JP3130842B2 - Fresh cheese - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cottage cheese (Cot) having a long shelf life and having an improved shelf life by preventing acidity from increasing during storage and preventing deterioration of flavor and quality.
The present invention relates to fresh cheeses such as tage cheese and quark, and a method for producing these fresh cheeses.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Fresh cheeses such as cottage cheese and quark are traditional dairy products produced all over the world, and are unripe cheeses produced from skim milk or whole milk. Cottage cheese is usually
After adding a lactic acid bacterium starter to heat-sterilized skim milk or whole milk, or cutting a card obtained by adding a small amount of rennet to a predetermined size, stirring, a predetermined temperature (50 to 60 ° C.) ), And whey is removed when curds of appropriate hardness are formed. Next, the card is washed with cold water, and after sufficient moisture is removed, the card is filled in a container. The cottage cheese manufactured in this way is sold as a plain type product as it is in a container, or as a product added with salt, cream, spices, fruits, vegetables, etc. and mixed and flavored. . In Japan, salt and cream are generally added to curd,
Mixed form cottage cheese is well known as the most popular type of product. In addition, quark, after stirring the curd obtained in the same manner as cottage cheese, separated whey using a special centrifuge called quark separator, cooled the curd discharged from the centrifuge, container It is manufactured by filling.

[0003] As described above, cottage cheese and quark are fresh cheeses that are produced and eaten on a worldwide scale, but generally have poor preservability, and deteriorate and deteriorate in a relatively short period of time. Problem. That is,
Lactic acid bacteria used as a starter in the manufacture of fresh cheese survive and continue to proliferate in the product, assimilate lactose in the product and produce lactic acid and acetic acid, increasing the acidity of the product and deteriorating flavor and quality It will do. In order to solve these problems, fresh cheese was subjected to retort treatment, etc., to kill or inactivate lactic acid bacteria and enzymes contained in the product and to improve the shelf life of the product. When a heat treatment such as a treatment is performed, a new problem occurs in that the quality of the structure, flavor, and the like of the product is significantly deteriorated. Further, a method of adding various antibacterial agents to fresh cheese to maintain the quality of the product such as texture and flavor in a good state for a long period of time has been studied.

On the other hand, when milk is treated with an ultrafiltration (UF) membrane, proteins in milk do not pass through the membrane, but low molecular weight substances such as lactose pass through the membrane. And concentrate the milk. Also, UF
By adding water to the concentrated milk on the concentrated side obtained by treating with a membrane, and further treating with a UF membrane, lactose and other low molecular weight substances in the concentrated milk can be reduced. Milk processing technology using such a UF membrane has been put to practical use. Whey protein concentrate (WPC) is produced by treating whey with a UF membrane, or skim milk is treated with a UF membrane. Milk protein concentrate
(MPC).

[0005] The technique of treating milk with a UF membrane is also used in the production of cheese. (1) Use of concentrated milk obtained by treating with a UF membrane as raw material milk for cheese To improve the production efficiency, control the physical properties of cheese curd, and (2) concentrate the raw milk to a solid content of cheese by treating it with a UF membrane, then add a lactic acid bacteria starter and rennet. Production of cheese as it is to improve production efficiency and yield, or (3)
Attempts have been made to improve the yield by processing cheese whey with a UF membrane and returning the concentrated whey protein to raw milk to produce cheese.

[0006]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The inventors of the present invention have proposed a method for preventing the freshness of fresh cheese, such as cottage cheese and quark, from increasing acidity during storage and preventing deterioration in flavor and quality of fresh cheese. Has been conducting intensive research in order to improve the
By adding water to the concentrated milk obtained by treating the milk with the UF membrane, and using the concentrated milk with a reduced lactose content obtained by further treating the milk with the UF membrane as the raw milk of fresh cheese, The inventors have found that an increase in acidity can be prevented, and deterioration of flavor and quality can be prevented, and the present invention has been completed. Accordingly, the present invention provides a fresh cheese having a long shelf life and an improved shelf life by preventing an increase in acidity during storage and preventing deterioration of flavor and quality, and a method for producing the fresh cheese. That is the task.

