JP2008307027A - Tea-containing fermented food and drink, and method for producing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide tea-containing fermented food and drink having masked bitter taste and enabling easy ingestion of catechin which has various bioactivities, and to provide a method for producing the tea-containing fermented food and drink. <P>SOLUTION: The tea-containing fermented food and drink is obtained by lactic-fermenting with lactic acid bacteria, a fermentation raw material which contains dairy products and tea leaves and/or tea extract. The tea-containing fermented food and drink enables, by masking bitter taste as a cause of difficulty in ingestion, easy ingestion of catechin which has blood pressure-increase control action, blood cholesterol regulating action, blood glucose level regulating action, antioxidative effects, aging control action, antimutagenesis, anticancer, antimicrobe and anticariogenic effects, and antiallergic effects. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a fermented food / beverage product containing tea and a method for producing the same, and more particularly to a fermented food / beverage product containing tea and excellent in palatability despite containing a large amount of catechins and a method for producing the same.

  It is known that catechins contained in tea have a variety of physiological activities. These are enumerated such as blood pressure elevation inhibiting action, blood cholesterol regulating action, blood glucose level regulating action, antioxidant action, aging inhibiting action, antimutation, anticancer, antibacterial, anticariogenic, antiallergic action and the like. When trying to ingest a large amount of catechins in tea leaves, it is necessary to increase the tea leaves or boil the tea deeply, but the tea made in this way has a strong bitterness and astringency and can be ingested It is very difficult.

For this reason, conventionally, extraction of tea has been performed by adjusting the temperature of extraction in order to moderate the astringency of tea, and calculating the temperature and time carefully so as not to produce excessive astringency. Yes. Further, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a milk tea beverage that has a high aroma and suppresses the expression of astringency caused by tannin (catechin) by extracting tea with skim milk or the like.
JP 2000-32913 A

  However, the milk tea beverage of Patent Document 1 is a milk tea beverage that suppresses leakage of a tannin (catechin) component. For this reason, although astringency can be suppressed, catechin which is an effective component of tea cannot be ingested efficiently.

  This invention is made | formed in view of the above subjects, The objective is masking bitterness etc. and provides the fermented food-drinks containing tea which can ingest catechins easily, and its manufacturing method. There is.

  The inventors of the present invention have made extensive studies to solve the above problems. As a result, it has been found that the above-mentioned problems can be solved by fermenting a fermentation raw material containing dairy products and tea leaves and / or tea extract (hereinafter referred to as “tea leaves etc.”) with lactic acid bacteria, thereby completing the present invention. It came to. More specifically, the present invention provides the following.

  (1) A fermented food or drink containing tea, wherein a fermented raw material containing dairy products and tea leaves is fermented with lactic acid bacteria.

  (2) The fermented food or drink containing tea according to (1), wherein the lactic acid bacteria are animal lactic acid bacteria and / or plant lactic acid bacteria.

  (3) The tea-containing fermented food or drink according to (1) or (2), wherein the total concentration of the lactic acid bacteria used for the lactic acid fermentation is 10 ppm to 1000 ppm with respect to the fermentation raw material.

  (4) The tea-containing fermented food or drink according to any one of (1) to (3), wherein the tea-containing fermented food or drink has a pH of 3.5 to 4.7.

  (5) A method for producing a fermented food or drink containing tea, comprising a lactic acid fermentation step of fermenting a fermentation raw material containing dairy products and tea leaves with lactic acid bacteria.

  (6) A fermentation raw material preparation step in which a dairy product and tea leaves and / or tea extract are mixed to obtain a fermentation raw material, and a lactic acid bacteria addition step in which animal lactic acid bacteria and plant lactic acid bacteria are added to the fermentation raw materials, The method for producing a fermented food or beverage containing tea according to (5), further comprising: a lactic acid fermentation step in which the fermentation raw material is lactic acid fermented at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined time.

  (7) The method for producing a fermented food or drink containing tea according to (5) or (6), wherein the lactic acid bacteria fermentation is performed at a fermentation temperature of 25 ° C to 45 ° C.

  (8) The method for producing a fermented food or drink containing tea according to any one of (5) to (7), wherein the lactic acid bacteria fermentation is performed within 24 hours.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the fermented food / beverage products containing tea which can ingest catechin which is an active ingredient of tea easily, and its manufacturing method can be provided.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail. However, the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments, and can be implemented with appropriate modifications within the scope of the object of the present invention. . In addition, although description may be abbreviate | omitted suitably about the location where description overlaps, the meaning of invention is not limited.

