JP2007028931A - Dried food - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide highly palatable dried food whose flavor and color tone inherent in vegetable are close to those of natural one, directly or indirectly taken without spoiling nutritional components and characteristics thereof. <P>SOLUTION: The dried food comprises leaves and/or stalk parts each of sugar beet as raw material, is obtained through drying the raw material, has no grassy smell and bitter taste, and is easily taken and excellent in palatability. The dried food is dried through frozen dry, has flavor and color tone inherent in vegetable close to natural ones, maintains nutritious components and characteristics, and can be directly or indirectly taken. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a dry food, and more particularly to a dry food made from sugar beet leaves and / or stems, which can be widely used as a taste food, a nutritional supplement, or a topping material.

  In order for humans to maintain and improve their health, it is essential to take nutrients of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals from a diet in a balanced manner, and in addition to these nutrients, dietary fiber The importance of ingesting is screamed. In recent years, oligosaccharides have attracted particular attention from the viewpoint of functions such as disease prevention. Raffinose, a kind of oligosaccharide, has been confirmed to have an intestinal regulating action, an immunostimulatory action, a liver function improving action and an atopic dermatitis improving action (see, for example, Patent Document 1, Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2), In particular, it is recognized as a food material for specified health use in the intestinal regulation. However, in Japan, the intake of animal foods has increased along with the westernization of eating habits, and the intake of green foods such as cereals and vegetables as staple foods has decreased. Such reduced intake of vegetables has led to an inadequate intake of vitamins, minerals and even dietary fiber. In addition, the consumption of cereals has been decreasing, and the refinement level has been increased with the aim of improving the taste, and the intake of dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals, etc. tends to further decrease. The “National Health Promotion Movement in the 21st Century (Healthy Japan 21)”, which aims to create a healthy and energetic society, aims to consume 350 to 400 g of vegetables a day from the viewpoint of lifestyle-related disease prevention. According to the annual national health and nutrition survey, the average daily intake of vegetables by adults is 293 g, and the intake is insufficient by about 100 g. In order to make up for this deficiency, it is possible to ingest foods with enhanced ingredients such as dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals, but it is basically desirable to ingest them as normal vegetables (natural ingredients) . However, a natural material rich in nutritional components such as dietary fiber and excellent in palatability has not been found.

  Conventionally, attempts have been made to dry vegetables for the purpose of use in instant foods (see, for example, Patent Documents 2 and 3). Examples of the drying method include natural drying of the raw material, hot air drying, freeze drying, drying under reduced pressure, etc., but natural drying is inexpensive, but takes time for drying, browning during drying, Discoloration such as blackening is likely to proceed, and hot air drying has disadvantages such as deterioration in quality due to heating. Moreover, when utilizing vegetables as snack foods, such as a vegetable chip, the method of frying vegetables is known. However, in this method, in the case of frying at normal pressure, the vegetables are brought to a temperature of 100 ° C. or higher, and the natural feeling of the vegetables cannot be maintained. When fried at low temperature under reduced pressure, the flavor is less likely to be lost, but if you try to consume a lot of vegetables, you will inevitably consume a large amount of fats and oils, and you will eat vegetables as a health food. It was not preferable.

  Beet oligosaccharide raw materials are used for food because of their firmness, except for leaves and stems other than roots used as raw materials, as part of livestock feed. It was not done.

JP 11-255656 A, page 3, right column, lines 3 to 20 JP-A-6-233651 JP-A-8-210 Dentistry, 1998, Vol. 85, No. 4, p. 551-558 Allergy Clinical, 1998, Vol. 18, p. 1092-1095

  Under the circumstances described above, there has been a demand for a health food material that has a flavor and color that are inherent to vegetables, is natural, and does not impair nutritional components and characteristics, and that is palatable. That is, an object of the present invention is to provide a dry food that is excellent in palatability and does not impair the properties inherent in vegetables and is rich in nutrients and functional ingredients.

