JP2024006875A - Food product manufacturing device and food product manufacturing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique capable of manufacturing a vegetable protein food product which has soy beans that are not subjected to oil expression as a raw material.

SOLUTION: An extruder 1 which conveys an input object from an upstream side to a downstream side by a screw 40 in a cylinder 30 and heats and kneads the input object, comprises: a conveyance part 71 and a raw material crushing part 72 which make filling density of the input object input into the cylinder 30 and conveyed to the downstream side substantially uniform, and crush the input object; a heating and kneading part 74 which conveys the crushed input object to the downstream side; and a residence shearing part 75 which applies shear force higher than that of the heating and kneading part 74 to the conveyed input object.

SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

COPYRIGHT: (C)2024,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present embodiment relates to a food manufacturing apparatus and a food manufacturing method for manufacturing foods, particularly vegetable protein foods, using an extruder.

Conventionally, protein foods made of vegetable proteins have been produced as substitutes for animal proteins. Such vegetable protein foods are manufactured by using soybean powder, etc., whose main ingredient is vegetable protein, and kneading it under high heat and pressure using an extruder. ing. According to this method, it is possible to realize a meat-like texture with a fibrous structure, and it can be used for various purposes.

As this type of technology, a processing method shown in Patent Document 1 below is known. This processing method involves kneading raw materials together with water under pressure and heat using an extruder, extruding this from a tip die in the circumferential direction, and then cutting this molded product in a direction parallel to the extrusion direction. It is characterized by According to this method, a food material with an excellent fibrous structure can be obtained.

JP 61-108338 Publication

The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a technology that can produce a vegetable protein food made from unextracted soybeans.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, one aspect of the present invention is a food manufacturing apparatus that conveys input materials from an upstream side to a downstream side in a cylinder by a screw and heats and kneads the input materials, the food manufacturing apparatus comprising: a conveying and crushing section that substantially uniformizes the packing density of the input material that has been introduced and is conveyed to the downstream side, and pulverizes the input material; a conveying section that conveys the input material that has been crushed by the conveyance and crushing section to the downstream side; It is characterized by comprising a shearing section that applies a higher shearing force to the transported input material than the transporting section.

According to the present invention, it is possible to produce a vegetable protein food whose main ingredient is unextracted soybeans.

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view schematically showing the configuration of an extruder according to the first embodiment. 1 is a flowchart showing a method for manufacturing a vegetable protein food according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view schematically showing the configuration of an extruder according to a second embodiment.

<First embodiment>
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that, in this specification and the drawings, components having substantially the same functional configurations are designated by the same reference numerals and redundant explanation will be omitted.

The food manufacturing apparatus according to the present embodiment uses unextracted soybeans (hereinafter referred to as soybeans) as a raw material, that is, 100% soybeans, and kneads and extrudes them under heat and pressure. It is configured as an extruder for producing meat-like vegetable protein food with a fibrous structure, so-called soybean meat.

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view schematically showing an extruder according to this embodiment. Note that FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the extruder 1 viewed from the side perpendicular to the extrusion direction (extending direction of the screw 40).

The extruder 1 in this embodiment has a hollow cylinder (barrel) 30 in which a hopper 20 is provided at the upper part of the upstream side, and a pair of screws 40 having the same configuration and rotating in the same direction are installed in the cylinder 30. It is a two-axis type with Note that since FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of the extruder 1 viewed from the side, only one of the pair of screws 40 is shown. As the pair of screws 40 rotate, a mixture of the main raw material put into the hopper 20 and a liquid raw material such as water injected into the cylinder 30 is heated and kneaded in the cylinder 30, and is transported from upstream to downstream. . Note that a uniaxial extruder may be used instead of a biaxial extruder, but in order to obtain a fibrous structure from the main raw material, a biaxial extruder that can form a strong structure with high shear force is recommended. It is preferable to use

The cylinder 30 includes a first cylinder block 310, a second cylinder block 320, a third cylinder block 330, a fourth cylinder block 340, and a fifth cylinder block 350 arranged in series from upstream to downstream. , the second cylinder block 320, the third cylinder block 330, the fourth cylinder block 340, and the fifth cylinder block 350 can be individually temperature-controlled by a heater and cooling water (not shown). Note that in this embodiment, the heating temperature of the first cylinder block 310 is not adjusted, and the first cylinder block 310 is constantly cooled.