[Fermented food with tea]
The tea-containing fermented food or drink of the present invention will be described. The fermented food and drink containing tea according to the present invention is obtained by fermenting a fermentation raw material containing dairy products and tea leaves with lactic acid bacteria. Since lactic acid bacteria are used in the present invention, bitterness and the like are masked and catechins can be ingested efficiently compared to the conventional case.

  "Dairy products" refers to products in which milk is used as a raw material, such as milk, cream, concentrated whey, ice cream, concentrated milk, defatted concentrated milk, non-sugared milk, sugar-free skimmed milk, sweetened milk, Examples include sweetened skim milk, whole milk powder, skim milk powder, cream powder, whey powder, protein concentrated whey powder, sweetened powdered milk, adjusted powdered milk, and milk beverages. Of these, milk, skim milk powder, whole milk powder, and milk protein are preferably used. In the production of these dairy products, in addition to raw milk, cream, condensed milk, skim milk powder, whole milk powder, total milk protein, whey protein, casein sodium, casein calcium and other milk-derived one or more auxiliary ingredients, vegetables One or more auxiliary ingredients such as sugar, sweetener, agar, flavor, etc. may be added to the milk.

  “Tea leaf” is not particularly limited as long as it is one obtained by picking or processing the leaves and stems of tea trees, which are warm-distance evergreen shrubs belonging to the Tsubaki (Yamacha) family, but in general, fermentation treatment during processing It is classified into non-fermented tea, semi-fermented tea, and fermented tea according to the presence or absence or the degree thereof. Non-fermented tea includes steamed tea, sencha, gyokuro, matcha, bancha, tama green tea, kettle green tea, Chinese green tea, and the like, which are collectively referred to as green tea, but have different production methods. Semi-fermented tea includes oolong tea and paochon tea, and fermented tea includes black tea. The “tea extract” means a beverage (extract) obtained by extracting an active ingredient of tea (tea leaves) into warm water or hot water, and the tea (tea leaves) as a raw material is not particularly limited. Any of non-fermented tea, semi-fermented tea, and fermented tea classified as above may be used. Moreover, the tea extract obtained by concentrating an extract may be sufficient. In addition, the tea leaf in this invention means the tea leaf (including rough tea) produced tea rather than a fresh leaf, and a stem and the like are also included.

  The form of tea is not particularly limited, but is preferably a powder, a powder extract, a liquid extract, or a combination thereof.

  The tea leaf used in the present invention is preferably a tea leaf having a high rare value containing a strong methylated catechin such as astringency. Examples are tea leaves of Assam hybrids such as Benifuuki, Benifuji, Benihore, and the like, and most preferred is Benifuuki.

［上記式中、Ｒ_１，Ｒ_２，Ｒ_３，Ｒ_４は、それぞれ独立に水素原子、メチル基のいずれかであり、Ｘ_１，Ｘ_２は、それぞれ独立に水素原子、ヒドロキシ基のどちらかである。］ The rare tea leaves such as Benifuuki contain methylated catechins having an antiallergic action. Specifically, methylated catechin is represented by the following chemical formula.

[Wherein R ₁ , R ₂ , R ₃ and R ₄ are each independently a hydrogen atom or a methyl group, and X ₁ and X ₂ are each independently a hydrogen atom or a hydroxy group. It is. ]

  In the present invention, mainly epigallocatechin-3-O- (3-O-methyl) gallate (hereinafter referred to as EGCG3 "Me), epicatechin-3-O- (3-O-methyl) gallate (hereinafter referred to as EGCG3" Me). ECG3 "Me), epicatechin-3-O- (4-O-methyl) gallate (hereinafter referred to as ECG4" Me), epigallocatechin-3-O- (4-O-methyl) gallate (hereinafter referred to as EGCG4). "Me", gallocatechin-3-O- (3-O-methyl) gallate (hereinafter referred to as GCG3 "Me), catechin-3-O- (3-O-methyl) gallate (hereinafter referred to as CG3" Me) Catechin-3-O- (4-O-methyl) gallate (hereinafter referred to as CG4 "Me) or gallocatechin-3-O- (4-O-methyl) gallate (hereinafter referred to as GCG4" Me). U) and is preferably a tea leaf comprising these isomerate.

