JP2006055042A - Method for producing easily meltable chocolate powder - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for producing easily meltable chocolate powder improved in wetness to water and solubility. <P>SOLUTION: The method for producing easily meltable chocolate powder comprises spray-drying an oil-in-water emulsified composition containing modified starch and water, and coating the thus obtained dry material with a coating agent containing diglyceride fatty acid ester or triglyceride fatty acid ester. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing a readily soluble chocolate powder having improved water wetting and solubility.

  Conventionally, cocoa powder is known as a food in which a chocolate component exists in a powder state. Cocoa powder is generally made as follows. That is, cocoa beans are crushed as they are and husks and germs are removed from the crushed crushed material to obtain cocoa nibs as an endosperm portion. Next, the cacao nibs are roasted and the roasted cacao nibs are ground to obtain cacao mass. The cacao mass is squeezed to remove a part of cocoa butter, which is a fat, to obtain a cocoa cake, and the kibbles obtained by roughly crushing the cocoa cake are crushed to obtain a cocoa powder. At this time, the cocoa nibs are treated with an alkaline solution for the purpose of making the obtained cocoa powder have a preferable color tone.

  However, the cocoa powder obtained as described above loses the unique bitterness and sourness of chocolate due to alkali treatment, and is derived from chocolate-like richness and fat-soluble aroma components by removing cocoa butter by oil extraction. The flavor to be reduced. Therefore, the flavor is generally made from cacao mass, mixed with cocoa butter, sugar, milk ingredients, etc., refined with a refiner, kneaded well in the refining process, and aged with a fragrance and flavor. Is heterogeneous.

  Thus, studies have been made for obtaining chocolate powder having a chocolate flavor and richness. As a method of obtaining chocolate powder, cacao mass, cocoa butter and lecithin are blended, and after mixing, refining and conching steps, the obtained chocolate dough is rapidly cooled and solidified from 60 ° C., and then cut with cheese grate to obtain chocolate powder. Method of preparation (see Patent Document 1), chocolate composition comprising cacao mass, whole milk powder, cocoa butter, sugar, lecithin, tetraglycerin stearate and lecithin are added and melted by heating and foamed at 35 ° C with a Hobart mixer This is solidified at 10 ° C., then solidified and then sliced with a slicer to obtain powdered chocolate (see Patent Document 2), 20 parts of melted cocoa butter is added to 80 parts of powdered sugar, and the mixture is stirred at 20 ° C. for 20 minutes. Method of making cocoa butter-containing powder (see Patent Document 3), cacao mass, whole milk powder, powder A chocolate raw material made of cacao substitute fat, lecithin and fragrance is melted and sprayed into a tower at −20 ° C. using a pressure spray type nozzle to obtain granular chocolate (see Patent Document 4). A method of preparing an oil-in-water emulsion together with an excipient and dehydrating the powder by spray drying (see Patent Document 5), granulating or mixing a dextrin powder having a specific volume of 4 ml / g to 11 ml / g The manufacturing method of powdered chocolate (refer patent document 6) etc. characterized by cooling to the product temperature 10-2 degreeC with cold air, rolling it by, and coat | covering the spray particle | grains of the melted chocolate raw material are known. .

  However, these methods are intended to obtain a powder having a chocolate flavor, and no consideration is given to the wettability and solubility of the obtained chocolate powder in water. Since chocolate powder is a powder containing fat (cocoa butter) at a high concentration, when trying to dissolve chocolate powder in water, the water does not wet well and does not easily disperse or dissolve. As a result, the powder remains floating on the surface of the water, or on the contrary, precipitates and precipitates, so that it does not dissolve uniformly in the liquid.