The first cylinder block 310 is provided with a hopper 20 at its upper portion for charging raw materials. The second cylinder block 320 is provided with an injection hole 321 through which water, seasoning liquid, or the like can be injected as a liquid raw material, and can be appropriately injected according to the input of raw materials into the hopper 20. An adapter 50 is provided at the downstream portion of the fifth cylinder block 350. The adapter 50 is a connecting member that connects the cooling die 60 and the cylinder 30, and accommodates the tip of the screw 40 therein. A discharge port 510 is provided for discharging the kneaded mixture to the cooling die 60.

The cooling die 60 is a hollow member with a flat plate-shaped space defined therein, and the space communicates with the discharge port 510 to receive the kneaded material heated and kneaded and extruded by the screw 40. 610 to the outside. The cooling die 60 has a flow path through which a cooling medium can flow from a pump (not shown), and the flow path is provided close to the internal space of the cooling die 60 . The kneaded material in the cooling die 60 pushed out from the adapter 50 is cooled by exchanging heat with the cooling medium in the flow path. In this embodiment, water is used as the cooling medium.

The cylinder 30, the pair of screws 40, and the functions achieved by these will be described in detail below.

(screw 40)
The screw 40 in this embodiment is configured by connecting screw elements 401 to 412 in series so that they are inserted into and fitted to a screw shaft (not shown). By the cooperation of each screw element 401 to 412 and the first to fifth cylinder blocks 310 to 350, a conveying section 71, a raw material crushing section 72, an injection kneading section 73, a heating kneading section 74, a retention shearing section 75 , and a melt-kneading section 76 are formed.

The conveyance section 71 conveys the raw materials inputted by the hopper 20 downstream while kneading them, and makes the packing density of the raw materials substantially uniform immediately before the raw material crushing section 72 located downstream. The conveyance section 71 has screw elements 401 and 402 located within the first cylinder block 310.

The screw element 401 is a forward thread feed screw located below the hopper 20, and has a narrower screw pitch (for example, about 50%) compared to a general screw element arranged below the hopper. has been done. Therefore, the screw element 401 can reliably transport the raw material to the downstream side, regardless of the particle shape of the raw material, even if it is large (for example, before pulverization) or small (for example, 3 to 5 mm).

The screw element 402 is a forward thread feed screw located on the downstream side of the screw element 401, and is formed to have a narrower screw pitch (for example, about 40% thereof) than that of the screw element 401. Thereby, the screw element 402 can substantially uniformly fill the gap between the blades (wings) of the screw 40 with the raw material conveyed by the screw element 401, and therefore the density of the raw material per unit volume of the gap is The packing density can be made substantially uniform. Further, since the feed force for the raw material is stronger than that of the screw element 401, the raw material attempting to return to the upstream side can be pushed downstream by the action of the screw element 403, which is located downstream and will be described in detail later. Note that the feed force of the raw material may be increased by increasing the number of screw threads instead of the screw pitch, or by incorporating both of these.

A raw material crushing section 72 adjacent to the downstream side of the conveying section 71 crushes the raw material conveyed from the conveying section 71 . The raw material crushing section 72 has a screw element 403 located within the first cylinder block 310, and the screw element 403 crushes the raw material.

