JP4297224B2 - High sugar content jelly food, method for producing the same, and coagulation preparation used therefor - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a high sugar content jelly food having a high jelly strength even when the sugar content is 72 to 90 and having an excellent texture, a method for producing the same, and a coagulation preparation used in them.

  Jelly foods are often eaten as desserts and confectionery because of their refreshing appearance and texture, and in today's increasingly diverse consumer needs, the texture and sweetness (sugar content) have been variously studied. (For example, Patent Document 1). In particular, high sugar content jelly foods having a sugar content of 72-90 are favored for their pleasant texture and sweetness and are widely distributed in the market. Since these high sugar content jelly foods have high sugar content, they can be distributed at room temperature and can be stored for a long time. Generally, agar, pectin, gelatin, carrageenan, starch and the like are listed as gelling agents for producing these high sugar content jelly foods, and each of the jelly foods produced using these gelling agents has characteristics. .

  Agar makes refreshing jelly food with a fresh texture, and in Japan, many things are popular, from traditional Japanese sweets such as Nishidama to candy type with flavor added. A characteristic of jelly foods using agar is that they have an appropriate response to eating without sticking to the teeth while having a moderate stickiness. Currently, variations in carbohydrates added to jelly foods have been studied, and non-sugar and oligosaccharides with functional carbohydrates added to the market.

  Pectin is excellent in acid resistance and heat resistance, and is used mainly in the bakery field as confectionery confectionery confectionery, such as confectionery confectionery typified by party fluey. However, jelly foods using pectin have a problem that their texture is hard and sticks to teeth. In addition, when adding pectin, there is a case where a thing with high acidity is gelled before filling, which is called preset, which requires a lot of experience and skill in selecting the type of pectin and manufacturing method .

  Gelatin can produce a chewy texture and is widely used for gummy candy. However, jelly foods using gelatin are preferred for their chewy texture, but sometimes they are too elastic and difficult to chew, and they also have the problem of melting out when the temperature rises in summer. . In recent years, the gelatin raw material is sometimes animal and tends to be avoided.

  Since carrageenan has a unique texture, in recent years it has begun to be used for gummy candies by taking advantage of it. However, carrageenan has a very high viscosity at the time of dissolution, and the freezing point after adjusting the jelly is as high as 70 to 90 ° C., so that a phenomenon in which gelation occurs simultaneously with the dissolution is observed. For this reason, the jelly food using carrageenan has a problem that it cannot be produced unless a special production apparatus is used.

  Starch, like carrageenan, has a high viscosity when dissolved and poor workability, and the finished texture is heavy and sticky, and has a problem that it adheres to teeth.

  Among these various gelling agent characteristics, it is conceivable to use agar as a gelling agent for obtaining a jelly food having a fresh and fresh texture.

JP 2002-65179 A

  However, in order to distribute agar jelly food at room temperature for a long period of time, it is necessary to sufficiently reduce the water activity, and the sugar content of the jelly must be increased. However, if you try to produce jelly foods with high sugar content using agar by the usual method (dissolve agar, then add sugar to increase the sugar content), a gel with sufficient strength will not be produced, and the water mass will be weak. The agar jelly food that sticks to sticky and teeth can be obtained. This is thought to be due to the following reasons. Agar forms a gel because the constituent agarose molecules have a double helix structure due to intermolecular bonds, and they further associate to form a three-dimensional structure. However, when the sugar content is high, these intermolecular bonds are inhibited by carbohydrates and a three-dimensional structure cannot be taken. For this reason, it is thought that a lump becomes weak.

  In order to solve such a problem, an agar jelly food having a high sugar content is produced as follows. The agar jelly solution is adjusted to a low sugar content, poured into a mold, filled, cooled, and allowed to solidify to obtain a low-sugar agar jelly in which agarose molecules once form a sufficient three-dimensional structure. After that, this agar jelly is cut, and the high sugar content agar jelly food that maintains the 3D three-dimensional structure of agarose by increasing the sugar content by evaporating water by oblate winding (or powdered powder or granulated sugar) and drying at low temperature. Have gained. These operations are difficult to mechanize and are performed manually, and there is a problem that the manufacturing takes a lot of days and manpower. There are also hygiene problems due to manual work. In addition, since the sugar content cannot be sufficiently increased and the water activity cannot be lowered, the number of days for maintaining the quality is limited. Coagulants other than agar, such as pectin, gelatin, carrageenan, and starch, have a sugar content of 72-90, and the drying process is performed to form a gel with sufficient strength even with the usual method (after dissolving the coagulant, add sugar to increase the sugar content). There is a feature that does not need.

