JP4544633B2 - Sweetness inducer - Google Patents

Description

In the present invention, for example, raw materials such as miracle fruit containing miraculin and lemon containing sour taste are freeze-dried and mixed in the form of granules, or separately packed, and packed for each use. It relates to the sweetness-inducing substance formed.

Conventionally, miracle fruit containing miraculin exists mainly in the African region, and it is generally known that miraculin is contained in the pulp of the miracle fruit.

  Here, miraculin is contained in the miracle fruit in a portion of the flesh, and the flesh is eaten and acts on the taste bud portion of the tongue to temporarily change the acidity to sweetness.

  However, it has been confirmed that the fruit pulp of miracle fruit does not last long, and only two to three days have passed since the miracle fruit was picked from the miracle fruit tree.

  In addition, when the fruit of a fresh miracle fruit is included in the mouth and a sour-containing substance such as lemon is included in the mouth after 3 to 4 minutes, the sourness of the lemon is changed to sweetness. For example, when a substance containing astringency or bitterness is included in the mouth after 3 to 4 minutes, the effect of changing the astringency or bitterness to sweetness was not invited.

  Incidentally, miraculin, which is also a sweetness-inducing substance, has attracted attention in general, and a method for producing this miraculin by a genetic engineering technique is also being sought (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-56793).

  However, in this case, since expensive research costs and large-scale facilities are required, there is a concern that the production of a sweetness-inducing substance using miraculin may be expensive.

In addition, as described above, after containing miraculin in the mouth, for example, if a substance containing astringency or bitterness is included in the mouth 3 to 4 minutes later, the effect of changing the astringency or bitterness to sweetness is invited. It wasn't something to do.

JP-A-5-56793

Thus, the present invention was devised to address the above-described conventional problems, and can provide a miraculin-containing sweetness-inducing substance having a long shelf life at a low cost, and also provides astringency, bitterness, etc. An object of the present invention is to provide a sweetness-inducing substance that induces sweetness in the same manner as the acidity of the contained substance.

The sweetness inducer according to the present invention is:
Taking out the pulp containing miraculin from the raw material fruit containing miraculin, freeze-drying the pulp, crushing it into granules,
And, taking out the sour-containing part from the sour-containing raw material fruit and freeze-drying, crushing it to form a granule, mixing the granulated miraculin-containing pulp and the sour-containing part into a pack,
It is characterized by
Or
Taking out the pulp with miraculin from the raw material fruit containing miraculin, chopping the pulp into small pieces and freeze-drying it to form granules,
And while taking out the acidity-containing part from the acidity-containing raw material fruit and forming it into small pieces, it was freeze-dried to form granules, and the granulated pulp containing miraculin and the acidity-containing part were packaged in a separate pack,
It is characterized by this.

According to the sweetness-inducing substance of the present invention, it is possible to provide a miraculin-containing sweetness-inducing substance having a long shelf life at a low cost, and also to substances containing astringency, bitterness, etc. as well as sourness. It has an excellent effect that it can provide a sweetness-inducing substance that induces sweetness.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First of all, the raw material fruit containing miraculin is, for example, a fruit that bears fruit from low to small trees native to West Africa of the Acetaceae family whose miracle fruit is the Japanese name and Sideroxylon dulcificum is the scientific name.

  Characteristically, a large number of rice-sized white flowers are gathered together, the fruit 16 is about the size of an olive or aoki fruit, initially green and red when ripe, and the pulp 18 is slightly sweet. In FIG. 1, the external shape and internal cross section of the miracle fruit 16 are shown. As is apparent from the figure, seeds 17 are present in the substantially central portion of the fruit 16. Note that miraculin is contained only in the red ripe fruit 16.

Here, miraculin is a glycoprotein composed of amino acids contained in the pulp 18 and reacts with the sourness of the sourness-containing material, thereby binding strongly with the sweetness receptor in the human tongue and thus sweetening in the human brain. A signal is sent. As a result, the sourness is made sweet even though the sourness-containing material is eaten. That is, it has a function of a sweetness inducer.

The normal method for confirming the function of miracle fruit is to put the fruit 16 peeled into the mouth and roll the seeds 17 for 1 or 2 minutes in order to separate the seeds 17 from the seeds 17. 18 is performed by swallowing. As a result, miracle, which is a component of miracle fruit, adheres to the tongue, and the above effect continues for about 30 minutes to 2 hours.

By the way, the effect of miraculin gradually attenuates in proportion to the post-harvest time of miracle fruit. Therefore, as a conventional countermeasure, a storage method by freezing has been performed for many years.

Therefore, in order to enable long-term storage at room temperature, in the present invention, the pulp 18 is taken out from the fruit 16 containing miraculin and freeze-dried.

Here, freeze-drying is also called a freeze-drying method, which means a food drying technique in which fresh food is dried while maintaining its nutrients, vitamins, minerals, and aroma as it is.