  As a result of diligent research to solve the above problems, the present inventors have found that dried foods using sugar beet leaves and / or stems have no blue odor or bitter taste, are excellent in palatability, and contain nutrients and functional ingredients. The present invention was completed by finding that it is abundantly contained. That is, the first invention of the present application lies in a dry food characterized in that it is dried from a sugar beet leaf and / or stem. In addition, the second invention of the present application is the dried food characterized in that the sugar beet is cultivated without agricultural chemicals, and the third invention is characterized in that the drying process is a freeze-drying process. To be in the dry food above. Furthermore, a fourth invention of the present application lies in a method for ingesting vegetables characterized by ingesting 0.5 g to 10 g of the dry food per day for an adult.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION By this invention, the dried food excellent in both palatability and nutrition can be provided which utilized the sugar beet leaf and stem part effectively. Furthermore, by the process of freeze-drying, the color tone is close to nature, and particularly excellent dry food can be provided from the viewpoint of palatability such as flavor and texture, and effective use of nutrients and functional ingredients.

  The present invention will be described in detail below. Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris var. Rapa) is a plant of the red crustaceae, also called sugar beet or beet, which has been improved from wild species native to Europe. In Japan, it is a perennial plant grown in northern Honshu and Hokkaido. . The plant height is 60 to 90 cm, and the roots are white to yellowish white, fleshy and swell in a spindle shape. Long egg-shaped leaves with long patterns from the roots cluster, and the leaf quality is thick. The root contains 15 to 18% sucrose and is a raw material for beet sugar (beet oligosaccharide). Nutrients and functional components such as beet oligosaccharides, dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals are also contained in the leaves and stems that are the raw materials of the dried food of the present application. In particular, beet oligosaccharides contain raffinose, which is a functional component, and are particularly excellent nutritionally. The results of component analysis of sugar beet leaves and stems are shown in Table 1 together with other vegetable components (extracted from the 5th edition Japanese food standard component table).

  As can be seen from the comparison in Table 1, sugar beet leaves and stems contain a large amount of carbohydrates, especially carbohydrates, which are the total amount of carbohydrates and dietary fiber, and contain many other nutrients such as magnesium and vitamin B6. It has a characteristic composition. In particular, since there are many carbohydrates, it has a sweet taste and has excellent palatability when taken as it is.

  The dried food of the present application is prepared by using sugar beet leaves and / or stems as raw materials, and the leaves and stems used are those obtained from sugar beet by a general cultivation method using pesticides. It is sufficient to use it, but if it is a sugar beet grown without pesticides, it is not necessary to worry about the effects of pesticides that may remain on the leaves or stems, so it is preferably used in the present invention. General methods used for the drying treatment include natural drying, hot air drying, freeze drying, reduced pressure drying, and the like. However, when the freeze drying method is used, there is no alteration due to heat, the flavor inherent in vegetables and The color tone is also close to nature, and it is preferable because a product with particularly excellent palatability can be obtained without impairing nutritional components and characteristics.

  The dried food of the present application preferably has a size of a fine solid or more. If it is in the form of fine solid or powder smaller than this size, sufficient texture cannot be obtained, and it is inferior in appearance, and as an application method as a food material, a liquid such as water is suspended. It is necessary to ingest or formulate it together with other ingredients, and the excellent flavor of the dried food of the present application cannot be fully utilized. As a specific size, it is preferable to have a size in which the opening of the eyes does not pass through a 3 mm sieve in a dry state. Although there is no clear regulation as the upper limit of the size, it is difficult to ingest as a food unless the maximum thickness is 5 cm or less. If it is preferably 1.5 cm or less, it is easy to ingest, a crispy texture is obtained, and it can be applied to various uses as a new food material.

  In order to obtain the dried food of the specific form, the leaves and stems of sugar beet are shredded to a preferred size at the raw material stage and dried, or the leaves and stems remain as they are or have an appropriate size. The method of drying the thing cut into, and shredding the dried product to a preferred size using a cutter or the like. When the method of chopping after drying is used, fine powder, fine powder, and the like may be generated. Therefore, it is preferable to remove these by sieving or the like as necessary.

As a method for producing the dried food of the present invention, in particular, a method of chopping sugar beet leaves and / or stems and then freeze-drying them from the viewpoints of taste, texture, etc. Adopted as a preferred method. Specifically, first, after harvesting sugar beet leaves and stems, a washing step of washing with water is performed in order to wash off mud and the like. This washing step is preferably performed with water at 25 ° C. or lower. The wash water may be tap water or well water suitable for general drinking. However, when alkaline ionized water is used, the flavor of the sugar beet leaves and stems is further improved, and the chlorophyll in the sugar beet becomes stable chlorophyllin. It is preferable because it is converted and the fresh green color of the sugar beet can be maintained.

  After washing, a step of chopping to an appropriate size, for example, 5 cm or less, preferably 1.5 cm or less, is performed using a cutter, a slicer, or the like.

