JP3222362B2 - Fiber-like konjac granules 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 fibrous konjac granules which can be used as a raw material for processed foods or diet foods, and to a method for producing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Glucomanan is the main ingredient excluding water, and konjac containing calcium by kneading with lime (calcium hydroxide) is known as an indigestible, non-caloric food. Because it is a kind of fiber and has high calcium content in foods, it is being reviewed as a health food.

[0003] However, konjac kneaded with lime and solidified is cooked and eaten to an appropriate size and shape, so that it is good to taste the unique texture of konjac, but konjac is used as a dietary fiber. Was unsuitable for ingesting glucomannan, calcium and the like. For this reason, it has been attempted to process konjac into a state that can be easily used as processed food or health food.

[0004]

Problems to be Solved by the Invention
What is called konjac chips described in No. 5 is a block obtained by kneading a konjac material and lime and coagulating, processing the chips by a chip machine, boiling the chips, dehydrating and washing the chips, and then shaping the chips. It was prepared and made into a material, probably containing moisture. For this reason, it is easy to rot at room temperature, requires a refrigerator for storage, and when mixed with other food materials, the effect of moisture impregnated by chips may occur, and it is also wet as a health food It was difficult to adopt. Also, if the water content is less than the described range, the chip becomes hard and there is a problem in water absorption,
There is a problem that it becomes unsuitable as a material for processed food.

The present invention has been conceived in order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and has as its object no odor or feeling unique to konjac, and it can be used as a material for any processed food or health food. Another object of the present invention is to provide a new fibrous konjac granular material which is easy to handle, has good water absorption, and can impart the flavor and texture of existing processed foods, and a method for producing the same.

[0006]

The fibrous konjac granules according to the present invention for the above object are obtained by crushing konjac solidified by kneading konjac material and lime, under pressure,
The crushed material is dewatered and then cut and dried to form granules.The granules are in the form of fibers in small clumps in which short fibers are tangled long and narrow, and have a length of 6 mm or less. It contains 5 to 10% by weight of water.

Further, according to the production method of the present invention, the konjac material and lime are kneaded by ordinary means and solidified into a plate,
The plate-shaped konjac is finely crushed under pressure to form a crushed product, 50 to 60% by weight of the water content of the crushed product is heated and washed and then dewatered, and then the crushed product is cut into 5 to 8 mm and granulated. After the granules are cooled to -10 ° C or less, drying is carried out to give a fibrous form as small clumps in which short fibers are tangled long and narrow, and a length of 6 mm or less and 5 to 10% by weight. In other words, it is made into granules containing water.

[0008] The konjac material may be either fine powder or raw potato, and the means for coagulating konjac is as follows.
The konjac manufacturing method performed so far can be directly employed. The amount of lime added is konjac 10
It may be in the range of 3 to 10 gr with respect to 0 gr, and the calcium content in the final product varies depending on the amount added. Coloring is preferably performed during the kneading of konjac and lime, and in some cases, blue glue, sesame, mustard, flour,
It is also possible to add starch and the like.

The pressure crushing in the present invention means that konjac solidified in a plate shape is expanded and crushed by a large pressing force, and further crushed into small pieces, and the water contained in konjac is simultaneously squeezed out by crushing. Say. This pressure crushing is preferably performed using a press device, and a press device preferably includes a vibration press device.

[0010] The pressure crushing by the press device is performed by feeding konjac plate-like konjac between pressing plates each having an opposing surface formed into a concavo-convex surface of 0.3 to 2.0 mm and pressing konjac solidified into a plate shape by vibration pressure. Crush and crush finely by uneven surface. It is not necessary to perform this crushing until all the pieces are uniformly and finely divided. Some of them may be connected like a string or a net, but it is not necessary to cut them in particular, and the process proceeds to the next heating step as it is.

The heating of the crushed konjac requires 20 to 30 minutes by steaming or boiling at a temperature of 80 to 100 ° C. The odor is removed from the crushed konjac by this heating, and the crushed material is re-coagulated by washing under a water bath or shower, and impurities are washed away. Subsequent dehydration may be performed in a centrifuge for 1 to 3 minutes, thereby removing surface moisture and interstitial moisture. However, since the water in the tissue cannot be removed, the crushed material is in a wet state even after dehydration.

[0012] The crushed material after dehydration comes to have a fiber shape. This is temporarily cut into 5 to 8 mm pieces, loosened and granulated. In this state, the tissue is moist due to the water content, and is likely to form a lump. Therefore, the water in the tissue is separated and removed by cooling and drying. For cooling-
It takes 1 to 2 hours at 10 ° C or lower, and when cooled at -20 ° C, the water in the tissue is collected by freezing, and the tissue is separated into the bond between glucomannan and calcium and the frozen water. As a result, the binding between glucomannan and calcium shrinks to the extent that the water is removed.

