JP3024690B2 - Cheese and method for producing the same - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a process cheese type cheese having a characteristic of natural cheese, which has an appropriate oil-off property during cooking and is uniformly melted and has a spinnability, and a method for producing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Process cheeses having spinnability have been conventionally known, but all of them have been limited to slice types. The main reason is that the meltability of the cheese is premised in order to exhibit the spinnability, but it is necessary that the emulsification of the cheese tissue does not excessively progress to maintain a suitable heat meltability, This is because the cooling step after heat sterilization that can promote emulsification is sliced in order to shorten the cooling step as much as possible, thereby improving the cooling efficiency.

Therefore, in the case of a block-shaped process cheese which is difficult to cool quickly, emulsification of the cheese structure progresses during the cooling step, which makes it difficult to impart appropriate heat melting properties and oil-off. Further, in conventional block-shaped process cheese, usually, a molten salt is added to promote the creaming action of the tissue and to form a stable emulsion, so that the heat melting property and oil-off hardly occur even more.

[0004] As described above, all of the block-type process cheeses do not generate an appropriate oil-off characteristic of natural cheese at the time of cooking and heating, do not form an oil film on the cheese surface, and exhibit a dry state of protein on the surface. It produced a "skin", and had the properties of being inferior in heat melting property and spreadability at that time and lacking good spinnability.
Here, the term “block-shaped” or “block-type” refers to a “block-shaped” that cannot be instantaneously cooled.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and has the same mode of oil-off and uniformity as natural cheese during cooking and heating, irrespective of the shape of slices or blocks. An object of the present invention is to provide process cheese type cheeses having excellent heat melting property and spinnability and a method for producing the same.

[0006]

This problem is solved by the following means. That is, the present invention provides a molten salt and W / O
A cheese containing cheese and cheese-like food of the process cheese type manufactured using HLB5 following emulsifier types, oil-off which definitive during cooking, and having a heating meltability and spinnability Cheeses,
A method for producing the cheeses, wherein a molten salt and an emulsifier of W / O type HLB of 5 or less are added to the main raw material, and the mixture is heated, melted, emulsified, stirred, and then molded and cooled under stirring. And a method for producing cheeses. Advantageous Effects of Invention According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a processed cheese type cheese having good oil-off, uniform heat melting properties and sufficient spinnability by a simple process, regardless of the shape of the cheese during cooking. it can.

[0007] First, in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention, problems in the cheese structure associated with the attribute of the processed cheese type will be described. The cheeses of the present invention are of the processed cheese type. The process cheese type broadly includes heating, melting, and cooling steps in the manufacturing process to enhance preservation.On the tissue, the network structure in which the polypeptide chains and fats are emulsified contains water and fat. A substance having a colloidal composition enclosing an emulsified phase composed of spheres (usually exhibiting an O / W type emulsified state). Natural cheese also has a similar structure, but since the heating / melting step and cooling step are not performed, the quality is likely to change due to the influence of microorganisms and enzymes. The crosslinked structure of the caseinate is maintained in a natural form, and as a result, hard cheeses such as Gouda cheese and Cheddar cheese exhibit appropriate oil-off, heat-meltability, and spinnability. On the other hand, heating and
Since the emulsification of the tissue progresses during the melting and cooling processes, it is significantly deteriorated as compared with that of natural cheese having the above characteristics.

[0008] Here, the spinnability generally refers to the property of heating, melting and stretching a cheese, such as cheese used for pizza topping, to draw a thread. In addition, the heat melting property (referred to as meltdown) refers to the property of exhibiting a molten state by heating, which is a prerequisite for exhibiting spinnability, and the heat melting property is uniform,
If not improved, good spinnability cannot be obtained. Oil-off refers to the property that oils and fats are released from the cheese tissue by heating and come to the surface, and are necessary to prevent the formation of "skin" on the surface during heating.

