JP2003033151A - Method for producing dried fine powder of green leaf - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain dried powder of green leaves excellent in palatability. SOLUTION: This method for producing the dried powder of green leaves comprises a process for drying green leaves; a process for coarsely crushing the dried green leaves; a process for heating the coarsely dried green leaves at >=110 deg.C and a process for pulverizing the heated green leaves.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method for producing a dried green leaf fine powder. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method for producing dried green leaf fine powder having excellent palatability.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Green leaves of green plants, such as young wheat leaves, are rich in vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, etc., adsorb harmful substances, improve intestinal environment, suppress cholesterol absorption,
It has been attracting attention as a material for health foods that has effects such as preventing postprandial blood sugar level spikes and activating superoxide dismutase (SOD). And such green leaves are provided in a liquid form such as vegetable juice or in a dry form such as powder, granules and tablets. In the case of a liquid, squeezed green leaves are often used as they are, whereas in the case of a dry form, it is necessary to go through a plurality of processing steps such as crushing as well as the step of simply drying. As a result, there is a problem that the palatability is impaired in each process or during a plurality of processes.

[0003]

Therefore, there is a demand for a method for producing a dried green leaf powder having excellent palatability.

[0004]

Means for Solving the Problems Among the dried forms of green leaves, the inventors of the present invention have made earnest studies on a method for producing a dry fine powder having excellent palatability.
Coarse pulverization, heating at 110 ° C. or higher, and further fine pulverization produce a dried green leaf fine powder having excellent palatability as compared with a dry powder obtained by the steps of ordinary simple drying and pulverization. The inventors have found that it is possible to complete the present invention.

That is, the method for producing a dried green leaf fine powder of the present invention comprises a step of drying the green leaf, a step of roughly crushing the dried green leaf, a step of heating the roughly crushed green leaf at 110 ° C. or higher, and a heated green leaf. The step of pulverizing is included.
After the green leaves are dried, they are subjected to coarse pulverization, heating, and fine pulverization treatment in this order to obtain dried green leaf fine powder having excellent palatability.

[0006] In a preferred embodiment, the drying step comprises a green leaf water content of more than 5% by weight and 25% by weight.
This is a step of performing primary drying until the temperature becomes the following or less, and then performing secondary drying at a drying temperature higher than the primary drying and 90 ° C. or less until the water content of the primary dried green leaf becomes 5% by weight or less. By performing the drying process in two stages, it is possible to eliminate the unevenness in the drying of the green leaves and at the same time suppress the fading during drying.

In another preferred embodiment, the step of coarsely pulverizing is a step of coarsely pulverizing the dried green leaves to a size of 0.1 to 10 mm, and the step of finely pulverizing the heated green leaves. It is a step of finely pulverizing so that 90% by weight passes through a 200 mesh section. By pulverizing in two stages in this way, the efficiency of fine pulverization of green leaves can be increased, and the texture is improved.

[0008] In a preferred embodiment, the heating step is a step of subjecting the roughly crushed green leaves to pressure steam treatment. Thereby, the flavor can be improved.

[0009] In one embodiment, the green leaf is a barley green leaf. Since the green leaves of barley contain abundant vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber, it is possible to provide a food material that not only enhances palatability but is also rich in nutrients.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Examples of the green leaves used in the present invention include grasses (for example, barley, wheat, oats, rye and other wheats, rice, fluff, bamboo shoots, hires, acne, corn, sorghum, Sugar cane, etc.), Asteraceae plants (eg, mugwort etc.), Umbelliferae plants (Ashitaba, parsley, celery etc.), Moraceae plants (eg mulberry etc.), Domusamiaceae plants (eg Domusami etc.), Lamiaceae plants (eg For example, perilla etc.), cruciferous plants (Komatsuna, kale, cabbage, broccoli etc.), Liliaceae plants (eg Asparagus etc.), lindenaceae plants (eg Morohaya etc.)
Green leaves of green plants such as, but not limited to.

