JP2004215654A - Method for producing freeze-dried soybean paste - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a freeze-dried soybean paste capable of being produced without requiring specified equipment, nor a specified additive, having a good flavor, given at a low drying cost, having excellent solubility when hot water is poured thereon, even though the paste is formed into a dried product having a bulky block shape, and having such properties that its strength is suitable for being crushed into a flaky or granular form. <P>SOLUTION: A method for producing the freeze-dried soybean paste comprises adding water to the soybean paste and mixing the paste therewith and, if necessary, preliminarily freezing the paste, then filling an air-permeable container with the paste, and further freeze-drying the soybean paste so as to make water sublime or evaporate from the whole surfaces of the paste. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing a freeze-dried miso that has excellent solubility and has the original flavor of raw miso, and can be formed into various forms of powder, flake, and block.

  Instant miso soup using freeze-dried miso is widely used, and the form of the freeze-dried miso is various, such as powder, granule, and block. A general method for producing such freeze-dried miso is to put raw miso so as to be spread on a metal tray, pre-freeze it, and then freeze-dry it. The freeze-dried miso obtained in this manner exhibits a hard and solidified state, and if it is left as it is, it cannot be restored even if hot water is poured into it, so that it is pulverized and used as dry miso in powder form. Have been.

  However, the powdered dried miso is also composed of hard, dense and poorly soluble particles, so that even if boiling water is poured into the miso, the solubility is still poor and the texture is powdery. In addition, the miso was subjected to heat history in order to pulverize the hard miso into a miso, and was considerably inferior in terms of flavor to that of the raw miso.

  The disadvantage of the solubility of the freeze-dried miso is due to the fact that the miso is dried without freezing during freeze-drying, and the miso is actually vacuum-dried. That is, the water in the miso moves to the upper surface of the miso, which is the evaporation surface of the water as the drying proceeds, and other dissolved components also move to the upper surface accordingly, and when the water evaporates, the dissolved components are locally localized. This is because excessive concentration occurs on the surface to cause surface hardening, resulting in a hard and solid dried product.

In order to solve such a problem, a method of adding 20 to 200 parts of water to 100 parts of miso, homogenizing, preliminarily freezing, and then freezing and vacuum drying (see, for example, Patent Document 1). A method of high-speed homogenization of a mixture (water content 62 to 80%) containing raw miso, a thickener and water, followed by freeze-drying (for example, see Patent Document 2). % By weight and freeze-dried with a specific amount of gum-thickening polysaccharide contained therein to improve drying efficiency in addition to restoring property, and hardly deform during drying and have no brittleness A method of obtaining a dry solid miso (for example, see Patent Document 3), and a method of extruding a semi-dried miso into a vacuum space, granulating and granulating and drying the miso to improve the handleability, flavor, and solubility of the miso ( For example, see Patent Document 4 .), Granulated with rapid stirring miso under vacuum using a sealed mixer with Chopa such as stirring blades, followed by drying (e.g., see Patent Document 5.) It has been proposed.
JP-B-57-43230 (page 2, column 3, lines 28 to 32) JP-A-59-175860 (Claims 1 and 2) JP-A-8-103240 (Claim 1 of the claims) JP-B-56-46388 (Claims) JP-A-7-155128 (Claims, [0011])

  According to the method of adding water to miso described in Patent Document 1, the water content of normal miso is about 45% (fifth revised food ingredient table), and 20 to 200 parts of water contains about 51 to 82% of water. The water content is 63 to 73% for 50 to 100 parts of water, which is listed as a preferable numerical value. The water content of the hydrolyzed miso of Examples 1 and 2 of this publication is about 67% when calculated similarly.

  Further, also in the examples described in Patent Documents 2 and 3, the moisture content before drying is adjusted to 69%. When this was converted into the amount of water added to the miso, in each case, a large amount of water of 70% by weight or more of the weight of the miso was added, and in these cases, the drying cost was disadvantageous.