In order to improve the wettability and solubility of chocolate powder in water, several methods have been proposed so far. They include, for example, melted chocolate liquor (referring to a solid cocoa mass having a fat content of about 53% and melting at about 40 ° C.), water and starch, drum-drying the mixture, In a method for producing a dispersible chocolate liquor including a step of pulverizing or slicing a dried product (see Patent Document 7) and a method for producing a soluble powdered chocolate, a surfactant with a high HLB is added to a chocolate dough having an oil content of 25 to 35%. Add 2 to 1.0%, mix, add water to 11 to 25% by weight to make an emulsified product, dry at a product temperature of 90 ° C or lower, then pulverize to give a specific gravity of 0.35 A method for producing a soluble powdered chocolate having a particle size of 0.55 or less (see Patent Document 8), a raw material containing cacao mass and milk raw material is dissolved in warm water or hot water, and sprayed And the like instant cocoa preparation, characterized by Lee (see Patent Document 9).
However, a chocolate powder that has reached a level where the wettability and solubility in water are sufficiently satisfactory has not yet been developed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-150916, Example 4 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-062744, Example 1 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 07-039307, Example 1 JP-A 63-186799, Example 1 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-062744, paragraph [0002] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-047407, claim 5 JP 54-157874 A Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 08-205773 JP-A-11-103780, claim 6

  An object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing a readily soluble chocolate powder having improved wettability and solubility in water.

  As a result of diligent investigations on the above problems, the inventors of the present invention spray-dried an oil-in-water emulsion composition containing a chocolate component, processed starch, and water, and obtained dried product was obtained as a diglycerin fatty acid ester. Or, by coating with a coating agent containing a triglycerin fatty acid ester, it was found that a readily soluble chocolate powder with improved wettability and solubility in water was obtained, and the present invention was completed based on this finding. .

That is, the present invention
(1) An oil-in-water emulsion composition containing a chocolate component, processed starch and water is spray-dried, and the resulting dried product is coated with a coating agent containing diglycerin fatty acid ester or triglycerin fatty acid ester. A method for producing a readily soluble chocolate powder,
(2) The method for producing a readily soluble chocolate powder according to (1), wherein the diglycerin fatty acid ester is a diglycerin monofatty acid ester having a monoester content of 70% by mass or more,
(3) The method for producing a readily soluble chocolate powder according to (1), wherein the triglycerin fatty acid ester is a triglycerin monofatty acid ester having a monoester content of 70% by mass or more,
(4) The method for producing a readily soluble chocolate powder according to any one of (1) to (3), wherein the coating agent is an oil / fat composition further containing an oil / fat,
About.

  According to the method of the present invention, it is possible to obtain a readily soluble chocolate powder having the flavor and richness of chocolate and having improved wettability and solubility in water.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail.

  This invention spray-drys the oil-in-water emulsion composition containing a chocolate component, processed starch, and water, and coat | covers the obtained dried material with the coating agent containing a diglycerol fatty acid ester or a triglycerol fatty acid ester. It is related with the manufacturing method of the easily soluble chocolate powder characterized.

  Examples of the chocolate component used in the present invention include one or more selected from the group of cacao mass, cocoa butter, cocoa butter substitute fat and chocolate dough. The cocoa cake, kibble or cocoa powder is included in the chocolate component referred to in the present invention as long as it is used in combination with one or more selected from the group of cacao mass, cocoa butter, cocoa butter fat and chocolate dough.

  The cocoa butter substitute fat includes triacylglycerol having a molecular structure and physical properties similar to cocoa butter and triacylglycerol having only physical properties similar to cocoa butter. The former is made by vegetable fractionation using vegetable oils such as shea fat, palm oil, monkey fat or borneo fat as raw materials. The latter are made from lauric vegetable oils such as coconut oil or palm kernel oil, and are made by curing, transesterification or solvent fractionation, or soybean oil or cottonseed oil with a lot of trans acid. There are two types: hardened oils and those made by solvent separation.

  As the chocolate dough, a mixture of at least one or more selected from the group of cacao mass, cocoa butter and cocoa butter substitute, and auxiliary materials generally used for chocolate production, such as sugar, milk components or flavors, For example, bitter chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, or the like may be mentioned as a mixture of the mixture or a refined version of the mixture. Cocoa cake, kibble or cocoa powder can be added as an auxiliary material according to preference.

  The modified starch used in the present invention is an ester of starch and an organic acid or an alkyl or an alkenyl derivative thereof having 1 to 20 carbon atoms, such as acetate esterified starch or phosphate esterified Starch, succinate esterified starch, alkenyl succinate esterified starch and the like can be mentioned. Moreover, what processed these starches, such as gelatinization or a hydrolysis, can be used. These modified starches can be used singly or as a mixture of two or more, and are preferably those obtained by subjecting an alkenyl succinic esterified starch to an α-treatment.