  Furthermore, when considering continuous production of agar jelly foods, a molding method using a starch mold can be considered, but if you try to fill the starch mold with an agar jelly solution with a low sugar content, the starch will be removed when the agar jelly gels. There is also a problem that the starch mold is solidified due to entrainment and gelation, and water separation from the agar jelly. In order to solve these problems, even if the sugar content of the agar jelly solution is increased and adjusted to reduce the amount of water and filled into the starch mold, the agar jelly does not gel and becomes a syrupy sticky jelly food.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a high sugar content jelly food having high jelly strength even when the sugar content is 72 to 90, a method for producing the same, and a coagulation preparation used therein.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present inventors have conducted extensive research, and as a result, by dissolving cyclodextrin and agar directly in water and interacting with each other, the jelly strength can be increased even if the sugar content is higher than before. It was found that it can be kept high and has an excellent texture. That is, the present invention is a high sugar content jelly food in which at least cyclodextrin and agar are directly dissolved in water and gelled, and the sugar content is adjusted to 72-90. The method for producing a high sugar content jelly food is characterized in that at least cyclodextrin and agar are directly dissolved in water, boiled to a sugar content of 72 to 90, and then cooled. Furthermore, it is a coagulation preparation for producing the high sugar content jelly food characterized by containing a cyclodextrin and agar.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a high sugar content jelly food having a high jelly strength even in a sugar content of 72 to 90, a method for producing the same, and a coagulation preparation used for them.

  The cyclodextrin used in the high sugar content jelly food according to the present invention is used as a sugar-containing component in a high sugar content confectionery, and is also used as a coagulation enhancer for jelly foods. At least one or more of cyclodextrin (cyclohexaamylose), β-cyclodextrin having a polymerization degree of 7 (cycloheptaamylose), and γ-cyclodextrin having a polymerization degree of 8 (cyclooctaamylose) is preferable, and α-cyclodextrin is more preferable. preferable. As the cyclodextrin, commercially available products can be used. Since the jelly food according to the present invention contains cyclodextrin, even if the sugar content is increased, the jelly strength is high, the texture is excellent, and water separation does not occur. Although the mechanism of this action has not been clarified, it is presumed as follows regarding gelation of agar. Cyclodextrin is a carbohydrate having a structure in which glucose is bound in a cyclic manner, and has hydrophobic properties on the inside and hydrophilic properties on the outside. This structure brings about the binding or crystallization and other interactions with carbohydrates used in jelly foods, enabling the agar molecules to take a three-dimensional structure, and maintaining high jelly strength even in a high sugar content state. Seem.

  The cyclodextrin used in the high sugar content jelly food according to the present invention has an interaction with agar as a gelling agent, for example, before adding it to water, for example, fats and oils, emulsions, aroma components, poorly water-soluble components In general, it is dissolved in water directly without including other components included by cyclodextrin. Further, cyclodextrin dissolved in water does not include other components described above. At this time, it may be added and dissolved in water in a state mixed with agar or other sugar components, but cyclodextrin is not dissolved in water in a state that inhibits the interaction with agar. . This cyclodextrin is preferably contained in a high sugar content jelly food in an amount of 1 to 20% by weight, more preferably 2 to 13% by weight. If it is less than 1% by weight, the effect of enhancing the jelly strength is weak, and if it exceeds 20% by weight, white crystals of cyclodextrin are precipitated, the viscosity becomes high, and workability at the time of dissolution deteriorates.

Since the high sugar content jelly food according to the present invention contains cyclodextrin, the jelly strength can be increased even if the sugar content is increased. The jelly strength is preferably 150 to 3000 g / cm ² , more preferably 200 to 2500 g / cm ² , and particularly preferably 300 to 2500 g / cm ² . In general, if it is less than 100 g / cm ² , the texture is poor, for example, it sticks to the teeth when eaten with a stick. Moreover, when it exceeds 3000 g / cm < ² >, it is too hard and a food texture is bad. The jelly strength can be adjusted by the addition amount of agar or cyclodextrin. For example, the jelly strength can be increased by increasing the addition amount of agar or changing the addition amount of cyclodextrin.

