Method of preparation of sugar beet fiber material

A method of preparation of sugar beet fiber material for use as a non-caloric, non-coloring, bland ingredient in foodstuffs, comprising cleaning, peeling, and slicing sugar beets into cossettes and blanching the cossettes. The blanched cossettes have the sugar removed by extraction and are tissue milled to reduce the particle size. The resulting slurry may be further solvent extracted, washed, and dried.

This application relates to a method for preparing an edible fiber 
material, and more particularly to a method for the preparation of edible 
fiber material from sugar beets which can be incorporated into a food 
product. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
One manner of preparing foodstuffs having reduced caloric content involves 
the replacement of some of the caloric-containing constituents of the food 
product with non-digestible substances. Such non-digestible substances 
include various forms of purified plant cellulose, otherwise known as 
fiber. Due to the large amount of sugar beet pulp produced annually as a 
byproduct in the sugar industry, much incentive exists for the conversion 
of sugar beet pulp to an edible fiber for use as such a non-caloric 
substitute constituent in food products. 
Dietary fibers are currently enjoying a period of renewed interest in the 
food industry. The ability of fiber to absorb water increases salt 
hydration which facilitates intestinal transit. Diets rich in fiber are 
found to provide a wide variety of health benefits. 
When adding fiber to processed foodstuffs, a primary concern is to add 
little or no coloring, little or no tastes and little or no caloric value. 
If these goals are met, the food to which the fiber is added retains as 
much of its original nature as possible, yet contains additional fiber. 
Analysis of such supplemental fiber material involves measurement of total 
dietary fiber (TDF), soluble dietary fiber (SDF) and insoluble dietary 
fiber (IDF). In general, a higher value of TDF and SDF is desirable. 
Another means of evaluation of supplemental fiber material measures color 
by measurement of L (reflectivity), (green-red characteristics), and B 
(yellow blue characteristics) values. In general, a comparison of such LAB 
values is made against a standard material, such as .alpha.-cellulose. 
Processes are known for preparing sugar beet pulp material into a good 
source of fiber which may be incorporated into foodstuffs. Typically, 
sugar beets that are received from growers have been defoliated or 
scalped. The beets are partially cleansed of extraneous materials and 
stored in large piles for up to five months as they await processing. The 
beets are washed, and then sliced into long thin strips, like shoestring 
potatoes, using a rotary slicer. The cossettes thus obtained are generally 
about 3 mm to 4 mm thick and 4 cm to 5 cm long. The sugar beet cossettes 
are then water-extracted and the spent sugar beet cossettes or pulp is 
dewatered. In general, the production of fiber from sugar beets involves a 
process wherein the sugar beet pulp material is coarsely ground or sliced 
to form a coarse pulp slurry. Of course, the coarse pulp slurry can be 
collected from a processing plant after the sugar is removed from sugar 
beet cossettes. The pulp slurry is then placed in a stabilizer solution to 
prevent darkening of the cossettes and water washed to remove 
substantially all the soluble carbohydrates. The water washed sugar beet 
pulp slurry is then contacted with an alcoholic solution to remove color 
and flavor. Thereafter, the water and alcohol are removed and the material 
is optionally ground to a flour consistency. The sugar beet pulp generally 
has a number of objectional flavor components which may be removed with 
the alcohol extraction. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The principle object of the object invention is a source of improved fiber 
for use in foodstuffs. 
A further object of the subject invention is a source of non-nutritive or 
dietary fiber for use in foodstuffs. 
A still further object of the subject invention is an improvement in the 
viscosity, stabilization, and texture in foodstuffs. 
Yet another object of the subject invention is a foodstuff having overall 
lower caloric value, while retaining good physical and chemical 
properties, good taste, color, and suitable processability. 
These and other objects are attained in the the subject invention wherein 
there is provided a method for the production of sugar beet fiber material 
suitable for use in foodstuffs. This process involves washing and 
steam-peeling the beets, slicing them into cossettes, inspecting and 
rejecting those cossettes with defects, blanching the cossettes, 
extracting the sucrose, washing the extracted pulp, and then grinding the 
pulp by either a high-speed rotor which produces a very high shear force, 
such as found in a colloid mill (i.e., tissue milling), or pumping a 
slurry of the particular matter through an orifice at high pressure (i.e., 
homogenizing). The resultant milled fiber slurry is then acid-washed and 
dried. Optimally, after acid-washing, the slurry could be press-dried and 
then put through a solvent extraction step utilizing an alcohol/water 
wash, after which the slurry is put through a steam distillation and 
washed with water, and dried.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE SUBJECT INVENTION 
The fiber material of the subject invention is prepared from sugar beet 
cossettes. Sugar beets can be processed by cleaning, slicing, blanching, 
and extracting sugar prior to processing according to the subject 
invention. Alternatively, sugar beet pulp material may be obtained from a 
processor, providing the pulp can be blanched by the processor. 