  Here, the alkenyl succinate esterified starch is preferably octenyl succinate esterified starch, decenyl succinate esterified starch, dodecenyl succinate esterified starch, tetradecenyl succinate esterified starch, hexadecenyl succinate esterified starch Alternatively, octadecenyl succinate esterified starch and the like can be mentioned, and octenyl succinate esterified starch or a salt thereof is more preferable. Examples of the octenyl succinic esterified starch include Emulstar 30A (manufactured by Matsutani Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.) or Purity Gum BE, Purity Gum 1773, N Creamer 46, Capsule (manufactured by National Starch and Chemical Co., Ltd.) and the like.

  Although there is no restriction | limiting in the ratio of solid content (chocolate component, processed starch, etc.) and water | moisture content in 100 mass% of oil-in-water emulsion compositions which concern on this invention, solid component density | concentration is about 20-60 mass% and water | moisture content is about 80. It is preferable to adjust so that it may become ~ 40 mass%. In the solid content of 100% by mass, the chocolate component is contained in an amount of about 20-60% by mass, preferably about 35-50% by mass, processed starch about 1.0-40% by mass, preferably about 3.0-15% by mass. It is.

  Moreover, an excipient | filler etc. can further be mix | blended in the said oil-in-water emulsion composition. Examples of the excipient include those usually used in the manufacture of powdered oils and fats, such as lactose, dextrin, powdered starch syrup, malto-oligosaccharides such as maltose, maltotriose, maltotetraose, maltopentaose or maltohexaose, or trehalose. Can be mentioned.

  In the oil-in-water emulsion composition, glycerin fatty acid ester, sucrose fatty acid ester, sorbitan fatty acid ester, propylene glycol fatty acid ester, lecithin, polyoxyethylene sorbitan fatty acid ester, etc., as long as the object of the present invention is not impaired. Food grade emulsifiers can be added. Here, glycerin fatty acid ester is glycerin and fatty acid ester, glycerin acetic acid ester, glycerin acetic acid fatty acid ester, glycerin lactic acid fatty acid ester, glycerin succinic acid fatty acid ester, glycerin diacetyl tartaric acid fatty acid ester, polyglycerin. Fatty acid esters or polyglycerin condensed ricinoleic acid esters are included. In addition, lecithin includes fractionated lecithin, enzyme-decomposed lecithin, enzyme-treated lecithin, and the like.

The method for producing the oil-in-water emulsion composition according to the present invention is not particularly limited, and a method known per se can be used. Below, the manufacturing method of a preferable oil-in-water emulsion composition is illustrated. For example, processed starch and optionally excipients and the like are dispersed or dissolved in water heated to about 50 to 80 ° C., preferably about 60 to 70 ° C., and about 50 to 70 in this dispersed or dissolved solution. It can manufacture by the method of emulsifying for about 10 to 60 minutes with stirring time at the rotation speed of about 8000-20000 rpm using a high-speed rotation type homogenizer, adding the chocolate component fuse | melted at 0 degreeC gradually. The apparatus for producing the oil-in-water emulsion composition is not particularly limited. For example, a normal stirring / mixing tank equipped with a stirrer (for example, a high-speed rotating homogenizer), a heating jacket, a baffle plate, and the like is used. Can be used. As a high-speed rotation type homogenizer of a preferable stirrer to be equipped, TK homomixer (manufactured by Tokushu Kika Kogyo Co., Ltd.) or Claremix (manufactured by Mtechnic Co., Ltd.) can be mentioned. Further, in order to further homogenize the liquid emulsified by these apparatuses, it is preferable to further emulsify and homogenize by further treating with a high-pressure homogenizer at about 19.6 to 49.0 MPa for about 1 to 3 times. . As the high-pressure homogenizer, for example, an APV gorin homogenizer (manufactured by APV), a microfluidizer (manufactured by Microfluidics), an optimizer (manufactured by Sugino Machine) or a nanomizer (manufactured by Daiwa Steel) is preferable. Can be used. Instead of or in addition to the homogenizer, a homogenizer such as an ultrasonic emulsifier may be used.
The average particle size of the oil in the oil-in-water emulsion composition to be obtained is not particularly limited, but is preferably about 10 μm or less, more preferably about 1 μm or less.