The present invention will be described below with reference to an example of a method for producing a fine powder of dried green leaves of wheat, which is an embodiment of the present invention.

[0012] The green leaves of wheat are rich in vitamins, minerals, chlorophyll, and the like, and are a health food material that has been drawing attention in recent years. Increasing their palatability contributes to the expansion of the market for these materials. In the case of green leaves of wheat, young wheat leaves are preferably used. The young barley leaves are preferably harvested before the maturation stage, that is, from the beginning of division to the early stage of heading (height is about 20 to 40 cm). Among these young barley leaves, young barley leaves having a high nutritional value are more preferably used.

The green leaves are preferably treated immediately after harvesting. When it takes a long time to process, it is stored by a storage means commonly used by those skilled in the art such as low temperature storage to prevent deterioration of green leaves.

The green leaves are washed with water (preferably cold water at 25 ° C. or lower) to remove mud and the like, drained, and then cut to an appropriate length (for example, 5 cm to 10 cm).

Then, if necessary, a blanching treatment such as a hot water treatment or a steaming treatment is carried out in order to inactivate the enzymes involved in the fading of green leaves of the green leaves and the alteration of the nutritional components. The temperature and time of the treatment at this time may be appropriately determined depending on the amount of green leaves to be treated and the pH of hot water.

The blanching-treated green leaves are preferably cooled immediately in order to maintain the green color and flavor. Cooling is performed by a means commonly used by those skilled in the art, such as immersion in cooling water or rapid cooling by applying cold air. The immersion treatment in cooling water is performed using water at 30 ° C. or lower, preferably 20 ° C. or lower. The cooler the temperature of the cold water, the more green the green leaves will appear, and the more beautiful it looks. The immersion time is an arbitrary time depending on the amount of green leaves to be treated.

When the blanching treatment is carried out, after cooling, a dehydration step of removing a certain amount of water from the green leaves is carried out prior to drying. Dehydration is performed using a dehydrator such as a centrifugal separator. In the case of dehydration by centrifugation, the green leaves may become entangled. In such a case, the green leaves are loosened, and then the drying step is performed. By performing dehydration before drying, it is possible to eliminate unevenness and charring during drying.

The drying step according to the method of the present invention is a step of performing drying so that the water content of green leaves is 5% by weight or less. For example, hot air drying, high pressure steam drying, electromagnetic wave drying, freeze drying and the like. It is carried out by any method commonly used by those skilled in the art. From the viewpoint of manufacturing cost, hot air drying is most preferable. When drying at a high temperature, the drying is performed at 90 ° C or lower.

The above drying process is preferably performed in two steps. When the drying is performed in two steps, the water content of green leaf is 5
60 to 80 ° C. until it is more than 25 wt% and more than wt%.
After the primary drying at a temperature of 10%, the water content of the primary dried green leaves is higher than that of the primary drying until the water content is 5% by weight or less and 9% or less.
Secondary drying is preferably performed at a temperature of 0 ° C. or lower. If the drying temperature is lower than 60 ° C, the drying speed becomes slow, and if it exceeds 90 ° C, charring or the like is likely to occur, such being undesirable. A preferable temperature difference between the primary drying and the secondary drying is about 5 to 15 ° C.
And more preferably about 10 ° C. By performing the two-step drying process, the drying time is shortened, and at the same time, the green color and flavor of the green leaves are maintained. Also,
By setting the temperature difference within a certain range as described above,
The water content of the green leaves in the drying process can be easily controlled, and the drying can be performed efficiently.

Although the flavor is not impaired only by the drying step, a green leaf powder whose green color and flavor are maintained for a longer period of time can be obtained by combining the blanching treatment and the drying treatment.

The dried green leaves are then subjected to a coarse pulverizing step, a heating step, and a fine pulverizing step to obtain dried green leaf fine powder.

In the coarse crushing process, the dried green leaves are cut by a cutter,
It is a process of cutting the dried green leaves by any machine or tool known to those skilled in the art, such as a slicer or a dicer. The cut green leaf has a major axis of 20 mm or less, preferably 0.1 to 10 mm.

