JP2005069550A - Method and device for generating saturated vapor at low temperature - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for generating saturated vapor at a temperature of 100°C or lower. <P>SOLUTION: This method comprises a step for heating liquid composition made of water, alcohol, organic acid, or a mixture of these and for generating vapor, a step for introducing the vapor into a space region and for filling the space region with saturated vapor at a temperature of 100°C or lower and under atmospheric pressure, and a step for measuring the vapor temperature inside the space region and for adjusting the quantity of vapor to be introduced into the space region. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for generating saturated steam at a low temperature.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an apparatus for generating steam for food processing, particularly an apparatus for generating water vapor at a low temperature of 100 ° C. or less, an American type and an European type have been developed and marketed.

  The American steam generator is configured to generate only saturated steam at 100 ° C. or lower by reducing the pressure inside the steam generation (vacuum state) with a decompressor installed therein. However, since this apparatus generates saturated water vapor by reducing the pressure, when using this saturated water vapor to heat food, the food itself is dried, and necessary nutrients, scent components, etc. are sucked from the food. It was seen that it was discarded.

  The European steam generator is known as a steam convection system that combines an oven and steam, and its configuration introduces the generated steam into the space region, heats and stirs the interior, This is to obtain saturated water vapor depending on temperature. However, in this apparatus, air existing in the space region other than water vapor is also heated and stirred, so that the air temperature in the space region rises, and moisture is taken from saturated water vapor and food in the space region. Then the phenomenon was seen. For this reason, it was found that the heated food dries and hardens more than necessary. In addition, when the air temperature existing in the space area rises, the food placed inside the steam generation is forcibly oxidized, and a unique off-flavor is generated. The off-flavor adheres to the food, and the original flavor and flavor of the food. It was often found that the

  Furthermore, since the American steam generator uses a pressure reducer, the apparatus itself requires pressure resistance and pressure reduction control, and since the European steam generator uses a heating device, the heat resistance and heating of the device itself are required. As a result, it has been pointed out that the device itself becomes large and the manufacturing cost increases.

On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 62-17589 (Patent Document 1) proposes a method of drying a porous material in a saturated water vapor atmosphere. However, at present, there is an urgent need for simple and simple technical development that generates saturated steam at a temperature of 100 ° C. or lower under atmospheric pressure.
JP-A-62-17589

Summary of the Invention

The inventors of the present invention have recently measured the temperature of the steam in the space region and adjusted the amount of steam introduced into the space region, so that the space region is saturated with saturated steam at a temperature of 100 ° C. or less under atmospheric pressure. I found out that I can meet it.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a simple and simple saturated steam generation method and apparatus for generating saturated steam at a temperature of 100 ° C. under atmospheric pressure.

Therefore, the present invention is a method for generating saturated steam at a temperature of 100 ° C. or less,
Heating a liquid composition comprising water, alcohol, organic acid or mixtures thereof to generate steam;
Introducing the steam into the space region, filling the space region with saturated steam at a temperature of 100 ° C. or less under atmospheric pressure, and measuring the steam temperature in the space region; Adjusting the amount of steam to be introduced.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for heating food at a temperature of 100 ° C. or less,
Heating a liquid composition comprising water, alcohol, organic acid or mixtures thereof to generate steam;
Introducing the steam into a space region, and filling the space region with saturated steam at a temperature of 100 ° C. or less under atmospheric pressure;
Heating the food placed in the space region with the saturated steam, and measuring a steam temperature in the space region and adjusting an amount of steam introduced into the space region. Will be provided.

According to another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for generating saturated steam at a temperature of 100 ° C. or lower,
A device for generating a vapor of a liquid composition comprising water, alcohol, organic acid or a mixture thereof;
A space region filled with saturated steam at a temperature of 100 ° C. or less under atmospheric pressure, and a device for measuring the steam temperature in the space region and adjusting the amount of steam introduced into the space region Is provided.

Furthermore, according to another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for heating food at a temperature of 100 ° C. or less,
A device for generating a vapor of a liquid composition comprising water, alcohol, organic acid or a mixture thereof;
A spatial region filled with saturated steam at a temperature of 100 ° C. or less under atmospheric pressure;
There is provided a device comprising: a part where the food to be heated in the space region is installed; and a device for measuring a steam temperature in the space region and adjusting an amount of steam introduced into the space region. .