  Next, by drying the oil-in-water emulsion composition prepared above, a dried product (chocolate powder) having good fluidity can be obtained. Examples of the drying method include spray drying, drum drying, belt drying, vacuum drying, vacuum freeze drying, and the like, and any of them can be preferably used, but spray drying is particularly preferable. For the spray drying, it is preferable to use an apparatus known per se, for example, a pressure nozzle type spray drying apparatus, a spray type spray drying apparatus or a rotary disk type spray drying apparatus. As a spray drying method, for example, an oil-in-water emulsion composition is supplied to a pressure nozzle type spray drying apparatus, and sprayed and dried, for example, under conditions of a hot air inlet temperature of about 150 to 270 ° C. and an exhaust temperature of about 70 to 130 ° C. To do. Dry matter (chocolate powder) is collected in a cyclone.

The dried product (chocolate powder) thus prepared has a chocolate component of about 20 to 60% by mass, preferably about 35 to 50% by mass, and processed starch of about 1.0 to 100% by mass in 100% by mass of the dried product. 40% by weight, preferably about 3.0-15% by weight, and about 0-79% by weight of excipients, preferably about 35-62% by weight.
The average particle size of the dried product (chocolate powder) thus prepared is about 20 to 200 μm, preferably about 50 to 100 μm. Further, the loss on drying of the dried product (chocolate powder) is about 10% by mass or less, preferably about 7% by mass or less, more preferably about 5% by mass or less.

  Although the above dried product (chocolate powder) has the flavor and richness of chocolate, it does not wet well, does not easily disperse / dissolve, becomes “mako” or “dama”, and the powder remains floating on the water surface. On the contrary, it is difficult to dissolve uniformly in the liquid by sedimentation and precipitation. Therefore, in order to improve the wettability and solubility of chocolate powder in water, the dried product is preferably coated with a coating agent containing diglycerin fatty acid ester or triglycerin fatty acid ester. Any coating agent may be used as long as it can form a film of diglycerin fatty acid ester or triglycerin fatty acid ester on chocolate powder. The diglycerin fatty acid ester or the triglycerin fatty acid ester can be used as a coating agent as it is or after being heated to about 40 to 60 ° C. Further, diglycerin fatty acid ester or triglycerin fatty acid ester can be used as a coating agent by dispersing or dissolving in water or alcohol (for example, ethanol). Moreover, diglycerol fatty acid ester or triglycerol fatty acid ester can be melt | dissolved in fats and oils, and it can also be used as a coating agent with the form of fats and oils composition. Preferably, it is the form of an oil-and-fat composition.

  The diglycerin fatty acid ester or triglycerin fatty acid ester used for the coating agent in the present invention is an esterification product of diglycerin or triglycerin and a fatty acid, and is produced by a method known per se such as an esterification reaction.

  The diglycerin or triglycerin is a mixture of polyglycerin having different degrees of polymerization, which is usually obtained by heating glycerin, glycidol, epichlorohydrin, or the like to cause a polycondensation reaction.

  As the diglycerin, the diglycerin composition having an average degree of polymerization of glycerin of about 1.5 to 2.4, or the content of diglycerin composed of two molecules of glycerin is about 50% by mass or more, preferably about 70% by mass. As mentioned above, More preferably, the diglycerin composition which is about 90 mass% or more is mentioned. The triglycerin has a triglycerin composition having an average degree of polymerization of glycerin of about 2.5 to 3.4, or a triglycerin content of 3 molecules of glycerin of about 50% by mass or more, preferably about 70% by mass. %, More preferably about 90% by mass or more of a triglycerin composition. As a purification method for increasing the concentration of diglycerin or triglycerin, a method known per se such as distillation or column chromatography is used.

  The fatty acid is not particularly limited as long as it is derived from edible animal and vegetable oils and fats. For example, a straight chain saturated or unsaturated fatty acid having 6 to 24 carbon atoms, preferably a straight chain having 8 to 18 carbon atoms. Saturated or unsaturated fatty acids, more preferably linear unsaturated fatty acids having 18 carbon atoms are mentioned. For example, specific examples include one or more fatty acids selected from the group of oleic acid, linoleic acid and linolenic acid, preferably containing about 50% by weight or more, more preferably about 70% by weight or more of oleic acid. Or fatty acid mixtures.

