JP2003250486A - Agent for improving taste of food and drink, food added with the agent and method for improving taste of food and drink - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a new taste improving agent, foods and drinks having improved taste and a method for improving taste of foods and drinks. <P>SOLUTION: The taste improving agent for foods and drinks contains an α-bonded galactooligosaccharide. The improving agent is effective for reducing the acid taste bitter taste, astringent taste and harsh taste of foods and drinks and/or increasing the flavor, smoothness and body of foods and drinks. The invention further relates to foods and drinks added with the taste improving agent and a method for improving the taste of foods and drinks by adding the taste improving agent containing an α-bonded galactooligosaccharide. The method for improving the taste of foods and drinks is effective for reducing the acid taste, bitter taste, astringent taste and harsh taste of foods and drinks and/or increasing the flavor, smoothness and body of foods and drinks. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a flavor improving agent for food and drink, a flavor improving method, and the like, and in particular, a flavor improving agent for food and drink containing α-linked galacto-oligosaccharide and food and drink to which the flavor improving agent is added. The present invention relates to a method for improving the flavor of food and drink.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Today, various foods and drinks are provided in combination with diversification of eating habits and increasing health consciousness. Food and beverages are those that use the ingredients of foods and beverages such as fruit juice and vegetable juice as they are, processed foods and beverages such as ham, wiener, jam, beer, wine and canned food,
There are also various dishes such as cooked vegetables, fried eggs, stir-fried vegetables, and cooked ingredients for food and drink such as pilaf. Among these foods and drinks, there are so-called "habits" in taste, and although the tastes of people are diversified, there are those that have a "habitful taste" that is considered unfavorable to many people. . Examples of such a “dull taste” include sourness, bitterness, astringency, and astringent taste of food and drink, which may reduce people's willingness to take food and drink. On the other hand, in today's era of satiety, people's desire for gastronomy is increasing more and more, and so-called "tasteful taste" is required for food and drink. The "tasteful taste" of such food and drink is, for example,
It can be obtained by enhancing the flavor, smoothness, richness and the like of the food and drink material itself.

Under such circumstances, various flavor improving methods and flavor improving agents have been conventionally provided. Patent No. 32081
No. 13 discloses that hesperidin glycosides or a mixture of hesperidin glycosides and hesperidin are used to reduce the green odor, sourness, and bitterness of vegetable drinks, and bitterness and astringency of crude drug-containing foods and drinks.
There are provided a flavor improving method and a flavor improving agent for reducing drug odor. Further, JP-A-9-117262 discloses that vegetables and fruits to which erythritol is added in the production of foods and drinks made from vegetables and fruits having a strong blue odor and sourness.
A method for suppressing the blue odor and sourness of fruits is provided.

[0004]

However, in any of the conventional flavor improving methods and flavor improving agents, α-bonded galacto-oligos which are excellent in selective growth activity of bifidobacteria and are attracting attention as food and drink materials, pharmaceutical materials, etc. Nothing has been conceived of that sugar improves the flavor of foods and drinks. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new flavor improving agent, food and drink with improved flavor, and flavor improving method.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present inventors have conducted research by adding α-linked galacto-oligosaccharides to various foods and drinks, and as a result, arrived at the present invention.
That is, the gist of the present invention is a flavor improving agent for foods and drinks, which comprises an α-linked galactooligosaccharide. Further, according to the above-mentioned invention, the sourness, bitterness, astringency and astringency of foods and drinks are respectively reduced, and the flavor, smoothness and richness of the materials of foods and drinks are enhanced to improve the flavor of foods and drinks. You can

[0006] Further, the gist of the present invention is a food or drink obtained by adding a flavor improver for the food or drink containing an α-linked galactooligosaccharide.

Further, the gist of the present invention is a method for improving the flavor of a food or drink, which comprises adding a flavor improving agent for a food or drink containing an α-linked galactooligosaccharide.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The flavor improving agent for food and drink according to the present invention is
It contains an α-linked galactooligosaccharide. α-
The bound galacto-oligosaccharide is an oligosaccharide having an α-galactosyl group and also includes melibiose, manninotriose, raffinose and stachyose, which can be produced from beet or soybean oligosaccharide. Moreover, since these α-linked galactooligosaccharides are commercially available, they can be used.