Subsequently, the roughly crushed green leaves are heat-treated by a heating process. The heat treatment is performed at 110 ° C. or higher and also serves as a sterilization treatment. Examples of the sterilization treatment include high pressure sterilization, heat sterilization, pressure steam sterilization and the like. In the case of the present invention, to sterilize dried and coarsely ground green leaves,
Pressurized steam sterilization is preferred. By performing heat treatment after coarse pulverization, the flavor of green leaves can be improved.

In the case of heat treatment by pressurized steam sterilization, the green leaves was coarsely pulverized, for example, under a pressure of 0.5 to 10 / cm ^2, the saturated steam of 110 to 200 ° C., 2 to 10
Heat treatment is performed for a second. If necessary, the moisture contained during heating with saturated steam is further dried.

The heat treated green leaves are then 90% by weight.
Is pulverized so that it passes through a 200 mesh section. The milling is carried out using any machine or tool commonly used by those skilled in the art, such as crushers, mills, blenders, millstones and the like. It is well known that the texture is improved by finely pulverizing, and as in the method of the present invention, the steps of coarse pulverizing, heating, and fine pulverizing are sequentially performed,
The texture becomes even better.

Further, by adopting such a two-step pulverization method, it is possible to improve the pulverization efficiency such as making the particle size uniform and shortening the pulverization time.

The obtained dried green leaf fine powder can be directly used for food and drink, and mixed with excipients, fillers, binders, thickeners, emulsifiers, colorants, flavors, food additives, seasonings and the like. It can be molded into a form such as granules or tablets depending on the application. Furthermore, it can be mixed with various foods and drinks and used for eating and drinking. For example, royal jelly, vitamins, proteins, calcium, chitosan, lecithin and the like are mixed, and sugar solution and seasonings are added to adjust the taste. If necessary, these are molded into capsules such as hard capsules and soft capsules, tablets or pills, or in the form of powder, granules, tea, tea bags, or candy.
Depending on their shape or taste, they may be eaten as they are, or may be dissolved in water, hot water, milk or the like and drunk.
In the case of tea bags, the ingredients may be infused before drinking.

[0028]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described below based on examples, but the examples are not intended to limit the present invention.

[Example 1] (Preparation of raw wheat barley leaves) As raw materials, young barley Nijo barley leaves cut at a height of about 30 cm were used. Wash this with water,
The attached mud and the like were removed, cut into a size of about 10 cm, and used in the following experiments.

(Test Preparation Example 1) 100 kg of young barley leaf was dipped in hot water (1000 liters) at 90 to 95 ° C. for 3 minutes and immediately dipped in cooling water at about 20 ° C. for 5 minutes to cool. . Subsequently, the cooled young barley leaf was centrifuged for 30 seconds to dehydrate it to some extent, and then dried in a dryer at 70 ° C. for 2 hours with hot air (primary drying) until the water content became about 20 wt%. Next, hot air drying (second drying) was performed at 80 ° C. for 4 hours so that the final water content was 3% by weight. The obtained barley leaf was roughly crushed (cut) into a size of about 5 mm using a cutter. It was then autoclaved for 3 seconds using a saturated steam pressure of 150 ° C. At this time, the water contained in the green leaves was dried, and then finely pulverized using a hammer mill so that 90% by weight of the 200-mesh section could be passed through to obtain a young barley leaf powder A as a dried fine powder of young barley leaf.

(Comparative Preparation Example 1) Up to the step of roughly crushing (cutting), the same operation as in Test Preparation Example 1 was performed. The roughly crushed green leaves were finely crushed using a hammer mill so that 90% by weight would pass through a 200 mesh section. afterwards,
The powder was sterilized by steam under pressure using a saturated steam pressure of 150 ° C. for 3 seconds to obtain young barley leaf powder B as a dry fine powder of young barley leaf.

(Evaluation of young barley leaf powder) The palatability of the young barley leaf powder obtained as described above was evaluated by performing a sensory test of flavor and texture.

