JP3388715B2 - Low fat cheese and method for producing the same - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a low-fat processed cheese having a fat content of 20% by weight or less and having a soft and smooth texture, and a method for producing the same. The low-fat processed cheese of the present invention has a fat content of 20% by weight or less as a raw material cheese,
It has a strong taste and a rich flavor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the increase in health consciousness, foods tend to have a low fat content, and cheeses with a low fat content have been developed. For example, a method for producing a low-fat cheese in which cheese is cut, treated with an alkali metal chloride aqueous solution of 10 to 36% by weight, melted by heating, and then a fat content is removed using a centrifuge (JP-A-1- 196256), heating a mixture of granular skim milk curd, salt and emulsified salt at a temperature above 160 ° F,
A cheese blend is prepared in which water, maltodextrin and low D.I. E. A high moisture process in which a texture improver consisting of a mixture of corn syrup solids and a protein source are added under temperature conditions above 130 ° F and further heated until a temperature of 190 ° F is reached, containing at least 50% by weight of water. Method for producing low-fat cheese product for obtaining cheese (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-217691), the fat percentage is 4
-23% by weight of raw material cheese, a molten salt and a W / 0 type emulsifier are added, and the mixture is heated and melted to produce low-fat processed cheeses (JP-A-6-276936). Then, a method for producing a low-fat cheese in which fat is separated and removed by heating and melting while stirring at low speed (JP-A-7-1942).
98) and defatted natural cheese or natural cheese is mixed with defatted natural cheese, and a molten salt, a proteolytic enzyme and water are mixed and heated and melted to produce a low-fat process cheese (JP-A-9-51760). It is disclosed.

On the other hand, in Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 61-22932, a molten salt is added to raw material cheese and sterilized by heating and melting at a temperature of 120 ° C. or higher, and then 60 to 10
A technique relating to pasteurized processed cheese obtained by cooling to 0 ° C. and adding a tissue forming agent is disclosed.

[0004]

According to the above methods (1) to (3), it is possible to produce low-fat processed cheese, but for example, the cheese obtained by the method is hard,
Cheese having a gum-like texture, and the cheese obtained by the method are for heating cooking in which an appropriate oil-off, uniform meltability and good stringiness are obtained in heating, and it is hard when not heated. , Has a gum-like texture and is not suitable for non-heating applications. On the other hand, the cheese obtained by the method (1) has a high moisture content and thus has a flat flavor and is not always good in storability. Furthermore, the cheese obtained by the method of, which has a flavor or texture equal to or higher than that of conventional natural cheese, has a complicated manufacturing process, and the natural cheese to which an emulsifier is added is stirred at a low speed. However, since it was heated and melted, the texture of the cheese obtained was brittle, and there was a limit to achieving smoothness. On the other hand, since the cheese obtained by the above method utilizes an enzymatic reaction by a proteolytic enzyme, there is a problem that it is difficult to control the enzymatic reaction.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems in the prior art of low-fat cheese, and it is a low-fat process having a soft and smooth texture despite having a low fat content. The challenge is to provide cheese.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems As a result of intensive studies conducted by the present inventors in view of the above-mentioned problems, as a raw material cheese, a low-fat cheese is used, a molten salt is added, and heat emulsification is performed at 110 ° C. or higher. According to the above, it was found that a low-fat processed cheese having a soft and smooth texture and having a strong taste and a rich flavor was obtained, and the present invention was completed.

That is, the low-fat cheese of the present invention is characterized by having a fat content of 20% by weight or less and having a soft and smooth structure having a hardness of 3 kg or less and a brittleness of 2 mm or less in a cheese compression test. It is a thing. Also,
The method for producing a low-fat cheese of the present invention is a method for producing a low-fat process cheese having the above characteristics, wherein the raw material cheese having a fat percentage of 20% by weight or less contains 0.5 to 5% by weight of a molten salt.
It has a step of adding and heating and emulsifying at 110 ° C. or more to obtain the low-fat processed cheese.