The sugar beet cossettes, or freshly ground or sliced sugar beet pulp 
material, should immediately be placed in a stabilizer solution to prevent 
enzymatic and non-enzymatic darkening of the pulp. Suitable stabilizer 
solutions include water-soluble bisulfides, sulfite, metabi-sulfites, 
sulfur dioxide, and the like. The sugar beets, at this point, are drained 
of excess water. 
Where the starting material is sugar beets as received from growers, they 
are first washed to remove extraneous matter and impurities, steam-peeled, 
and sliced into cossettes approximately 1/8"-3/16" thick and 2"-5" long in 
a V-shaped cross-section. The drained sugar beet cossettes or pulp 
material are blanched with hot water or steam to raise the temperature of 
the material to 100.degree. C. for up to 2 minutes. 
Sucrose is then extracted from the blanched cossettes, after which a beet 
pulp slurry remains. This beet pulp slurry is then further processed to 
reduce or eliminate the objectionable flavor components of sugar beet pulp 
by mechanical disruption of the pulp cells, called tissue grinding. The 
tissue grinding may be accomplished in either of two manners--in the 
first, a stator is set very close to a high-speed rotor to produce a very 
high-shear force; typical grinding apparatus which performs this function 
is called a "colloid mill." A second manner of tissue grinding pumps a 
slurry of the particulant matter through an orifice at high pressure, an 
apparatus commonly called a "homogenizer." When tissue grinding, the 
particle size of the particulant matter produced was a compromise between 
that which gave the greatest amount of cellular disruption consistent with 
being a product that could be washed and pressed in conventional 
equipment. Microscopically, the slurries were in the range of 6 to 25 
cells in aggregate clumps. If the slurries were recirculated for a 
regrinding, no identifiable cells were found and such slurries could not 
be effectively washed or pressed and were of poor flavor. 
After tissue milling, the dewatered pulp material was washed, with a water 
extraction. The wash water is acidified to a pH of between 4 and 7, and 
preferably 5. Acidification may accomplished with an weak organic acid. 
However, acetic acid is preferred. Solvent extraction and solvent recovery 
proceeds as before and the resulting product is dried as before. 
Solvent extraction of the cossettes may be utilized after tissue milling. 
The extraction may utilize suitable alcoholic solutions, and may be used 
to remove various bitter constituents and color from the sugar beet pulp 
not removable by tissue milling. Appropriate solvents include methanol, 
ethanol, or isopropanol, alone or in combination with water. Other 
solutions may be used as known in the art. Preferably, an isopropanol 
water solvent is used. Various solvent extraction procedures may be used, 
including continuous extraction methods, continuous batch extraction 
methods, counter-current extraction methods, and the like. During 
extraction, the water in the pulp is replaced with alcohol, and then the 
alcohol is removed. To remove the alcohol, the pulp is pressed. The result 
is a drier product of approximately 50% dry solids. The solvent removed 
from the pressing can be returned to a solvent extractor, bypassing the 
distillation process for recovery and reuse. 
The dried pulp, with only 50% aqueous alcohol by weight, would then be 
transferred to a thermal desolventizer to recover as much of the alcohol 
as possible. In the thermal desolventizer, food grade steam is directly 
injected into the pulp to reverse the extraction process and replace the 
alcohol with water. This process leaves the pulp at approximately 30% 
moisture. The pulp is then further dried with an apron drier to yield a 
sugar beet fiber product which is high in fiber, generally colorless, 
bland, and substantially non-caloric. 
The sugar beet fiber product prepared as above is analyzed for fiber 
content, color, and other values. The results are set forth in Table I and 
compared with other fiber sources. 
The following test of consumer products are conducted utilizing beet fiber 
material prepared according to one or more of the above methods of the 
subject invention. 
EXAMPLE 1 
Muffins 
This test is conducted using a bland recipe for the muffins to be able to 
distinguish between fiber types. All of these samples are evaluated 
against muffins that continued either commercial oat fiber or Alpha 
Cellulose as reference marks. The muffins are formulated at 3 gm (5%) and 
4 gm (6.7% of fiber per muffin. 
TABLE 2 
______________________________________ 
Sample Production Process 
______________________________________ 
1. Solvent Extracted 
Pulp is produced from 
hand peeled beets. 
Isopropyl alcohol 
extraction. 
2. Tissue Milled Pulp is produced from 
hand peeled beets, same 
beet source as #1. 
Then tissue milled. 
3. Tissue Milled, then 
Same as #1 and #2 
Solvent Extracted 
4. Tissue Milled Pulp from sugar 
Factory Pulp production line is 
deashed and then tissue 
milled. 
______________________________________ 
The muffins are evaluated based on overall impressions, flavor strength, 
moistness, graininess/grittiness, bitterness, off flavor and chalkiness. 
The results are as follows: 
The solvent extracted (3 and 4 gms) and tissue milled (3 gm) do very well 
against oat fiber and Alpha Cellulose. 
