Method of and apparatus for measuring viscous and elastic properties of a gluten-containing substance

1. A method of measuring viscous and elastic properties of a gluten-containing substance comprising the steps of:

bringing the gluten-containing substance into a powder;

adding a predetermined amount of aqueous liquid to a predetermined amount of said powder;

kneading said powder and liquid to a dough; and

extracting viscoelastic gluten from the dough by rinsing with said liquid;

shaping said gluten to a predetermined shape;

placing the shaped gluten (D) between two planar surfaces ( 2 , 3 ) being parallel to each other;

moving the planar surfaces ( 2 , 3 ) towards each other during a predetermined period of time and at a controlled rate until a maximum compression force or minimum spacing is reached, thereby compressing the gluten placed between said planar surfaces;

releasing the force on said planar surfaces so that these can move away from each other due to elastic recovery of the compressed gluten (D);

measuring the distance between said planar surfaces ( 2 , 3 ) during said compression and elastic recovery of the gluten; and

storing the measured values.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the actual force applied is measured.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said planar surfaces ( 2 , 3 ) are prevented from moving closer to each other when a predetermined minimal distance between said planar surfaces is reached.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein said minimal distance between said planar surfaces is 2 mm at the most.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the force on the planar surfaces ( 2 , 3 ) is maintained during said predetermined period of time also when said minimal distance between said planar surfaces is reached before the end of said predetermined period of time.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the gluten (D) is shaped to a predetermined shape and that said shape is maintained for a period of time before the gluten (D) is placed between said planar surfaces in order to establish within the gluten a preferred arrangement of this shape.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the shaping of the gluten is made in a shaping device in which a constant volume portion of the gluten is shaped and in which the shaped gluten is left during a predetermined holding time.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said compression force is higher than 5 N.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined period of time during which said compression force is applied is less than 60 seconds.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the distance between said planar surfaces ( 2 , 3 ) when the compression force is first applied, the a distance corresponding to the height of the shaped gluten (D), is at least ten times said minimal distance between said planar surface.

11. An apparatus for measuring viscous and elastic properties of a gluten-containing substance including means for kneading a mixture of a predetermined amount of gluten-containing powder and a predetermined amount of aqueous liquid to a dough and extracting gluten from the dough by rinsing, characterised by means for shaping said gluten, and further characterised in that it includes two parallel planar plates ( 2 , 3 ) and means ( 4 , 18 , 19 , 20 ) for moving said plates ( 2 , 3 ) towards each other at a controlled rate, until a maximum compression force or a minimum spacing is reached, means for releasing said plates ( 2 , 3 ) from said constant force after a predetermined period of time, means ( 26 ) for measuring the distance between said planar plates ( 2 , 3 ), and means for storing the measured values and means for retrieving stored measures.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein a balanced parallel-arms mechanism ( 4 ) maintain parallel alignment between said plates ( 2 , 3 ), said mechanism being connected to a spiral spring ( 18 ) via an arm ( 19 ) transferring the constant force given by the spiral spring ( 18 ) to said mechanism.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the apparatus includes a drive motor for winding said spiral spring ( 18 ) to give a desired force and for unwinding said spring.

14. The apparatus according to claim 10 , including means ( 28 ) for maintaining a predetermined minimal distance between said planar surfaces ( 2 , 3 ).

15. The method according to claim 2

wherein the force on the planar surfaces ( 2 , 3 ) is maintained during said predetermined period of time also when said minimal distance between said planar surfaces is reached before the end of said predetermined period of time.

16. The method according to claim 3 wherein the force on the planar surfaces ( 2 , 3 ) is maintained during said predetermined period of time also when said minimal distance between said planar surfaces is reached before the end of said predetermined period of time.

17. The method according to claim 4 wherein the force on the planar surfaces ( 2 , 3 ) is maintained during said predetermined period of time also when said minimal distance between said planar surfaces is reached before the end of said predetermined period of time.

18. The apparatus according to claim 11 , including means ( 28 ) for maintaining a predetermined minimal distance between said planar surfaces ( 2 , 3 ).

19. The apparatus according to claim 12 , including means ( 28 ) for maintaining a predetermined minimal distance between said planar surfaces ( 2 , 3 ).

20. The apparatus according to claim 13 , including means ( 28 ) for maintaining a predetermined minimal distance between said planar surfaces ( 2 , 3 ).