In the present invention, the "soft and smooth texture" means a texture in which the texture of cheese melts without breaking in the mouth when eaten, and a texture that melts is obtained. In the cheese compression test, "Hardness" is 3 kg or less and "brittleness" is 2 mm or less.

Usually, the production of a processed cheese having a good flavor and a smooth texture is carried out by using a raw cheese (fat ratio of 25 to 3).
(5% by weight), and a molten salt is added to the mixture and the mixture is heated and emulsified at 80 to 95 ° C. That is, a processed cheese having a good texture and a smooth texture is produced by using a moderately high fat content. However, in low-fat cheese, the protein concentration in the solid content is adjusted to be high, and the structure of casein is dense and the tissue is strong,
When this cheese is emulsified at a normal heating emulsification temperature (80 to 95 ° C.), the resulting low-fat processed cheese generally has a texture that is hard and brittle, so-called gum-like texture.

In the present invention, a low-fat cheese having a fat content of 20% by weight or less is used as a raw material cheese, a molten salt is added to the raw material cheese, and the mixture is heated and emulsified at a temperature of 110 ° C. or higher to obtain a processed cheese. The tissue is soft and smooth, has a strong taste, and has a rich flavor. This is because by increasing the emulsification temperature,
It is considered that the structure of casein changed to an unusual form and a soluble aggregate of casein was newly formed. In Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-22932, a molten salt is added to raw material cheese, sterilized by heating and melting at a temperature of 120 ° C. or higher, then cooled to 60 to 100 ° C., and a texture forming agent is added. Although a technique relating to a sterilized process cheese obtained by the above is disclosed, this technique is intended to obtain a process cheese having a usual spread-like texture by dispersing a texture improving agent composed of casein. The properties of the pasteurized process cheese disclosed in this publication are different from those of the low-fat process cheese of the present invention.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described in detail below.

The processed cheese of the present invention has a fat percentage of 20.
It is obtained by using cheese as the raw material cheese in an amount of less than or equal to wt%, adding a molten salt, and heating and emulsifying at 110 ° C. or higher. The obtained processed cheese maintains the fat percentage of the raw material cheese and has a soft and smooth structure having a hardness of 3 kg or less and a brittleness of 2 mm or less in the cheese compression test.

The low-fat cheese used as the raw material cheese in the present invention refers to cheese having a fat content of 20% by weight or less (including the case where fat is not contained), and its production method is not particularly limited. For example, Gouda cheese, cheddar cheese or the like having a reduced fat percentage can be used. Furthermore, for example, milk whose fat percentage is adjusted to about 2.8 wt% or less by a treatment such as centrifugation, or skim milk and whole fat milk are mixed to adjust the fat percentage to about 2.8 wt% or less. Defatted cheese obtained by adding lactic acid bacteria, or a coagulation enzyme such as organic acid and rennet to milk may be used, and butter may be added to the defatted cheese to adjust the fat percentage.

In the present invention, the molten salt is added to improve emulsification, and any molten salt may be used as long as it is a commonly used molten salt for the production of processed cheese. Examples of the molten salt include sodium citrate, sodium monophosphate, sodium diphosphate, sodium polyphosphate, and the like, and two or more kinds of these may be used in combination. The addition rate of the molten salt is preferably 0.5 to 5% by weight with respect to the raw material cheese. If the addition rate is less than 0.5% by weight, the emulsification at the time of emulsification becomes insufficient and the texture of the obtained process cheese may be non-uniform, which is not preferable, and if the addition rate exceeds 5% by weight, casein Aggregation may occur, the texture of the resulting processed cheese may be rough, and the flavor may be deteriorated, which is not preferable. Therefore, it is preferable to use the molten salt in a content within the above range in order to suppress such quality variations in the manufacturing process.