[0009] The relationship between the cheese structure and the above three properties, ie, spinnability, meltdown, and oil-off, has not been completely elucidated, and there are many unclear points regarding the mechanism of each. Briefly, spinnability is related to the compactness of the emulsified network of caseinate and fat, meltdown is mainly related to the amount of ionic calcium affecting paracaseinate, and oil-off is related to the network structure. It is considered to be related to the emulsified state of an O / W type emulsified phase composed of water and fat globules wrapped and dispersed in the water. Since each characteristic can be basically expressed separately, for example, those with insufficient spinnability even when melted down, those with little oil off even when melted down, and those with oil off even if they are oiled off In some cases, the properties are not sufficient (however, those which do not melt down do not naturally exhibit spinnability).

Therefore, in order to obtain a processed cheese type cheese having excellent spinnability, meltdown and oil-off properties, the protein-fat network structure must be densely adjusted while adjusting the pH related to the dissociation of calcium ions. And disperse O /
It is necessary to suppress the emulsification of the W-type emulsified phase and make the whole tissue uniform. However, in cheeses of the process cheese type via heating, melting, emulsification, and cooling steps, there are restrictions on the production method, and it is extremely difficult to impart the above three properties for the following reasons.

[0011] Since the heating and cooling steps are performed, fat separation and the like are likely to occur during cooling, which tends to be uneven. In order to prevent this, it is essential to homogenize and emulsify the tissue by the action of shearing force etc. before cooling, but the externalized force does not act on the homogenized and emulsified tissue before cooling. In both cases, emulsification progresses statically on the tissue. As a result, particularly in the case of the block type, a structure with less oil off or the like is likely to be formed.

In the cooling step, especially in the case of the block type, the rate of change between the center temperature and the surface temperature is different.
Tissue unevenness is likely to progress. In order to prevent this, it is necessary to perform sufficient homogenization and emulsification before cooling. Similar to this result, characteristics such as oil-off are deteriorated.

[0013] Because of the heating and melting steps, proteins are easily aggregated, and separation and non-uniformity are easily caused. To prevent this, an emulsification treatment is performed, and a molten salt is added to peptize the protein to expand the protein-fat network structure. As a result, the emulsification of the tissue is further promoted. Deteriorates.

In other words, if the degree of emulsification is reduced in order to improve the properties such as oil-off, the tissue is likely to be non-uniform (the melt-down is also of course non-uniform), and the aggregation of the protein is not uniform. If spinnability deteriorates. As described above, there is a limitation from the manufacturing method that is not found in natural cheese in the processed cheese type cheeses, and it is impossible to realize cheeses excellent in both spinnability, meltdown, and oil-off characteristics. It was extremely difficult.

The present inventors have conducted intensive studies on these properties and the emulsified state of the cheese structure. As a result, the combined use of a molten salt having a weak creaming action and a W / O type emulsifier having an HLB of 5 or less enables the above three properties to be obtained. The present inventors have found that it is possible to produce equipped cheeses, and have reached the present invention.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail. First, cheeses that are the subject of the present invention refer to foods that can be sensuously recognized as cheeses, such as processed cheese, cheese food, imitation cheese, cheese-like foods, and the like, in principle, cheese flavor, texture, physical properties, and the like. Here, processed cheese is heated, melted and emulsified one or more natural cheeses,
Molded and cooled foods containing cheese as a main component are cheese foods (containing 51% or more of cheese), and are not inherently cheese but have the same texture, flavor, and physical properties as cheese. The thing is called imitation cheese or cheese-like food for convenience. Not only process cheese but also imitation cheese and cheese-like foods contain protein, so their basic structure is a form in which an emulsified network of polypeptide chains and fat wraps around moisture and fat globules, In the present invention, it is defined as a processed cheese type cheese in this sense because it is constructed by the action of heating, emulsification and the like in the production process.

