to cheese sauces, so substituting any significant percentage of these with water alone would make them seem thin" and watery," clearing the palate quickly yielding a less satisfying experience.  Combining the water with gums systems preserves the texture of cream and milk and reduces the amounts of these more costly ingredients needed. Consumers have the same positive eating experience and are not charged the higher price that would have been charged had gums not been substituted. The percentage of water added with the gums is the percentage of cream and milk saved in the cheese sauces. Savings will vary depending on individual recipes and sizes, but the uniform distribution of water and use of gums prevented the sauces from being weak" or losing their appeal.

Ticaloid® Ultrasmooth and Ticaloid® Saucier were used to make two different cheese sauces. Ticaloid® Saucier was specifically designed to stabilize and enhance a variety of sauce-type applications. Ticaloid Saucier provides excellent emulsification, thickening, and suspension characteristics, while also adding cling. Ticaloid® Ultrasmooth economically provides suspension and thickening to sauces of all types. Ticalose® CMC 15000 was used to make the ravioli filling. Ticalose CMC 15000 is a high-viscosity CMC that has been specially processed to be resistant to such influences as salt and low pH. It also withstands extreme processing conditions, such as heat and pressure. Hydrocolloids also manage the water and keep it from coalescing and forming large ice crystals, which take away from the perceived quality of these cheese sauces when they are frozen and stored.

The Texture Lexicon from TIC Gums allows food developers to give voice to the previously indescribable qualities of consumption not directly associated with flavor, but impactful nonetheless. It is a systematic approach to achieving target texture that works well out in front of consumer sensory evaluations, and one that uses language precise enough to be relevant in a product development.

The Texture Revolution is a tool that allows developers to plan and manipulate food textures to improve consumer acceptance. The lexicon includes a far more powerful vocabulary for describing the textural attributes desired in new or reformulated food products. The lexicon is extensive and addresses important texture issues through the whole sensory experience with a food product, from the first look through swallowing.