The heat emulsification can be carried out by using an emulsifying machine, for example, by kneading the raw material cheese added with the molten salt at 110 ° C. or higher for about 1 minute. When the emulsification temperature is less than 110 ° C, the texture of the obtained processed cheese becomes hard and brittle, which is not preferable. Examples of emulsifiers that can be used during emulsification include scraping heat exchangers, feeders, extruders, combinators, etc. that can perform direct steam heating, indirect heating, or both. The upper limit of the heat emulsification temperature can be set according to the type of raw material cheese to be used, etc. within the range where the characteristics of the processed cheese targeted by the present invention can be obtained. Usually, it is preferably about 150 ° C., particularly about 120 ° C. When heat emulsification is performed at a temperature higher than 150 ° C., in some cases, casein may be excessively modified and aggregated, or browning may occur.
It is preferable to heat and emulsify at a temperature up to about 150 ° C.

In accordance with the final product of the present invention, for example, a pH adjusting agent such as baking soda or lactic acid may be used to adjust the pH, and sucrose fatty acid may be used to improve the texture and physical properties of the processed cheese. Emulsifiers such as esters, lecithin and glycerides, stabilizers such as agar, locust bean gum, carrageenan, guar gum and xanthan gum may be appropriately added to the raw cheese. The addition amount of these may be set within a range in which the effect of adding them is obtained and the effect aimed at by the present invention is not impaired. For example, the addition amount can be selected within a range that the hardness is 3 kg or less and the brittleness is 2 mm or less in the cheese compression test.

Further, the water content of the low-fat cheese according to the present invention is selected so that the water content of the raw material cheese is in the range of 35 to 60% by weight, and water is replenished as necessary before heating and emulsifying. Preferably. Water content is 3
If it is less than 5% by weight, oil-off may occur, resulting in hard cheese, and if it exceeds 60% by weight, water separation and flavor deterioration may occur. Therefore, in order to suppress such variations in the manufacturing process, it is preferable to set the water content of the product within the above range.

[0018]

The present invention will be described in more detail based on the following examples.

Example 1 1,000 gouda cheese having a cheese fat content of 12% by weight
Sodium phosphate (20 g) and sodium bicarbonate so that the pH would be 5.8 were added to g, and emulsified by heating at a temperature of 90, 100, 110, and 120 ° C. using a scraping heat exchanger, and flowed. Processed cheese with water (moisture content 45
% By weight), which was filled in a carton and cooled in a refrigerator.

The obtained processed cheese was subjected to (1) measurement of hardness and brittleness, and (2) sensory evaluation of flavor and texture by the following methods. (1) Measurement of hardness and brittleness by cheese compression test: 10
About cheese cut into cubes of mm × 10 mm × 10 mm, using Leoner (manufactured by Yamadensha Co., Ltd.), a penetration speed of 2 cm according to the method described in Journal of Food Industry Society of Japan, Vol.36, No.12, p986-992,1989 / Min, the texture was measured at 70% compression. Hardness and brittleness were calculated from the stress-strain curve obtained at this time. (2) Sensory evaluation of flavor and texture: 35 mm × 5
Twenty skilled panelists ate the cheese cut into 0 mm × 5 mm and evaluated the texture and flavor of the cheese. The flavor was rich and the texture was smooth, and the scores were scored according to the following five-level evaluation criteria, and the average was shown (rounded to one decimal place).

[0021] 5 points; very favorable 4 points; preferred 3 points; I can't say either 2 points; not preferable 1 point; totally unfavorable The above results are shown in Table 1.

[0022]

[Table 1] As shown in Table 1, those having a heating emulsification temperature of 110 and 120 ° C. had a strong taste, a rich flavor, a soft texture, a smooth texture, and good melting in the mouth. On the other hand, those having a heating emulsification temperature of 90 and 100 ° C. were not preferable because the casein odor was felt with a flat flavor, and the texture was hard and had a rubber-like texture.

Example 2 1,000 gouda cheeses having a fat content of 18% by weight of cheese
g, sodium phosphate 3, 5, 10, 50, 70
g, respectively, and baking soda to adjust the pH to 5.8, heat emulsification at a temperature of 120 ° C. using a scraping heat exchanger, and process cheese with a fluidity (moisture content 45 wt. %), Which were filled in a carton and cooled in a refrigerator.