  In addition, in terms of quality, dried products obtained by adding a large amount of water are inferior in impact resistance, and need to be protected in a container such as a tray in the block state. It was not suitable. Further, when the water content is 70% by weight or less (water content of 68% or less) in the miso weight ratio, voids are formed inside the dried product and the periphery becomes hard and brown, so that the solubility is poor and the solubility is poor. Reducing the amount of water alone did not achieve its intended purpose.

  Further, in Patent Literature 3, gum is added to improve drying efficiency and prevent foaming and expansion and deformation, but in miso where importance is placed on flavor, the addition of a thickener impairs taste and reduces value. Was something. Further, those described in Patent Documents 4 and 5 have a problem that the process of drying and granulating the miso is complicated, requires special equipment, and cannot be applied to forms other than granules.

  As described above, in freeze-drying miso for the purpose of improving resilience, it is common to add a large amount of water. This is because in normal freeze-drying, the temperature of the miso does not reach the eutectic point as it is and cannot be completely frozen. Therefore, water is added to increase the amount of ice crystals in the miso, and the relative liquid phase And to improve the drying efficiency by making the miso porous. Therefore, the resulting dried product is porous compared to the amount of water and becomes more soluble, but conversely, not only does the miso lose its original aroma and its drying cost increases, but it also becomes brittle in terms of physical properties. It was difficult to crush it into flakes or other tangible shapes.

  The present invention does not require special equipment and additives, has good flavor, low drying cost, and has excellent pouring solubility even in a block shape with a coarse dry finish. An object of the present invention is to obtain a freeze-dried miso having an appropriate strength that can be crushed.

  In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention preliminarily freezes and mixes miso mixed with water, fills it into a gas permeable container and freeze-drys the water so that the moisture is sublimated or evaporated from the entire surface of the miso. The method for producing a freeze-dried miso (Claim 1), wherein the gas-permeable container has a gas-permeable plate provided inside the tray with a gap provided between the gas-permeable plate and the bottom surface of the tray. The method for producing freeze-dried miso according to claim 1, wherein the air-permeable container is a container provided with ventilation holes on the entire surface (claim 3). The method for producing a freeze-dried miso according to claim 1, wherein the container is a container using a breathable material (claim 4). The frost of claim 1, wherein said frost is formed. The method for producing a dried miso according to claim 1, wherein the bottom surface of the pre-frozen miso is uneven, and a gap is formed between the bottom of the container and the miso. (6) The method for producing a freeze-dried miso according to any one of the above (1) to (6), wherein the pre-frozen miso has been subjected to a plurality of perforations or lines. The method for producing freeze-dried miso according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the water content of the miso is 56 to 70% by weight (claim 8).

  As described above, according to the present invention, during freeze-drying of miso, since the sublimation and evaporation of water from the lower part of miso, which could not be a dry surface in the past, are enabled, the pouring solubility of miso can be greatly improved. It became so. In addition, since the amount of water added during the production can be reduced as compared with the conventional method, a method for producing a freeze-dried miso with reduced drying costs can be provided. Further, according to the present invention, in addition to granules and powders, miso having a new shape such as flakes can be manufactured, and any of them can enhance its commercial value with improved flavor.

  In the present invention, water is added to miso, mixed, preliminarily frozen if necessary, and freeze-dried such that moisture is sublimated or evaporated from the entire surface of the miso. As a means for sublimating or evaporating moisture from the entire surface of the miso, freeze-drying is performed using a container having air permeability.

  In the conventional method for drying miso, sublimation and evaporation of water are performed only on the upper surface of the miso that is not in contact with the tray. For this reason, as drying progresses, the liquid phase consisting of dissolved components of antifreeze water and miso moves toward the upper surface, where it solidifies and hardens to form a barrier layer, which hinders drying inside. The inventors have paid attention to this. Therefore, if sublimation and evaporation are performed from the entire surface of the miso, the movement of the liquid phase is also dispersed in all directions to reduce surface hardening, and since sublimation proceeds from the entire surface, the initial amount of water sublimation is large and antifreeze water The liquid phase consisting of the dissolved components of miso and miso is rapidly concentrated, and because of its viscosity, it can be dried and solidified in situ without moving the liquid phase. It is completed.

