1.

INTRODUCTION

Crme brulee also referred to as burnt cream is a dessert with two layers: the custard layer and an upper caramelized sugar layer. The custard layer is creamy yellow mixture of egg yolks, milk, sugar and flavourings. The custard attained its consistency mainly by the coagulation of egg yolk proteins by heat. The dark-brown caramelized sugar layer is a result of heated crystalline sugar transiting from the crystalline/solid state through liquid, rubbery and then to a glass/amorphous state. Therefore, the final texture of crme brulee came to be as a result of the heating process and the heating characteristics of some of the ingredients used The aim of this write-up therefore is to explain in details the ingredients, properties of such ingredients, processes and its effect that ultimately result in the final texture of crme brulee.

2.0

INGREDIENTS

These consist of whole milk, double cream, egg yolks, sugar (white granulated caster sugar) and vanilla extract (from Madagascar bean). 2.1 MILK AND CREAM

Whole milk and double cream are dairy products with slightly different nutritional composition. Whole milk is a stable emulsion of fat globules dispersed in a water phase containing both dissolved and suspended non fat solids. It contains more of water (87.5%) while cream which is the fatty portion separated in the production of skimmed milk contains almost all the fat from milk, 48% in double cream (Ashurst, 1999). Milk proteins are divided into two main fractions based on their solubility: Caseins and whey proteins. They possess functional properties such as emulsification, thickening, gelling, flavor binding and foaming that provide desirable textural and other attributes to the final product (Thompson et al., 2009)

2.2

EGG YOLK

Egg yolk is a mixture of proteins and lipids forming natural assemblies at various scales and it is well recognized for its gel formation and emulsifying properties (Phillip and William, 2009). It takes part in the formation and stabilization of emulsion (as created as the egg yolk mixture is being mixed with the cream mixture and whisked together). This emulsifying ability of egg yolk is mainly because of the

lipoproteins whose amphipathic character allows them to interact with the oil-water interface and also lower the surface tension of the aqueous phase (Vincent and Fennema, 1966 and Charalambous, G. and Doxastakis, 1989). Carotenoid which represents less than 1% of lipids (Phillips and William, 2009) gives the yolk its yellowish colour and this apparently contributed to the final colour of the crme brulee. 2.3 VANILLA EXTRACT

Vanilla is a flavouring derived from the orchids of genus Vanilla. The flavour is a complex and varied mixture of chemical compounds. Vanillin serves as the major flavour backbone, occurring in levels from 1.52 to 2.42% of bean dry weight (Cowley, 1973). Table 1 shows the values of major flavour constituents of cured vanilla beans from Madagascar.
Table 1: Flavour consistuents of cured vanilla beans from Madagascar Source Vanillin Vanillic Acid pp-Hydroxybenzoic acid 2 5.6 Hydroxybenzaldehyde (mg 100ml-1) 12 23 6 13.7

Madagascar 47 216 Source: Peter (2004).

2.4

SUGAR

White granulated sugar is the main product of sugar manufacture from either sugarcane or sugar beet. Caster sugar has a much smaller particle size ranging between 150m and 450m. Sugar is essentially pure crystalline sucrose (99.8%). A sucrose molecule has 8 hydroxyl groups, 3 hydrophilic oxygen atoms (bound in a circle) and 14 hydrogen atoms (Mathlouthi and Reiser, 1994). It is soluble in water and this solubility is influenced by temperature.

3.0

PROCESSESS

The final texture of crme brulee came to be as a result of the heating process and the heating characteristics of some of the ingredients used. The heating of the cream mixture (450ml Cream and 50ml milk) in an open saucepan at a temperature below boiling point was done to bring it to a simmer. This heating process caused the whey proteins in the mixture to unfold previously hidden hydrophobic groups and then interacted with themselves and k-casein group thereby forming heatinduced protein aggregates (Raikos, 2010). This was the reason for the higher viscosity observed when heating the cream mixture. The egg yolks contained in the final mixture contributed to the thickening of the custard. This occurred as a result of coagulation of the egg proteins. However, the presence of sugar in the yolk mixture delayed the denaturation and coagulation of the egg proteins when the final mixture was cooked in the oven at 150 (Campbell, Raikos and C Euston, 2005). According to Aluko, 1998

REFERENCES Ashurst, P. R. (1999) Food Flavorings. 3rd ed. London: Springer-Verlag, pp.331-334 Campbell, L., Raikos, V. and Euston, R. (2005) Heat stability and emulsifying ability of whole egg, egg yolk and egg white as related to heat treatment. Food Hydrocolloids, 19(3): pp.533-539 Charalambous, G. and Doxastakis G. (Eds.) (1989) Food emulsifiers. Chemistry, technology, functional properties and applications. New York: Elsevier, pp.63-91 Mathlouthi, M. Reiser, P. (Eds.) (1994) Sucrose, Properties and Applications Peter, K.V. (2004) Handbook of Herbs and Spices, Volume 2. Woodhead Publishing, pp.337 Phillips, G. O. and Williams, P. A. (2009) Handbook of Hydrocolloids. 2nd ed. Woodhead Publishing, pp.359-360 Raikos, V. (2010) Effect of heat treatment on milk protein functionality at emulsion interfaces. A review. Food Hydrocolloids 24(4): pp.259-265 Thompson, A., Boland, M. and Singh, H. (2009) Milk Proteins - from Expression to Food. Elsevier, pp.322

Vincent, R., Powrie, W. D. and Fennema, 0. (1966) Journal of Food Science, 31, 643648. Vogel, H. J.