As the α-linked galacto-oligosaccharide, one synthesized by an enzyme can be used. The enzymatic synthesis can be carried out by utilizing a dehydration condensation reaction of α-galactosidase as a substrate using galactose or a hydrolyzate of a substance containing galactose. By synthesizing galactose as a substrate, α- (Ga
1) α-linked galactooligosaccharides in which oligosaccharides of α-galactobiose, α-galactotriose, α-galactotetraose or more represented by n (Gal: galactose, n is usually an integer of 2 to 10) are mixed can get. Also,
By synthesizing galactose and glucose as substrates, it generally consists of galactose such as α- (Gal) nGlc (Glc: glucose, n is usually 1 to 9) and α-galactosyl glucose and α-galactobiose. An α-linked galacto-oligosaccharide mixed with oligosaccharides is obtained. The hydrolyzate of a substance containing galactose is, for example, not only a mixture of galactose and glucose obtained by allowing β-galactosidase to act on lactose, but also a case of separately mixing glucose with galactose as a substrate. Include. α-galactosidase is
The origin is not particularly limited as long as it can synthesize α-linked galacto-oligosaccharide using a hydrolyzate of galactose or a substance containing galactose as a substrate, but from a viewpoint of yield and the like, Aspergillus niger (Aspergi
those produced by L. niger are preferred, and Aspergillus niger (Aspergillus niger) is used.
ger) APC-9319 strain (FERM BP-768)
Those produced in 0) are more preferable.

The flavor improver for food and drink of the present invention is α
The component other than α-linked galacto-oligosaccharide that does not reduce the flavor-improving effect of the -linked galacto-oligosaccharide, for example, another flavor-improving agent may be included, but the α-linked galacto-oligosaccharide may be used alone. Further, α-linked galacto-oligosaccharides have sweetness, but they are not as sweet as sucrose, so they can be used by adding them to foods and drinks that are not preferred to be too sweet.

The improvement of the flavor of the food or drink according to the present invention by the flavor improver can be widely used for reducing the undesirable so-called "dull taste" of the food or drink. The "dull taste" of food and drink means not only the sourness, bitterness, astringency, and astringency of food and drink, but also grittyness, fishy smell, milky odor, blue odor,
Various things such as a peculiar smell can be mentioned. It is not particularly limited as long as it is a food or drink exhibiting these tastes, the flavor improver of the present invention can be used, and as the sour food and drink, there can be mentioned fruit juice drinks such as apple juice and orange juice, and bitterness and astringency. Foods and drinks such as coffee, tea and tea can be mentioned as tasteful foods and drinks. In addition, examples of the food and drink having an astringent taste include grapefruit juice and honey, and examples of the food and drink having a fishy smell include processed seafood. Other examples include the green odor of vegetable juice, milk and milky dairy products.

In addition, the so-called "tasteful taste" of foods and drinks is enhanced by the flavor improving agent for foods and drinks of the present invention so that the "taste" of the original food and drink products is retained even after cooking and processing. Can be carried out by increasing the "vegetable taste" in boiled vegetables and the "egg taste" in fried eggs. It can also be performed by enhancing the richness and smoothness of the taste, for example,
A typical example is the smooth and rich taste often mentioned in beer and the like.

The amount of the flavor improver for food and drink to improve the flavor of food and drink is preferably 0.1 to 80% by weight of α-linked galactooligosaccharide with respect to the food and drink, More preferably, it is 1 to 70% by weight. 0.
This is because if it is less than 1% by weight, a sufficient flavor improving effect cannot be expected, and if it is more than 80% by weight, it is wasteful in terms of cost.

[0014]

EXAMPLES Next, the present invention will be described with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to the following examples.

[Example 1] (Improvement of flavor of apple juice: reduction of sourness) 100% apple juice juice was divided into 2 sections by the same weight. Nothing was added as a blank to the A category, and α-linked galacto-oligosaccharide (hereinafter abbreviated as α-GOS) was added and mixed to the B category so that the content was 10% (w / v). For these two categories, 20 men and women in their 20s to 40s (11 men and 9 women) were made to select either A or B, which had a stronger sourness, which had a stronger sweetness, and which was easier to drink. Table 1 shows the number of people who selected each category. α-GOS is an aspergillus niger (Aspergillus) on galactose.
niger) APC-9319 strain (FERM BP-7
680) produced and reacted with α-galactosidase to be subjected to the test. The same applies to each of the following examples.

[0016]

[Table 1]

As is clear from Table 1, the category B to which α-GOS was added was evaluated to be mild in acidity, increased in sweetness, and easy to drink. Regarding sweetness,
It was rated as good sweetness without being too sweet.

[Example 2] (Improvement of flavor of orange juice: reduction of sourness and bitterness) 100% orange juice juice was divided into two equal weight portions. Nothing was added as a blank to the A category, and α-GOS was added and mixed to the B category so as to be 10% (w / v). For these two categories, 20 people (20 men and women in their 40s) (11 men, 9 women), either A or B, which has a strong acidity, strong bitterness, strong sweetness, and easy to drink are selected. Let Table 2 shows the number of people who selected each category.