  The diglycerin fatty acid ester used for the coating agent in the present invention is preferably a diglycerin monofatty acid ester containing a monoester content of 70% by mass or more. The diglycerin monofatty acid ester can be produced by the following method. First, unreacted diglycerin, diglycerin monooleic acid ester, diglycerin dioleic acid ester, diglycerin trioleic acid ester by esterifying diglycerin and fatty acid, for example oleic acid, in equimolar amount, for example. And a mixture containing diglycerin tetraoleate and the like. Next, unreacted diglycerin and the like are removed from the mixture by a method known per se, for example, distillation at a low vacuum, and further, for example, molecular distillation using a falling film molecular distillation device or a centrifugal molecular distillation device. By doing so, diglycerin monooleate having a monoester content of about 70% by mass or more is obtained as a fraction. Incidentally, the HLB (theoretical value) of diglycerin monooleate having a monoester content of about 70% by mass or more is 6.89.

  Preferable examples of the triglycerin fatty acid ester used for the coating agent in the present invention include triglycerin monofatty acid ester containing a monoester content of 70% by mass or more. The triglycerin monofatty acid ester can be produced by the following method. First, an unreacted triglycerin, triglycerin monooleic acid ester, triglycerin dioleic acid ester, triglycerin trioleic acid ester is obtained by esterifying triglycerin and a fatty acid such as oleic acid, for example, in an equimolar amount. , Triglycerin tetraoleate and triglycerin pentaoleate are obtained. Next, a method known per se from the mixture, for example, adding a mixed solvent containing a water-soluble organic solvent and water to the mixture, mixing and then separating the solution to remove unreacted triglycerin, etc. For example, a triglycerin monooleate having a monoester content of about 70% by mass or more can be obtained as an extract by a solvent purification method using a combination of organic solvents. Further, for example, the same monoester purity can be obtained by molecularly distilling the mixture or using a chromatographic technique. Incidentally, the HLB (theoretical value) of triglycerin monooleate having a monoester content of about 70% by mass or more is 8.81.

  When the diglycerin fatty acid ester or triglycerin fatty acid ester used for the coating agent in the present invention is used by being dispersed or dissolved in alcohol (for example, ethanol), the concentration thereof is about 0.1 to 90% by mass, preferably Is about 5 to 80% by mass. When the diglycerin fatty acid ester or triglycerin fatty acid ester is used after being dispersed or dissolved in water, the concentration is about 0.1 to 15% by mass, preferably about 0.1 to 10% by mass. .

  When the diglycerin fatty acid ester or triglycerin fatty acid ester used in the coating agent in the present invention is used in the form of an oil or fat composition, the oil or fat used in the oil or fat composition is not particularly limited as long as it is an edible oil or fat. Can also be preferably used. Such fats and oils include, for example, soybean oil, rapeseed oil, cottonseed oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, rice bran oil, corn oil, coconut oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil, peanut oil, olive oil, high oleic rapeseed oil, high oleic sausage. Vegetable oils such as flower oil, high oleic corn oil or high oleic sunflower oil, animal fats such as beef tallow, lard, fish oil or milk fat, and other animal and vegetable oils separated, hydrogenated or transesterified, or medium chain fatty acids Examples thereof include triglyceride (MCT), and preferred is soybean oil, rapeseed oil or medium chain fatty acid triglyceride (MCT).

  The medium chain fatty acid triglyceride (MCT) is a triglyceride having a medium chain fatty acid as a constituent component, and is selected from the group consisting of caproic acid, which is a fatty acid having 6 carbon atoms, and lauric acid, which is a fatty acid having 12 carbon atoms, for example. And triglycerides having one or more of the constituent fatty acids as constituent fatty acids. Preferably, it is a triglyceride having one or more selected from the group consisting of caprylic acid, which is a fatty acid having 8 carbon atoms, and lauric acid, which is a fatty acid having 12 carbon atoms, as its constituent fatty acid. Furthermore, in addition to fatty acids having 6 to 12 carbon atoms, triglycerides containing a slight or small amount of fatty acids having less than 6 carbon atoms or 13 or more carbon atoms as the constituent fatty acids are also included in the medium-chain fatty acid triglycerides (MCT). included.