The screw element 403 is a so-called kneading element in which elliptical disk-shaped blades (rotors) are arranged at different angles to each other along the screw rotation direction, and can crush the raw material. In this embodiment, the screw element 403 is formed into a reverse screw type (left-hand screw type: L kneading) in which the blade is inclined at an angle in the reverse screw direction, and returns the crushed raw material to the upstream side. It has an effect. Therefore, in combination with the above-mentioned extrusion effect by the screw element 402 in the conveying section 71, the raw material can be reliably crushed and processed into powder in the raw material crushing section 72.

The injection kneading section 73 adjacent to the downstream side of the raw material crushing section 72 transports the raw material crushed in the raw material crushing section 72 downstream and mixes the raw material with the liquid raw material injected from the injection hole 321 . The injection kneading section 73 has a screw element 404 that is a forward thread feed screw with an upstream end located within the first cylinder block 310 and the other portion located within the second cylinder block 320. The raw material and the liquid raw material are kneaded by the screw element 404, heated by the second cylinder block 320, and conveyed to the downstream side. In this embodiment, the second cylinder block 320 is preferably set at a temperature of 40° C. to 80° C. by a heater (not shown).

The heating kneading section 74 adjacent to the downstream side of the injection kneading section 73 further kneads the mixture obtained by kneading the raw material and the liquid raw material in the injection kneading section 73 and conveys the mixture downstream. The heating kneading section 74 includes a screw element 405 located within the second cylinder block 320 and a screw whose upstream end portion is located within the second cylinder block 320 and the other portion is located within the third cylinder block 330. An element 406, a screw element 407 located within the third cylinder block 330, and a screw element 408 whose upstream end portion is located within the third cylinder block 330 and the other portion is located within the fourth cylinder block 340. has.

The screw elements 405 to 408 are forward screws that knead a mixture of raw materials and liquid raw materials, and transport the mixture to the downstream side. During this kneading, the mixture is heated in the second to fourth cylinder blocks 320 to 340. The temperature of the second cylinder block 320, the third cylinder block 330, and the fourth cylinder block 340 increases in this order, and as they are transported downstream, the inside of the cylinder 30 is heated and the screw elements 405 to 408 are kneaded. The compressive force generated by this can bring the mixture into a high temperature and high pressure state. In this embodiment, the third cylinder block 330 is preferably set at a temperature of 60° C. to 120° C. by a heater (not shown). Further, it is preferable that the temperature of the fourth cylinder block 340 is set to 140° C. to 180° C. by a heater (not shown). The temperature range of this fourth cylinder block 340 is a temperature range sufficient to cause thermal denaturation of soybean protein, which is a raw material.

Note that the screw pitch of the screw element 408 is preferably narrower than that of the screw elements 405 to 407, thereby making it possible to increase the extrusion force in preparation for the retention shearing section 75 in the next step.

The retention shearing section 75 adjacent to the downstream side of the heating and kneading section 74 applies a shearing force higher than the shearing force applied at the heating and kneading section 74 to the mixture that has been brought into a molten state in the heating and kneading section 74. By retaining the mixture, the shearing action applied to the mixture is further strengthened, thereby dividing the mixture into fine pieces as a pre-process for obtaining meat-like tissue. The retention shear section 75 includes screw elements 409 and 410 located within the fourth cylinder block 340.

The screw element 409 is capable of dividing the mixture by applying a high shearing force to the mixture, and is configured to be able to apply the highest shearing force to the raw material (mixture) among the screw elements 401 to 412. It is preferable. An example of this type of element is a pineapple-shaped screw element. In addition, a pin type, a fin type, etc. may be used, and any type can be used as long as it can apply a higher shear force to the mixture than the feeding type screw element included in the heating kneading section 74. Elements may also be used.

The screw element 410 is a so-called kneading element in which elliptical disk-shaped blades are arranged at different angles to each other along the screw rotation direction. In this embodiment, the blades are arranged at different angles in the forward thread direction. It is formed into a normal thread type (right-hand thread type: R kneading) with a slant. According to such a screw element 410, the mixture can be dammed up and retained, so that the shearing action by the screw element 409 can be further enhanced.