[0019]

[Table 2]

As is clear from Table 2, the B-class to which α-GOS was added was evaluated as having a weak acidity, disappearing bitterness, increasing sweetness and being easy to drink. As for the sweetness, it was evaluated as being moderately sweet without being too sweet.

[Example 3] (Improvement of flavor of grape juice: reduction of astringency) 100% grape juice juice was divided into two sections by the same weight. Nothing was added as a blank to the A category, and α-GOS was added and mixed to the B category so as to be 10% (w / v). For these two categories, 20 men and women in their 20s to 40s (11 men and 9 women) were made to select either A or B, which had a strong astringency, which had a strong sweetness, and which was easy to drink. Table 3 shows the number of people who selected each category.

[0022]

[Table 3]

As is clear from Table 3, in the category B to which α-GOS was added, the astringent taste disappeared, the sweetness increased, and it was evaluated that it was easy to drink. As for the sweetness, it was evaluated as being moderately sweet without being too sweet.

[Example 4] (Improvement of flavor of grapefruit juice: reduction of sourness and astringent taste) 100% grapefruit juice was added in equal weights of 2
Divided into sections. Nothing was added as a blank to the A category, and α-GO was added to the B category at 10% (w / v).
S was added and mixed. About these two categories, 20-40
Twenty men and women in their teens (11 men and 9 women) were made to select either A or B, which had a strong sourness, one with a strong astringent taste, one with a strong sweetness, and one that was easy to drink. Table 4 shows the number of people who selected each category.

[0025]

[Table 4]

As is clear from Table 4, in the category B to which α-GOS was added, it was evaluated that the sourness and astringent taste disappeared, the sweetness increased, and it became easy to drink. As for the sweetness, it was evaluated as being moderately sweet without being too sweet.

[Example 5] (Improving the flavor of omelet) An omelet was trial-produced with the composition shown in Table 5 below. When these were divided into two categories and evaluated by 10 expert panelists, it was evaluated that the category B to which α-GOS was added had a weaker sweetness but the egg flavor itself was more prominent.

[0028]

[Table 5]

[Example 6] (Improving the flavor of cooked vegetables) Vegetables were fried with sesame oil according to the formulation shown in Table 6 below, and dashi soup was added thereto and cooked for 5 minutes. After that, seasonings were added and fried. When these were divided into two categories and evaluated by 10 expert panelists, it was evaluated that the category B to which α-GOS was added was less sweet, but the taste of vegetables was more delicious.

[0030]

[Table 6]

[Example 7] (Improvement of flavor of cake containing vegetables) Table 7 below shows the ingredients. Peel the pumpkin,
Heat in microwave for 10 minutes and crush while hot. The upper sucrose solution or α-GOS solution was added and mixed. Further, egg yolk and the prepared meringue were added and mixed in that order. Finally, the soft flour and the baking powder were added while sieving and heated at 180 ° C. for 40 minutes. When these were divided into two categories and evaluated by 10 specialized panelists, the category B to which α-GOS was added was evaluated to have less sweetness and the pumpkin taste was more lively and delicious.

[0032]

[Table 7]

[Example 8] (Improving the flavor of a cake containing fruit or fruit juice) Materials are as shown in Table 8 below. I peeled the apple and ground it. Add the white sucrose solution or α-GOS solution,
Mixed. Furthermore, the egg yolk and the prepared meringue were added and mixed in that order. Finally, the soft flour and the baking powder were added while sieving and heated at 180 ° C. for 40 minutes. When these 2 categories were evaluated by 10 expert panelists, it was evaluated that the B category to which α-GOS was added had less sourness and the apple taste was alive and delicious.

[0034]

[Table 8]

[Example 9] (Improving the flavor of iced coffee: reducing bitterness) To achieve the same degree of sweetness as that of commercially available gum syrup, the ingredients were mixed according to the formulation shown in Table 9 below and dissolved by heating to dissolve the gum syrup. Was prototyped. A commercially available gum syrup (12 g) was added to sugar-free ice coffee (150 ml) (A group) and a prototype gum syrup was added (B group).

[0036]

[Table 9]

For these two categories, 20 men and women in their 20s to 40s (11 men and 9 women) were made to select either A or B, which had a stronger bitterness and which had a stronger sweetness. Table 10 shows the number of people who selected each category.

[0038]

[Table 10]

As is clear from Table 10, the classification of B in which α-GOS was added was evaluated as having less bitterness. The sweetness was evaluated to be almost the same.

[Example 10] (Improvement of flavor of jam) A strawberry jam having a composition shown in Table 11 below was prototyped and a sensory test was conducted. The pectin solution is LM pectin 4.26 g.
Was added to 96.26 g of hot water (80 ° C.) so as to be sprinkled and stirred. When these two categories were evaluated by 10 expert panelists, the B category to which α-GOS was added had a weaker sweetness, but a slightly sour taste,
It was evaluated that the flavor itself of the strawberries was the accentuated feeling.