  In the oil and fat composition, diglycerin fatty acid ester or triglycerin fatty acid ester is about 0.1 to 80% by mass, preferably about 5 to 50% by mass, and fat and oil is about 20 to 99% by mass, preferably about 40 to 40%. It is preferable that 95% by mass is mixed and dissolved. Moreover, it is preferable that the obtained oil-and-fat composition exhibits transparency and liquid state at normal temperature (about 15 to 25 ° C.).

  Although it does not specifically limit as a manufacturing method of the said fats and oils composition, For example, diglycerin fatty acid ester or triglycerin fatty acid ester and fats and oils are put into a normal stirring and mixing tank provided with a stirrer, a jacket for heating, or a baffle plate, for example. In addition, it can be produced by mixing and dissolving under stirring at about 20 to 100 ° C., preferably about 50 to 70 ° C. The shape of the agitating blade provided in the agitator may be any of a propeller type, a cross shape, a fan turbine type, a disc turbine type or an anchor type, but is preferably a propeller type.

  In the coating agent according to the present invention, glycerin fatty acid ester, sucrose fatty acid ester, sorbitan fatty acid ester, propylene glycol fatty acid ester, lecithin, polyoxyethylene sorbitan fatty acid ester, etc. Food emulsifiers can be added. Here, glycerin fatty acid ester includes glycerin and fatty acid ester, glycerin acetate ester, glycerin acetic acid fatty acid ester, glycerin lactic acid fatty acid ester, glycerin citrate fatty acid ester, glycerin succinic acid fatty acid ester, glycerin diacetyl tartaric acid fatty acid ester, poly Glycerin fatty acid ester (except diglycerin fatty acid ester or triglycerin fatty acid ester) or polyglycerin condensed ricinoleic acid ester may be included. In addition, lecithin includes fractionated lecithin, enzyme-decomposed lecithin, enzyme-treated lecithin, and the like.

  Although the method of processing a dried material (chocolate powder) using the said coating agent is not specifically limited, For example, the said dried material (chocolate powder) is made into a fluid state using a fluidized bed granulation dryer etc., and a coating agent is set there. It may be carried out by a method known per se such as a method of spraying, coating or granulating, or a method of coating the dried product with a stirring agent using a stirring mixer / granulator. In that case, it is preferable that about 0.1-20 mass parts of coating agents are used with respect to about 100 mass parts of dried products (chocolate powder).

  According to the present invention, a readily soluble chocolate powder with improved water wetting and solubility is obtained. Furthermore, in order to further increase the solubility, the readily soluble chocolate powder is granulated by, for example, spraying an aqueous solution of sugars, etc., using a fluidized bed granulator / dryer or a stirring type mixer / granulator, etc. It can also be made into a shape.

  In the present invention, sugars, dairy products, or other edible substances such as salt or fragrance are added to the readily soluble chocolate powder with improved water wettability and solubility, and the mixture is stirred and mixed using a mixer. It can grind | pulverize using a grinder and can be commercialized as a powdered chocolate drink. Here, the saccharides include sugar, powdered sugar, lactose, glucose, fructose, maltose, powdered starch syrup, oligosaccharide or trehalose, sorbitol, mannitol, palatinit, maltitol, raffinose, erythritol, lactitol, xylitol, etc. Other sugar alcohols can also be used. Examples of dairy products include whole milk powder, skim milk powder, powdered fresh cream, condensed milk powder, or creaming powder using dairy products.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described more specifically based on reference examples and examples. However, the present invention is not limited to these examples.

