JP3655611B2 - How to cool food - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a food cooling method suitable for use in cooling foods and drinks, in particular, cooked hot cooked rice into rice balls and the like and then cooling to a predetermined temperature.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Rice balls and lunch boxes sold at convenience stores, etc. are formed into the rice balls after the cooked cooked rice is cooled to a predetermined temperature, for example, 20 to 25 ° C. by a vacuum cooling method or an air cooling method, or a lunch box Sold in containers such as.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The conventional method of forming cooked rice that has been cooled by a vacuum cooling method or a blast cooling method into a rice ball or filling it into a container such as a lunch box has the following problems.
(1) After cooling, in order to keep the moldability of cooked rice, that is, processability to rice balls, etc., it is necessary to add oil during cooking. In addition, since it takes a long time (up to about 9 hours) from cooling the cooked rice to becoming a product, a ph adjuster is added during cooking to prevent spoilage. However, cooked rice to which oil or a ph adjuster is added at the time of cooking is accompanied by a taste and smell and becomes unsatisfactory.
(2) In particular, the cooked rice cooled by the vacuum cooling method gathers the rice grains at the time of cooling, so that when the rice grains are unwound, the surface of the rice grains is crushed, resulting in poor texture and appearance.
[0004]
The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems by cooling the cooked rice after it is molded into a rice ball or the like or inserted into a mold or the like before being molded into a rice ball or the like.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The method for cooling food according to the present invention includes a step of placing food as an object to be cooled on the small holes of a plate having a large number of small holes, and setting a vacuum chamber below the plate to a negative pressure by a vacuum device. A cooling step for allowing an air flow flowing into the vacuum chamber to pass through the interior of the food, wherein the cooling step passes through the interior of the food and a number of small holes in the plate. Generating a first air flow that flows into the lower vacuum chamber and a second air flow that bypasses the interior of the food and a number of small holes in the plate and flows into the vacuum chamber below the plate. The first and second air flows effectively cool food such as cooked rice as the object to be cooled from the inside .
[0006]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Next, the case where 55-90 degreeC cooked rice is shape | molded in a rice ball type | mold and it cools to 25-18 degreeC is demonstrated to an example.
[0007]
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the first embodiment. In this embodiment, cooked rice 1 (hereinafter simply referred to as a rice ball) formed into a rice ball mold is placed on a plate 2 having a large number of small holes 2a... 2a in a cooling chamber. The rice ball 1 is cooled from the inside by allowing the air sucked by the vacuum device 3 disposed below the plate 2 to pass through the rice ball 1. .
[0008]
The plurality of small holes 2a ... 2a of the plate 2 are formed with a diameter of 3 mm or less. The aggregate 2b of the plurality of small holes 2a... 2a is formed in a substantially similar shape slightly smaller than the rice ball 1, and is provided at an inner position of 5 mm at the maximum from the outer shape of the rice ball 1.
[0009]
The vacuum device 3 includes a vacuum chamber 4 and a vacuum pump (compressor) 5 that are disposed facing the lower portion of the plate 2. When the vacuum chamber 4 is brought to a negative pressure by the vacuum pump 5, the air in the cooling chamber passes through the inside of the rice ball 1 and the small holes 2a ... 2a of the plate 2 and is sucked into the vacuum chamber 4 side. The At this time, the rice ball 1 is effectively cooled by the air passing through the inside thereof.
[0010]
FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a second embodiment. In this embodiment, the first air flow that passes through the inside of the rice ball 1 and the small holes 2 a... 2 a of the plate 2 to cool the rice ball 1 from the inside and flows into the vacuum chamber 4 below the plate 2. In addition to F1 (hereinafter referred to as a cooling flow), a second air flow (hereinafter referred to as a bypass flow) F2 that bypasses the inside of the rice ball 1 and the small holes 2a ... 2a of the plate 2 is generated, The case where the cooling effect of the rice ball 1 is improved by the detour flow F2 is shown.