The melting and kneading section 76 adjacent to the downstream side of the retention shearing section 75 further kneads the mixture conveyed by the retention shearing section 75 and conveys it downstream, similarly to the heating and kneading section 74 . The melt-kneading section 76 has screw elements 411 and 412 located within the fifth cylinder block 350.

The screw elements 411 and 412 are feed screws with normal threads, and push out the kneaded material, which is a heated and kneaded mixture, to the cooling die 60 by conveying it downstream. During this kneading, the mixture is heated in the fifth cylinder block 350, making it possible to bring the mixture into a high temperature, high pressure state, and thus into a molten state. In this embodiment, the temperature of the fifth cylinder block 350 is preferably set to 160° C. to 200° C. by a heater (not shown). The temperature range of this fifth cylinder block 350 is a temperature range sufficient to cause thermal denaturation of soybean protein, which is a raw material.

Next, a method for producing a vegetable protein food using the food production apparatus according to this embodiment will be described in detail. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the method for producing a vegetable protein food according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, in the method for producing a vegetable protein food according to the present embodiment, first, before the raw material is introduced into the extruder 1, the raw material is subjected to a pulverization process (S101).

In this embodiment, it is preferable that dried soybeans are used as the raw material and the soybeans are in a dehulled state. Dry soybeans may be used without their hulls, that is, whole soybeans with a round grain shape, but in order to stably obtain a vegetable protein food that is uniform and in good condition, the particle size of the dried soybeans must be adjusted. It is preferable to arrange the soybeans uniformly and to pulverize the dried soybeans. The particle size of dried ground soybeans, which are ground dried soybeans, is preferably 1 to 7 mm, more preferably 2 to 6 mm, and particularly preferably 3 to 5 mm. Note that an existing grinder may be used to grind the dried soybeans. Further, the moisture content of the dried ground soybeans is preferably 9 to 13% by weight, particularly preferably 11 to 13% by weight.

After the crushing process, the extruder 1 is started and operating conditions are set (S102). The operating conditions to be set include, in addition to the rotational speed of the pair of screws 40 that determines the amount of mixture delivered, the temperature of each cylinder block of the cylinder 30, the temperature of the adapter 50, the amount of cooling water supplied to the cooling die 60, and the cooling One example is the temperature of the water.

The rotational speed of the pair of screws 40 is preferably set in the range of 120 to 180 rotations per minute. As described above, the cylinder 30 is divided into five first to fifth cylinder blocks 310 to 350, and the temperature can be set individually, and the temperature is set so that the temperature increases from upstream to downstream. Since the temperature set in each cylinder block has been described above, the explanation here will be omitted.

Preferably, the adapter 50 has a temperature range of 60°C to 110°C.

The amount of cooling water supplied to the cooling die 60 is preferably set to 4 to 10 liters per minute. Further, the temperature of the cooling water is preferably set to 5°C to 40°C, more preferably set to 5°C to 25°C.

After setting the operating conditions, each cylinder block of the cylinder 30 is heated by a heater (not shown) to the temperature set in step S102, and the dried ground soybeans produced in step S101 are heated while the pair of screws 40 are rotationally driven. Throw it into the hopper 20 (S103). At this time, the feed rate of dried ground soybeans (raw material) is preferably 80 grams to 240 grams per minute, more preferably 110 grams to 210 grams per minute. Further, the amount of water supplied as a liquid raw material injected from the hopper 20 or the injection hole 321 is preferably 40 to 70% by weight, more preferably 45 to 65% by weight, based on the weight of the raw material supplied. . After being charged, the extruder 1 heats and kneads the dried ground soybeans and then cools them (S104), and a plate-shaped vegetable protein food is discharged from the discharge port 610 (S105), thus ending the production method. In addition, it is preferable that the obtained plate-shaped vegetable protein food is appropriately cut and immersed in room temperature water or hot water to absorb moisture as appropriate.

