JP2009201475A - Method for producing corn grain-containing liquid food packed in microwave-transmissive container - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for producing a corn grain-containing liquid food, which controls grinding of corn grain during heating with a microwave oven and makes corn grain have proper texture after heating. <P>SOLUTION: The method for producing a corn grain-containing liquid food packed in a microwave-transmissive container includes an acid treatment process for immersing corn grain in an acidic aqueous solution to soften the corn grain, a calcium treatment process for immersing the softened corn grain in a calcium ion-containing aqueous solution, a process for adding the calcium-treated corn grain to a liquid food and preparing a corn grain-containing liquid food and a process for packing and sealing the corn grain-containing liquid food in a microwave-transmissive container. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing a corn grain-containing liquid food containing a microwave permeable container that can prevent corn grains from being crushed during heating by a microwave oven.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, various kinds of foods in containers that can be easily cooked simply by heating in a microwave oven are commercially available. Among these foods in containers, various products containing soup containing solid ingredients in containers are also commercially available, but depending on the type of solid ingredients, the solid member may be crushed when heated with a microwave oven, The original texture and taste of the member may be impaired.
In order to solve such a problem, it is cured by changing the properties of pectin present in the cell walls of the solid ingredients, and the solid ingredients thus cured are mixed in the soup liquid for a short time at high temperature. A method for sterilization has been proposed (Patent Document 1). In the examples of Patent Document 1, potato is used as a solid ingredient, and as a curing process for changing the properties of pectin, a method of bathing in an acetic acid aqueous solution for 60 minutes, a method of bathing in an aqueous calcium chloride solution for 60 minutes, purified pectin methylesterase A method is employed in which an aqueous solution to which an enzyme is added is heated for 60 minutes.
Moreover, the method of preventing the boiling at the time of retort sterilization by previously immersing a solid ingredient in calcium salt aqueous solution is also known (patent document 2).
However, it has been found that when corn grains are used as the solid ingredient, it is difficult to sufficiently suppress the corn grains from being broken by these methods when heated by a microwave oven.

JP 2005-130709 A Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-71102

An object of the present invention is to provide a method capable of producing a corn grain-containing liquid food that can suppress the corn grains from being crushed when heated by a microwave oven, and that the corn grains can retain an appropriate texture after heating. And
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing calcium-treated corn grains that can be suitably used as an ingredient in the liquid food.

The present invention is based on the knowledge that the above problem can be solved by combining an acid treatment step in which corn grains are softened by immersing corn grains in an acidic aqueous solution and a calcium treatment step in which softened corn grains are immersed in a calcium ion-containing aqueous solution. It has been made.
That is, the present invention is an acid treatment step of softening corn grains by immersing them in an acidic aqueous solution,
A calcium treatment step of immersing the softened corn grains in an aqueous solution containing calcium ions,
A step of preparing a corn grain-containing liquid food by adding the calcium-treated corn grains to the liquid food, and a step of filling and sealing the corn grain-containing liquid food in a microwave permeable container. Provided is a method for producing a corn grain-containing liquid food containing a functional container.
The present invention also provides a method for producing calcium-treated corn grains, characterized in that corn grains are softened by immersing the corn grains in an acidic aqueous solution, and then the softened corn grains are immersed in an aqueous solution containing calcium ions.

In the present invention, raw or dried corn grains can be used. It is recommended to use a branching product from the viewpoint of quality stability. Examples of the blanching treatment include a method of immersing in hot water at 90 to 98 ° C. and a method of directly spraying steam.
In the present invention, the corn grains are softened by an acid treatment step after performing a washing process for removing deposits and dirt from the corn grains as desired. In the acid treatment step, an acidic aqueous solution having a pH of 1 to 4 is preferably used, and the corn grains are preferably immersed in the aqueous solution at 50 to 100 ° C., more preferably at 80 to 100 ° C. for 1 to 10 hours. As the acid, an organic acid such as lactic acid or citric acid or an inorganic acid such as sulfuric acid is preferably used. Among them, an organic acid is preferable, and lactic acid is particularly preferable.
In the present invention, it is preferable to proceed to a calcium treatment step in which corn grains are then taken out from the acidic aqueous solution and immersed in the calcium ion-containing aqueous solution. It is preferable to wash the corn grains after taking out the corn grains from the acidic aqueous solution and before immersing them in the calcium ion-containing aqueous solution.