  Furthermore, the inventor also studied the amount of water for increasing the initial sublimation amount, and it was confirmed that the above effect was obtained even if the amount of water was reduced as compared with the conventional method. In addition, the miso of the dried matter is subjected to perforation or engraving to promote the dissipation of water, because sublimation and evaporation from the inside of the miso are hindered as the thickness of the surface of the miso increases. It has been found that a freeze-dried miso having excellent solubility can be obtained.

  The freeze-dried miso thus obtained is not only excellent in solubility, but also has an internal structure having dense and uniform voids with improved porous and brittle properties, and is coarsely crushed and sized. It can have such a strength that it can be used. Hereinafter, the present invention will be further described.

  The miso referred to in the present invention includes not only rice miso, barley miso, and soybean miso, but also miso containing ingredients such as green onion, spinach, wakame, tofu, fried oil, etc. It is. In order to increase the number of ice crystals in the above-mentioned miso, which is a matter to be dried, relatively from the liquid phase portion and to increase the resilience and the drying efficiency by pouring, water is mixed to make the water uniform.

  The amount of water added here is 56 to 70% by weight in terms of the water content of the miso, and 25 to 80% by weight based on the weight of the miso in terms of the amount of water added. It is preferably 58 to 67% by weight, and 30 to 60% by weight in terms of the amount of water, based on the weight of the miso. With this moisture content, the dried miso can be made into a block shape or a flake shape, so that it is possible to impart the strength required for crushing. When a specific shape is not desired, for example, in the case of powdering, the water content may be 56% by weight or more. Although there is no particular upper limit for the water content, the upper limit is usually 80% by weight in consideration of the drying cost. Mixing with the above-mentioned addition of water is performed using a general mixing stirrer or kneader as appropriate, and does not particularly require a puffing effect.

  Next, the added miso is placed on an air-permeable container or a tray having an uneven bottom surface, so that the water can be sublimated or evaporated from almost the entire surface of the miso. Here, “substantially the entire surface of the miso” means that not only the top and side surfaces of the miso but also a part of the bottom surface of the miso is in communication with the outside or in a ventilated state. The area of the external communication portion is changed depending on conditions such as the layer thickness when filling the tray with the miso.

  As the air-permeable container used here, as shown in FIG. 4, it is preferable that an air-permeable plate is disposed inside the tray so that a gap is provided between the tray and the bottom surface. As the air-permeable plate used here, a metal frame 40 for forming a gap between the bottom surface of the container and a mesh or the like is preferably fixed to a lower surface of the mesh or the like in addition to the punching metal as shown in FIG.

  Other examples of the gas permeable container include a container made of metal or plastic mesh, and a perforated container provided with an opening in a material such as metal by punching or the like. In these containers, the ratio of the voids to the entire area of the bottom surface of the miso is usually 30% or more. Further, it is possible to use a tray container in which the bottom surface of the miso is not directly exposed to the outside. For example, a plastic container made of styrene foam having air permeability, a container made of paper or cloth, a container made of paper or cloth laid on a container such as a wire mesh, or the like is used. In short, any material can be used as long as moisture can be sublimated and evaporated from the bottom of the miso.

  In the present invention, the miso with water is placed on the above-described air-permeable tray and preliminarily frozen. However, a container in which a gas-permeable plate is laid on the inside of the tray, a container made of a mesh such as a wire mesh or plastic, a mesh plate, When a container is used, since the miso that has been added has fluidity, it is necessary to fill and cool the solidified miso in a separate container, transfer it to an air-permeable container, and freeze-dry it. is there. When using a tray having a corrugated plate or other irregularities at the bottom of the tray, the miso is previously filled in a container having a flat bottom plate, cooled and solidified, and transferred to a tray having an irregular bottom. The contact area between the miso and the miso is reduced, and a gap is provided here to ensure communication between the bottom of the miso and the outside. Put the miso in advance in a container with a bottom with irregularities and cool and solidify it to form irregularities on the bottom of the miso so that the relationship between the bottom of the container and the bottom of the miso is reversed. May be placed on the tray with the uneven surface of the miso facing downward.