According to this embodiment described above, even when only soybeans are used as a raw material, a meat-like vegetable protein food having a fibrous structure can be produced. In particular, since a high shearing force can be applied to the mixture by the retention shearing section 75, it is possible to promote fiberization, and it is possible to obtain a meat-like vegetable protein food with a good texture. Become.

Furthermore, by incorporating the cooling process of the kneaded material using the cooling die 60, the kneaded material is discharged while being cooled, so that the kneaded material is turned into fibers in the same direction as the discharge direction (transfer direction), and has excellent density and directionality. It is possible to stably obtain a good vegetable protein food having a good structure. Furthermore, it is also possible to suppress expansion of the discharged kneaded material by cooling.

In this embodiment, the screw elements 403 and 410 are kneading elements, but any screw element may be used as long as it can appropriately crush and/or retain the raw material. . Further, the number of blades of these elements may be set as appropriate, such as 3 or 5, depending on the conditions.

Further, although the extruder 1 according to the present embodiment uses soybeans as a raw material, it is not limited thereto. It is also possible to obtain vegetable protein foods using a mixture containing powder made of soybean protein as a raw material. Alternatively, other beans may be used as the raw material.

<Second embodiment>
FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view schematically showing the configuration of the extruder according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the extruder 1A according to the present embodiment has a screw element 402A and a screw element 410A instead of the screw element 402 and the screw element 410, compared to the extruder 1 according to the first embodiment. Equipped with

The screw element 402A is a so-called kneading element in which elliptical disk-shaped blades are arranged at different angles to each other along the screw rotation direction. In this embodiment, the blades are arranged at different angles in the forward thread direction. It is formed into a normal thread type (right-hand thread type: R kneading) with a slant. As a result, the screw element 402A has a higher ability to dam up and retain the mixture than the screw element 402, so that the raw material conveyed by the screw element 401 is almost uniformly filled into the gaps between the blades (wings). Therefore, the packing density, which is the density of the raw material per unit volume of the void, can be made substantially uniform. Furthermore, although the raw material feeding force is lower than that of the screw element 402, the raw material crushing capacity is dramatically increased, so the raw material can be crushed prior to the raw material crushing by the screw element 403, and the screw element 403 Coupled with the action of pushing back upstream, the raw material can be reliably pulverized and processed into powder.

Therefore, the conveying section 71A having the screw element 402A has the same raw material conveying function as the conveying section 71, and the function of making the packing density of the raw material substantially uniform just before the raw material crushing section 72, and also has the raw material crushing function. have

The screw element 410A is similar to the screw element 410 in that it is a so-called kneading element in which elliptical disk-shaped blades (rotors) are arranged at different angles to each other along the screw rotation direction, but the blades are The difference is that it is formed into a reverse thread type (left-hand thread type: L kneading) that is inclined at an angle in the reverse thread direction. As a result, compared to the screw element 410, the screw element 410A has an even higher ability to dam up and retain the mixture, and has a stronger effect of pushing the mixture back upstream, making it possible to further increase the shearing action by the screw element 409. It becomes possible.

Therefore, the retention shearing section 75A having the screw element 410A can further strengthen the shearing action on the mixture compared to the retention shearing section 75.

Further, in this embodiment, the positions of the retention shearing section 75A, which is made up of the screw element 409 and the screw element 410A, and the melting and kneading section 76 are switched. By switching the positions, the melting and kneading section 76 is disposed across the fourth cylinder block 340 and the fifth cylinder block 350, and the retention shearing section 75A is disposed in the fifth cylinder block 350. Therefore, it can be said that the melting and kneading section 76 according to this embodiment functions as the heating and kneading section 74 that kneads the mixture and conveys it downstream. With this arrangement, although the heat applied to the mixture in the melting and kneading section 76 is reduced compared to the first embodiment, high heat is applied to the mixture in the retention shearing section 75A, and the mixture is finely processed with high shearing force. The mixture can be divided and a better meat-like tissue can be obtained.