  According to the method and apparatus of the present invention, saturated steam maintained at a desired temperature can be stably generated and supplied. In addition, according to the method and apparatus for heating food according to another aspect of the present invention, the food can be heated without impairing the original physical properties of the food and the original umami component, touch and flavor of the food, and the food This makes it possible to improve the bactericidal properties and long-term storage stability of the food and to add a unique flavor to the food.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Steam Generation Method and Apparatus The method and apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of an apparatus according to the invention which can implement the method according to the invention. The amount of water, alcohol, organic acid or a mixture thereof generated by the steam generator 1 is adjusted by the electric variable valve 2 through the pipe, sprayed from the nozzle 3, and introduced into the space region 4. The According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, it is preferable to provide the liquid passage portion 8 shown in FIG. 2 between the steam generator 1 and the space region 4. By allowing the steam generated in the steam generator 1 to pass through the liquid permeation unit 8, the saturated steam in the space region 4 can be stably supplied. The liquid composition placed in the liquid passage portion 8 is preferably the same as the liquid composition that is a raw material of the steam generated by the steam generator 1.
The steam introduced into the space region 4 maintains saturated steam at a desired temperature in this region 4. The temperature sensor 5 installed in the space region 4 measures the temperature of the saturated steam in the space region 4, and the information is sent to the temperature controller 6 to open and close the electric variable valve 2 to open and close the steam to the space region 4. It is possible to adjust the amount of introduction and maintain saturated steam at a desired temperature in the space region 4. The space region 4 may be a closed space in order to maintain saturated vapor, but may be provided with an outlet 7 for removing the liquid composition liquefied from the saturated vapor. According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, it is preferable to remove air from the air removal unit 10 provided in the lower part of the space region 4. According to another preferred aspect of the present invention, a method is proposed in which food 9 is placed in space region 4 and heated with saturated steam at a desired temperature. Moreover, according to the preferable aspect of this invention, it is preferable to provide a food additive and / or a food raw material to the foodstuff 9 before and behind the heating of the foodstuff 9 with saturated steam, and the apparatus which provides these additives is provided. An apparatus comprising Furthermore, according to another preferable aspect of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, a food introduction part and a discharge part are provided on the left and right of the processing device 11 having the space region 4 represented in FIG. A device for continuously supplying the processing device 11 using the carry-in device 12 is proposed, and this device enables continuous heating.

Vapor generating method The vapor generating apparatus for heating the liquid composition to generate the vapor may be any one, for example, a boiler or the like. Although heating may be performed under pressure, it is preferably performed under atmospheric pressure from the viewpoint of simplicity of the apparatus. The steam generator may be either built in the apparatus according to the present invention or installed below.

  In the present invention, water, alcohol, organic acid, or a mixture thereof is used as the liquid composition that is a raw material of the vapor. Therefore, the generation of steam is carried out in consideration of the association conditions and the like when each boiling point or a mixture of water, alcohol, or organic acid is used. As the alcohol, a linear or branched lower alcohol having 1 to 5 carbon atoms can be used, and specific examples thereof include ethanol, propanol, butanol, pentanol, allyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, and the like. Includes ethanol, propanol, butanol, and pentanol. In addition, drinking alcohol (such as wine, sake, beer, brandy, shochu, gin, vodka, liqueur, etc.) containing these alcohols may be used. Specific examples of the organic acid include acetic acid, malic acid, tartaric acid, citric acid, succinic acid, fumaric acid, lactic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, and preferably acetic acid, malic acid, and citric acid. By using alcohol and organic acid, food safety (bactericidal properties) can be improved, and a desired flavor can be added to the food. In particular, when potable liquor is used, the flavor or flavor component contained in the potable liquor can penetrate or adhere to the food, making it possible to produce a food that matches the consumer's preference.

  According to the preferable aspect of this invention, you may add the food additive and / or food material which are provided to the foodstuff mentioned later to a liquid composition. Moreover, although these can be used alone as a liquid composition, it is preferable to select those that can generate vapor.