As the raw material of the processed cheese, all natural cheeses that can be used generally can be used, and there is no particular limitation. From the viewpoint of spinnability during heating, heat melting property, and oil-off, Gouda cheese, In general, hard cheeses having spinnability such as cheddar cheese and Edam cheese are preferred. In general, it can be said that cheese with less ripeness is preferably used. The reason for this is not clear, but it is considered that if the maturity is advanced and the molecular weight of the protein is excessively reduced, the tissue is softened structurally, the creaming effect is large, and the emulsification of the tissue proceeds. Raw material cheese ripeness
TN / TN value (indicating the ratio of acid-soluble nitrogen contained in total nitrogen in cheese) is 25% or less, preferably 18
% Or less of the raw material cheese is preferably used.

As the main raw materials of the cheeses of the present invention, the following mixtures (referred to as raw material mix) are representative. That is, natural cheese alone; a mixture of natural cheese, casein, oil, and water; or a mixture of casein, oil, and water. In addition, pH adjusters such as lactic acid, sodium bicarbonate, and calcium carbonate may be contained. The fat may contain fats such as hardened soybean oil and hardened coconut oil in cheese-like foods and imitation cheese in addition to various triglycerides derived from milk. Further, if necessary, a coloring agent, a flavoring agent, a seasoning, and the like are added. Particularly in a cheese food or cheese-like food, a thickener such as guar gum and xanthan gum, a water retention agent such as corn starch, and other foods are used as auxiliary materials. May be added. However, in the present invention, it is not necessary to add a stabilizer such as gum arabic for the purpose of improving oil-off, meltdown, and spinnability. Normally, cheeses have 8 to 45 protein
It contains about wt.%, about 4 to 35 wt.% of fat, about 15 to 80 wt.% of water, and about 0.5 to 8 wt.% of ash, and these may be set as appropriate depending on the physical properties and flavor of the desired cheeses. For example, in terms of moisture, special hard cheese is 15 wt% or more, hard cheese is 40 wt% or less, and semi-hard cheese is 40 wt%.
%, About 50-70% by weight of soft cheese.

Next, the molten salt used in the present invention has an ion exchange power to convert the protein form in the raw material cheese in a molten state from insoluble calcium paracaseinate to water-soluble sodium paracaseinate. The one with weak creaming action is good. The creaming effect
Refers to the action of causing protein swelling and water absorption. That is, in the present invention, a molten salt which has ion exchange power, which is an essential action and effect of the salt, and improves spinnability and meltdown, but which has low swelling and water absorption of the protein and suppresses reduction of oil-off is used. This makes it possible to construct a tissue that improves the spinnability and meltdown of cheeses and suppresses the reduction of oil-off.

At present, the phenomenon of the creaming action has not been scientifically explained, but empirically, as the creaming action progresses, the protein in the cheese absorbs a large amount of water. Then, the protein-fat network structure (network) greatly swells to form a stable emulsion. As a result, the texture of the processed cheese is a dense and uniform product.
On the other hand, when a molten salt having a weak creaming action is used, a cheese having a soft and loose structure is obtained. Therefore, it is better that the creaming action is weak for generating an appropriate oil-off.

Examples of the molten salt having an ion exchange power and a weak creaming action include monophosphate, citrate and the like. As these salts, sodium salts are generally used, but potassium salts and the like can also be used. Specific examples include monosodium phosphate, disodium phosphate, trisodium phosphate, dipotassium phosphate, tripotassium phosphate, and trisodium citrate. These can be used alone or as a mixed salt of two or more. In particular, sodium monophosphate and sodium citrate alone or in combination are preferable in terms of the above three properties. Sodium monophosphate is preferably disodium phosphate, and sodium citrate is preferably trisodium citrate. In addition, creaming properties may be stronger than in the case of processed cheese, since emulsification is relatively unlikely to occur in cheese food or imitation cheese in which ingredients other than natural cheese are used for the ingredient mix. On the other hand, a typical example of a molten salt having an ion exchange power and a strong creaming action is polyphosphate. Here, those having a weaker creaming action than a molten salt such as polyphosphate are referred to as “weak”.

