JP3488023B2 - Granular cheese and method for producing the same - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a granular cheese and a method for producing the same. The present invention particularly relates to granular cheese which does not bind to each other during the production process, during ripening and storage, and has excellent stringiness when heated and melted, and a method for producing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the demand for natural cheese has been increasing with the European diet. Natural cheese can be eaten as it is, used as a topping material for gratin, doria, pizza, or as a material for spaghetti sauce or dressing, and has a wide range of applications.
Thus, when using natural cheese in gratin, pizza, etc., it is necessary to cut the block-shaped natural cheese into an appropriate shape and size, but in order to save such trouble, various forms are used. Shredded cheese is commercially available and can be obtained according to the purpose of use. Although the form of shredded cheese is slightly different depending on the purpose for which it is used, it is generally in the form of thin and long slices. Shredded cheese is obtained by cutting block-aged aged cheese into rough rectangular parallelepipeds, putting them in a shredder, and chopping them. Cheese pieces may bind to each other when filling, or blocking (cheese may bind to each other to form a block-like mass)
Therefore, the machine suitability is poor. In addition, since the cheeses are bound to each other during aging and storage, there is a problem that they must be loosened by hand when they are used in cooking or the like.
In order to prevent such binding between cheeses, it is also practiced to spray dry dietary fiber on the surface of cheese slices.

On the other hand, shredded cheese is often used as a topping material for gratin, pizza and the like in cooked foods, so that "stringiness" during heating and melting is regarded as an important physical property. As a technique for improving the stringiness of cheese, it is described that by setting the heating temperature of the curd to a temperature higher than the normal heating temperature, it is possible to produce cheese with good stringing properties ( Japanese Patent Examination 6-87736
issue). However, although the cheese obtained by the invention described in the above publication is excellent in stringiness, it is not preferable in terms of binding property of cheese.

[0004]

Under these circumstances, shredded cheese has firstly that cheeses do not bind to each other during the manufacturing process or during ripening and storage, and secondly, that the cheese has good melting properties during heating and melting. Although it is required to have stringiness as an important factor, such a shredded cheese has not been developed yet. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a granular cheese that does not bind to each other during the production process, ripening, and storage, and that has excellent stringiness, and a method for producing the same.

[0005]

Means for Solving the Problems As a result of intensive studies, the inventors of the present invention conducted heating treatment of cheese curd at a temperature higher than a normal heating temperature, and further obtained cheese curd The present invention was completed based on the finding that a granular cheese and a method for producing the same can be provided by freezing, then thawing, and then gently stirring with a kneading machine or the like for aging to provide the granular cheese and the method for producing the same. That is, the method for producing a granular cheese of the present invention, first, the heating temperature of the curd is higher than usual, 40 ° C or higher and lower than 60 ° C, and secondly, the prepared cheese curd is frozen and It is characterized by thawing, and by these two steps,
It is possible to obtain a granular cheese having excellent stringiness without binding between cheeses during production, aging and storage.

That is, according to the present invention, lactic acid bacteria and milk-clotting enzyme are added to milk to form cheese curd, the obtained cheese curd is heated, then frozen and thawed, and then stirred to produce cheese. A method for producing a granular cheese, which comprises obtaining curd grains and then aging the obtained cheese curd grains. The present invention also has a cheese curd heating temperature of 4
It is a manufacturing method of the above-mentioned granular cheese which is 0 ° C or more and less than 60 ° C. The present invention also comprises adding lactic acid bacteria and milk-clotting enzyme to milk to produce cheese curd, heating the obtained cheese curd to 40 ° C. or higher and lower than 60 ° C., then freezing and thawing, and then stirring. To obtain cheese curd granules and then to age the obtained cheese curd granules to obtain granular cheese.

The action of the heating temperature of the cheese curd and the freeze-thawing process according to the present invention to prevent the binding of cheese and improve the stringiness will be described below. That is, in the present invention, the heat treatment temperature of the cheese curd is higher than the normal heat treatment temperature and is 40 ° C. or higher and 60 ° C. or higher.
When the temperature is lower than 0 ° C, syneresis (condensation) of the cheese curd is promoted, and the network structure of the casein protein mediated by calcium in the cheese curd becomes stronger. Furthermore, since the proteolytic activity of the added lactic acid bacteria and milk-clotting enzyme is reduced, the decomposition of αs-casein, which is the main constituent of the network structure of casein protein, during aging is delayed, and as a result, in the cheese curd, A large amount of αs-casein remains, and the cheese curd has a strong network structure and exhibits hard and gum-like physical properties. Further, in terms of flavor, by heating the cheese curd at 40 ° C. or higher and lower than 60 ° C., conversion of plasminogen in the cheese curd to plasmin is promoted, and decomposition of β-casein is promoted. The cheese will mature and the flavor will be good.