As a means for introducing the steam generated and introduced into the space region as saturated steam, the steam may be directly introduced from the steam generator into the space region. Preferably, a nozzle is used in the space region. It is preferable to spray. Spraying may be performed at any location in the space area. According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, it is preferable that the generated vapor is introduced into the space region after passing through the same liquid composition as the raw material. By using such means, it is possible to suppress the superheated steam from being introduced into the space region as it is, and the chemical stable equilibrium of the saturated steam generated in the space region can be maintained.
As long as this space area exists as a space for maintaining saturated vapor (layer), it may be either a closed area or an open area in one direction. However, when air is removed and the food is heated as described later. In consideration of the disposal of the drip and the like generated in the case, it is preferable that the lower side is opened. In the present invention, the “space region” refers to a space in which saturated steam at a desired temperature of 100 ° C. or less is maintained.

Saturated steam temperature adjustment In the present invention, the saturated steam has means for adjusting the temperature of the saturated steam to a temperature of 100 ° C. or lower under atmospheric pressure. In order to generate and maintain saturated steam at a desired temperature, the temperature of the saturated steam is measured in the space region, and the amount of the generated steam introduced into the space region is adjusted according to the measured temperature. Preferably it is performed. The temperature of the saturated steam can be measured with a thermometer, a temperature sensor, or the like. In addition, adjustment to obtain a desired temperature from the measured temperature is performed by, for example, inputting temperature information measured by temperature measurement and analyzing it with a temperature controller (computer or the like) equipped with an arithmetic unit that calculates the difference from the desired temperature. It can be performed by adjusting the means for introducing the steam generated based on the information into the space region, for example, by opening and closing a (electric) variable valve. In the present invention, the space region can be filled with saturated steam maintained at a desired temperature of 100 ° C. or lower.

Removal of air According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the apparatus further includes means for removing the air (layer) moving to the lower part of the saturated steam (layer) in the space area while the steam is introduced into the space area. preferable. When steam is introduced into the space area, saturated steam (layer) is filled from the top of the space area, and the air that was present in the space area before the introduction of the steam is determined by the difference in specific gravity between the saturated steam and air. Move to the bottom of that space area. The air (layer) moved to the lower part of the space area may be left as it is, but is preferably discarded outside the space area. By filling the space region with saturated steam maintained at a desired temperature, the chemical equilibrium of the saturated steam can be kept stable in the space region. The discarding means preferably discharges air naturally from the lower part of the space region due to the specific gravity difference between saturated steam and air. When the space region is formed as a closed region, it is preferable to provide a discharge port for removing air at the lower part of this region. This discharge port plays a role of removing discharge substances such as drip generated when the food is heated.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, such as food and seasonings, in the food processing method and processing apparatus according to the present invention, food additives and / or food materials are imparted to the food before or after the food is heated with saturated steam ( Addition, adhesion, etc.). Thereby, manufacture of the processed food according to a consumer preference can be enabled. Food additives and food materials include seasonings (glutamic acid, inosinic acid, succinic acid, amino acid solution, HVP, seafood extract, etc.), acidulants (plum vinegar, rice vinegar, rice vinegar, ponzu vinegar, sudachi vinegar, etc.), preservatives (Udo extract, Shirako protein extract, pectin degradation product, etc.), Enzyme (Amylase, Catalase, Protease, etc.), Emulsifier (Soybean saponin, Lecithin, etc.), Manufacturing agent (Kun solution, Pepper aqueous extract, Garlic extract) Products, sodium hypochlorite, etc.) and mixtures thereof. Examples of processed foods include meat, fish and vegetables.

  The content of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to examples. However, the contents of the present invention are not construed as being limited by the examples.

Preparation of liquid composition Liquid compositions 1 to 6 having the compositions shown in Table 1 below were prepared.
Table 1
Liquid composition 1: 30% by weight of white wine (containing 11% by volume of ethanol) and the remaining water Liquid composition 2: 20% by weight of sake (containing 15% by volume of ethanol) and the remaining water Liquid composition 3: 10% by weight % Brandy (containing 43% by volume of ethanol) and the remaining water Liquid composition 4: 30% by weight of Shaoxing liquor (containing 12% by volume of ethanol) and the remaining water Liquid composition 5: 50% by weight of vinegar (10% by volume of acetic acid) Contained) and balance of water Liquid composition 6: water

Examples 1-6
Using the apparatus according to the present invention shown in FIG. 1, the liquid composition 1 to 6 shown in Table 1 above is introduced into a steam generator and heated to introduce steam generated in the space region, and the temperature is 60 to 90 ° C. The temperature was adjusted within the temperature, and finally saturated steam at 75 ° C. was obtained. In this space region, a lump of thawed pork belly 1.2 kg was placed and heated for 3 hours. The heated pork belly was made into Examples 1-6 corresponding to the said liquid compositions 1-6.