The principle uses a sublimation phenomenon that occurs at a temperature below the equilibrium point of a temperature of 0 ° C. and a pressure of 4.5 mmHg where the three phases of ice, water, and water vapor are balanced.

That is, for example, under a pressure equal to or higher than the equilibrium point of 4.6 mmHg to 760 mmHg, solid ice melts with the increase in temperature and turns into liquid water, and further vaporizes by increasing the temperature to become water vapor. . However, under the pressure below the equilibrium point, the solid ice undergoes a sublimation phenomenon in which it is vaporized as it is instead of becoming a liquid as the temperature rises, and turns into water vapor. In other words, the object is frozen, placed in a vacuum state or a reduced pressure state, and dried in the form of “sublimation” in which water molecules (ice crystals) are changed from solid to gas while being frozen by applying a little heat. .

  As a result, since the object is dried under low temperature and low oxygen, there is an advantage that the object can be dried with less changes in the color, flavor, nutrients, shape and the like of the object. In addition, since the object after drying has a porous structure, it has a disadvantage that it is easy to break and moisture-absorbing and oxidizing while it is rich in water-absorbing and restoring properties.

The purpose of adopting freeze-drying in the present invention is to freeze-dry miraculin, a glycoprotein composed of amino acids that are heat-sensitive, without changing its properties, so that it can be stored for a long time and in a form that is easy to use. It is to be allowed.

By the way, the sour-containing raw material fruit is a fruit having a sour taste, and, for example, citrus fruits such as lemon, seeker, and summer tangerine are applicable. For example, in the case of lemon, the sourness-containing part corresponds to the pulp part excluding the outer skin and the seed.

The specific procedure of the freeze-drying manufacturing method of the miraculin-containing pulp 18 and the sour-containing portion of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the principle of a freeze-drying apparatus 1 that can be used in the present invention. As is apparent from the figure, the freeze-drying apparatus 1 includes a vacuum can body 2, a cold trap 3, a vacuum pump 4 refrigeration machine 5, and a cooling / heating apparatus 6. A cooling and heating shelf 7 that can be cooled and heated by the cooling and heating device 6 is installed inside the vacuum can body 2, and a tray 8 is placed thereon.

Here, for example, in the case where the miraculin-containing pulp 18 and the sour-containing portion are the object 12, the object 12 is placed on the tray 8 after a predetermined treatment is performed on the object 12. Thereafter, the cooling / heating shelf 7 is cooled by the cooling / heating device 6 to pre-freeze the object. It is desirable that the cooling and heating shelf can be cooled to about −50 ° C.

Next, when the vacuum pump 4 is actuated and the inside of the vacuum can body 2 has a negative pressure (4.6 mmHg or less), the temperature of the object is lowered to 0 ° C. or less and further frozen.

Next, by heating the cooling and heating shelf 7 by the cooling and heating device 6, sublimated water vapor (sublimation water vapor 10) is generated, but is drawn to the vacuum pump 4. The sublimated water vapor 10 is condensed by the refrigeration pipe 9 in the cold trap 3 located between the vacuum can body 2 and the vacuum pump 4, and is frozen and attached to the refrigeration pipe 9 to be removed.

As a result, drying of the object 12 proceeds. That is, the main purpose of the vacuum pump 4 is to remove the air in the vacuum can body 2 in the initial stage of drying, and in the drying process, it only serves to discharge the non-condensable gas 15 that cannot be condensed. The cold trap 3 serves as a vacuum pump, and the degree of vacuum in the vacuum can body 2 is always kept low. Accordingly, the temperature of the frozen object is kept at a very low temperature corresponding to the saturated vapor pressure, and sublimation dehydration continues. Will be.

When the predetermined dryness is reached, the freeze-drying apparatus 1 is stopped, the valve 11 of the vacuum can body 2 is opened, outside air is introduced, the internal pressure of the vacuum can body 2 is returned to normal pressure, and then the tray 8 is taken out. . On the tray 8, a porous dried product 13 is generated.

The produced porous dried product 13 is subjected to a pulverizer to produce a granular product 14.

Next, FIG. 3 shows a flow chart for producing the sweetness inducer of the present invention. First, as for the miracle-containing pulp 18 in the raw material steps 101 and 102, the red ripe fruit 16 of the miracle fruit is prepared as described above. These are washed with room temperature tap water. The outer skin of the fruit 16 after washing is peeled off, and the internal seed 17 is removed. The remaining pulp 18 is placed on the tray 8 of the freeze-drying apparatus 1. At this time, the pulp 18 may be further cut into small pieces. As for the sour-containing material, for example, in the case of lemon, washing, peeling of the skin, and removal of the seed are similarly performed, and the sour-containing material is placed on the tray 8 of the freeze-drying apparatus 1. As in the case of miracle fruit, the pulp may be further cut into small pieces.