Next, an emulsifier suitable for W / O type emulsification is an emulsifier generally having an HLB of 10 or less. In the processed cheese, casein hydrated by the action of the molten salt acts to form an O / W-type uniform structure (emulsified phase). It is important that the emulsification of the emulsified phase does not proceed excessively for the purpose of oil-off, but by using an emulsifier suitable for the W / O type opposite to the emulsified state of the emulsified phase, excessive emulsification can be achieved. Can be prevented. This is because the W / O emulsifier can suppress the fineness of fat globules in the O / W emulsified phase. This emulsifier also has an effect on the protein-fat network structure, and is considered to have an effect of promoting spinnability. This is because the network structure also has a complicated emulsified state, and the extensibility and the like can be improved by the emulsifier. The above effects are further improved by an emulsifier having an HLB of 5 or less, and the appropriate HLB also varies depending on the type of the raw material mix. For example, when using something other than natural cheese, such as cheese food or imitation cheese, a relatively low HLB is better because oils and fats are separately added.

As a low HLB emulsifier suitable for the W / O type, an emulsifier such as a sucrose fatty acid ester, a glycerin fatty acid ester, a sorbitan fatty acid ester or a propylene glycolic acid ester may be used. Further, since the HLB of the emulsifier is additive, it is effective to combine various emulsifiers to adjust the HLB to a predetermined value. For example, even with the same HLB5, the effect of a mixture of a low HLB and a high HLB and a single substance differ. Therefore, it may be appropriately adjusted depending on the physical properties of the desired cheeses.

Contrary to the above, when an emulsifier having a high HLB suitable for O / W type emulsification is used, the emulsification of the emulsified phase is promoted. Particularly, in block type cheeses, the tendency is remarkable. Off, meltdown is significantly deteriorated (unless meltdown occurs, spinnability is not exhibited). Therefore, if the densification of the structure is suppressed without using the molten salt, it is considered that the oil-off and the meltdown do not deteriorate so much even when the emulsifier having a high HLB is used. The addition is indispensable, and the effect of improving the spinnability is small. Especially in the block type, oil off as long as an emulsifier with a high HLB is used,
Melt down and deterioration of spinnability cannot be prevented. Next, the method for producing cheeses of the present invention will be described. Production of process cheese-type cheeses commonly includes the steps of heating, melting, emulsifying, molding, and cooling. For example, the raw material mix is introduced into a closed emulsification kettle, and the above-mentioned molten salt and emulsifier are added thereto. Then, steam is directly injected into the emulsification kettle, and the mixture is heated and stirred to emulsify.

The amount of the molten salt to be added is 0.1 to the raw material mix.
The content is preferably about 2 to 2% by weight, preferably about 0.3 to 1.5% by weight, but is appropriately adjusted depending on the production conditions in each step and the quality of the target cheese. If the added amount of the molten salt is insufficient or excessive, the whole may be aggregated, causing fat separation or the like and disintegrating. Further, even if the amount does not reach that, if the amount is small, the structure becomes nonuniform and a sufficient effect cannot be obtained. If the amount is too large, emulsification proceeds and the sufficient effect cannot be obtained.

The amount of the emulsifier added is 0.05 to 1.2% by weight, preferably 0.15 to 0.8% by weight of the raw material mix.
The weight% is good, but it is appropriately adjusted depending on the manufacturing conditions of each step and the like. If the added amount of the emulsifier is insufficient, the effect is not sufficient, and if it is excessive, the emulsion proceeds excessively and the properties such as oil-off are deteriorated.

Next, in an emulsification kettle in which a molten salt and an emulsifier are added to the raw material mix to emulsify the mixture, low- to medium-speed stirring is in principle performed.
Those having a structure that does not promote emulsion formation are preferred. Because, when the stirring speed is high, the emulsification progresses to a high degree due to the shear emulsification phenomenon, and the creaming action is promoted in the cheese structure even when using a molten salt with a weak creaming effect, and as a result, the structure is relatively dense and the oil is off This is because cheeses that are unlikely to occur tend to be produced. However, the degree of stirring is adjusted depending on the type of the raw material mix and the like. For example, when a cheese food, imitation cheese, or the like other than natural cheese is used, the emulsification tends to be less likely to be excessive even with relatively strong stirring.