When the cheese curd thus obtained by heating at a temperature higher than the normal heating temperature is frozen and thawed, the binding between the cheese curds becomes very brittle, and the cheese curd is gently heated. Granular cheese can be easily obtained because it is loosened into granules only by stirring. On the other hand, in the cheese curd prepared at a normal heating temperature, since the decomposition of αs-casein proceeds from the very beginning of ripening, the protein structure is not dense and forms a uniform tissue,
Even if the freeze and thaw processes are performed, the cheese curd cannot be loosened into particles by stirring. As described above, according to the present invention, by requiring these two steps, it is possible to obtain granular cheese which is free from binding of cheeses and is excellent in stringiness. As in the invention described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-87736, by adopting only one of the steps, it is not possible to obtain a granular cheese that does not bind to each other and has excellent stringiness.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described in detail below. In the present invention, the "granular cheese" means that one piece of cheese has a weight of about 0.01 g to 10 g and one side of the piece has a size of about 0.1 cm to 5 cm, and the shape is not particularly limited. However, it may have an irregular shape, and examples thereof include a flat circle, a sphere, a cylinder, a cube, a rectangular parallelepiped, and a rod. The granular cheese of the present invention is characterized in that binding of cheese pieces to each other is remarkably small and that the stringiness is excellent.

As the "milk" used as a raw material in the present invention, any milk may be used as long as it is a milk usually used in the production of cheese. For example, whole milk, fat-adjusted milk, reduced milk, concentrated milk. Mention may be made of buttermilk, cream or mixtures thereof. Further, in the present invention, as the "lactic acid bacterium", any lactic acid bacterium may be used as long as it is a lactic acid bacterium usually used in the production of cheese, for example, Streptococcus lacti.
s), Streptococcus thermophilus (Streptoco
ccus thermophilus), Streptococcus cremoris, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Lactobacillus casei, and the like. Further, in the present invention, as the "clotting enzyme", any clotting enzyme commonly used in the production of cheese may be used, and in addition to rennet, animals such as pigs, microorganisms or plants. The rennet substitute, the calf or the genetically modified product derived from a microorganism obtained from the above can be used.

The method for producing granular cheese of the present invention will be described below.
A preferred example will be described. In the manufacturing method of the present invention,
First, according to a conventional method, the fat percentage of milk is adjusted to about 1 to 4% by weight, and then heat sterilization is performed at 63 ° C for about 30 minutes to 75 ° C for about 15 seconds. Place and cool. Then, add about 0.01-0.05 lactic acid bacteria to the milk.
About 0.001 to 0.01% by weight of milk-clotting enzyme is added and coagulated at a temperature of 29 to 34 ° C. for about 30 minutes to obtain a cheese curd.

Next, the obtained cheese curd is cut into a cube having a width of, for example, about 10 to 40 mm and gently stirred to accelerate the syneresis (condensation) of the cheese curd. A part of the whey produced when the cheese curd is cut is eliminated, and the cheese curd is heated to 40 ° C. or higher and lower than 60 ° C. while continuing stirring. When the heating temperature of the cheese curd is less than 40 ° C, the cheese curds are bound to each other and do not become granular even when kneaded after freezing and thawing. At 60 ° C or higher, whey protein is mixed in the cheese curd, and the cheese curd It is not preferable because water is taken in and the water content of the cheese curd becomes high.
When the cheese curd moisture reaches about 55% or less, eliminate all whey. The cheese curd thus obtained is salted. Salting is performed by adding salt such that the salt content in the cheese curd is 1 to 2% by weight. The salt to be added may be solid or aqueous. Since whey is further exuded from the cheese curd after adding the salt, the cheese curd is left to stand at 35 ° C for about 10 to 30 minutes after salting.