  The miso thus placed on the tray is freeze-dried by a conventional method. When setting the air-permeable tray in the dryer by freeze-drying, when using a container with a gas-permeable plate with a gap provided between the tray and the bottom, this container may be placed on a shelf as it is. In the case of a tray having a vent hole at the bottom of a container, such as a wire mesh tray, if the bottom of the tray is brought into close contact with the heating shelf, air permeability is lost. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a gap at the bottom of the tray. However, if a styrofoam tray is used, where the entire container is breathable, such a gap is not particularly necessary because moisture escapes through the tray material. Note that the preliminary freezing may be performed at -20 ° C to -40 ° C, and may be cooled and solidified to such an extent that the miso maintains a strength enough to maintain a predetermined shape.

  The layer thickness when placing the hydrolyzed miso on a tray is 20 to 30 mm when industrially performed. In the case where this is dried in a relatively thin state of about 10 mm or less, the intended purpose can be achieved by freeze-drying as it is. When the layer thickness of the miso exceeds about 10 mm, the miso may swell and deform to form a hard dry layer inside. In order to prevent this, the miso is perforated and / or engraved on the surface. It is preferable that the inside communicates with the outside. In the case of performing the engraving, after the miso is cooled and solidified, the miso surface is penetrated or made into a blind tube state using a steel wire or the like, and the inside of the miso communicates with the outside.

  The size of the holes here is, for example, a diameter of 1 mm and an interval between adjacent holes is about 25 mm pitch. In the engraving, a uniform cut is made in the solidified miso with a sharp knife or the like. The perforations and line cuts formed in the pre-frozen miso in this way need to be maintained until freeze-drying so as not to melt or otherwise disrupt communication with the inside of the miso.

  The freeze-dried miso thus obtained has such a strength that it can be used as a block-like final product. Also, in terms of flavor, unlike the excess porous state found in the conventional dried product of multi-hydro miso, only the fragrance and flavor of raw miso are maintained because it is dense and fine voids In addition, oxidation during storage can be reduced.

  Further, as a feature of the dried miso obtained according to the present invention, it is possible to roughly crush this freeze-dried miso to form flakes or granules, and to arbitrarily adjust the grain size according to the desired product form. It is possible to decide. This is performed using, for example, a flake crusher equipped with a screen as a crushing and sizing machine. In the powdered miso form, the dried miso can be obtained by easily pulverizing the dried miso with an appropriate pulverizer, so that the generation of the pulverizing heat is slight and not only can the original flavor of the miso be maintained, but also the powder miso which is often present in the powdered miso. You can also improve the flavor. Further, since the amount of water added to the miso can be reduced, the cost for drying can be reduced.

(Example 1)
Water is added to red rice miso having a moisture content of 46.0% by weight, and mixed uniformly with a home rubber spatula. Seven-stage paste-like miso having a moisture content of 55% to 70% by weight Was prepared. This paste-like miso was filled into a plastic container so as to have a depth of 30 mm, and the paste was allowed to stand in a freezer at −25 ° C. for 7 hours to freeze and solidify.

  On the other hand, a breathable tray was prepared in which a punching plate 30 (porosity 40%) made of stainless steel and provided with a large number of holes 20 was provided with a gap of 5 mm from the bottom inside the tray 10 shown in FIG. The above-mentioned frozen and solidified miso was transferred to this. Thereafter, the miso was further pierced by using a metal rod having a diameter of 0.8 mm at intervals of 2 cm so as to penetrate from the top surface to the bottom of the miso almost uniformly. Thereafter, the trays were arranged on a shelf of a freeze dryer and freeze-dried at a degree of vacuum of 0.3 torr and a shelf temperature of 60C to 40C.