Next, the freeze-drying steps 103 to 106 proceed according to the freeze-drying step described above. After the vacuum release 105 is performed in the post-processing 105 to 106 in the freeze-drying process, the following post-processing 106 proceeds in a low humidity environment. That is, the generated porous dried product 13 is easily hygroscopically oxidized.

First, it is visually inspected that there is no foreign matter other than the porous dry matter 13 on the tray 8. This is to prevent foreign matter from entering.

Next, the porous dried product 13 is further subjected to a pulverizer to produce a granular product 14. FIG. 4 shows the granular product 14 produced.

The steps up to here are individually advanced so that the sour-containing substances such as miracle fruit and lemon are not mixed. However, the next process is different for each product to be created.

That is, in one product, for example, the produced miracle fruit granular product 14 and the sour-containing granular product 14 such as lemon are in a ratio of 1: 1, or a ratio of 1: 2, 1: 3. Then, after being mixed in an appropriate amount, a moisture-proof packaging process 107 is performed using a packaging member formed of a metal film such as aluminum or a material having a moisture-proof effect such as a plastic film. As described above, the mixing ratio of the granular product 14 of the miracle fruit and the granular product 14 of the sour-containing product is not limited to 1: 1, but the ratio of the granular product 14 of the miracle fruit 14 is not limited. Needless to say, the higher the value is, the higher the effect of inducing sweetness.

  Thus, the granulated pulp 18 containing miraculin and the sour-containing portion are mixed to form a moisture-proof packaging 107, which is completed 108 as a sweetness-inducing substance.

On the other hand, in other products, the granular product 14 is not mixed as described above. That is, for example, the moisture-proof packaging process 107 is performed after dividing the miracle fruit granular product 14 into an appropriate amount without performing a mixing process. Therefore, the above moisture-proof packaging process 107 is also performed on the granular product 14 of an acidity-containing material such as lemon.

In the product, the granulated miracline-containing pulp 18 and the granulated sour-containing portion are separately packaged in moisture-proof packaging 107, and are completed as a sweetness-inducing substance 108 as a set.

By the way, regarding the edible method and effect of the present invention, in the case of the one product, first, a single granular product 14 in a moisture-proof package is taken. At this time, the granular product 14 is taken as it is on the tongue without taking moisture or the like. Then swallow it with saliva after putting it in the mouth for about 30 seconds to 2 minutes. This first restores miraculin and the sour content, and reacts with miraculin and sour to bind strongly to the sweet taste receptor on the tongue. That is, the tongue of the person taking the product is ready to bind the sweetness receptor and send a sweetness signal to the brain. Therefore, if you eat something sour after this, you will immediately feel sweetness and taste.

Conventionally, when the miracle fruit fruit 16 itself is used as a mouth, it is necessary to take a large amount of sourness in order to make the sour taste taste sweet. In the present invention, the sourness-inducing property of sourness is enhanced by enclosing such a functional starter-containing sourness-containing substance and taking it at the same time.

On the other hand, in the case of the other products, first, the granular product 14 of the miracle fruit that is moisture-proof packaged is taken. At this time, the granular product 14 is taken as it is on the tongue without taking moisture or the like. After about 30 seconds to about 2 minutes, the sour-containing granular product 14 is taken. They are swallowed with saliva. As a result, the same effect as described above is exhibited.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the miracle fruit fruit 16 used in this invention, and the fruit inside. It is principle explanatory drawing of the freeze-drying apparatus 1 which can be used in this invention. It is a flowchart explaining the manufacturing process of the sweetness inducer by this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the granular product 14 by this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Freeze drying apparatus 2 Vacuum can body 3 Cold trap 4 Vacuum pump 5 Refrigerator 6 Cooling heating apparatus 7 Cooling heating shelf
8 Tray 9 Refrigeration pipe 10 Sublimation water vapor 11 Outside air introduction valve 12 Object 13 Porous dried material 14 Granular product 15 Non-condensable gas 16 Miracle fruit fruit 17 Miracle fruit seed 18 Miracle fruit pulp 101 Raw material classification process 102 Raw material processing process 103 Freeze drying process pretreatment 104 Freeze drying process drying 105 Freeze drying process post-treatment (1)
106 Post-treatment of freeze-drying process (2)
107 Packing process (1)
108 Packing process (2)

Claims (2)

Taking out the pulp containing miraculin from the raw material fruit containing miraculin, freeze-drying the pulp, crushing it into granules,
And, taking out the sour-containing part from the sour-containing raw material fruit and freeze-drying, crushing it to form a granule, mixing the granulated miraculin-containing pulp and the sour-containing part into a pack,
A sweetness-inducing substance characterized by the above.
Taking out the pulp with miraculin from the raw material fruit containing miraculin, chopping the pulp into small pieces and freeze-drying it to form granules,
And while taking out the acidity-containing part from the acidity-containing raw material fruit and forming it into small pieces, it was freeze-dried to form granules, and the granulated pulp containing miraculin and the acidity-containing part were packaged in a separate pack,
A sweetness-inducing substance characterized by the above.

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