JP2001161285A - Foodstuffs, and method and apparatus for producing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide foodstuffs where unspoiled gloss appears in a printed surface and therefore commercial value can be enhanced, and to provide a method and an apparatus for producing the foodstuffs. SOLUTION: A photograph 15 is printed with an edible ink on an edible film 12, the printed edible film 12 is extended on the surface of the cake base 11 of a fancy cake 10 to cover the surface and then a transparent edible coating material 13 is spread on the printed surface of the film 12. As a result, unspoiled gloss appears in the printed surface and the commercial value of the fancy cake 10 is enhanced; besides, when the coating material 13 is made to be thicker, printed contents can stand out by lens effect.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a food, a method of manufacturing the same, and an apparatus for manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to displaying characters, pictures, photographs, etc. on a surface of a food such as a decoration cake using an edible film. The present invention relates to a food product, a method for producing the same, and an apparatus for producing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art On the surface of a decoration cake that can be eaten on Christmas and birthdays, various creams and melted chocolates are usually extruded from tubes to decorate various patterns and patterns. Decorating with such a cream or the like requires a skilled confectioner and is troublesome. In addition, even if a large number of tube bases are arranged and the work is performed while replacing the base with a base having a different shape as appropriate, the decoration of old-fashioned creams and chocolates lacks novelty.

Therefore, in recent years, a new type of printing a favorite character or picture on an edible film that can be eaten using an edible ink using edible colorant as a raw material and pasting the edible film on a decoration cake has been proposed. Decoration techniques have been developed. Conventionally, as an edible film used for this, for example, an edible film described in JP-A-10-215792 is known. This conventional product is a water-soluble film mainly composed of starch and has a rough surface. In the use of this edible film, characters and pictures are printed on the film surface with edible ink,
The printed edible film is simply stuck on the cake with the printed side facing out.

[0004]

However, in the case of a decoration cake decorated with an edible film according to the prior art, the edible film on which characters and pictures are printed is simply attached to the surface of the cake. It was just. For this reason, the printing surface having a rough feeling is exposed to the surface of the cake as it is. For this reason,
Despite the novelty of not being decorated with conventional cream, etc., the image of a cake with a rough finish as a whole cannot be ignored, and in reality it is not enough cake to be displayed as a product in a showcase. Was.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a food product capable of exhibiting a fresh gloss on a printed surface and enhancing its commercial value, a method of manufacturing the same, and a device for manufacturing the same. It is another object of the present invention to provide a food manufacturing apparatus capable of automatically printing a specific print content on an edible film using edible ink.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, an edible film on which a specific print content is printed by an edible ink is spread on the surface, and the printed surface of the edible film is transparent or semi-transparent. It is a food on which a transparent edible coating material is laminated. The edible ink may be any ink that does not cause harm to human consumption. For example, various food colorings such as food blue, food red, food yellow and the like can be mentioned. Specific examples include a mixture of an edible resin such as gums and an edible dye in water, ethanol, glycerin, etc., or an edible emulsifier by adding an edible dye, an edible oil / fat, and a thickener to water. , Saccharides, gums, and the like, to which food colors and lecithin are added.

[0007] The print content is not limited as long as it can be printed on an edible film. For example, the characters
Symbols, patterns, pictures, photographs, and the like. The printing method is not limited. For example, an ink jet printing method, a screen printing method, an offset printing method and the like can be mentioned. The type of the edible film is not limited. For example, those using starch as a main raw material, those using konjac as a main raw material, and the like can be mentioned. Specific examples include, in addition to this starch, those obtained by mixing appropriate amounts of powdered cellulose, glycerin, locust bean gum, titanium dioxide, citric acid, trehalose, and D-sorbitol. Also,
The hardness of the edible film is not limited. However, it is usually hard enough to have flexibility.

[0008] The type of food is not limited. For example, in addition to confectioneries such as jelly and cakes, fruits such as apples, various vegetables, and various processed foods such as kamaboko are included. The material of the edible coating material is not limited. For example, a gel-like pectin called napage is mentioned. Further, the hardness of the edible coating material is not limited. For example, a transparent or translucent edible hard plate may be used. The method of laminating the edible coating material on the surface of the edible film is not limited. For example, if the edible coating material is a fluid, a general-purpose application method can be adopted. If the edible coating material is solid, direct mounting on the surface of the edible film or indirect mounting via an edible adhesive (eg, gel-like pectin) can be adopted. The thickness of the edible coating is not limited. However, it is preferably 1 to 5 mm, particularly preferably 2 to 3 mm. When the thickness is 1 mm, the shelf life is poor and the color is easily faded. In addition, when the thickness is 5 mm, the edible coating material has a reduced transparency, and the taste when eaten is reduced. The above items also correspond to claims 4 and 8.