Preferred emulsification kettles include kettle type, cutter type and cooker type emulsification pots. Low to medium speed stirring is generally 50 to 1000 rpm,
Preferably, it means about 60 to 900 rpm. When a kettle type is used, a maximum of about 200 rpm is usually used, but when another type is used, the number of rotations may be adjusted as appropriate within the above range.

After emulsification, molding and cooling are performed. By the way, in general, in order to produce cheese having spinnability, the stirring speed of the emulsification kettle is reduced (lower the number of rotations) to suppress the shearing force applied to the cheese, and the sliced cheese is reduced to suppress the emulsification. Thus, cooling is performed immediately after heating. However, in the present invention, as described above, since the emulsifier and the molten salt that do not promote the emulsification in the heating to cooling process are used, the stirring speed of the emulsification kettle is higher than before, and the cooling speed does not necessarily need to be increased. Therefore, even in the case of block-type cheese, it is possible to provide a product having the same oil-off heat melting property and spinnability as natural cheese.

The heating temperature may be about 75 to 85 ° C.
No special equipment is required as a cooling means.
A cool box set at 10 ° C, a water tank set at 5 to 10 ° C, or the like can be used. As described above, in the present invention, the emulsification can be performed even if the cooling rate is significantly slower than the conventional one, so that the molding shape can be selected arbitrarily. Slice type (L90mm × W90mm × H2mm) is of course,
Block type (L40cm × W
25cm x H10cm: 10kg), Carton type (L11
cm.times.W6 cm.times.H4cm: 225 g). As a preferable cooling rate which does not cause excessive emulsification during cooling and a temperature difference between the central portion and the surface, the block type is preferably 0.25 to 15 hours, preferably 0 to 15 ° C, in which the temperature of the central portion reaches 15 ° C. The speed should be about 25 to 10 hours. The reason why the temperature is set to 15 ° C. is that the emulsified state is stabilized by such cooling. The cheeses produced in this manner produce a uniform meltdown during heating and cooking, exhibit excellent spinnability, have an appropriate oil-off, and have no skin on the surface. For example, the spinnability of cheeses obtained by a preferred embodiment is at least 40 cm or more even in the block type,
It usually reaches 55cm or more. Spinnability is defined as follows. (Spinnability) Sample cheese is collected in a 20 g petri dish, heated and melted at about 90 ° C. for 1 minute, and then pulled up by a stringiness measuring device at a speed of 10 cm / s until it is cut. Threading length of the cheese (cm). In addition, in the method (maximum spinnability) of measuring the maximum elongation by using 70 g of the sample without specifying the pulling speed and defining this as the spinnability, the spinnability of 40 cm or more is generally the maximum. The spinnability becomes 60 cm or more.

[0031]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

EXAMPLE 1 14 kg of crushed unripened Gouda cheese (STN / TN = 10) and 6 kg of cheddar cheese (STN / TN = 25) were placed in a kettle type emulsification kettle, and 260 g of disodium phosphate as a molten salt was added thereto. After adding 60 g of propylene glycol fatty acid ester of HLB4, the mixture was heated to 82 ° C. at a stirring speed of 90 rpm. The heated cheese is 40cm long
Each 10 kg was filled into a cardboard having a width of 25 cm and a thickness of 10 cm. The cardboard filled with cheese was cooled in a cold storage at 5 ° C. to obtain a product. Approximately 9 before the center temperature reaches 15 ° C
It took time.

The obtained product was cut into a square having a size of about 3 cm × 1 cm × 2 mm, placed on a loaf of bread, and heated with an electric oven toaster. The cheese was taken out of the oven, and the spinnability of the cheese on the bread was examined. As a result, the cheese had good physical properties and flavor, such as natural cheese. Table 1 shows the evaluation results of the spinnability and the like.