[0041]

[Table 11]

[Example 11] (Improvement of beer flavor: smoothness, enhancement of aroma and reduction of bitterness) α-GOS was added to commercial draft beer so as to be 1.0% by weight (B category). In addition, the non-addition group was classified as Category A.
For these two categories, 20 men and women in their 20s to 40s (11 men, 9 women), either A or B,
The one with strong body and bitterness was selected. Table 12 shows the number of people who selected each category.

[0043]

[Table 12]

As is clear from Table 12, it was evaluated that the category B to which α-GOS was added had smoothness and richness increased and bitterness reduced.

[0045]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION According to the flavor improver for food and drink of the present invention, the food or the flavor improving method to which it is added, the sourness, bitterness, astringency and astringency of the food and drink are reduced, and the flavor of the material for food and drink, You can improve the flavor of food and drink by enhancing smoothness and richness, so you can not only enrich your eating habits,
It becomes easy to ingest foods and drinks that are difficult to ingest due to their "taste", which in turn can contribute to the promotion of health.

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Takateru Fujita             13-46 Daikokucho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa             Company Yokohama International Bio Research Institute (72) Inventor Kozo Hara             13-46 Daikokucho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa             Company Yokohama International Bio Research Institute (72) Inventor Masamichi Okada             Gifu Prefecture Kakamigahara City Suemachi 4-chome 17935 Heaven             Gifu Research Institute, No Enzyme Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shigeharu Mori             Gifu Prefecture Kakamigahara City Suemachi 4-chome 17935 Heaven             Gifu Research Institute, No Enzyme Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 4B041 LC01 LD10 LK11                 4B047 LB06 LB08 LE01 LG26

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A flavor-improving agent for food and drink containing an α-linked galactooligosaccharide. 2. Improving the flavor of foods and drinks by reducing the sourness, bitterness, astringency and astringency of the foods and drinks and / or enhancing the flavor, smoothness and richness of the foods and drinks ingredients, respectively. The flavor-improving agent for food and drink according to claim 1. 3. Improvement of flavor of food and drink (1) reduction of sourness, bitterness, astringency and astringency of fruit juice beverage, respectively (2)
Enhancing the flavor of fried eggs, (3) Enhancing the flavor of vegetables in boiled vegetables, (4) Enhancing the flavor of vegetables in cakes with vegetables, (5) Fruits or fruits of cakes with juice Alternatively, the sourness, bitterness, astringency, and astringency of the fruit juice are reduced to enhance the flavor, (6) to reduce the bitterness of coffee, (7) to enhance the flavor of jam ingredients, or (8) The flavor improving agent for foods and drinks according to claim 2, wherein the smoothness and richness of beer are enhanced to reduce bitterness. 4. The α-linked galacto-oligosaccharide is synthesized by using α-galactosidase as a substrate of a hydrolyzate of galactose or a substance containing galactose as a substrate. Food and beverage flavor improver. 5. A food / beverage product comprising the flavor improver for a food / beverage product according to any one of claims 1 to 4. 6. The food or drink according to claim 5, wherein the amount of the α-linked galactooligosaccharide added is 0.1 to 80% by weight based on the food or drink. 7. A method for improving the flavor of a food or drink, which comprises adding a flavor improving agent for a food or drink containing an α-linked galactooligosaccharide. 8. The improvement of the flavor of foods and drinks reduces the sourness, bitterness, astringency and astringency of foods and drinks and / or enhances the flavor, smoothness and richness of the ingredients of foods and drinks, respectively. The method for improving flavor of food or drink according to claim 7, wherein 9. Improvement of flavor of food and drink (1) reduction of sourness, bitterness, astringency and acridness of fruit juice beverage, respectively (2)
Enhancing the flavor of fried eggs, (3) Enhancing the flavor of boiled vegetables, (4) Enhancing the flavor of vegetables in cakes with vegetables, (5) Fruits of fruits or cakes with juice Alternatively, the sourness, bitterness, astringency, and astringency of the fruit juice are reduced to enhance the flavor, (6) to reduce the bitterness of coffee, (7) to enhance the flavor of jam ingredients, or (8) The method for improving flavor of food and drink according to claim 8, wherein the smoothness and richness of beer are enhanced to reduce bitterness. 10. The addition amount of α-linked galactooligosaccharide is
The method for improving flavor of food or drink according to any one of claims 7 to 9, which is 0.1 to 80% by weight of the food and drink. 11. The α-linked galactooligosaccharide is synthesized by using α-galactosidase as a substrate of a hydrolyzate of galactose or a substance containing galactose as a substrate. Method of improving flavor of food and drink.