  Moreover, you may perform a branching process as needed. The blanching treatment is a treatment for preventing sterilization and enzyme deactivation by, for example, exposing to hot water at about 80 to 100 ° C. for 30 to 60 seconds, and preventing browning reaction by the enzyme in the subsequent steps. is there. By adding salts to the hot water to be used for blanching, it is possible to keep the sugar beet cell tissue well after lyophilization. However, since salts remain after freeze-drying, there is no need to perform this particularly when paying special attention to health.

  When the shredding process is completed, a process of freezing in a known freezer set to, for example, -20 ° C or lower is performed in an atmosphere set to -20 ° C or lower, with as little time as possible. In this freezing step, rapid freezing is preferably performed in an atmosphere set to −30 ° C. or lower, more preferably in an atmosphere set to −40 ° C. or lower so that ice crystals do not occur. After freezing, freeze-dry by vacuum drying. Freeze-drying can be carried out under general freeze-drying conditions. For example, the degree of vacuum is preferably in the range of 1.0 to 0.01 mmHg.

  Since the dried food of the present invention has been subjected to a drying treatment, the flavor is enhanced in taste and a new texture can be obtained as compared with the original food material. The dried food of the present invention is sufficiently delicious even if it is eaten as it is, and as a supplementary health food that compensates for the inadequate intake of vegetables, even if it is taken as it is, it is seasoned or flavored to further enhance the palatability, It can also be taken as a snack food. Moreover, it is also possible to take it with other foods by making use of its flavor as a topping agent, sprinkle, a tea pickle, etc. Furthermore, it can be applied as ingredients for instant foods such as noodles and soups.

  Since the dried food of the present invention is excellent in palatability, it can be ingested on a daily basis, and can be ingested as an auxiliary food or a health food that compensates for the inadequate intake of vegetables. As an intake, an appropriate amount may be ingested according to personal preference, but as a guideline, 0.5 g to 10 g of the present dry food per day for adults, or sugar beet leaves and / or stems as raw materials It is preferable to take in an amount corresponding to 5 to 100 g as a wet weight of the food in one or more divided doses. If it is within this range, it is possible to ingest it without difficulty, and it can effectively compensate for the inadequate intake of vegetables. It is also nutritionally superior and exerts excellent effects in maintaining and promoting health. it can.

  EXAMPLES The present invention will be described below with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.

Example 1
The harvested sugar beet leaves and stems were washed with water and drained to a length of 1.5 cm. The prepared side dish was put in a freezer set at −40 ° C., and a freezing step was performed. And it vacuum-dried on the conditions of 1.0 mmHg, and obtained the freeze-dried product.

Comparative Examples 1-5
In the same manner as in Example 1, freeze-dried products were prepared using carrots, spinach, Japanese mustard spinach, bitter gourd, and celery as raw materials.

  According to the following evaluation methods, the lyophilized products of Example 1 and Comparative Examples 1 to 5 were subjected to sensory evaluation.

(Evaluation methods)
The lyophilized products of Example 1 and Comparative Examples 1 to 5 were eaten by 20 panelists, and five evaluation items related to texture and palatability were evaluated according to the evaluation criteria in Table 2. The average score of 20 panelists was used as the evaluation score for each item.

  Table 3 shows the evaluation points for the evaluation items of the freeze-dried products of Example 1 and Comparative Examples 1 to 5. As is apparent from Table 3, the lyophilized product of sugar beet leaves and stems, which is the product of the present invention, is superior in crispy texture and superior in all items in terms of palatability compared to other vegetable materials. I found out. In addition, the product of the present invention of Example 1 did not feel a sense of incongruity remaining in the mouth such as a feeling of roughness.

By using the sugar beet leaves and stems that have not been used in the past, the invention of the present application has no blue smell or bitterness and is excellent in palatability. It is possible to provide a useful dry food that can be ingested and that can effectively use its useful nutritional components, and by taking the dry food on a daily basis, it is possible to supplement intake of vegetables that tend to be insufficient Become.

Claims (4)

A dried food, characterized in that it is dried from sugar beet leaves and / or stems. The dried food according to claim 1, wherein the sugar beet is cultivated without any agricultural chemicals. The dried food according to claim 1, wherein the drying process is a freeze-drying process. A method for ingesting vegetables, characterized in that 0.5 g to 10 g of the dried food according to any one of claims 1 to 3 is ingested per day for an adult.