  As a control, a paste-like miso having a water content of 64% by weight was placed on a stainless steel tray not covered with a punching plate, and the other portions were freeze-dried in the same manner as described above. Table 1 shows the water content of each miso and the properties of the obtained freeze-dried miso.

The evaluation of each property was as shown in Table 1 below. The solubility of the molten metal was determined by the solubility in a block of about 3 cm. The crushing suitability indicates a state when crushed to a particle size of 4 to 10 mesh using a flake crusher having a φ8 mm screen.

  From the results shown in Table 1, the water content of the miso is 55-70%, and if the bottom of the miso is in communication with the outside, it can be easily dissolved by simply pouring in hot water and stirring gently. What was possible was obtained. Among them, those having a water content of 58 to 67% had little generation of fine powder and were excellent in crushing suitability, and the granules were immediately dissolved only by pouring boiling water. In addition, the product of the present invention sufficiently maintained the aroma of raw miso and was excellent in flavor. In addition, the freeze-dried miso of No. 2 in Table 1 was broken, and its cross section was as shown in FIG. Further, the control product in Table 1 was broken, and its cross section was as shown in FIG.

    (Example 2) 1700 g of light-colored rice miso having a water content of 46.6%, 680 g of water (40% by weight of miso weight), 124 g of seasoning (48 g of sodium glutamate, 60 g of bonito powder, and 8 g of yeast extract powder) , A nucleic acid seasoning 6 g, and a kelp extract 2 g) were added thereto, and the mixture was mixed with a rubber spatula to be uniformly dispersed. The water content of the paste seasoning was 58.8%.

  Next, this miso paste was filled into three styrofoam trays of 215 × 150 × 30 (mm). The layer thickness at this time was 22 mm. When this was left in a freezer at -25 ° C. for 7 hours to solidify, it was pierced with 0.8 mm metal rods at equal intervals of about 2 mm so as to reach the center of the miso from the upper surface of the miso. Then, this was directly placed on a shelf of a freeze dryer, and freeze-dried at a shelf temperature of 60 ° C to 40 ° C at a vacuum of 0.4 torr. The resulting freeze-dried miso does not show any foaming, browning or deformation, has a structure with dense and fine voids inside, and it requires considerable power to divide it by human power, When hot water was added to the mixture, it was quickly dissolved and a miso soup that was inferior to raw miso in flavor was obtained.

The image which shows the cross section of the freeze-dried miso obtained by the manufacturing method which becomes one Example of this invention. The image which shows the cross section of the freeze-dried miso obtained by the conventional manufacturing method. 1 is a perspective view showing a state in which a gas permeable plate used in an embodiment of the present invention is lifted with a gas permeable plate laid thereon. FIG. 2 is a front view showing the back side of a gas permeable plate used in one embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of reference numerals

Reference numeral 10: tray, 20: hole, 30: punching plate, 40: metal frame

Claims (8)

  A method for producing a freeze-dried miso, which comprises preliminarily freezing and mixing a miso mixed with water, filling the resulting miso into a gas-permeable container, and freeze-drying the whole surface of the miso such that moisture is sublimated or evaporated.   The method for producing a freeze-dried miso according to claim 1, wherein the gas permeable container is provided with a gas permeable plate inside the tray with a gap provided between the tray and the bottom of the tray.   The method for producing a freeze-dried miso according to claim 1, wherein the air-permeable container is a container having a vent hole on the entire surface.   The method for producing freeze-dried miso according to claim 1, wherein the gas permeable container is a container using a gas permeable material.   The method for producing a freeze-dried miso according to claim 1, wherein the inner surface of the container is uneven, and a gap is formed between the container and the pre-frozen miso to be filled therein.   The method for producing a freeze-dried miso according to claim 1, wherein the bottom surface of the pre-frozen miso is uneven, and a gap is formed between the bottom of the container and the miso.   The method for producing a freeze-dried miso according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the pre-frozen miso has been subjected to a plurality of perforations or lines.   The method for producing a freeze-dried miso according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the water content of the miso mixed with water is 56 to 70% by weight.

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