Alberger® Brand Salt: Effective Functionality
What makes Alberger® Salt different and why it matters to manufacturers.
Salt’s structure has a monumental impact on its effectiveness in product formulations. For example, in a topical salt application, such as a cracker, the salt’s structure impacts its adherence and solubility, which, in turn, can impact the amount of salt needed to get the desired flavor.
Because salt’s shape influences many of its functional properties, its shape is of great importance to formulators. In order to influence the structure of a salt crystal and the crystal’s surface area while it’s being created, particular processing methods are implemented. One such method is the Alberger process.
Alberger® salt consists of flakes of fine, multi-faceted crystals, whereas salt produced by other methods is typically composed of hard cubical grains or grains of a relatively coarse granular structure. The Alberger method forms cubic crystals through a solution fed to grainer pans by partial vacuum-pan evaporation. The seed crystals that are formed create a crystalline structure that is a combination of the grainer-type flake and the flake developed on seed crystals.
Alberger® salt’s distinctive crystals with a large surface area and low bulk density offer outstanding adherence, blendability and solubility compared to cube-shaped granulated salt. The rapid solubility gives Alberger® salt its flavor burst when used in topical applications, such as on a cracker. Alberger® salt also allows formulators to achieve the same desired taste while using less salt*, which may reduce sodium content.** In addition, formulators may be able to increase the salty flavor of a product using less Alberger salt, thereby maintaining a product’s sodium content.
The Alberger® salt system of manufacturing has been in existence since the early 1900s, but the ingredient’s versatility makes it desirable for contemporary formulations. For example, formulators who are looking to provide salty satisfaction and while using less sodium have the option of Cargill’s Alberger® Fine Flake Salt. Alberger salt dissolves more quickly and flavors food more uniformly than cube shaped granular salt. Indeed, consumer sensory testing showed that Alberger® Fine Flake Salt provided the same flavor as table salt while using 75 percent less product, resulting in a 30 percent reduction in sodium. *
Alberger® brand flake salt is available for numerous applications in a variety of granulation sizes, with and without flow agents:
- Coarse Topping Flake Salt – For use on crackers and bread sticks, in baked goods and cheeses and for coarse seasoning blends. Also for use in meat and poultry koshering and topping for baked goods.
- Flake Salt – For use in natural cheeses, sauerkraut, seasonings, casings, canning, cured meats and dry-blended detergents.
- Special Flake Salt – For use in spices, meats, snacks, cheeses and other dairy products.
- Fine Flake Salt – For use in processed cheeses, baking, spreads, dressings, meats, seasonings, curing, spice blends, canning and pickling where anticaking additives are not desired and warehousing time is minimal. Also available in iodized.
- Fine Flake Improved Salt – For use in meats, seasonings, prepared mixes, peanut butter, curing, spice blends, canning, pickling and baking. Contains propylene glycol for solubility.
- Fine Flake Prepared Salt – For use on potato chips, corn chips, corn curls, puffed snacks, popcorn, nuts, seasoning blends, prepared soup and sauce mixes, candy, and cookies. Contains tricalcium phosphate as an anticaking agent.
- Fine Flake Supreme Salt – For use in processed cheese, baking, toppings, spreads, dressings, meats, seasonings, prepared mixes, curing and spice blends. Contains yellow prussiate of soda and glycerin for complete solubility.
- Shur-Flo® Fine Flake Salt – For use in processed cheese, baking, spreads, dressings, meats, seasonings, blending, curing, spice blends and snacks. Contains yellow prussiate of soda, sodium silicoaluminate, and glycerin for dust control and consistent flow.
- Fine Prepared Flour Salt – For use in self-rising flour, prepared mixes, doughs, seasoning blends and snacks. Contains free-flow agent tricalcium phosphate.
- Fine Special Flour Salt -For use in self-rising flour, prepared mixes, doughs, seasoning blends and snacks. Contains free-flow agent silicon dioxide.
- Shur-Flo® Fine Flour Salt – For use in self-rising flour, prepared mixes, doughs, seasoning blends and snacks. Contains yellow prussiate of soda, sodium silicoaluminate, and glycerin for dust control and consistent flow.
Patent US 1273208 A (July 23, 1918) Data provided by IFI Claims Patent Services. Retrieved from: http://www.google.com/patents/US1273208
Cargill “Alberger® Brand Flake Salts.” Retrieved from: http://www.cargill.com/salt/brands/alberger/index.jsp
Encyclopedia Britannica “Alberger Process.” Retrieved from: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/12642/Alberger-process
Food Processing InPerspective by Cargill Salt “Cargill Specialty Salts Enable Reduced Sodium in Popular Snack Crackers.” Retrieved from: https://cargillsaltinperspective.com/cargill-specialty-salts-enable-reduced-sodium-in-popular-snack-crackers/
Food Processing InPerspective by Cargill Salt “Alberger® Fine Flake Salt.” Retrieved from: https://cargillsaltinperspective.com/alberger-fine-flake-salt/
Cargill “Alberger® Brand Salt.” Retrieved from: http://www.cargill.com/salt/wcm/groups/public/%40cseg/%40salt/documents/document/na3011937.pdf
* Testing done internal to Cargill on specific applications. Results may vary.
**Reduced, Less, Lower Sodium Claims require a 25% or more reduction in sodium compared to the reference food.