Comparative Examples 1-6
In Examples, using a steam convection apparatus (combination oven FCCP101: manufactured by Fuji Mac) instead of the apparatus according to the present invention, a lump of 1.2 kg of thawed pork belly meat was heated for 3 hours at a temperature of 75 ° C. The heated pork belly was made into Examples 1-6 corresponding to the said liquid compositions 1-6. The heated pork belly was made into the comparative examples 1-6 corresponding to the said liquid compositions 1-6.

Evaluation test The following test was done about the lump of pork belly heated of Examples 1-6 and Comparative Examples 1-6.
Evaluation 1: The sensory test subject performs a three-step evaluation of good, normal, and bad on the following evaluation items for the processed pork belly of Examples 1 to 6 and Comparative Examples 1 to 6, and the following evaluation criteria evaluated. The results were as described in Table 2 below. The test subjects were 13 men and women of all ages (7 men and 6 women in their 20s and 50s).
Evaluation item 1 Appearance 2 Odor 3 Texture 4 Flavor 5 Umami 6 Oily smell 7 Overall evaluation (especially taste)
Evaluation criteria ◎: The number of subjects judged good is 9 or more ○: The number of subjects judged good is 4 or more and less than 9 ×: The number of subjects judged good is less than 4

Evaluation 2: POV measurement POV measurement was performed in accordance with the method described by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Health Sanitation Bureau, edited by the Japan Food Sanitation Association, “Food Sanitation Inspection Guidelines <Physics and Chemistry>: pages 282 to 283”. Specifically, it was as follows.
(1) Samples obtained by finely cutting the processed pork belly of Examples 1 and 6 and Comparative Example 1 were placed in a beaker and immersed in petroleum ether, and fats and oils were extracted in a cool and dark place.
(2) The extract was dehydrated by adding anhydrous sodium sulfate and then filtered. After the filtrate was filtered again, the filtrate was transferred to an eggplant type flask, and the ether was completely removed by an evaporator.
(3) The oil remaining in the eggplant-shaped flask was used as a sample and precisely weighed into an Erlenmeyer flask. Moreover, the Erlenmeyer flask which does not put a sample as a blank was prepared, and operation after (4) was performed similarly to others.
(4) A mixed solution of chloroform (10 ml) and acetic acid (15 ml) was added to the Erlenmeyer flask of (3) to dissolve the sample, and 1 ml of saturated potassium iodide was added with a measuring pipette.
(5) The mixture was left for 10 minutes in a dark place, and 30 ml of distilled water was added and stirred vigorously.
(6) Add 5 to 6 drops of 1% starch indicator, titrate with 0.01N sodium thiosulfate ruler solution, and use 0.01N sodium thiosulfate used for titration as the end point when the brown color of iodine starch reaction disappeared The amount of the ruler solution was measured.
(7) POV was calculated according to the following formula (I). The measured values were as shown in Table 2.
POV = (sample titration (ml)-blank titration (ml)) x sodium thiosulfate titer x 10
(Meq / kg) Sample collection amount (g)
(I)
(In the above formula, the titer of sodium thiosulfate is 1.007)

Test 3: Bactericidal test (1) The pork belly of Examples 1 and 6 and Comparative Example 1 was heated and immediately divided into about 50 g using a fully disinfected tool. Each piece of meat was vacuum packaged and frozen in a −24 ° C. freezer.
(2) Thaw the frozen sample in a 10 ° C incubator, and immediately after thawing, use the following general viable count test method for each sample on the third day of storage at 10 ° C and the fifth day of storage at 10 ° C. Viable count was examined. The results were as shown in Table 3.
General viable count test method The general viable count test method is in accordance with the method described by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Health Sanitation Bureau, edited by the Japan Food Sanitation Association, “Food Hygiene Inspection Guidelines <Physics and Chemistry>: 70-77” I went. Specifically, it was as follows.
(1) 10 g of the frozen sample was collected in a sterile sterile bag, 90 ml of sterilized phosphate buffered saline was added to each sample, and the sample was turbid.
(2) 1 ml of the sample solution was diluted with 9 ml of sterile phosphate buffered saline to prepare a 1/10 sample solution. The 1/10 sample solution was diluted by the same operation to prepare a 1/100 sample solution, and the 1/100 sample solution was diluted by the same operation to prepare a 1/1000 sample solution.
(3) Sample solution, 1/10, 1/100, 1/1000 diluted sample solution was put into a sterile petri dish by 1 ml each with a sterile pipette, and 15-20 ml of sterilized standard agar medium was added and mixed well and hardened. .
(4) The petri dish in which the medium was hardened was inverted, cultured at 35 ° C. for 48 hours, and the number of colonies was counted.