[Reference Example 1]
Preparation of triglycerol monooleate containing 70% by mass or more of monoester 40 g of calcium oxide was added to 20 kg of glycerol, and after glycerol condensation reaction at 260 ° C. for 3 hours, 72 g of phosphoric acid was added and neutralized. Cooled down. The obtained reaction product was glycerin 59 mass%, diglycerin 23 mass%, triglycerin 12 mass%, tetraglycerin 5 mass%, and pentaglycerin 1 mass%. The composition was subjected to molecular distillation, and the fraction was distilled off in order while increasing the distillation temperature in a vacuum condition of 20 Pa to obtain about 1.5 kg of a fraction containing 90% by mass of triglycerin.
After this triglycerin was purified by treatment with activated carbon, 192 g of oleic acid (purity 80% by mass or more; manufactured by Kanto Chemical Co., Inc.) and 3.5 g of 10% by mass sodium hydroxide aqueous solution were added to 158 g of the triglycerin. A time esterification reaction was performed. After completion of the esterification reaction, the reaction solution is allowed to stand for 15 minutes while being kept at 130 ° C., whereby the reaction solution is separated into two layers, the layer containing unreacted triglycerin is removed, and triglycerin monooleate is obtained. It was. Next, the obtained triglycerol monooleate was purified according to the following procedure.
1) After adding 1500 ml of ethyl acetate to 150 g of the obtained reaction product and dissolving at 50 ° C., 1500 ml of distilled water at 50 ° C. was added and mixed well. After standing at that temperature for 30 minutes, the lower layer (aqueous phase) was separated and removed, and the upper layer (oil phase) was recovered.
2) The upper layer (oil phase) was concentrated, and 1500 ml of ethanol was added to the obtained oily concentrate and dissolved at 50 ° C., and then 1500 ml of distilled water at 50 ° C. was added and mixed well. After standing at that temperature for 30 minutes, the lower layer (aqueous phase) was recovered.
3) The lower layer (aqueous phase) was concentrated, and 1500 ml of hexane was added to the resulting oily concentrate and dissolved at 50 ° C., and then 1500 ml of ethanol at 50 ° C. was added and mixed well. After standing at that temperature for 30 minutes, the lower layer (ethanol phase) was recovered.
4) The lower layer (ethanol phase) was concentrated to obtain about 50 g of triglycerin monooleate (Reference Example 1) having a monoester content of 70.9% by mass.

[Reference Example 2]
Preparation of chocolate powder (1) Chocolate powder material 1) Cacao mass (Product name: Cacao mass; manufactured by Fuji Oil Co., Ltd.)
2) Modified starch (product name: Emulstar 30A; manufactured by Matsutani Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.)
3) Dextrin (Product name: Paindex # 3; made by Matsutani Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.)
(2) Compounding of chocolate powder Table 1 shows the compounding ratio of the chocolate powder material.

(3) Production of chocolate powder 1) A 3 L stainless steel beaker was charged with 1000 ml of purified water and heated to 60 ° C.
2) While stirring at low speed with a TK homomixer (model: MARK 2.5; manufactured by Tokushu Kika Kogyo Co., Ltd.), 100 g of processed starch and 500 g of dextrin were added and dissolved to obtain a solution such as processed starch.
3) 400 g of cacao mass heated to about 60 ° C. was gradually added to the solution obtained in 2) above, followed by stirring and emulsification at 7000 rpm for 10 minutes to obtain an oil-in-water emulsion. The total amount of raw materials other than water was 1000 g.
4) The emulsion obtained in 3) above was passed once at 20 MPa with a high-pressure homogenizer (model: LAB1000; manufactured by APV), and homogenized.
5) The obtained homogenized liquid is spray-dried under the conditions of a hot air inlet temperature of 175 ° C. and an exhaust temperature of 90 ° C. in a pressure nozzle type spray drying apparatus (model: L-8i; manufactured by Okawara Chemical Co., Ltd.). The dried product was collected with a cyclone to obtain 740 g of a dried product (chocolate powder). The obtained dried product had a loss on drying of 1.5% by mass, no oil leakage, excellent fluidity, and good powder quality.

[Reference Example 3]
Preparation of coating agent (1) Raw material for preparation of coating agent 1) Diglycerin monooleate (Product name: Poem DO-100V, monoester content of about 80% by mass; manufactured by Riken Vitamin Co., Ltd.)
2) Triglycerin monooleate of Reference Example 1 3) Hexaglyceryl monooleate (product name: NIKKOL Hexaglyn 1-O; manufactured by Nikko Chemicals)
4) Decaglyceryl monooleate (Product name: NIKKOL Decaglyn 1-O; manufactured by Nikko Chemicals)
5) MCT (edible oil (medium chain fatty acid triglyceride)) (Product name: Actor M-2; manufactured by Riken Vitamin Co., Ltd.)
(2) Formulation of coating agent Various coating agents (coating agents Nos. 1 to 4) were prepared by blending the raw materials for preparing the coating agent of (1) above. Coating No. Table 2 shows the composition of 1-4.

