CA1339398C - Food processing assistant having taste-improving effect - Google Patents

Abstract

Food processing assistant having taste improving effect can be presented by subjecting vegetable humus to activation treatment (i.e. grinding to powder and contacting it sufficiently with air) to obtain powder product or extracting the said activated powder with water and filtering the extract to remove solid matter and obtain liquid product.

Description

1~339398 Specification Title of the invention Food processing assistant having taste-improving ef-fect Background of the invention (Field of Art) This invention relates to a taste-improving agent for foods which is obtained by subjecting vegetable humus to activation treatment.
Vegetable humus referred to herein is botanical fer-mented product which was accumulated and deposited for a long period of time in water of bottom of sea or lake in recent years or in the past.
(Prior Art) The inventor of the present application filed in Japan a patent application for an invention relating to adsorbing, deodorizing and sterilizing composition ob-tained by oxidizing vegetable humus with air and drying the product. This application was published (as Japanese patent publication Sho 62-1362) and registered (as a patent No. 1393474).

Various kinds of application fields of this composition are now being developed. Their forms are diverse for example, they are powder, aqueous extracted liquid granules, etc. depending upon the application field.
This invention relates to the application field of aqueous extract from the above-mentioned forms.
Hereinafter, this aqueous extract will be referred to as Hyumaselurabin (or simply Elurabin) (Trademark J1588035).
The inventor of this application advanced his research work with an object of producing composition having further powerful sterilizing power, deodorizing and gas adsorbing properties in the air treatment of vegetable humus and filed an application for an invention entitled "a method for activating vegetable humus"; Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 559-34260 published on February 24, 1984 (Japanese examined patent publication No. 562-37003 published August 10, 1987).
The gist of this invention can be summarized as follows.
The activation of vegetable humus is a collective expression of reinforcement of deodorizing action, gas adsorbing property, and bacteriostatic action, etc. By inferring that in the activation of vegetable humus, the action of microorganisms, particularly, the action of aerobic microorganisms plays ycc/kb 2 a significant role together with oxidation action of oxygen in air, the inventor of this invention has found that as condition for treatment, contact with air at a temperature and a humidity at which microorganism reaction is carried out smoothly by way of microorganism should be carried out as sufficient as possible, and it is an important point of activation. Thus, the application was examined and published on August 10, 1987 with regard to "a method for activating vegetable humus" (Japanese patent publication No. Sho 62-37003) which defines the condition for activating vegetable humus and registered as patent No. 1,431,877 on March 24, 1988. This is the meaning of the phrase "grinding vegetable humus and contacting sufficiently with air to effect activation" which is referred to in the scope of claim for patent of the present invention.
By way of the above-mentioned treatment, activated vegetable humus greatly improves its own gas adsorbing property, deodorizing power and bacteriostatic action, but at the same time, unexpectable effectiveness have been discovered one after another.
During the course of development of application fields for Hyumaselurabin, the inventor of the present application found that it had a property which improves water raising of cut flowers and superior effectiveness for keeping flowers alive, and he filed an application for preserving agent for cut flowers, Japanese patent publication No. 559-39801 published on March 5, 1984.

ycc/ kb 3 Later, while the inventor of this application paid attention to the physiologically active effectiveness of Hyumaselurabin, he found that it has superior effectiveness of a foliar spraying agent and filed Japanese application Hl-153605 published on June 5, 1989. Each of the above-mentioned applications relates to the application in which unique physiologically active effectiveness of Hyumaselurabin are effectively utilized.
Utility of Hyumaselurabin started at first from deodorizing agent and even now it is used for deodorizing purpose in a large amount.
By chance, the inventor of the present application tried to boil rice after adding a small amount of Hyumaselurabin with a thought that he may remove a bad smell of old rice at the time of cooking of old rice. As a result, as expected, it was possible to boil rice having no bad smell of old rice. It was unexpectable, and ycc/kb 4 r~

astonishing enough, and thus he noticed the effectiveness of Hyumaselurabin for improving taste of rice. Then in-vestigating for various kinds of foods superior taste im-proving effect was confirmed and he completed the present invention.
(Summary of the Invention) 1) Food taste improving assistant obtained by grinding vegetable humus containing 50 - 80 % by weight of water, contacting the ground powder sufficiently with air to ac-tivate it, extracting the activated powder with water, followed by filtration.