The invention according to claim 2 is the food according to claim 1, wherein the food is selected from a group of cakes, cookies, chocolates, Japanese sweets, and ice cream. Examples of the cake include a decoration cake, a roll cake, a short cake, and an ice cake (including a decoration ice cake).
In this case, butter cream, fresh cream, chocolate cream, chocolate, or the like can be used as the coating material on the cake surface. Examples of Japanese confectionery include senbei, manju, and fresh confectionery. This matter also corresponds to claim 5.

[0010] The invention according to claim 3 is the food according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the edible coating material is gel-like pectin. The type of pectin is not limited. This matter also corresponds to claim 7.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of printing a specific print content on an edible film using an edible ink, a step of spreading the printed edible film on a surface of a food, Laminating a transparent or translucent edible coating material on the printed surface of the film. The manufacturing method may be a manual operation, or an apparatus for performing these steps may be arranged on a line conveyor so that the food is automatically manufactured while being conveyed. The edible coating material may be laminated on the edible film after printing either after or before the edible film is spread on the surface of the food.

The invention according to claim 5 is the method for producing food according to claim 4, wherein the food is selected from the group of cakes, cookies, chocolate, Japanese sweets, and ice cream.

The invention according to claim 6 is the food according to claim 4, wherein the food is a cake, and the cake is kept at a temperature of 5 to 10 ° C and a humidity of 50% or less before the edible film is spread. It is a manufacturing method. Preferred cake temperature is 5-7 ° C
It is. If the temperature is lower than 5 ° C, dew condensation occurs on the cake surface,
It is absorbed by the edible film spread on the cake surface and blurs the pictures and the like printed by the edible ink. Further, when the temperature exceeds 10 ° C., when the edible coating material is laminated on the printing surface of the edible film, the edible ink attached to the edible film becomes soft due to the temperature, and the printed contents are easily blurred. Occurs. The preferred humidity is 35-20%. Humidity 50
%, Condensation tends to occur on the cake surface even at a cake temperature of 5 to 10 ° C. Incidentally, the cooling temperature of the cake base, which is conventionally performed as a pretreatment for decorating the cake surface, is 5 ° C. or less and the humidity is 60% or less.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the edible coating material is a gel-like pectin, and the edible coating material is applied to a printed surface of an edible film and laminated. The method for producing a food according to any one of the preceding claims. The method of applying pectin is not limited. Usually, it is applied with a knife-like iron called a pallet. Further, spray coating using a spray gun or the like may be used.

[0015] According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, an edible film on which a specific print content is printed by edible ink is spread on the surface, and a transparent or translucent edible coating material is printed on the printed surface of the edible film. Is a food manufacturing apparatus in which the specific print contents are input as print information, an image processing unit that performs image processing on the input print information, and a food processing apparatus that is processed by the image processing unit. Display means for displaying the image on the display screen, the image processed by the image processing means,
A printing means for printing on an edible film with edible ink. The print information input means is not limited. For example, a scanner, a digital camera, a video camera and the like according to the ninth aspect are mentioned. Further, the information may be directly input from a floppy disk or the like in which image information input from these devices is stored.

As the image processing means, for example, a personal computer or the like can be used. The display screen of the display means includes, for example, a cathode ray tube or a liquid crystal display panel. In addition, for example, a edible film after printing may be sucked using a robot arm having a vacuum suction pad at the tip, and the edible film may be automatically spread on the surface of the food. Furthermore, the lamination of the edible coating material, for example, when the coating material is a gel-like, using a robot arm equipped with a pallet for application at the tip, of the edible film spread on the food The edible coating material dropped on the edible film may be evenly spread over the entire surface of the edible film.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, the print information input means is selected from a group of a scanner for taking in an image, a digital camera, and a video camera.
2. The food manufacturing apparatus according to item 1.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the food manufacturing apparatus according to the eighth or ninth aspect, wherein the image processing means is a personal computer, and the printing means is an ink jet printer. For example, a commercially available printer that has been modified in the United States and can print edible paper can be used.