According to the present embodiment described above, similar to the first embodiment, even when using only soybeans as raw materials, a meat-like vegetable protein food having a fibrous structure can be produced. . In particular, by having the conveying section 71A and the retention shearing section 75A, it is possible to obtain a high quality meat-like vegetable protein food in which fiberization is further promoted.

In addition, in the first embodiment, the screw 40 has screw elements 401 to 412 from the upstream side, and in the second embodiment, the screw 40 has screw elements 401, 402A, 403 to 408, 411, 412 from the upstream side. , 409, and 410A, but the invention is not limited to this. Instead of these screw elements, new screw elements that can be expected to improve the effect or other different effects may be incorporated as appropriate, or the positions of the current screw elements may be replaced. In other words, there is a function to make the packing density of the input material that is charged into the cylinder and conveyed to the downstream side approximately uniform and to crush it, a function to convey the crushed input material downstream, and a function to If it is possible to realize the function of applying a higher shearing force, it is also possible to change the screw element as appropriate.

The invention may be embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. Therefore, the above-described embodiments are merely illustrative in all respects, and should not be interpreted in a limiting manner. The scope of the present invention is indicated by the claims, and is not restricted in any way by the main text of the specification. Furthermore, all changes, various improvements, substitutions and modifications that come within the scope of equivalents of the claims are intended to be within the scope of the invention.

1 Extruder (food manufacturing equipment)
20 Hopper (input section)
30 Cylinder 40 Screw 401 Screw element (first screw element)
402,402A Screw element (third screw element)
403 Screw element (second screw element)
410,410A Screw element (retention part)
60 Cooling die (cooling section)
71, 71A Conveyance section (conveyance crushing section)
72 Raw material crushing section (transport crushing section)
73 Injection kneading section (supply section)
74 Heating kneading section (transport section)
75,75A Retention shearing section (shearing section)

Claims (9)

A food manufacturing device that conveys input materials from upstream to downstream by a screw in a cylinder and heats and kneads the materials,
a conveying and crushing unit that substantially uniformizes the packing density of the input material that is introduced into the cylinder and is conveyed to the downstream side, and crushes the input material;
a conveyance unit that conveys the input material crushed by the conveyance crushing unit downstream;
and a shearing section that applies a higher shearing force than the conveying section to the input materials conveyed by the conveying section. The food manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the screw pitch of the screw included in the conveying section is narrower in a portion adjacent to the shearing section than in a portion adjacent to the conveying and crushing section. The food manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conveying and crushing section is located upstream of a supply section that supplies liquid to the input material. The food manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a retention section located downstream of the shearing section and retaining the input material to which the shearing force has been applied by the shearing section. The cylinder has a plurality of cylinder blocks connected in series from upstream to downstream,
Among the plurality of cylinder blocks, the most downstream cylinder block has a higher temperature than the cylinder block adjacent to it on the upstream side,
The food manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the shearing section is located within the cylinder block located at the most downstream position. The conveyance crushing section includes a first screw element located below a hopper for charging the input material into the cylinder, a second screw element for crushing the input material, the first screw element and the first screw element. a third screw element located between the two screw elements;
The second screw element has a blade inclined at an angle in a reverse thread direction,
The food manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the blade of the third screw element is inclined at an angle in the forward thread direction. The food manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the input material input into the cylinder is only dried, unextracted soybeans. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising a cooling unit provided on the downstream side of the shearing unit, which cools the input material conveyed from the shearing unit and discharges it to the outside. food manufacturing equipment. A food manufacturing method in which input materials are conveyed from upstream to downstream by a screw in a cylinder and heated and kneaded,
making the filling density of the input material introduced into the cylinder and conveyed to the downstream side substantially uniform and pulverizing it;
Transport the crushed input downstream,
A food manufacturing method characterized by applying a higher shearing force to the transported input materials than during the transport.