2) Food taste improving assistant defined in the above-mentioned item 1) in which filtration is carried out in two steps consisting of a first step industrial filtration and a second step membrane filtration which does not allow materials greater than 0.5 micron to pass.
(Description of the Preferred Embodiments) Hyumaselurabin is an extracted liquid obtained by im-mersing activated vegetable humus in hot water, followed by stirring and filtering and shows usually a pH = 3 or less and a Brix degree of 0.4 or less.
Since those obtained by filtering through a membrane 13393~8 of pore diameter of 0.5 micron are freed from not only molds, yeast but also from almost all bacteria, they are suitable to food processing and useful for drinking.
Those which are diluted with city water (tap water) to 50 - 100 times provides feeling of a spring water issuing from rocks when one drinks it after slightly cooling. Ac-cordingly, it is preferable as mineral water.
It is well known that if tap water or spring water issuing from rocks is left to stand after being put in a vessel, it begins to rot within a few days. In contrast, such a mineral water with Hyumaselurabin does not rot even when it is left to stand for several months. This is a notable characteristics which is entirely different from general drinking water. Further, an original liquor of Hyumaselurabin is colorless and transparent, but when it is left to stand at a bright space for several months, it often happens that white dregs precipitate out though they are in a slightest amount, and white color gradually turns to pale brown color. It seems to be mainly aluminum and/or iron hydroxide. When an original liquor of Hyumaselurabin is heated at first 70 - 80~C, forming of dregs is promoted, but if formed dregs are removed by a membrane filter, the filtered liquor does not produce dregs any more-even when left to stand for a long time and maintains colorless transpare'ncy. Such dregs do not show influence upon point of hygiene and flavor but may give influence upon value as a commodity. Thus it is recom-mended to be removed. In case of brewing of refined sake, for the purpose of removal of dregs, it has been heretofore carried out to cause to form dregs by allowing sake to ferment in a tank for a long time. This is an operation having the same meaning. However, in the case of Hyumaselurabin, it is possible to promote the forming of dregs by heating at 70 - 80~C, contrary to the case of refined sake, treatment can be completed by a treatment within a short period of time.
For the taste improvement of boiled rice effected by Hyumaselurabin, parallel with sensuous testing by eight panellors, degree of ~-starch and texture of cooked rice were measured and compared with those of Koshihikari and Sasanishiki. It is a fixed theory that good taste of cooked rice depends on ~-starch, and texture is an objec-tive evaluation data which represent feeling of teeth and tongue of cooked rice.

According to the result of sensuous testing, lustre, brightness, feeling of eating, taste, all of these were clearly improved by the addition of Hyumaselurabin.
The measurement of degree of ~-starch was carried out according to a method disclosed in "Handbook Food Analysis" (edited by Kenpakusha). By the addition of Hyumaselurabin it has been found that degree of ~-starch can be promoted.
According to the measurement of Texturometer, it has been revealed that addition of Hyumaselurabin improves texture greatly (to the same extent of Koshihikari and Sasanishiki) and the texture of low quality rice was im-proved to the extent of good quality rice.
Thus, it can be said that subjective practical evaluation has been guaranteed by objective evaluation of texture.
It is not clear from what taste improving effect of Hyumaselurabin is derived, but Hyumaselurabin contains a proper amount of minerals such as sodium, potassium, cal-cium, magnesium, aluminum, iron, or the like and the ex-istence of various kinds of amino acid as well as various kinds of vitamins were confirmed therein. Further, it is 13393~

inferred that various kinds of components which are not confirmed, but probably derived from microorganism, are included. The taste-improving effect of Hyumaselurabin seems to be the collective effect of such various kinds of components.
Successively to the taste-improvement test of cooked rice, the effectiveness of Hyumaselurabin to various other kinds of Japanese and foreign foodstuffs were inves-tigated, and preferable effect more than expected has been obtained in all case. Namely, in case of fried foods, ad-hered state of coating was good and fried foods product having surface of nice color and lustre from which oil was removed was obtained. In case of vinegar-containing-dish or dish dressed with salad dressing, taste of vinegar be-came rounded. In case of cooked food, soaking of taste was good providing boiled product having round taste.
Baked eggs and hamburger, etc. had moisture-holding property and dampish taste was persistent. As for vegetables seasoned in rice bran paste, odor of rice bran paste and saltish taste disappeared resulting good colored and lustrous goods. As for Japanese and foreign cakes, in case of steamed bean jam bun, action of wheat gluten was suppressed providing product of smooth skin, and of fine grained, lustrous dampish feeling. Skin and bean-jam were fit to each other nicely and finished product were agree-able to tongue and teeth.
As for baked cakes, adaptations of raw materials were good, and finished products of fine delicate and moist skin could be produced. Rice cake and quality rice flour products, rice cake stuffed with bean paste, dumpling, Turkish delight, etc. were rich in moisture retaining property and elastic property products having no sticki-ness, no tendency of hardening or crack forming were ob-tained. Further, separation of bean jam from honey was few. Oozing tendency of sugar was slow, so it gave dam-pish feeling. Sweet taste was round and elegant finishing was provided. As for sponge cakes, product having wet feeling, soft and elastic product giving nice color and lustre was produced. Creampuff formed dampish skin and this state lasted for several days. Adaptness to cream was extremely nice. In addition, for bean-jam pancake, rice cake wrapped in an cherry blossom leaf, rice cake wrapped in an oak leaf, a bean-jam bun containing chestnut, doughnut, rice dumpling, rice steamed together 13393~8 with red beans, similar results were obtained.
As for the amount of Hyumaselurabin used in these ap-plications, about 0.5 to 0.6 % by weight (weight % of Hyumaselurabin original liquid relative to a raw material such as rice, wheat, etc.) is st~n~rd, but depending on material, even 0.2 % is allowable and if necessary it is possible to increase up to 0.8 to 1.0 %.
Example At the time of cooking of standard price rice, taste improving effectiveness was estimated by sensuous ex~m;n~-tion, ratio of~ -conversion measurement, and texture measurement.
(1) Raw material and equipment St~n~rd price rice: *class 3: 80 % or more *class 4 and class 5: 20 % or less (*Rice grade designation defined by Kanagawa prefecture) Hyumaselurabin pH = 3.42 Rice-cooking vessel: Electronic rice cooking vessel (Trademark National) micro computer controlled direct heating cooker (SP-K10M) 1.0 litre cooking capacity (2) Cooking condition rice 450 g/batch amount of water: 550 g of water to 450 g of rice (before washing) washing method: after rough washing 3 times, draining off completely water: city water Hyumaselurabin: 2.7g (0.6 % by weight/450 g rice) (3) Sensual examination Sensual ~X~m; n~tion was carried out immediately after cooking. Appearance characteristic properties, fragrance characteristic properties, were principal points of ex-amination. Partly, feeling of eating such as agreeability to the palate and teeth were also ex~m;ned.
panelors: 8 persons (2 women and 6 men). Result is shown in Table 1.