[0019]

According to the present invention, a specific printed content is printed on an edible film with an edible ink, and the printed edible film is spread on the surface of the food. Since the transparent or translucent edible coating material is laminated, a fresh gloss appears on the printed surface. Thereby, the commercial value of the food can be increased. In addition, if the edible coating material is thickened, the printed content printed by the lens effect can be made to stand out.

In particular, according to the third and seventh aspects of the present invention, since the edible coating material is gel-like pectin, the printed surface of the edible film can be made to look fresher and more fresh.

Further, according to the invention of claim 6, before the edible film is spread, the cake is humidified at a humidity of 5%.
It is kept at 5 to 10 ° C under the condition of 0% or less. As a result, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of dew condensation due to excessive cooling of the cake, which is performed as a pre-treatment of the decoration, and to eliminate the bleeding of characters, pictures and photographs printed on the edible film due to the dew condensation.

Further, according to the invention of claim 8, specific print contents are inputted as print information by the print information input means, and the inputted print information is subjected to image processing by the image processing means. Is displayed on a display screen using a display means, and the processed image is printed on an edible film by a printing means using edible ink. In this way, the input print content can be automatically printed on the edible film using the edible ink. If necessary, before printing, this image can be corrected by the image processing means based on the image displayed on the display screen.

[0023]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a food according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a food according to one embodiment of the present invention. 1 and 2, 10
Is a decoration cake as a food according to one embodiment of the present invention, and the decoration cake 10 is based on a cake base 11 having a rectangular shape as viewed in a plan view and having a butter cream 11a applied to an upper surface and a peripheral side surface. A large edible film 12 of A4 size is spread on the upper surface of the cake, leaving an outer edge on each side, and a transparent edible coating material 13 is placed on the edible film 12.
Is applied. The outer edge of the cake upper surface is decorated with fresh cream 14.

The edible film 12 is an edible flexible film having a thickness of 0.5 mm, and is composed of 68% by weight of starch, 12.24% by weight of powdered cellulose, 4.08% by weight of glycerin. Locust bean gum 0.92% by weight, titanium dioxide 0.61% by weight, citric acid (anhydrous) 0.09% by weight, trehalose 3.06% by weight, D-sorbitol solution (D-sorbitol 60%) 1
1% by weight is used. On the surface of the edible film 12, a child's face is printed with edible ink. As edible inks, Food Blue No. 1, Food Blue No. 2, Food Red No. 3, Food Red No. 40, Food Yellow No. 5
No. is used. Each color is dissolved in water or alcohol at a predetermined concentration. Edible coating material 13
Is a gel-like pectin. The thickness of the coating material 13 is 1 to 5 mm.

Next, a method of manufacturing the decoration cake 10 will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a method for producing food according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing a method of manufacturing a food according to another embodiment of the present invention. First, a favorite photograph (print content) 15 is read by a scanner (print information input means) 16 (FIG. 3A), and the read print information is output to a notebook personal computer (image processing means) 17. This PC 1
In step 7, the input print information is subjected to image processing, and the obtained image is displayed on a liquid crystal display screen 17a by display means incorporated in the control unit of the personal computer 17. If necessary, the display screen 17a
The image is corrected above (FIG. 3B). After that, the personal computer 17 outputs the processed image data to an ink jet printer (printing means) 18, and the printer 1
8, the image of the photograph 15 is printed on the surface of the edible film 12 with the edible ink (FIG. 3C). The scanner 16, the personal computer 17, and the printer 18 are portable devices that are widely used in ordinary households.

The pretreatment of the cake base material 11 is performed separately from the edible film 12 printing step. That is,
First, the butter cream 11a is applied to the upper surface and the peripheral side surface of the cake base material 11, and this is put in the refrigerator 19 and cooled (FIG. 4A). At this time, the temperature is 5 to 10C and the humidity is 50% or less. Next, a printed edible film 12 is spread on the upper surface of the cake substrate 11.
(B)). At this time, it is assumed that a space for decorating is provided on the outer edge of the cake base material 11. As described above, since the cake base material 11 is previously cooled to 5 to 10 ° C. at a humidity of 50% or less, it is possible to prevent the edible ink from bleeding due to dew condensation on the surface of the cake base material 11. Next, a transparent edible coating material 13 is applied to the printing surface of the edible film 12 using a pallet 20 for application to a thickness of about 1 to 5 mm (FIG. 4C). Then, on the outer edge of the cake base material 11,
A predetermined decoration is performed using the squeezing bag 21 filled with the fresh cream 14. Thus, decoration cake 1
0 is created.

