Hydrosol’s New All-In Compounds Target Ready to Reheat Frozen Foods

27 Apr 2015 --- Frozen foods are everywhere in the convenience category. Frozen ready meals, pizza and snacks are trending up, according to the German frozen food institute. This isn't just the case for grocery retail, but also for the out of home market, where snacks and baked goods are growth engines. With Hydrosol's new all-in compounds, manufacturers can now include mayonnaise, remoulade and ketchup in frozen foods to profit from this growth through new products.

For several years now stabiliser specialist Hydrosol has offered all-in compounds for making freeze/thaw-stable mayonnaise. Initially these products were most in demand in Russia and other Eastern European countries, where mayonnaise is almost a food group in its own right. But demand is now growing in Germany and Western Europe as well, especially in the delicatessen category. Here, these stabilising systems enable problem-free frozen storage and transportation of mayonnaise and products made with it. They prevent the emulsion breaking that can otherwise be caused by temperature fluctuations during transportation.

Hydrosol product developer Katharina Thara explains, “depending on what the customer needs, we use special anti-freeze proteins. They prevent crystallisation of the water, so it stays in emulsion. Once it thaws, the mayonnaise has the same texture and quality as before.” Freeze/thaw-stable all-in compounds enable the simple, safe manufacture of mayonnaise products with between 20 and 75 percent fat content.

With these new functional systems ready meals and snacks with mayonnaise, remoulade or ketchup can be not just frozen, but also reheated or baked. Hydrosol looked for synergies in selecting the raw materials, examining them in practical testing at the Stern-Wywiol Gruppe’s trial bakery. Katharina Thara: “In baking, more than one ingredient is responsible for stability. So the interaction of all components has to be carefully tested.”

These new stabilising systems work for mayonnaise with a fat content up to 75 percent. Like the freeze/bake-stable ketchup, it can be used as a filling in savoury frozen baked items, as a topping on frozen pizza and to make frozen hot dogs and hamburgers even better. Hydrosol’s new all-in compounds also have potential for many new product ideas, for grocery retail as well as the growing out of home market.