[0007]

In the present invention, raw milk having a reduced lactose content is used for producing fresh cheese such as cottage cheese and quark. As a method of obtaining raw milk with reduced lactose content by removing lactose from milk, water is added to concentrated milk obtained by treating milk with a UF membrane and concentrating the milk,
Further, a method of removing lactose by treatment with a UF membrane is preferred. Usually, milk contains about 4.5 to 6.5% of lactose, and this lactose content is reduced to about 1.5 to 4%, preferably 2 to 4%.
By setting the content to about 3.5%, the acid generation of the lactic acid bacterium starter at the time of cheese curd formation is not adversely affected, and the acidity of the lactic acid bacterium during storage can be suppressed to prevent an increase in acidity. When the lactose content is less than 1.5%, the acid production of the lactic acid bacteria starter is suppressed and the fermentation is delayed, and when the lactose content is more than 4%, the acid production of the lactic acid bacteria during storage progresses to increase the acidity. However, the flavor and quality deteriorate.

[0008] As described above, when milk is treated with a UF membrane to remove lactose, the content of protein contained in milk is increased at the same time. For example, when a cheese curd is prepared using concentrated milk obtained by concentrating skim milk twice, the tissue becomes hard. Therefore, for example, when a cheese curd is prepared using diluted milk obtained by adding water to concentrated milk obtained by concentrating skim milk two-fold and diluting it 1.4-fold, the texture of the cheese curd becomes good. Therefore, the protein content of the raw milk is about 3-6%,
Preferably, by setting the content to about 4 to 5%, a cheese curd having moderate hardness can be obtained. For reference, Table 1 shows the compositions of skim milk, concentrated milk obtained by concentrating skim milk two-fold, and diluted milk obtained by diluting two-fold concentrated milk 1.4-fold.

[0009]

[Table 1] ──────────────────────────────────── Total solid protein lactose ash fat ──── ──────────────────────────────── Skim milk 8.5 (%) 3.1 (%) 4.6 (%) 0.7 (%) 0.1 (%) Concentrated milk 11.9 6.2 4.4 1.1 0.2 Diluted milk 8.33 4.34 3.08 0.77 0.14 ──────────────────────────────── ────

[0010] When adjusting the lactose content and protein content of the raw milk, microfiltration with a pore size of 0.1 µm or less (M
F) Although a membrane can be used, it is preferable to use a UF membrane because there is a possibility that a part of the protein is transmitted.

Thus, a fresh cheese having a lactose content of 1.3% or less and a pH of 4.5 or more is obtained.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION In the present invention, milk, raw milk for fresh cheese such as cottage cheese and quark
Use goat milk, sheep milk, buffalo milk, etc. or milk in which the lactose content of skim milk from which fat has been removed from these milks is reduced to about 1.5 to 4%. As a method for reducing the lactose content of these milks, water is added to concentrated milk obtained by treating milk with a UF membrane,
Further, a method of treating with a UF membrane to reduce the lactose content is preferred. Further, as the UF membrane to be used, a membrane that allows lactose to permeate but does not allow proteins to pass therethrough is appropriate. In practice, a UF membrane having a molecular weight cutoff of 5,000 to 30,000 Da may be used. Further, in the present invention, preferably, diluted milk obtained by adding water to the above-mentioned concentrated milk and diluting it so that the protein content in the milk is about 3 to 6% is used as the raw material milk.

Next, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to examples.

Example 1 Concentrated milk obtained by treating 100 kg of skim milk having a milk solid content of 8.5%, a protein content of 3.1% and a lactose content of 4.7% with a UF membrane (HFK131, fractional molecular weight 8,000 Da: manufactured by Koch) and doubling the concentration. 21.4 kg of water was added to 50 kg, and the mixture was further treated with a UF membrane to prepare a raw milk having a protein content of 4.34% and a lactose content of 3.29%. As a control, raw milk having a protein content of 4.34% and a lactose content of 6.58% was prepared by adding skim milk to skim milk.