TABLE I 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
FIBER ANALYTICAL VALUES 
TDF 
SDF 
IDF 
ASH WHC PROTEIN 
PROCESS (%) 
(%) 
(%) 
(%) (%)* 
(%) L A B 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
EXTRUSION 84 7 77 3.2 944 9.3 76.3 
-1.2 
19 
TISSUE 88 21 67 2.6 722 6.4 82.3 
-2.5 
17 
MILLING 
SOLVENT 86 20 66 3.0 899 8.1 85.0 
-3.4 
12 
EXTRACTED 
TISSUE MILLED 
88 21 67 2.7 802 6.5 87.4 
-- -- 
& SOLVENT 
EXTRACTED 
BLEACHED* 82 11 71 3.5 600 8.9 80.9 
-1.37 
17 
.alpha.-CELLULOSE 
99 0 99 0.1-0.2% 
290 0.2-0.4 
89.7 
-- -- 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
*Solution of 40% NaOH and 35% H.sub.2 O.sub.2 added to dried sugar beet 
pulp (55% moisture) 
*WHC = Water Holding Capacity 
Solvent extracted and tissue milled (3 gm) show no significant differences 
from each other across all attributes. 
The extruded and factory tissue milled fibers show significant differences 
from oat fiber across all attributes. 
The solvent extracted/tissue milled combination shows slightly better 
characteristics in all regards than either process individually. 
EXAMPLE 2 
Cereal 
This test is conducted on high fiber cereal using a crisp rice base formula 
for its bland flavor. This formula was also chosen to be able to 
distinguish between fiber types. All of these fibers are evaluated against 
a commercial oat fiber. All fiber types are run at levels of both 10% 
fiber and 20% fiber. 
TABLE 3 
______________________________________ 
Sample Production Process 
______________________________________ 
1. Solvent Extracted 
Pulp is produced from 
hand peeled beets and 
isopropyl alcohol 
extracted. 
2. Tissue Milled Pulp is produced from 
hand peeled beets, same 
beet source as #1, and 
then tissue milled. 
3. Tissue Milled, Run 1 
Steam peeled, crowned 
beets, major blemishes 
removed. Produced on 
large pilot plant scale. 
4. Tissue Milled, Run 2 
Steam peeled, not 
crowned and blemishes 
not removed. 
5. Solvent Extracted, 
Same as #1 and #2. 
Tissue Milled 
______________________________________ 
The cereal is evaluated on the basis of overall impressions, flavor 
strength, sweetness, crispiness, bitterness, and chalkiness. 
The results are as follows: 
Solvent extracted performs very well against the oat fiber at 10% and 20% 
levels. It is at parity on all measures except crispiness and chalkiness 
(where it is less chalky at 20%). 
Run 1 is not significantly different at the 10% level in all attributes 
except crispiness and chalkiness. 
All other fiber types not involving solvent extraction are significantly 
different at both 10% and 20% levels in all attributes from the oat fiber 
and solvent extracted. In other words, tests 2, 3, and 4 of Table 2 were 
not acceptable. 
EXAMPLE 3 
Diet Drink 
A vanilla-flavored high fiber diet drink was formulated to compare 
Ultra-Slim.TM. fast diet drink in flavor. Oat fiber and Alpha Cellulose 
formulations were also run in this test as reference marks. The drink was 
formulated at 4 gms (1.5%) of fiber per serving. The processes that were 
run in this test are: 
TABLE 4 
______________________________________ 
Sample Production Process 
______________________________________ 
1. Solvent Extracted 
Pulp produced from hand 
peeled beets. 
Isopropyl alcohol 
extraction. 
2. Tissue Milled Pulp produced from hand 
peeled beets, same 
source as #1. Then 
tissue milled. 
3. Tissue Milled, Run 1 
Steam peeled, crowned 
beets, major blemishes 
removed, produced on a 
large pilot plant scale. 
4. Solvent Extracted, 
Same as #1 and #2. 
Tissue Milled 
______________________________________ 
The drink is evaluated based on overall impressions, flavor strength, 
sweetness, bitterness, smoothness, and chalkiness. 
The results are as follows: 
All fiber types were rated significantly different than the commercial oat 
fiber and Alpha Cellulose for all attributes. 
Solvent extracted and tissue milled are rated lower in flavor strength than 
the oat fiber; therefore, the overall preference does not appear to be due 
to flavor strength. 
Bitterness and texture appear to be the largest components impacting the 
overall preference. 
All three beet fibers are rated significantly lower in smoothness and 
higher in chalkiness relative to the two control fibers. 
Reviewing the results from all three of the consumer tests, the solvent 
extracted beet fiber rates very close to the commercial oat fiber in all 
three products. Tissue milled beet fiber at the lower levels does fairly 
well compared to the oat fiber. However, tissue milled beet fiber at 
higher levels does not appear to perform as well as solvent extracted beet 
fiber. 
While the invention has been described with reference to a preferred 
embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various 
changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements 
thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, 
many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material 
to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential 
scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited 
to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for 
carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all 
embodiments and equivalents falling within the scope of the appended 
claims. 
Various features of the invention are set forth in the following claims.