JP2004222633A - Method for producing transparent extract of japanese plum - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an extract of Japanese plum excellent in transparency and clarity, hardly causing worsening of appearance of products because of transparency when the extract is used as a food raw material for seasonings or food additives and capable of controlling color by a coloring agent. <P>SOLUTION: The subject method for producing the extract of Japanese plum comprises a step for diluting Japanese plum extract with water, a step for separating a water-insoluble ingredient from the diluted Japanese plum extract and a step for concentrating the residual water solution. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for producing a plum extract excellent in transparency and clarity.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Plums are rich in ingredients that help improve human health. For this reason, plums have been processed into various forms for edible use. One of the processed foods of plum is plum extract. Plum extract is a concentrate of the active ingredient of plum, and has been prized as a food with particularly high utility, that is, a so-called health food.
[0003]
However, although the plum extract has the flavor of plum and various excellent effects, it has not been widely used as a seasoning or a food additive.
[0004]
One of the reasons is the appearance of plum extract. Plum extract is a black viscous liquid that has a color far from the pink or red color normally imagined from plums. In addition, it is difficult to adjust the color of a black color by adding a colorant.
[0005]
Therefore, although there is a demand for processed foods and favorite items having a plum flavor, use of a plum extract as a raw material causes the appearance of the product to become dark as if stained, and the consumer's impression of the product becomes extremely poor. Therefore, there is resistance to mass-producing a product containing the plum extract, and the use of the plum extract as a food material has been limited.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The present invention is intended to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and the object thereof is as a raw material for foods such as seasonings and food additives because of excellent transparency and clarity, and the degree of coloring is reduced. It is an object of the present invention to provide a plum extract that does not significantly deteriorate the appearance of the product even when used, and that can control the color with a coloring agent.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention provides a step of diluting the plum extract with water;
Separating the water-insoluble component from the diluted plum extract; and concentrating the remaining aqueous solution;
A method for producing a transparent plum extract, comprising:
Which achieves the above object.
[0008]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
In the method of the present invention, ume extract is used as a raw material. The ume extract is a liquid obtained by heating and concentrating a liquid component contained in ume. For example, what is called “plum extract” obtained by boiling plum juice is included in the plum extract herein. In addition, for example, ume extract produced by the method described in JP-A-2001-17116 is also included in the ume extract referred to herein.
[0009]
Plum extract is usually highly viscous and difficult to process as it is, so first dilute it to a suitable viscosity. However, viscosity is difficult to measure, so it is usually controlled by Brix. The ume extract is adjusted to 3 to 70% Brix, preferably 5 to 50%, more preferably 10 to 40% by dilution. If the diluted Brix is lower than 3, filtration or concentration after decolorization takes a lot of time, and if it is higher than 70%, it becomes difficult to perform the separation step.
[0010]
Dilution can be performed by adding clean water to the plum extract and thoroughly stirring. As the dilution water, for example, it is preferable to use distilled water or ion-exchanged water.
[0011]
The amount of water to be added can be appropriately increased or decreased according to the brix required for the diluted ume extract. Generally, the amount of water is adjusted in the range of 1.4 to 257 parts by weight, preferably 6 to 150 parts by weight, more preferably 10 to 70 parts by weight, based on 10 parts by weight of the ume extract. The diluted ume extract is black and cloudy, and the water-insoluble components are suspended or precipitated.
[0012]
Next, the water-insoluble component is separated from the aqueous solution. The method of separation is not particularly limited, and for example, can be performed by a filtration method, a centrifugation method, or the like. This is because these methods are easy to operate and have high separation efficiency.
[0013]
When separation is performed by a filtration method, the pore size of the filter is 0.001 to 0.5 μm, preferably 0.003 to 0.25 μm, and more preferably 0.005 to 0.1 μm. When the pore size of the filter is less than 0.001 μm, the filtration efficiency is deteriorated, and the filtration operation becomes complicated. If the pore size of the filter exceeds 0.5 μm, the separation of the water-insoluble components will be incomplete, and the appearance of the resulting ume extract will be poor.
[0014]
Filters that can be used are generally prefilters, microfiltration membranes, ultrafiltration membranes, nanofilter membranes, reverse osmosis membranes, etc. Filtration and nanofilter membranes. The pre-filter has a disadvantage that the separation of the water-insoluble component is incomplete, and the reverse osmosis membrane has a disadvantage that the dissolved component is removed by filtration.