Next, cottage cheese was produced using these raw milks. That is, Lactococcus cremoris (Lactococcus cremoris ), Streptococcus diacetylactis (Streptococcus diac)
etylactis) , Streptococcus cremoris (Strepto
coccus cremoris ) and Streptococcus lactis
0.5% of a commercially available lactic acid bacterium starter (manufactured by Hansen) consisting of four strains (Streptococcus lactis ) was fermented at 20 ° C. for about 15 hours. , And then allowed to stand for 20 minutes. Then, 120
Warm water was gradually added so that the final temperature became 55 ° C. in minutes, and the curd was stirred to remove whey, and then the curd was washed with water to produce cottage cheese.

The lactose content of each cottage cheese thus obtained was 1.1% for the product of the present invention and 1.8% for the control product.
And store each cottage cheese at 10 ℃, during storage
The pH change was examined. The result is shown in FIG. According to this, the control product dropped to pH 4.35 after 4 weeks of storage, and 10 weeks of storage.
Although the pH was lower than 4.1 and the acidity was strong and the product suitability was significantly impaired, the product of the present invention still maintained pH 4.8 or more after storage for 8 weeks, and there was no significant change in flavor. It had good product suitability.

[0016]

Example 2 100 kg of skim milk having a milk solids content of 8.5%, a protein content of 3.1% and a lactose content of 4.7% was placed on a UF membrane (molecular weight cut off).
38.1 kg of water was added to 33 kg of concentrated milk, which had been treated with 10,000 Da (manufactured by Desalination Co.) and concentrated 3 times, and further treated with a UF membrane to prepare a raw milk having a protein content of 4.34% and a lactose content of 2.19%. As a control, skim milk was added to skim milk to prepare a raw milk having a protein content of 4.34% and a lactose content of 6.58%.

Next, using these raw milk, quark
Was manufactured. In other words, Lactococcus ku
Remoris(Lactococcus cremoris), Streptococcus
Su diacetylactis(Streptococcus diacetylacti
s), Streptococcus cremoris(Streptococcus 
cremoris) And Streptococcus lactis(Strepto
coccus lactis) A commercially available lactic acid bacterium star consisting of four bacterial species
Ter (manufactured by Hansen) in raw milk 1 × 10^Five~ 1 × 10⁷Pieces
/ g and maintained at 24 ° C until the pH reaches 4.7.
Where the card was broken and centrifuged (FDA18-02-177:
(Westphalia) whey at 5,500 rpm
Was eliminated. To soften the organization of the card,
Add 0.00004% of rennet with lactic acid bacteria starter
Was.

The lactose content of each quark obtained was 0.6% for the product of the present invention and 1.5% for the control product. Each quark was stored at 10 ° C., and the pH change during storage was examined. The result is shown in FIG. According to this, the control product dropped to near pH 4.0 after storage for 8 weeks and had a strong acidity and markedly impaired product suitability, whereas the product of the present invention still maintained pH 4.6 after storage for 10 weeks. There was no significant change in the flavor, and the product had good product suitability.

[0019]

According to the present invention, when producing fresh cheese such as cottage cheese and quark, the use of raw milk with a reduced lactose content can suppress an increase in acidity during storage without adversely affecting the production. Thus, a product with improved shelf life and a long shelf life can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a change in pH of each cottage cheese in Example 1.

FIG. 2 shows the pH change of each quark in Example 2.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Kaoru Sato 1-1-7 Nitta, Nitta, Kamifukuoka City, Saitama Prefecture (72) Inventor Yukio Uchida 1-15-29, Koyata Iruma City, Saitama Prefecture (58) Survey Field (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A23C 1/00-23/00

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. Raw material whose lactose content is adjusted to 1.5-4%
1.3% lactose content obtained by using milk
Fresh cheese having a pH of 4.5 or less. 2. Lactose content is 1.3% or less , characterized by using raw milk whose lactose content is adjusted to 1.5-4%.
And a method for producing fresh cheese having a pH of 4.5 or more . 3. The protein content of the raw milk is further increased by 3-6.
%. 4. The production method according to claim 2, wherein the adjustment of the lactose content and / or the protein content of the raw material milk is performed by treating with an ultrafiltration membrane.