[0011]
In order to generate the detour flow F2, the plate 2 is provided with a detour circuit 11. The detour 11 has one end opened outside the outer shape of the rice ball 1 placed on the plate 2, and the other end opened in the vacuum chamber 4.
[0012]
When the vacuum chamber 4 is set to a negative pressure by the vacuum pump 5, a part of the air in the cooling chamber passes through the inside of the rice ball 1 and the small holes 2a ... 2a of the plate 2 as the cooling flow F1. The vacuum is sucked to the vacuum chamber 4 side, and the other part is sucked to the vacuum chamber 4 side through the bypass circuit 11 as a bypass flow F2.
[0013]
In the case of the first embodiment, since all the air flowing into the vacuum chamber 4 side of the cooling chamber passes through a large number of small holes 2a... 2a of the plate 2, air flows into these small holes 2a. Concentrate and the rice grains are concentrated in the vicinity of the small holes 2a.
[0014]
When rice grains are dense, the rice ball 1 does not have a so-called plump feeling and the taste is poor. Further, when the air flow is deteriorated, the vacuum pump 5 is overloaded and breaks down or does not function normally, so that the cooling efficiency is lowered.
[0015]
On the other hand, in the case of the second embodiment, since the inflow of air is dispersed in the small holes 2a... 2a and the detour path 11, the small holes 2a. It becomes easy to suppress that rice grains are concentrated in the vicinity of 2a. In addition, even when the rice grains are densely packed and a so-called clogged state occurs, the vacuum pump 5 is overloaded and malfunctions due to the inflow of air from the detour 11 or does not function normally. It can be prevented in advance.
[0016]
By the way, about 100 g of cooked rice at a predetermined temperature was set to the same size rice ball 1, and the result of cooling with the cooling method of the first example was compared with the case of cooling with the cooling method of the second example. When cooled by the cooling method of the first embodiment, the time required until the internal temperature of the rice ball 1 reached 25 ° C. was 33 to 38 seconds, whereas the cooling of the second embodiment The time required for cooling by this method was 28 to 33 seconds. In addition, the specific gravity after cooling was 0.80 to 0.87 when cooled by the cooling method of the first embodiment, whereas it was cooled by the cooling method of the second embodiment. 0.86 to 0.93. As a result, it was proved that the rice ball 1 was finished more plumply and cooled in a shorter time by the cooling method of the second example than the cooling method of the first example.
[0017]
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a third embodiment. This embodiment shows a case where a detour 11 is provided as in the case of the second embodiment. In this embodiment, the bypass 11 is formed by providing a gap between the upper end 4 b of the side wall 4 a of the vacuum chamber 4 and the plate 2 so that air flows from the lower part of the plate 2. ing. Other configurations and operational effects are the same as in the case of the second embodiment, and a duplicate description is omitted.
[0018]
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the fourth embodiment. In this embodiment, the rice ball 1 is placed on a plate having a large number of small holes 2a... 2a in the cooling chamber, and air (cooling air) is blown from above the rice ball 1 with the air injection nozzle 21. The vacuum device 3 disposed below the plate 2 sucks the air jetted from the air jet nozzle 21 and cools the rice ball 1 more effectively from the inside by the air passing through the rice ball 1. It is supposed to be.
[0019]
FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a fifth embodiment. In this embodiment, the air injection port of the air injection nozzle 21 is inserted into the rice ball 1, and air is directly injected into the rice ball 1 from the air injection port of the air injection nozzle 21 to further increase the cooling effect. The case where it improved further is shown. Since other configurations are the same as those in the fourth embodiment, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.