  In the calcium treatment step, the softened corn grains are preferably immersed in an aqueous solution containing calcium ions at 50 to 70 ° C. for 10 minutes or longer (more preferably from 20 minutes to 1 hour). The calcium ion-containing aqueous solution to be used is preferably one having a pH of 6 to 8, and calcium ions are preferably derived from inorganic and / or organic salts of calcium, particularly preferably calcium lactate. Further, when the calcium ions in the calcium ion-containing aqueous solution are derived from calcium inorganic salts and / or organic salts, the concentration of the calcium inorganic salt and / or organic salt in the calcium ion-containing aqueous solution is 23 to 183 mM. Good. For example, when calcium ions are derived from calcium chloride, the concentration of calcium chloride in the aqueous solution containing calcium ions is preferably 0.25 to 2.0% by weight. When calcium ions are derived from calcium lactate, the concentration of calcium lactate in the calcium ion-containing aqueous solution is preferably 0.5 to 4.0% by weight.

In the present invention, the corn grains are then preferably taken out from the calcium ion-containing aqueous solution and added to the liquid food to proceed to the corn grain-containing liquid food preparation step. In addition, after taking out the corn grain from calcium ion containing aqueous solution, before adding to a liquid food, it is preferable to wash the corn grain with water.
In the process of preparing a corn grain-containing liquid food, the calcium-treated corn grain may be added to the liquid food, or conversely, the liquid food may be added to the calcium-treated corn grain, or the calcium-treated corn. You may prepare a corn grain containing liquid food so that a grain and a liquid food may contact simultaneously. At this time, it is preferable to stir. The ratio between the corn grains treated with calcium and the liquid food can be appropriately determined according to the final product.

Next, in the present invention, the corn grain-containing liquid food is filled and sealed in a microwave permeable container. This filling and sealing step can be performed by a normal operation. In the present invention, the corn grain-containing liquid food may be subjected to heat sterilization such as UHT sterilization and then filled and sealed in a container, or the corn grain-containing liquid food is filled and sealed in a container, and then retort sterilization, chilled sterilization, etc. May be subjected to heat sterilization.
In the present invention, a microwave permeable container such as a synthetic resin pouch or a molded container is used. Examples of the corn grain-containing liquid food in the microwave permeable container targeted by the present invention include soups such as potage, pasta sauce, stew and the like.
Next, although an Example and a comparative example are shown and this invention is demonstrated, this invention is not limited to these Examples.

Example 1
The following acid treatment (softening) process, calcium treatment process, corn grain-containing liquid food preparation process, and filling and sealing process were applied to frozen corn (corn grains) to produce a potage in a container.
Acid treatment (softening) step: Add lactic acid to warm water at 90 ° C to prepare a 0.45 wt% lactic acid solution with a pH of 2.5, and add 300 kg of frozen corn (corn grains) to 300 kg of this lactic acid solution and stir. The corn solution was heated until the temperature of the lactic acid solution reached 90 ° C, and when the temperature reached 90 ° C, the corn was immersed in the lactic acid solution for 4 hours while maintaining this temperature. Thereafter, the corn was separated from the lactic acid solution.
Calcium treatment step Calcium lactate is added to 60 ° C warm water to prepare a 2 wt% calcium lactate solution, and 600 kg of softened corn is added to 600 kg of this calcium lactate solution, and the temperature of the calcium lactate solution is maintained at 60 ° C. The corn was immersed in a calcium lactate solution for 25 minutes. Thereafter, the corn was separated from the calcium lactate solution.