As described above, since the transparent edible coating material 13 is laminated on the printed surface of the edible film 12 spread on the upper surface of the decoration cake 10, fresh gloss can be exhibited on the printed surface. . Thereby, the commercial value of the decoration cake 10 can be increased. Further, in this embodiment, since the edible coating material 13 is a gel-like pectin, the printed surface of the edible film 12 is covered with a transparent gel-like layer. Therefore, the printed child's face can be made to look more fresh and fresh. Further, here, since the gel-like pectin is applied with a thickness of 1 to 5 mm, a lens effect is also generated, and the child's face can be raised and shown. Further, photo printing on the edible film 12 is performed by a portable type scanner 16,
Since the operation is performed by the personal computer 17 and the ink jet printer 18, the photograph of the child can be automatically printed on the edible film 12 by the edible ink.

[0028]

According to the present invention, the transparent or translucent edible coating material is laminated on the printed surface of the edible film spread on the surface of the food, so that the printed surface has a fresh luster. Can be done. as a result,
The commercial value of food can be increased.

In particular, according to the third and seventh aspects of the present invention, since the edible coating material is gel-like pectin, the printed surface of the edible film can be made to look fresher and fresher.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the temperature of the cake before the edible film is spread is 5 to 10 ° C. and the humidity is 50% or less. Therefore, blurring of characters, pictures, photographs, etc. due to condensation can be eliminated.

Further, according to the invention of claim 8, the print content input by the print information input means is image-processed by the image processing means, and the processed image is displayed on the display screen of the display means. Is used to print on the edible film by the printing means, so that the printed content can be automatically printed on the edible film by the edible ink.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a food according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a food according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a method for producing food according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a method for producing food according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 decoration cake (food), 12 edible film, 13 edible coating material, 15 photograph (print contents), 16 scanner (print information input means), 17 personal computer (image processing means), 18 inkjet printer (print means).

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI theme coat ゛ (reference) A23G 3/00 109 A23G 3/00 109 A23P 1/08 A23P 1/08 F term (reference) 4B014 GB01 GB11 GB18 GE02 GL11 GQ03 4B032 DB05 DB21 DE04 DK14 DL20 DP54 4B035 LE06 LE07 LG20 LG22 LK19 LP35 4B048 PE12 PE14 PL06 PL15 PP01 PS20

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A food product in which an edible film on which a specific print content is printed with an edible ink is spread on the surface, and a transparent or translucent edible coating material is laminated on the printed surface of the edible film. 2. The food according to claim 1, wherein the food is selected from a group of cakes, cookies, chocolate, Japanese sweets, and ice cream. 3. The food according to claim 1, wherein the edible coating material is a gel-like pectin. 4. A step of printing a specific print content on an edible film with an edible ink, a step of spreading the printed edible film on a surface of a food, and a step of printing a transparent surface on the edible film. Or a step of laminating a translucent edible coating material. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the food is selected from a group of cakes, cookies, chocolate, Japanese sweets, and ice cream. 6. The food is a cake, which is heated at a temperature of 5 to 10 ° C. and a humidity of 50% before the edible film is spread.
The method for producing a food according to claim 4, wherein: 7. The edible coating material is pectin in a gel form, and the edible coating material is applied on a printed surface of an edible film and laminated. A method for producing a food according to claim 1. 8. Production of food in which an edible film on which a specific print content is printed with an edible ink is spread on the surface, and a transparent or translucent edible coating material is laminated on the printed surface of the edible film. A print information input unit for inputting the specific print content as print information; an image processing unit for performing image processing on the input print information; and displaying an image processed by the image processing unit on a display screen A food manufacturing apparatus, comprising: display means for performing printing; and printing means for printing an image processed by the image processing means on an edible film using edible ink. 9. The food manufacturing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the print information input means is selected from a group of a scanner for taking in an image, a digital camera, and a video camera. 10. The image processing means is a personal computer,
The food manufacturing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the printing unit is an ink jet printer.