[0015]
For the filtration operation, for example, a stock solution tank, a circulation pump, a filtration module, and a filtrate tank are prepared, and the pipes can be circulated between the stock solution tank, the circulation pump, and the filtration module. The filtrate from the filtration module is introduced into the filtrate tank via independent piping. Pour the diluted ume extract solution into the stock solution tank and filter at a pressure and circulation rate that match the operating conditions described in the instruction manual for the filtration module.
[0016]
When performing separation by centrifugation, the diluted ume extract solution is continuously introduced into the rotor, and the water-insoluble component is deposited on the wall of the rotor. Use a special centrifuge that is plumbed so that it goes out of the tube. Even with a bucket-type centrifuge, it takes time and effort to artificially remove the supernatant, which does not hinder the effects of the present invention. The load applied to the centrifugation is suitably from 1,000 to 5,000 G, preferably from 2,000 to 3,000 G, and the effect of the centrifugation and the processing time are not significantly affected even if a load more than this is applied.
[0017]
When the water-insoluble component is separated from the aqueous solution of the ume extract in this way, an aqueous solution containing the ume extract remains. This aqueous solution is transparent. Then, the remaining aqueous solution is concentrated. Concentration is performed to remove water added to the plum extract for viscosity control.
[0018]
The method of concentration is not particularly limited, but is preferably carried out by heating without heating or at a relatively low temperature to evaporate water. Heating to high temperatures produces water-insoluble components. This is because the appearance of the obtained plum extract becomes black and opaque.
[0019]
The temperature at the time of concentration is generally adjusted to 15 to 80 ° C, preferably 20 to 70 ° C, more preferably 25 to 65 ° C. To accelerate the process, it is better to carry out concentration under reduced pressure. At that time, the pressure is reduced to about 11 to 360 Torr, preferably about 17 to 230 Torr, and more preferably about 23 to 190 Torr.
[0020]
The obtained plum extract is a transparent and clear liquid, and the degree of coloring is remarkably reduced as compared with the conventional black and opaque plum extract. Therefore, even if this plum extract is used as a seasoning or a food additive, it does not significantly affect the appearance of the product. In addition, since the plum extract is transparent, it has a low coloring power, and the color of the product can be adjusted by adding a food coloring agent. For example, the use of a perilla pigment as a food additive allows the product to be finished in a plum-like color.
[0021]
Examples of uses of the transparent plum extract obtained by the method of the present invention include soft drinks and candy, which require transparency in product appearance, and yogurt, in which light appearance is required in product appearance.
[0022]
Further, as a result of a sensory test, this transparent plum extract has a smoother tongue and reduced bitterness and unpleasant taste as compared with the conventional plum extract, and is superior to the plum extract as a food to be taken as it is.
[0023]
In the method of the present invention, after the water-insoluble component is separated from the aqueous solution of the ume extract, the aqueous solution containing the ume extract may be further decolorized before the concentration step. By doing so, it is possible to obtain a plum extract with less coloring, that is, a colorless and nearly transparent plum extract.
[0024]
In the decolorization step, for example, the aqueous solution containing ume extract is passed through a column filled with the adsorbent, or the adsorbent is added to the aqueous solution containing ume extract, stirred for a certain period of time, allowed to stand, and then decanted. Or a decolorizing solution can be obtained by removing the adsorbent by filtration. In this case, activated carbon, an adsorption resin, or the like can be used as the adsorbent. There are various types of activated carbon, such as powder, granule, and cloth, depending on its shape, but granular activated carbon is preferable because of its ease of treatment. In addition, there are various types of materials before being made into activated carbon, but this is not particularly limited. Among the products manufactured by Ajinomoto Fine Techno Co., Ltd., there are three types of amphoteric type and one type of weakly basic type among the products manufactured by Ajinomoto Fine Techno Co., Ltd. Among these, the preferred type of the adsorption resin is an amphoteric type resin.
[0025]
After the decolorization step, concentration is performed by the above-described method, and a transparent and clear plum extract can be obtained.
[0026]
【Example】
The present invention will be described more specifically with reference to the following examples, but the present invention is not limited thereto.
[0027]
Example 1
Ome was squeezed to give 12 kg of plum juice with 5.2% Brix. This plum juice was placed in a concentrator and concentrated by heating at a temperature of 95 ° C. to a brix of 76.4% to obtain 0.8 kg of a plum extract. This plum extract was a black viscous liquid having an acidity of 53.1% and an amino acid content of 2.5%.