Corn-containing liquid food preparation step 15 parts by weight of calcium-treated corn and 85 parts by weight of separately prepared potage soup were mixed to prepare a corn-containing potage. The corn-containing potage was heated to 133 ° C. using a scraping heat exchanger, held at 133 ° C. for 3 minutes, subjected to a high-temperature sterilization treatment also serving as stewed cooking, and then cooled to 15 ° C.
Filling and sealing step In a sterile atmosphere, 160 ml of the potage was filled and sealed in a polypropylene cup container (200 ml capacity) to produce a potted container.

Example 2
A potage in a container was produced in the same manner as in Example 1 except that a 0.4% by weight citric acid aqueous solution (pH 2.5) was used as the acidic aqueous solution instead of the 0.45% by weight lactic acid solution.
Example 3
A potage in a container was produced in the same manner as in Example 1 except that a 0.015 wt% aqueous sulfuric acid solution (pH 2.5) was used instead of the 0.45 wt% lactic acid solution as the acidic aqueous solution.

Comparative Example 1
A calcium chloride solution is prepared by adding calcium chloride to warm water at 60 ° C., and the cone is added to the calcium chloride solution while maintaining the temperature of the calcium chloride solution at 60 ° C. For 28 minutes. Thereafter, the corn was separated from the calcium chloride solution. Thereafter, in the same manner as in Example 1, a potato grain-containing liquid food preparation step and a filling and sealing step were performed to produce a potage in a container.
Comparative Example 2
A potage in a container was produced in the same manner as in Comparative Example 1 except that calcium lactate was used instead of calcium chloride.

The characteristics of the corn grains immediately after the calcium treatment step and the potage contained in the container manufactured through the filling and sealing step were measured by the following method.
The hardness of corn particles The hardness of corn particles immediately after the calcium treatment step was examined by measuring the breaking stress with a rheometer. Specifically, hardness was measured under the condition of a speed of 1.0 mm / s using a 20 mm plunger in a rheometer manufactured by Yamaden Co., Ltd.
Changes during cooking with a microwave oven
After heating the potted container in a 1900W microwave oven for 30 seconds, the container was opened, and it was evaluated whether or not the shape of the internal corn grain was broken.
The results are summarized in Table 1.

表１の結果から、本発明によれば、電子レンジによる加熱時にとうもろこし粒が砕けるのを抑制することができることがわかる。又、実施例の容器入りポタージュを電子レンジにより加熱し、喫食したところ、とうもろこし粒が適度な食感を保持していることが確認された。 Table 1

From the results of Table 1, it can be seen that according to the present invention, corn grains can be prevented from being broken during heating by a microwave oven. Moreover, when the potage containing the container of an Example was heated and ate with the microwave oven, it was confirmed that the corn grain has moderate texture.

Claims (7)

An acid treatment step of softening corn grains by immersing them in an acidic aqueous solution,
A calcium treatment step of immersing the softened corn grains in an aqueous solution containing calcium ions,
A step of preparing a corn grain-containing liquid food by adding the calcium-treated corn grains to the liquid food, and a step of filling and sealing the corn grain-containing liquid food in a microwave permeable container. Of manufacturing liquid food containing corn grains in a conductive container.   The production method according to claim 1, wherein the pH of the acidic aqueous solution is 1 to 4.   The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the acidic aqueous solution is a lactic acid aqueous solution.   The production method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the calcium ions are derived from calcium inorganic salts and / or organic salts.   The process according to claim 4, wherein the calcium ions are derived from calcium lactate.   The manufacturing method of any one of Claims 1-5 which heat-sterilizes a corn grain containing liquid food, and is filled and sealed in a microwave transparent container.   A method for producing calcium-treated corn grains, characterized in that corn grains are immersed in an acidic aqueous solution to be softened, and then the softened corn grains are immersed in an aqueous solution containing calcium ions.