  The jelly food according to the present invention has a sugar content of 72 to 90, preferably 76 to 86, more preferably 80 to 86, and particularly preferably 82 to 86. Sugar content can be adjusted by adding carbohydrates. The carbohydrate includes cyclodextrin and also serves as a sugar-containing component in the confectionery. Examples of the saccharide include, in addition to cyclodextrin, granulated sugar, syrup, fructose, glucose, various oligosaccharides, reducing sugar, dextrin, and the like.

  The high sugar content jelly food according to the present invention may contain acids such as citric acid, lactic acid, malic acid, and tartaric acid, water, fruit juice, fragrance, and functional materials that are generally added to jelly food.

  The high sugar content jelly food according to the present invention is prepared by directly adding at least agar as a gelling agent and a sugar containing cyclodextrin to water and dissolving it, and then simmering so that the sugar content becomes 72 to 90, followed by cooling. Thus, the high sugar content jelly food according to the present invention can be obtained. The cooling is preferably performed at room temperature for half a day or more. Conventionally, since the sugar content was reduced and gelled, the obtained agar jelly could not be increased unless it was cut and dried, but the production of the high sugar content jelly food according to the present invention In the method, it is not necessary to provide such a complicated process, and a high sugar content agar jelly can be obtained easily.

Examples 1 to 8
Next, as Examples 1 to 8 of the jelly food according to the present invention, jelly foods were obtained according to the formulations (% by weight) shown in Tables 1 and 2. Specifically, agar (ZR manufactured by Ina Food Industry Co., Ltd.) is put in water, dissolved by heating, then granulated sugar (manufactured by Toyo Seika Co., Ltd.), enzyme saccharified syrup (manufactured by Hayashibara Shoji Co., Ltd.) and cyclodextrin (α, β, γ Was also added directly and dissolved. After adjusting the sugar content (atago sugar meter), the container was filled and cooled and solidified. This was left to stand for 3 days to be sufficiently gelled to obtain jelly foods according to Examples 1 to 8. Using a rheometer (manufactured by Sun Science Co., Ltd.), the jelly strength of the obtained jelly food was measured at 25 ° C. The texture was also examined. As comparative examples, jelly foods according to comparative examples 1 to 5 in which other dextrins were added instead of cyclodextrin, and jelly foods according to comparative examples 6 and 7 to which other carbohydrates were added were similarly obtained. . The results are shown in Tables 1 and 2.

○: Indicates that it did not adhere to the tooth and had moderate elasticity.
* 1: Not gelled.
* 2: The jelly strength is too low, indicating that the texture of the jelly is poor.
Cluster dextrin: Indigestible dextrin manufactured by Nippon Shokuhin Kako Co., Ltd .: Fibersol 2, Polydextrose manufactured by Matsutani Chemical Co., Ltd .: Lites Ultra III, Maltodextrin manufactured by Danisco Co., Ltd. Hayashibara Shoin Inulin: Fuji Nippon Seiko Co., Ltd.

  The jelly food according to Examples 1 to 8 to which cyclodextrin was added was able to obtain high jelly strength. On the other hand, the jelly foods according to Comparative Examples 1 to 5 in which other dextrins were added instead of cyclodextrin did not gel. Moreover, in the jelly food which concerns on the comparative examples 6 and 7 to which the other saccharide | sugar was added, it hardly gelled or it was a starch syrup shape.

In Reference Example Example 1 (with cyclodextrin added) and Comparative Example 1 (with no cyclodextrin added), a jelly food was produced in the same manner except that the sugar content was adjusted to 70 to 84 by changing the blending amount of granulated sugar. The jelly strength at each sugar content was examined in the same manner as in Examples 1 to 8. The results are shown in Table 3.

As is apparent from Table 3, the jelly food to which no cyclodextrin is added has a jelly strength that decreases when the sugar content is 72 or more, and becomes syrupy and does not solidify at a sugar content of 84. On the other hand, the jelly food to which cyclodextrin is added increases the jelly strength as the sugar content increases, and forms a firm gel even at a sugar content of 84.

Claims (4)

A high sugar content jelly food in which at least cyclodextrin and agar are directly dissolved in water and gelled,
A high sugar content jelly food characterized in that the sugar content is adjusted to 72-90. High sugar content jelly of claim 1 Symbol placement, wherein the amount of cyclodextrin is 1 to 20% by weight. 3. The method for producing a high sugar content jelly food according to claim 1 or 2, wherein at least cyclodextrin and agar are directly dissolved in water, boiled to a sugar content of 72 to 90, and then cooled. A coagulation preparation for producing a high sugar content jelly food according to claim 1 or 2 , comprising cyclodextrin and agar.