Then, the cheese curd is filled in a molding machine and pressed. The squeezing can be performed by using a pressure type, self-weight type or vacuum type press normally used in cheese production. The moisture content of the unripe cheese curd thus obtained is 36 to 43% by weight,
Within this range, the surface of the cheese curd is hard and has a smooth surface, which is preferable. Further, the pH of the unripe cheese curd thus obtained is 5.2 to 6.2. Next, this cheese curd is cooled to about 5 ° C., and immediately after cooling, or within one month, freezing treatment is performed. The freezing temperature may be -5 ° C or lower, but is preferably about -5 ° C to -50 ° C, particularly preferably -5 to -30 ° C. The freezing method may be slow freezing or quick freezing. If the freezing temperature is higher than -5 ° C, the cheese is not completely frozen, which is not preferable. When the cheese curd reaches the freezing temperature, it is thawed slowly at 0 to 20 ° C. If the thawing treatment is carried out at 20 ° C. or higher, oil off will occur, which is not preferable.

Then, the block-shaped unripened natural cheese curd thus obtained is loosened by gently stirring with a kneader to easily obtain cheese curd granules. For the kneading, a generally used kneader such as a biaxial counter-rotating kneader can be used. Here, the gentle stirring means that the rotation speed of the screw is 10 to 10.
The kneading is such that the obtained cheese grains are not destroyed at about 100 rpm. The shape and size of the cheese curd granules obtained here are not particularly limited and may be indefinite, but for example, can be made into a flat and substantially circular shape, a diameter of 5 to 30 mm, and a thickness. The size can be about 3 to 8 mm. These shapes and sizes can be adjusted by the width of the card knife and the speed of cutting when cutting the curd. Incidentally, the unripe cheese curd particles thus obtained, like the granular cheese of the present invention,
Never bind to each other.

Next, the cheese curd granules thus obtained are filled in a film having a gas barrier property, and then gas substitution packaging is carried out with an inert gas such as nitrogen or carbon dioxide. The film having a gas barrier property is not particularly limited, but includes alum foil, aluminum vapor deposition film, polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC), ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH), and these, and polyethylene (PE), polypropylene ( Examples thereof include a composite packaging material obtained by laminating PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), nylon (NY), polycarbonate (PC), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polystyrene (PS) and the like. Among these, polyvinylidene chloride coated nylon film is preferable.

Next, the unripened cheese curd grains are aged to obtain the granular cheese of the present invention. Aging can be carried out at a temperature of 5 to 15 ° C. for 1 to 12 months in the same manner as for ordinary natural cheese. Although the production method of the present invention has been described above with reference to the preferred examples, the steps, conditions, etc. in the ordinary natural cheese production method can be adopted as the other steps, conditions, etc. not particularly explained here.

The granular cheese of the present invention thus obtained has excellent mechanical suitability for automatic conveyance by air, automatic weighing and automatic packaging without binding of the cheeses to each other. It has excellent pullability. In addition, even if it is aged or stored for a long period of time such as 6 months, there is almost no binding between the cheeses, the stringiness does not deteriorate, and the shelf life is excellent (see “Test” below). See "Example 1" and "Test Example 2"). Furthermore, the granular cheese of the present invention,
The flavor and physical properties such as heat melting property are also equal to or higher than those of ordinary natural cheese.

[0018]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in more detail below by showing Examples and Test Examples, but the present invention is not limited to these.

Example 1 Fat-modified milk sterilized at 75 ° C. for 15 seconds (fat content: 3.
0% by weight) 1,500 kg was heated to 30 ° C., and lactic acid bacteria starter (CHR.HANSEN: BD-CH-Normal-01 type) 0.02
Weight% and Rennet (CHR.HANSEN: 70,000units /
g) Add 0.003% by weight and stir gently, 30
It left still at 30 degreeC for 30 minutes, and the cheese curd was obtained. Cut the cheese curd with a card knife with a blade width of 15 mm, and
After gently stirring for 1 minute, 1/3 of the resulting whey was eliminated. Immediately add 7 parts of the mixture of cheese curd and whey.
Moved to one small bat. Each mixture of cheese curd and whey had a final reached temperature of 36 ° C., 38 ° C., 40 ° C., 45 ° C., 55 ° C., 10 minutes after the start of whey exclusion.
The temperature was raised while adjusting the temperature to 59 ° C. and 60 ° C. at a rate of 1 ° C. every 2 minutes. Stirring was continued while maintaining each temperature level, and when 90 minutes had elapsed from the start of heating, the total amount of whey was eliminated, and 1.7% by weight of salt was added to and mixed with the cheese curd. After that, the cheese curd is transferred to a rectangular mold and squeezed with a press machine under a pressure of about 0.3 kg / cm ² for 2 hours, and finally about 15 kg.
Got the cheese curd. Each cheese curd was placed in a vinyl film, vacuum-packed, and stored at 10 ° C. for 2 days by static storage. Then, this unripened block-shaped cheese curd was frozen at -30 ° C, then thawed at 10 ° C, gently kneaded at 20 rpm using a biaxial counter-rotating kneader, crushed the block, and unripened Got cheese curd grain. Here, the pH value and moisture value of the cheese curd grains were measured, and the results are shown in Table 1.