133g398 ~able 1. Result of sensual ex~m;~tion immediately after cooking bad common good skin no addition 3 5 0 (lustre,glass) Hyumaselurabin 0.6% 1 3 4 shape no addition 0 5 3 (collapse) Hyumaselurabin 0.6~ 0 4 4 taste no addition 0 8 0 Hyumaselurabin 0.6% 0 5 3 agreeability no addition 3 5 0 to palate Hyumaselurabin 0 5 3 to teeth 4. ~-conversion ratio For measuring extent of ~-conversion (pastifying), ~-conversion degree is used. But this time, checking of ~-conversion of starch in rice itself by way of enzyme and heat is not an object, but since checking of difference between a case of Hyumaselurabin addition a~d another case of no addition is an object, a testing method (Foodstuff analysis handbook edited by Kenpakusha) for measuring ~-conversion degree was modified and hydrochloric acid ad-dition operation which deactivates enzyme, was adopted.
~-conversion degree was compared by titration amount of the proportion consumed in the reaction of iodine, by sodium thiosulfate solution. Accordingly, terms " ~-conversion ratio" herein was used for convenience' sake. It is not technical term.
Testing method Three 100 ml Erlenmeyer flasks fitted with stopper were prepared for testing. One of them used for blank test. In other two, sample (about 2.5 g + 0.5 g) ground in mortars was taken up, 50 ml of water was added and shaking was conducted at room temperature (22~C) and 2 ml of 1N
hydrochloric acid was added immediately. To this, 25 ml 13393~3~

of N/10 iodine solution was added. Then, by using a stop-watch, for keeping equal interval, alignots of 18 ml of N/10 sodium hydroxide solution were added. After sealing tightly and shaking, the flask was allowed to stand ex-actly 15 minutes. In the same order, and at the same in-terval, each 2 ml of 10 % sulfuric acid was quickly added upon opening the stopper. These solutions were titrated with N/10 sodium thiosulfate solution and differences from blank test were compared and ~-conversion ratio was calcu-lated. As a reference, a case of addition of 1.2 % by weight of Hyumaselurabin was added and result are shown in Figure 1. Each of these are ~-conversion ratio of sample immediately after rice cooking.

(5) Texture By using a texturometer (made by Zenken GTX-2-1N
type) measured values were proted in texture evaluation charts developed by Zenken.
In chart, A area shows evaluation of texture supe-rior, B area shows somewhat superior, C area shows slightly inferior, D area shows inferior and E area most inferior.
Koshihikari, Sasanishiki are in A rank. New rice (class 5) were found to be in C rank. Old rice and very old rice are in D rank. By the addition of Hyumaselurabin, those of D rank turned to C~v A rank.
Brief explanation of the drawing Figure 1 is a chart in which ~-conversion ratios were compared with each cases of no-addition of Hyumaselurabin, 0.6 % by weight addition and 1.2 % by weight addition.

Claims (2)

1. Food taste improving assistant produced by grinding vegetable humus containing 50 - 80% by weight of water to a ground powder contacting said ground powder with air to provide an activated ground powder, extracting said activated ground powder with water and removing solid matter by filtration to obtain an extract to be used as a food taste improving assistant.

2. Food taste improving assistant defined in the claim 1 in which said filtration is carried out in two steps consisting of a first step industrial filtration and a second step membrane filtration which does not allow materials greater than 0.5 micron to pass.