Example 1 of the obtained processed cheese
In the same manner as in (1), hardness and brittleness were measured, and (2) sensory evaluation of flavor and texture was performed.

The results are shown in Table 2.

[0026]

[Table 2] Under the conditions of the present embodiment described above, the addition rate of the molten salt is
Those having 0.5 to 5% by weight had a rich flavor, a soft texture, a smooth texture, and good melting in the mouth. On the other hand, when the addition rate of the molten salt was 0.3% by weight, the emulsification was insufficient and oil-off occurred after the heat emulsification, and the structure was fragile, which was not preferable. Further, when the addition rate of the molten salt was 7.0% by weight, the structure became hard and brittle, and the salty taste was strong and the flavor was not preferable.

Example 3 To 1000 g of cheddar cheese having a fat content of 10% by weight, 20 g of sodium phosphate and sodium bicarbonate were added so that the pH was 6.0, and the final product had a water content of 30% by weight. %, 35% by weight, 40% by weight, 50% by weight,
After adding a predetermined amount of water so as to be 60% by weight and 65% by weight, and heat emulsifying at a temperature of 120 ° C. using a scraping heat exchanger to obtain a process cheese having fluidity,
This was filled in a carton and cooled in a refrigerator. With respect to the obtained processed cheese, (1) measurement of hardness and brittleness and (2) sensory evaluation of flavor and texture were performed in the same manner as in Example 1. The results obtained are shown in Table 3.

[0028]

[Table 3] Under the conditions of this example described above, the water content is 35 to 60.
The weight% cheese was soft, smooth and melted in the mouth. On the other hand, those having a water content of 30% by weight were not preferred because they became oily off during heating and emulsification, resulting in a hard and brittle cheese. If the water content is 65% by weight,
After cooling, the cheese became watery and became brittle.
Furthermore, if the water content deviates from 35 to 60% by weight,
The flavor was poor and it was not preferable.

Example 4 150 g of unsalted butter (83% by weight of fat), 25 g of sodium phosphate and 1,000 g of baking soda were added to 1,000 g of defatted cheese (4.8% by weight of fat). And a predetermined amount of water are added so that the final product has a water content of 45% by weight, and heat emulsification is performed at a temperature of 120 ° C. using a scraping heat exchanger to obtain a process cheese having fluidity. After that, it was filled in a carton and cooled in a refrigerator. When the hardness and brittleness of the obtained processed cheese were measured in the same manner as in Example 1, the hardness was 2.0 kg,
The brittleness was 0 mm. Further, sensory evaluation of flavor and texture revealed that the cheese had a good flavor, was soft, smooth, and melted in the mouth.

[0030]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a low-fat processed cheese having a strong taste, a rich flavor, a soft texture, and a smooth texture. That is,
Since the low-fat processed cheese of the present invention has a strong taste and a rich flavor, it is preferable to eat it as it is, and since it is low-fat, it can be used as a food material.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── --- Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Masaharu Sano 3-1-2 Shinsayama, Sayama City, Saitama Prefecture Residence Shinsayama 402 (72) Inventor Shigekatsu Sato 2-4- Matsugaoka, Hatoyama Town, Hiki District, Saitama Prefecture 13 (56) References JP-A-9-154485 (JP, A) JP-A-4-507349 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A23C 19 / 00-19 / 09

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A fat content of 20% by weight or less and the following conditions: Sample shape: 10 mm × 10 mm × 10 mm cube compressibility: 70% Penetration speed: 3 kg or less in hardness in a cheese compression test And brittleness 2
A low-fat processed cheese characterized by having a soft and smooth texture of mm or less. 2. The method for producing a low-fat process cheese according to claim 1, wherein 0.5 to 5% by weight of molten salt is added to the raw material cheese having a fat percentage of 20% by weight or less,
A method for producing a low-fat processed cheese, which comprises a step of heating and emulsifying at a temperature of ℃ or higher to obtain the low-fat processed cheese.