[0028]
755 g of plum extract was taken and diluted to 5.1 kg with distilled water. At this time, the Brix was 11.94%, the acidity was 8.6%, and the amino acid content was 0.39%. The diluted solution was filtered using an ultrafiltration (MF) membrane (trade name “PSP-103”, manufactured by Asahi Kasei Corporation, pore size: 0.1 μm, size: 42 × 347 mm).
[0029]
The filtration conditions were as follows.
[0030]
Inlet pressure 0.1 MPa, outlet pressure 0.08 MPa, initial circulation rate 9 liter / min. End-stage circulation rate is 1 liter / min or less.
[0031]
Two hours after the start of the filtration, the circulation was reduced to 1 liter / min or less, and the operation was stopped, and 3.6 kg of the filtrate was obtained. This filtrate was a light brown transparent liquid. Next, this was concentrated with a vacuum concentrator at a temperature of 48 to 29 ° C. and a degree of vacuum of 81 to 25 Torr until the Brix became 82% to obtain 520 g of a plum extract. The acidity of this plum extract was 59.0%, and the amino acid content was 1.5%.
[0032]
A sensory test was conducted by 10 persons on this plum extract, and the evaluation by the ten persons was that the tongue was smoother, had a bitter taste, and did not feel unpleasant than the conventional plum extract. 0.5 g of the obtained plum extract was taken, diluted to 10 g with distilled water, and centrifuged at 1410 rpm for 20 minutes. As a result, no insoluble precipitate was found in water. In addition, the appearance was higher and more transparent than the conventional plum extract.
[0033]
Example 2
Take 760 g of ume extract (79.7% Brix, 55.6% acidity, 1.0% amino acid content) produced by the method described in JP-A-2001-17116, and dilute to 5.1 kg with distilled water. The liquid was continuously centrifuged at 2000 to 3000 G using a centrifugal separator (CM-60RN manufactured by Tommy Seiko Co., Ltd.) to obtain a supernatant of 4.1 kg in 1 hour and 20 minutes. This supernatant was also a light brown transparent liquid. Next, this was concentrated by a reduced-pressure concentrator at a temperature of 48 to 29 ° C. and a degree of vacuum of 81 to 25 Torr until Brix became 82% to obtain 590 g of a plum extract. The acidity of this plum extract was 60.2% and the amino acid content was 0.9%.
[0034]
Example 3
Example of yogurt to which transparent plum extract is added Conventional plum extract is black-brown, and when added to yogurt or the like, it is difficult to express a color tone that resembles a plum even if a pigment is added. Therefore, it was examined whether or not the transparent plum extract of the present invention could be used to add a perilla pigment to achieve a color tone that images a plum.
[0035]
1 g of perilla pigment was added to 9 g of the transparent plum extract obtained in Example 1 to prepare a plum extract containing 10% perilla pigment. 1 g of the perilla pigment-containing plum extract was added to 50 g of white yogurt and stirred. In the obtained yogurt, the coloring by perilla was not inhibited by the plum extract, and the color of the plum was accurately expressed.
[0036]
Comparative example Example of yogurt to which plum meat extract was added 1 g of perilla pigment was added to 9 g of plum meat extract not subjected to the filtration step to prepare a plum meat extract containing 10% perilla pigment. 1 g of the perilla extract containing perilla pigment was added to 50 g of white yogurt and stirred. The obtained yogurt became brown due to the inhibition of the coloration of perilla by the dark color of the plum meat extract, and could not produce a color tone like plum.
[0037]
【The invention's effect】
The plum extract obtained by the method of the present invention has excellent transparency and clarity, and the appearance of the product is significantly deteriorated even when used as a food raw material such as a seasoning or a food additive because the degree of coloring is reduced. In addition, the color can be adjusted by a colorant.

Claims (8)

Diluting the plum extract with water;
Separating the water-insoluble component from the diluted plum extract; and concentrating the remaining aqueous solution;
A method for producing a transparent plum extract, comprising: The method according to claim 1, wherein the separation is performed by a filtration method. The method according to claim 2, wherein the filtration is performed using a microfiltration membrane, an ultrafiltration membrane, or a nanofilter membrane as a filter. The method according to claim 1, wherein the separation is performed by centrifugation. The method according to claim 1, wherein the concentration is performed at a temperature of 80C or less. The method according to claim 1, wherein the concentration is performed under reduced pressure. Diluting the plum extract with water;
Separating water-insoluble components from the diluted plum extract;
Decolorizing the remaining aqueous solution; and concentrating the decolorized aqueous solution;
A method for producing a transparent plum extract, comprising: A transparent plum extract produced by the method according to claim 1.