[0020]
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the sixth embodiment. In this embodiment, the rice ball 1 is placed on the plate 2 and cooled in the state of a ridge inserted into a mold 31 for forming rice balls through which the upper and lower surfaces penetrate. Since other configurations are the same as those of the first to fifth embodiments, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted. In the embodiment shown in the drawings, the case where the rice ball 1 is cooled has been described as an example. However, if the container has air permeability, it can also be applied to the cooling of cooked rice packed in the container. In this case, the container is not limited in size, and may be a pad provided with a large number of small holes 2a... 2a for cooling the cooked cooked rice from the kettle. In the embodiment shown in the drawing, the air drawn by the vacuum device arranged below the plate is passed through the rice ball 1 to cool the rice ball 1 from the inside. An air blow device may be disposed on the rice ball 1 so that the air blown from the air blow device is passed through the rice ball 1 to cool the rice ball 1 from the inside.
[0021]
【The invention's effect】
The food cooling method of the present invention has the following effects.
(1) In the method for cooling food according to claim 1, after the food as an object to be cooled is placed on the small holes of the plate having a large number of small holes, the vacuum chamber below the plate is set to a negative pressure. The food can be effectively cooled from the inside by generating an air flow and passing the air flow through the food placed on the small holes of the plate. In particular, since the inflow of air is distributed to the small holes and detours provided in the play, the rice grains are concentrated near the small holes compared to the case where air is introduced only from the small holes provided in the plate. It becomes easy to suppress. Further, even when rice grains are densely packed and a so-called clogged state occurs, it is possible to prevent the vacuum pump or the like from being overloaded and malfunctioning due to the inflow of air from the bypass. Can be prevented.
(2) The method for cooling food of claim 2 can effectively cool cooked rice from the inside.
(3) The method for cooling food of claim 3 can effectively cool rice balls as cooked rice from the inside.
(4) In the food cooling method according to claim 4 , since the detour is disposed outside the many small holes of the plate, the rice grains and the like can be cooled from the outside even by the air flow before flowing into the detour. it can.
(5) The food cooling method according to claim 5 is subject to positional restrictions when a detour is provided, as compared with a case where the detour is limited to the plate because the detour is provided on the side wall of the vacuum chamber. It becomes difficult.
(6) The method for cooling food according to claim 6 is cooled in a state where the food is inserted into a mold for forming rice balls through which the upper and lower surfaces penetrate, so that there is little suction loss by the air vacuum device, and the cooling effect is excellent. Since it is cooled in the state of the cage inserted in the mold, it can be prevented from being out of shape.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a cooling method according to a first embodiment.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a cooling method according to a second embodiment.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a cooling method according to a third embodiment.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a cooling method according to a fourth embodiment.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a cooling method according to a fifth embodiment.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a cooling method according to a sixth embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Rice (rice ball), 2 ... Punching plate, 2a ... Small hole, 3 ... Air vacuum apparatus, 4 ... Vacuum chamber, 5 ... Vacuum compressor, 11 ... Detour, 21 ... Air injection nozzle, 31 ... Formwork

Claims (6)

Placing food as an object to be cooled on the small holes of a plate having a large number of small holes;
A cooling step of cooling the food from the inside by allowing the air flow flowing into the vacuum chamber to pass through the inside of the food by setting the vacuum chamber below the plate to a negative pressure by a vacuum device ;
In the cooling step, a first air flow that passes through the small holes in the food and the plate and flows into a vacuum chamber at the bottom of the plate; A method of cooling food , comprising: generating a second air flow that bypasses the hole and flows into a vacuum chamber below the plate . The method for cooling food according to claim 1, wherein the food is cooked rice. The method for cooling food according to claim 2, wherein the cooked rice is a rice ball. The second air flow passes from the upper part of the plate to the lower part of the vacuum through a detour having one end opened outside the plurality of small holes in the plate and the other end opened into the vacuum chamber. Flows into the chamber
The method for cooling food according to claim 1. The second air flow flows into the vacuum chamber through a bypass provided on the side wall of the vacuum chamber.
The method for cooling food according to claim 1. The cooked rice is placed on a plate having a large number of small holes in a state where the cooked rice is inserted into a mold that penetrates the top and bottom surfaces.
The method for cooling food according to claim 2.

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