Example 2 6.1 kg of ground unripe Gouda cheese (STN / TN = 8)
6.1 kg of cheddar cheese (STN / TN = 18), 2.6 kg of rennet casein, 2.2 kg of soybean hardened oil and 3 kg of water are put into a cutter-type emulsification kettle, and 100 g of sodium citrate as a molten salt and HLB1 are added. After adding 160 g of sucrose fatty acid ester, stirring speed was 750 rpm.
To 80 ° C. The heated cheese is 30cm long
Each of 3.2 kg was filled into a cardboard having a width of 26 cm and a height of 4 cm. The cardboard packed with cheese was cooled in a cold storage at 0 ° C. to obtain a product. It took about 3 hours for the center temperature to reach 15 ° C. The spinnability and the like of the obtained product were good as in Example 1. Table 1 shows the evaluation results of the spinnability.

Example 3 2.6 kg of rennet casein, 0.6 kg of acid casein, 2.7 kg of soybean hardened oil and 4.1 kg of water were placed in a cooker-type emulsification kettle, and sodium citrate 60 as a molten salt was added thereto.
g, 60 g of monosodium phosphate and 10 g of sorbitan fatty acid ester of HLB2 were added, and the mixture was heated to 80 ° C. at a stirring speed of 200 rpm. The heated cheese
Filled into 1kg cartons. The carton filled with cheese was cooled in a cold storage at 10 ° C. It took about 3 hours for the center temperature to reach 15 ° C. The spinnability and the like of the obtained product were good as in Example 1.

Comparative Example 1 A product was produced in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the sucrose fatty acid ester was omitted. Although the obtained product melted down during cooking, there was no oil off, skin was formed on the surface, and the spinnability was insufficient.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 2 The molten salt in the composition of Example 1 was replaced with sodium polyphosphate 360
A product was manufactured in the same manner except that the product was replaced with g. The obtained product had neither meltdown nor oil off during cooking, and had no spinnability.

[0038]

[Table 1] * Spinnability-Distance to cut cheeses 5 points-70 cm or more 4 points-55 cm or more-less than 70 cm 3 points-40 cm or more-less than 55 cm 2 points-25 cm or more-less than 40 cm 1 point-10 cm or more-less than 25 cm 0 Point-Less than 10cm * Melting condition during cooking ◎-Moderate oil off like natural cheese and uniform melting ○-Melt down, but "skin" is formed on cheese surface x-Does not melt

[0039]

As described above, by adding a specific molten salt and an emulsifier to the raw material mix, even though it is heat-sterilized and emulsified, an appropriate oil-off and uniform meltdown can be obtained during cooking. And especially cheeses having excellent spinnability can be produced. The cheeses have flavor, appearance,
Although the properties and the like are natural cheese-like, there is great demand as new cheeses having excellent storage stability. Further, the shape is not limited to the slice type, and a desired shape such as a block type can be selected, so that variations of cheeses can be achieved. In addition, the production conditions of the cheeses are relatively moderate, and no special operation is required in the emulsification step, the cooling step, and the like, which is advantageous in production.

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Kimio Marui 382-1 B-403 Nakayama, Hanno City, Saitama Prefecture (56) References JP-A-60-110245 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A23C 19/082

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A formed by manufactured using HLB5 following milk <br/> agents molten salt and W / O type process cheese type switch
A cheese, including over's and cheese-like food, Yusuke oil off definitive at the time of cooking, the heat-fusible and spinnability
Cheese, characterized in that that. 2. The cheeses according to claim 1, wherein the spinnability is 40 cm or more (length until the cheese is cut). 3. The method for producing cheeses according to claim 1, wherein the main raw materials are a molten salt and a W / O type HLB5 or less.
A method for producing cheeses comprising adding a lower emulsifier, stirring, heating, melting, emulsifying, molding, and cooling. 4. The production method according to claim 3, wherein the molten salt is sodium citrate and / or sodium monophosphate.