  Extracts and powders produced using tea leaves containing strong methylated catechins such as the astringent taste described above contain methylated catechins at very high concentrations. For this reason, a product having a high antiallergic effect or the like can be easily obtained by adding a small amount of these to the product. Since these extracts and powders have extremely strong astringency and the like, they can be preferably used in the present invention.

  When the tea leaves are used as an extract, an operation of extracting the tea leaves under predetermined conditions and then concentrating them under predetermined conditions is performed. For example, the extracted tea leaves are extracted for 6 to 180 minutes using hot water / hot water at a temperature of 5 to 50 times and 40 to 150 ° C. In the extraction, warm water or hot water containing an antioxidant such as ascorbic acid or sodium ascorbate may be used. After extraction, the extract is concentrated under a predetermined condition using a conventionally known concentration method such as a vacuum concentration method or an RO membrane concentration method. Next, an extract containing methylated catechins at a high concentration is obtained by sterilization with a UHT sterilizer or the like. The methylated catechin concentration in the antiallergic extract is adjusted by appropriately changing the conditions of the above-described concentration operation, and an antiallergic extract having a desired methylated catechin concentration is obtained. Specifically, an antiallergic extract containing 5 mg to 1500 mg of methylated catechin in 100 g of extract is obtained.

  When the tea leaves are used as a powder, in addition to the above extraction and concentration operations, a drying operation for drying the obtained antiallergic extract is performed. For the drying, a conventionally known drying method such as a spray drying method or a freeze drying method can be used, and a desired antiallergic powder can be obtained by drying under a predetermined condition. Specifically, an antiallergic powder containing 40 mg to 5000 mg of methylated catechin in 100 g of powder is obtained.

  “Lactic acid bacteria” is a general term for bacteria that produce energy by degrading sugar to produce lactic acid. Although it will not specifically limit if it is a lactic acid bacterium, Preferably it is the animal lactic acid bacterium and / or plant lactic acid bacterium which have already eaten. The “animal lactic acid bacteria” is not particularly limited as long as it is a lactic acid bacterium that preferably grows on fermented foods such as milk and meat derived from animals. For example, Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium bacterium, mesenteroides and the like. The “plant lactic acid bacterium” is not particularly limited as long as it is a lactic acid bacterium that grows by using plants such as tea, rice, wheat, and fruits as nutrients. Moreover, these lactic acid bacteria can also be used individually or in combination of multiple types. In the present invention, it is more preferable to use in combination an animal lactic acid bacterium that ferments with preference for animal dairy ingredients and a plant lactic acid bacterium that favors fermentation with plant tea ingredients.

  The “fermented food and drink” is not particularly limited as long as it is a food and drink fermented with lactic acid bacteria. All of fermented milk having a nonfat milk solid content of 8% or more, dairy lactic acid bacteria drink having a nonfat milk solid content of 3% or more and less than 8%, and a lactic acid bacteria drink having a nonfat milk solid content of less than 3% are included. For example, a yogurt, a yogurt drink, cheese, a lactic acid bacteria drink, etc. are mentioned. A yogurt or yogurt drink is preferable because it contains a lot of milk components and is rich. In addition, the fermented food / beverage products of this invention may be what was fermented as it is, and what sterilized what was fermented may be sufficient.

  The pH of the tea-containing fermented food or drink is preferably 3.5 to 4.7, more preferably 4.0 to 4.6. If it is 3.5 or more, the sourness due to fermentation is not too strong, and an unpleasant fragrance due to excessive progress of fermentation is small, which is preferable. When it is 4.7 or less, the milk component is coagulated, so that a refreshing sour taste of so-called yogurt can be felt, and deterioration by other microorganisms due to pH reduction is less likely to occur.

[Method for producing fermented food and drink with tea]
The manufacturing method of the fermented food / beverage products containing tea of this invention is demonstrated. The manufacturing method will not be specifically limited if it is a manufacturing method which has the fermentation process of fermenting the fermentation raw material containing dairy products, tea leaves, etc. with lactic acid bacteria.

  Lactic acid bacteria may be mixed with dairy products and / or tea leaves, etc., and lactic acid bacteria and / or tea leaves may be mixed with lactic acid bacteria, but in the present invention, after mixing dairy products with tea leaves, etc. It is preferable to add. In the present invention, it is preferable to use an animal lactic acid bacterium and a plant lactic acid bacterium together, and the addition to the fermentation raw material is simultaneous addition of the animal lactic acid bacterium and the plant lactic acid bacterium, when the workability during production and the lactic acid bacterium are added. It is preferable because the risk of deterioration of fermented foods and drinks due to the mixing of other microorganisms can be reduced.