Table 2
Example Comparative Example
1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
Evaluation 1
1 ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
2 ◎ ○ ◎ ○ ○ ○ × ○ × ○ ○ ○
3 ◎ ◎ ◎ ◎ ◎ ◎ × × × × × ×
4 ◎ ○ ◎ ○ ◎ ◎ × ○ × ○ × ×
5 ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
6 ◎ ◎ ◎ ◎ ◎ ◎ × × × × × ×
7 ◎ ◎ ◎ ○ ◎ ◎ × × × ○ × ×
Evaluation 2
POV value 2.42 2.33 4.90
Evaluation 3
Day 0 300 or less 300 or less 300 or less Day 3 300 or less 300 or less 3.2 × 10 ³
Day 5 300 or less 3.6 × 10 ³ 4.0 × 10 ³

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a low-temperature saturated steam generator according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a saturated steam generation stabilizing device according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a continuous food heating apparatus according to the present invention.

Claims (16)

A method of generating saturated steam at a temperature of 100 ° C. or lower,
Heating a liquid composition comprising water, alcohol, organic acid or mixtures thereof to generate steam;
Introducing the steam into the space region, filling the space region with saturated steam at a temperature of 100 ° C. or less under atmospheric pressure, and measuring the steam temperature in the space region; Adjusting the amount of steam introduced.   The method according to claim 1, wherein introducing the steam into the space region is performed by spraying the steam.   3. The method of claim 1, further comprising passing the vapor through a liquid composition comprising water, alcohol, organic acid, or a mixture thereof before introducing the vapor into the space region. the method of.   The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising removing air moving to a lower part of the saturated vapor in the space region. A method of heating food at a temperature of 100 ° C. or less,
Heating a liquid composition comprising water, alcohol, organic acid or mixtures thereof to generate steam;
Introducing the steam into a space region, and filling the space region with saturated steam at a temperature of 100 ° C. or less under atmospheric pressure;
Heating the food placed in the space region with the saturated steam, and measuring a steam temperature in the space region and adjusting an amount of steam introduced into the space region. Become a way.   6. A method according to claim 5, further comprising means as claimed in any one of claims 2-4.   The method according to claim 5 or 6, comprising applying a food additive and / or a food material to the food before and after heating the food.   The foodstuff heated by the method as described in any one of Claims 5-7. An apparatus for generating saturated steam at a temperature of 100 ° C. or lower,
A device for generating a vapor of a liquid composition comprising water, alcohol, organic acid or a mixture thereof;
A space region filled with saturated steam at a temperature of 100 ° C. or less under atmospheric pressure, and a device for measuring the steam temperature in the space region and adjusting the amount of steam introduced into the space region, apparatus.   The apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising a device that sprays the vapor and introduces the vapor into the space region.   The apparatus of Claim 9 or 10 further equipped with the apparatus which passes the said vapor | steam in the liquid composition which consists of water, alcohol, an organic acid, or these mixtures.   The apparatus according to any one of claims 9 to 11, further comprising a discharge port for removing air at a lower portion of the saturated vapor layer in the space region. An apparatus for heating food at a temperature of 100 ° C. or lower,
A device for generating a vapor of a liquid composition comprising water, alcohol, organic acid or a mixture thereof;
A spatial region filled with saturated steam at a temperature of 100 ° C. or less under atmospheric pressure;
An apparatus comprising: a part for installing the food to be heated in the space area; and a device for measuring a steam temperature in the space area and adjusting an amount of steam to be introduced into the space area.   The apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising a device for applying a food additive and / or a food material to the food.   The apparatus of Claim 13 or 14 further provided with the apparatus or site | part as described in any one of Claims 10-12.   The foodstuff heated with the apparatus as described in any one of Claims 13-15.

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