(3) Preparation method of coating agent Based on the mixing ratio of raw materials shown in Table 2, a predetermined raw material is put into a 300 ml beaker and heated to 60 ° C., and a stirrer (product name: three-one motor, model: FBL- 600, manufactured by HEIDON), the mixture was mixed and dissolved while stirring at 200 rpm. The amount of each coating agent treated was 200 g.

[Example 1]
Preparation of readily soluble chocolate powder 800 g of the dried product (chocolate powder) prepared in Reference Example 2 was put into a fluidized granulation dryer (product name: flow coater, model: FL-MINI; manufactured by Freund Sangyo Co., Ltd.) to obtain a fluid state. Then, the coating material No. 1 (16 g) was sprayed to obtain an easily soluble chocolate powder. The operating conditions of the fluidized granulator dryer are shown below.
<Operating conditions of fluidized granulator>
Inlet air temperature: 70 ℃
Exhaust air temperature: 50 ° C
Exhaust fan air volume: 0.4 m ³ / min
Spray pressure: 196 kPa
Flow rate: 5 ml / min
Processing time: 15 minutes

[Example 2]
Coating No. In place of coating No. 1 Except that 2 was used, an easily soluble chocolate powder was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1.

[Comparative Example]
Coating No. In place of coating No. 1 Chocolate powder (Comparative Examples 1 and 2) was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that 3 or 4 was used.
Further, as a control, the same treatment was performed using only MCT instead of the coating agent to obtain a chocolate powder (control product).

  Table 3 shows the yield and powder quality of the obtained Examples 1 and 2, Comparative Examples 1 and 2, and the control product.

[Test Example 1]
Wetness and solubility test of chocolate powder (1) Preparation of sample Obtained easily soluble chocolate powder (Examples 1 and 2), chocolate powder (Comparative Examples 1 and 2), control product and chocolate powder obtained in Reference Example 2 10 g and 10 g of powdered sugar were mixed uniformly to prepare a sample.
(2) Test method 200 ml of 20 ° C. purified water was put in a 300 ml beaker, and 20 g of each of the above samples was gently put on the water surface while stirring at 400 rpm using a three-one motor (model: FBL-600; manufactured by HEIDON). Wetting (time until the sample completely submerges from the water surface (seconds)) and solubility (time until the sample completely disperses and dissolves (seconds)) were measured. The results are shown in Table 4.

  As is apparent from the results in Table 4, Example 1 and Example 2 consisting of the readily soluble chocolate powder according to the present invention were completely dispersed and dissolved within about 1 minute. On the other hand, Comparative Example 1 and Comparative Example 2 consisting of chocolate powder treated with a coating agent containing a polyglycerin fatty acid ester different from the present invention requires approximately 3 minutes or more to completely disperse and dissolve, It was proved that the easily soluble chocolate powder obtained by the method for producing the easily soluble chocolate powder according to the above was excellent.

  The readily soluble chocolate powder according to the present invention and a product obtained by processing the powder are used as a material for sprinkling on the cake surface, etc., in addition to being dispersed and dissolved in water, hot water, milk or the like to be drunk as a chocolate beverage. Moreover, the flavor and richness of chocolate can be provided by adding to cake dough, biscuit dough, or the like.

Claims (4)

  An oil-in-water emulsion composition containing a chocolate component, modified starch and water is spray-dried, and the resulting dried product is coated with a coating agent containing diglycerin fatty acid ester or triglycerin fatty acid ester. Manufacturing method of soluble chocolate powder.   The method for producing a readily soluble chocolate powder according to claim 1, wherein the diglycerin fatty acid ester is a diglycerin monofatty acid ester having a monoester content of 70% by mass or more.   The method for producing a readily soluble chocolate powder according to claim 1, wherein the triglycerin fatty acid ester is a triglycerin monofatty acid ester having a monoester content of 70% by mass or more. The method for producing a readily soluble chocolate powder according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the coating agent is an oil and fat composition further containing an oil and fat.