For the drying, hot air drying or heat drying with blowing air can be employed. Hot air drying requires 150 ° C. for 1 to 2 hours, and heat drying requires 200 to 300 ° C. for about 30 minutes. This drying removes the water that has collected in the tissue, resulting in granular materials that can be separated individually. In addition, the tissue formed by the binding of glucomannan and calcium is further converted into fibers, and the form shown in FIG. 1, that is, a granular material having a fibrous form in a small lump in which short fibers are elongated and entangled, Become. In this case, when the content of water is reduced to 5% by weight or less, there is a problem in water absorption when used as a food material. It can be said that.

[0014] Such fibrous konjac granules are processed foods having the same texture as processed meat products, such as hamburgers and sausages, as in conventional chips, udon, macaroni, spaghetti, and also kamaboko, gyoza, squid, etc. It can be used as a raw material for any processed food and can be eaten as it is as a health food. As health food, fiber konjac is preferably crushed and used in powder form.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION 1 kg of konjac fine powder contains lime 70
While gr is dissolved in water and added, the mixture is kneaded by a usual means, put into a shallow molding box, cured with warm water, and solidified into a plate having an average thickness of 3 mm. Next, the konjac plate was sent to a press device equipped with a vibration pressing device having an upper and lower pressing plate having a concavo-convex surface with an uneven surface of 1.0 mm. Pressurization is performed twice. This crushes the squashed konjac,
Squeeze out the water in the konjac.

Since the above-mentioned pulverized product is in a state of being soaked in water, after draining, it is put in boiling water at 90 ° C. and boiled for about 25 minutes. As a result, the lime contained in the konjac and the impurities mixed with the lime are boiled out, and the crushed material is re-solidified and hardened by heating. After the elapse of the above time, the crushed material is put in a water bath at normal temperature for washing to remove impurities adhering to the crushed material, and a unique konjac odor generated by the addition of lime is removed.

Next, the washed crushed material is dewatered in a centrifugal dehydrator for about 3 minutes. In this dehydration, 50-60
Dehydrate the weight%. Although the crushed material comes into a fibrous shape by dehydration, the crushed material is cut into a size of about 5 mm by a rotary cutter and loosened.

As a result, the crushed material is granulated to become a wet granular material. Therefore, the granules are placed in a freezer and frozen at a temperature of -20 ° C. for about one hour to freeze the water contained in the tissue. Finally, the frozen granules are put into a hot air drier and dried at 150 ° C. for 1 hour and 30 minutes to form konjac granules having a water content of 8% by weight.

The konjac granules taken out of the dryer are, as shown in the enlarged photograph of the electron microscope in FIG.
It was a small lump in which short fibers were entangled in an elongated manner and exhibited a fibrous form. In addition, the length of the granular material was 6 mm or less, and many of them were fuzzy. As a result of analysis, the components of such fibrous konjac granules were as follows.

-Dietary fiber 89.7 gr / 100 gr (by AOC method)-Calcium 760 mgr / 100 gr (by atomic absorption spectrometry)-Water content 8.3 gr / 100 gr (by normal pressure heating and drying)

The fibrous konjac granules according to the present invention have no odor and feel peculiar to konjac, and are hardly rotten, so that there is no need to store them in a refrigerator as in a wet state. In addition, it does not return to the original konjac due to water absorption when mixed with other food ingredients, it can give the flavor and texture of the processed food used there, and it contains a lot of dietary fiber and calcium Therefore, it can be eaten as it is as a health food or processed into powder.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a photograph of a fibrous konjac granular material according to the present invention magnified 50 times by an electron microscope.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] Claims 1. A konjac solidified by kneading konjac material and lime is crushed under pressure, and the crushed material is dewatered and cut and dried to form a granular material. A fibrous form with small clumps that fit together, and a length of 6 mm or less and 5-1
A fibrous konjac granule characterized by containing 0% by weight of water. 2. A konjac material and lime are kneaded by ordinary means and solidified into a plate, and the konjac is finely crushed under pressure to form a crushed product, and 50 to 60% of the water content of the crushed product. % After heating and washing, and then dewatered. The crushed material is cut into 5 to 8 mm and granulated.
After cooling, drying is carried out to give a fibrous form in the form of small lumps in which short fibers are tangled in an elongated manner, and a length of 6 mm or less and containing 5 to 10% by weight of water. A method for producing fibrous konjac granules, characterized in that the granules are formed into granules.