Furthermore, the unripened cheese curd grains are
After filling a film made of polyvinylidene chloride-coated nylon film having a gas barrier property, nitrogen and carbon dioxide gas were gas-substituted at a ratio of 1: 1 and aged to obtain granular cheese. Immediately after packaging, the shape of granular cheese was observed at 1st month, 2nd month, 3rd month and 6th month of aging. The results are shown in Table 2. The granular cheese had a size of about 1 cm to about 3 cm.

Comparative Example 1 A cheese curd was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the freeze-thawing treatment was not carried out. However, even if kneading was carried out using a kneader, the cheeses were bound together and granular cheese was obtained. I couldn't. The same observation as in Example 1 was performed.
The results are shown in Table 2.

[0022]

[Table 1]                    Relationship between heating temperature, pH and water content (%)         -----------------               Heating temperature (℃) pH Moisture (%)         -----------------                 36 5.4 43.4                 38 5.4 41.7                 40 5.4 39.1                 45 5.5 38.8                 55 5.8 42.5                 59 6.0 42.7                 60 6.2 44.0         -----------------

[0023]

[Table 2]       −−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−                               Example 1 Comparative example 1       −−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−       Heating temperature (℃) Aging period (month) Aging period (month)                           0 1 2 3 6 0 1 2       −−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−           36 × × × × × × × ×           38 △ × × × × × × ×           40 ◎ ◎ ◎ ◎ ○ ○ × × ×           45 ◎ ◎ ◎ ◎ ◎ ○ × × ×           55 ◎ ◎ ◎ ◎ ◎ ○ × × ×           59 ◎ ◎ ◎ ◎ ◎ ○ × × ×           60 △ △ △ △ × × × ×       −−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−       ◎: Almost no binding between cheeses is seen       ○: The binding between the cheeses is slightly seen       △: Many cheeses are bound to each other       ×: Granular cheese could not be obtained, or cheeses were almost bound to each other

As is clear from Table 2, in Comparative Example 1 in which the freeze-thawing treatment was not performed, the cheeses were significantly bound to each other and the granular cheese was obtained regardless of the heating treatment at any temperature. could not. Moreover, in Example 1 which performed the freeze-thawing process, cheese curd was 40 degreeC-59 degreeC.
What was heated in the range of ℃, it was possible to obtain a granular cheese, but those that were heated at 38 ° C or lower or at 60 ° C could not disperse the cheese curd into particles during kneader kneading, No granular cheese could be obtained. Further, as is clear from Table 2, the cheese curd 40 to
The ones that were heated in the range of 59 ° C did not bind to each other and were able to maintain their granularity even after being aged and stored for 6 months, but were heated in the range of 38 ° C or lower and 60 ° C. In the heat-treated product, the binding between the cheeses progressed over time. From these results, it was found that the temperature for heating the cheese curd is preferably 40 ° C. or higher and lower than 60 ° C.

Test Example 1 The cheeses obtained in Example 1 and Comparative Example 1 were evaluated for stringiness. 20 g of each cheese obtained in Example 1 and Comparative Example 1 was sampled in a petri dish, and this was heated and melted for 1 minute (about 90 ° C.) with an electromagnetic heater. After that, the petri dish was immediately taken out, left for 1 minute and 30 seconds, and when the temperature reached about 80 ° C., a test was conducted using a threading tester (manufactured by Fuji Seiki). The test pulls the cheese at a speed of 10 cm per second and measures the length until the thread is cut,
The obtained value was defined as the stringiness of cheese. The results are shown in Table 3.