  In the present invention, the timing of addition of tea leaves or the like is not particularly limited as long as the time for lactic acid fermentation of tea leaves or the like is secured. For example, tea leaves or the like may be added after adding lactic acid bacteria to dairy products.

  In the manufacturing method of the tea-containing fermented food / beverage products in this invention, it is preferable to have the process of disinfecting the fermentation raw material, after mixing dairy products and tea leaves. It is possible to kill pathogenic bacteria and the like, and to create an environment in which the lactic acid bacteria are easy to grow. The sterilization method is not particularly limited.

  When animal lactic acid bacteria and plant lactic acid bacteria are used in combination, the amount of animal lactic acid bacteria used is appropriately changed according to the amount of dairy product, and the amount of vegetable lactic acid bacteria used is appropriately changed according to the amount of tea leaves, etc. The The concentration of lactic acid bacteria used in the fermentation process is not particularly limited as long as the fermentation proceeds, but it is preferably 10 ppm to 1000 ppm, more preferably 50 ppm to 500 ppm with respect to the fermentation raw material. If it is 10 ppm or more, it is preferable because it can be fermented in a shorter time, and if it is 1000 ppm or less, the solubility of the lactic acid bacteria and the influence of the lactic acid bacteria on the flavor of the fermented food and drink can be suppressed.

  Although the fermentation temperature in a fermentation process will not be specifically limited if fermentation advances, It is preferable that it is 25 to 45 degreeC, More preferably, it is 35 to 40 degreeC. When the temperature is 25 ° C. or higher, the fermentation proceeds in a short time, and when the temperature is 45 ° C. or lower, the lactic acid bacteria grow and the fermentation proceeds.

  The fermentation time in the fermentation process is not particularly limited as long as the fermentation proceeds, but is preferably within 24 hours in consideration of work efficiency during production. More preferably, it is within 12 hours.

[Example 1]
After dissolving sugar 70g, agar 0.5g, skim milk powder 10g, whole powdered milk 25g, and powdered green tea extract 5.4g in 800g of milk, it was made up to 1L with water. This solution was boiled and sterilized in boiling water for 30 minutes, and then inoculated with 0.07 g of commercially available yogurt starter (manufactured by Christian Hansen) and 0.15 g of plant lactic acid bacteria LbPl-4 (deposit number: FERM P-20560) as animal lactic acid bacteria. Then, static fermentation was performed at 40 ° C. for 8 hours.

  When the tea yogurt obtained here was sampled, it was a very delicious yogurt with reduced bitterness of tea.

Claims (8)

  A fermented food or drink containing tea, wherein a fermentation raw material containing a dairy product and tea leaves and / or tea extract is lactic acid fermented with lactic acid bacteria.   The fermented food and drink containing tea according to claim 1, wherein the lactic acid bacteria are animal lactic acid bacteria and / or plant lactic acid bacteria.   The total concentration of the lactic acid bacteria used for the lactic acid fermentation is 10 ppm to 1000 ppm with respect to the fermentation raw material.   4. The tea-containing fermented food / beverage product according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the tea-containing fermented food / beverage product has a pH of 3.5 to 4.7.   A method for producing a fermented food or beverage containing tea, comprising subjecting a fermentation raw material containing a dairy product and tea leaves and / or tea extract to lactic acid fermentation with lactic acid bacteria. A fermentation raw material preparation step of obtaining a fermentation raw material by mixing a dairy product and tea leaves and / or tea extract;
Lactic acid bacteria addition step of adding animal lactic acid bacteria and plant lactic acid bacteria to the fermentation raw material;
The method for producing a fermented food or drink containing tea according to claim 5, wherein the fermentation raw material has a lactic acid fermentation step of performing lactic acid fermentation at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined time.   The said lactic acid fermentation is performed at 25 degreeC-45 degreeC, The manufacturing method of the fermented food / beverage products containing tea of Claim 5 or 6 characterized by the above-mentioned.   The said lactic acid fermentation is performed within 24 hours, The manufacturing method of the fermented food / beverage products containing tea in any one of Claim 5 to 7 characterized by the above-mentioned.