That is, 100 ml of the scents of the young barley powder A (test example) and B (comparative example) obtained as described above, the roughness (touch) when touched by the hand, and the young barley powder (3 g) were obtained. Evaluation of the texture when the product was dissolved in water and drunk was carried out by 10 test subjects. For the scent, the respondents asked which one was preferable, for the tactile sensation, which one was rough on the hand, and for the texture, which one was rough on the tongue or throat. In addition, the option "I can say neither" was provided for any of the questions, and the test subjects were allowed to evaluate the young barley leaf powders simply as A and B, respectively. The results are shown in Table 1.

[0034]

[Table 1]

As shown in Table 1, wheat barley powder A obtained by the method of the present invention (steps of coarse pulverization, heating, and fine pulverization) has the steps of coarse pulverization, fine pulverization, and heating in this order. It had a better fragrance and reduced texture on the hands, tongue, and throat than that of the young wheat powder B obtained in the above.

[Example 2] (Preparation of Young Rice Leaf as Raw Material) As a raw material, a green leaf of rice (young rice leaf) cut at a height of 30 cm was used. This was washed with water to remove the attached mud, cut into a size of about 10 cm, and used in the following experiments.

(Test Preparation Example 2) 10 kg of young rice leaves were dried at 60 ° C. for 10 hours so that the water content was 5% by weight or less, and then roughly crushed to a size of about 5 mm using a cutter. . Then, using saturated vapor pressure of 150 ° C., 3
It was autoclaved for seconds. At this time, the water contained in the young rice leaves was dried, and then finely pulverized using a hammer mill so that 90% by weight of the 200-mesh section would pass, to obtain rice young leaf powder A as dry fine powder of the young rice leaves. .

Comparative Preparation Example 2 The same operation as in Test Preparation Example 2 was carried out until coarse pulverization. The roughly crushed rice young leaves were finely crushed using a hammer mill so that 90% by weight of the 200 mesh section would pass through. After that, 150 ℃
It sterilized under pressure steam using the saturated steam pressure of 3 for 3 seconds to obtain young rice leaf powder B as dry fine powder of young rice leaf.

(Evaluation of Young Rice Leaf Powder) The young rice leaf powder obtained as described above was evaluated in the same manner as the wheat young leaf powder of Example 1 above. The results are shown in Table 2.

[0040]

[Table 2]

As shown in Table 2, the rice young leaf powder A obtained by the method of the present invention (steps of coarse pulverization, heating, and fine pulverization) has the steps of coarse pulverization, fine pulverization, and heating. It had a better scent and reduced roughness on the hands, tongue, and throat than the young rice leaf powder B obtained by.

[0042]

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY By the method of the present invention, dried green leaf fine powder having excellent palatability is obtained.

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] December 21, 2001 (2001.12.
21)

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be amended] Claims

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Claims]

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 4B016 LC02 LC07 LG16 LP01 LP06                       LP08 LP13                 4B018 LE01 LE02 LE03 MD49 ME02                       MF04 MF06 MF07

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A step of drying green leaves; a step of coarsely pulverizing the dried green leaves; a step of heating the coarsely pulverized green leaves at 110 ° C. or higher; and a step of finely pulverizing the heated green leaves.
A method for producing a dried green leaf fine powder, which comprises: 2. The step of drying, after primary drying until the water content of the green leaf is more than 5 wt% and 25 wt% or less, until the water content of the primary dried green leaf is 5 wt% or less, The method according to claim 1, which is a step of performing secondary drying at a drying temperature higher than primary drying and not higher than 90 ° C. 3. The step of coarsely pulverizing is a step of coarsely pulverizing the dried green leaves into a size of 0.1 to 10 mm, and the step of finely pulverizing the dried green leaves is 9
A method according to claim 1 which is a step of milling so that 0 wt% passes through a 200 mesh section. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the heating step is a step of subjecting the roughly crushed green leaves to pressure steam treatment. 5. The green leaf is a green leaf of wheat.
The method described in.