[0026]

[Table 3]       −−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−                               Example 1 Comparative example 1       −−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−       Heating temperature (℃) Aging period (month) Aging period (month)                           0 1 2 3 6 0 1 2       −−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−           36 60 64 43 38 33 50 44 33           38 65 65 40 28 33 55 45 30           40 86 88 80 80 79 56 48 30           45 89 93 90 85 80 59 43 30           55 92 83 88 86 80 52 43 38           59 92 82 87 86 80 52 42 37           60 70 58 36 20 20 53 40 34       −−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−                                                     (Unit: cm)

As is clear from Table 3, in Comparative Example 1 in which the freeze-thaw treatment was not performed, the stringiness was significantly inferior to that of the cheese obtained in Example 1. Further, in Example 1, when the heating treatment temperature of the card was 40 ° C. to 59 ° C., good stringiness was maintained even after aging. On the other hand, if the heating process is less than 38 ° C and 60 ° C,
The thread drawability decreased as the aging progressed, and after 3 months, the thread drawability was 40 cm or less. From this result,
It has been found that the heating temperature of the card is preferably 40 ° C. or higher and lower than 60 ° C.

Test Example 2 The binding properties of the cheeses obtained in Example 1 and Comparative Example 1 were evaluated. From 5 kg of each granular cheese obtained in Example 1, out of 100 cheeses arbitrarily selected,
The number of cheeses not bound to other cheeses was counted, and the value was used as an index of binding property. Since each of the cheeses obtained in Comparative Example 1 did not become granular as described above, the block-shaped cheese curd was shredded and the binding property was evaluated by the same method. The results are shown in Table 4.

[0029]

[Table 4]       −−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−                               Example 1 Comparative example 1       −−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−       Heating temperature (℃) Aging period (month) Aging period (month)                           0 1 2 3 6 0 1 2       −−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−           36 62 40 25 0 0 58 20 0           38 68 49 29 2 5 52 28 4           40 90 98 89 89 90 66 35 10           45 94 99 89 90 90 62 35 13           55 90 94 92 90 92 68 30 11           59 90 91 90 90 91 65 29 10           60 77 62 41 30 31 50 27 11       −−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−                                                     (Unit: pieces)

As is clear from Table 4, in Comparative Example 1 in which the freeze-thawing treatment was not performed, the binding of cheese was noticeable at the first month of aging, and most of the cheese was bound at the second month of aging. did. After that, the binding was remarkable and it could not be measured. Further, in Example 1 in which the freeze-thaw treatment was performed, regarding the cheese curd having a heating treatment temperature of 40 ° C. to 59 ° C., there was little binding between cheeses even when aging proceeded, and there was almost no change. . On the other hand, in the case where the heating temperature of the cheese curd was 38 ° C. or lower and 60 ° C., the binding between the cheeses increased as the aging progressed.

[0031]

According to the present invention, during the manufacturing process, aging,
It is possible to obtain a granular cheese which does not bind to each other during storage and has excellent stringiness when heated and melted. Granular cheese of the present invention, because the cheese does not bind to each other, automatic conveyance by air during the manufacturing process,
Excellent machine suitability for automatic weighing, automatic packaging, etc. Also,
Since cheese does not block during aging or storage, it is not necessary to loosen it by hand when using it in cooking or the like. Further, since the granular cheese of the present invention has excellent stringiness, it can be widely used as a topping material for pizza, gratin or the like, or in cooking for enjoying the stringiness of cheese. Further, according to the production method of the present invention, granular cheese can be easily obtained by only gently stirring without using a shredder, which is also preferable in terms of production cost.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Yoshihito Shibauchi 1-13 Sayamadai, Sayama-shi, Saitama 5-505 (72) Inventor Shoaki Nishitani 699-3 Kitarizo, Sayama-shi, Saitama B-102 (56) ) Reference JP-A-9-172963 (JP, A) JP-A-63-269944 (JP, A) JP-A-3-224442 (JP, A) JP-A-5-304888 (JP, A) JP-A-5 58-20150 (JP, A) JP-B 6-87736 (JP, B2) JP-B 49-28988 (JP, B1) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A01J 1/00 -27/04 A23C 1/00-23/00

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A lactic acid bacterium and a milk-clotting enzyme are added to milk to produce cheese curd, and the obtained cheese curd is heated, then frozen and thawed, and then stirred to obtain cheese curd granules. Then, the method for producing granular cheese, which comprises aging the obtained cheese curd grains. 2. The method for producing granular cheese according to claim 1, wherein the heating temperature of the cheese curd is 40 ° C. or higher and lower than 60 ° C. 3. A cheese curd obtained by adding lactic acid bacteria and a milk-clotting enzyme to milk to produce cheese curd, and
Granular cheese obtained by heating to ℃ or more and less than 60 ° C., then freezing and thawing, stirring to obtain cheese curd granules, and then aging the obtained cheese curd granules.