JP4669694B2 - Manufacturing method of instant foamed macaroni, instant foamed macaroni and instant foamed macaroni product containing the same - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing instant foamed macaroni, an instant foamed macaroni, and an instant foamed macaroni product containing the same.

  In recent years, various types of instant noodles have been developed. For example, instant noodles include Chinese noodles, udon, soba, European noodles, etc., depending on the type of cereal used and additives, and many of these cup noodles are also commercially available. Such cup noodles have been devised in various ways to improve the restorability and texture after pouring hot water.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses that after extrusion molding, noodles are boiled, boiled and then steamed to adjust the moisture to 50 to 65% by weight, and dried to reduce the thickness of the noodles. It describes a method for producing Western-style instant noodles that are restored to hot water over time and have a good texture.

  Patent Document 2 discloses that after kneading and molding, pasta is steamed under specific conditions such as temperature and humidity, and dried to obtain good hot water return, and the texture and product after hot water return. A method for producing fast return pasta with good transparency is described.

However, any of the instant noodles produced by the methods described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 have room for improvement in terms of resilience and texture. In addition, according to Japanese Agricultural Standards (May 6, 2003, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Notification No. 739, revised by Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Notification No. 1643, December 19, 2000), macaroni is Or, add normal water or farina of strong flour or normal flour, knead it with or without adding eggs, vegetables, etc., extrude it at high pressure from a macaroni molding machine, cut, and aged and dried. Say ". The noodles described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 are improved in resilience by paying attention to the processing conditions and the like in the stage prior to aging and drying to be finally made into macaroni as defined in this agricultural and forestry standard It is what I tried.
JP-A-6-237720 JP-A-8-38085

  The present invention is to solve the problems of the conventional instant noodles described above, and a method for producing instant macaroni having good restorability that can be quickly and uniformly reconstituted with hot water and a good texture after restoration, and so on. It is an object to provide such instant macaroni and macaroni products containing such instant macaroni.

  As a result of diligent research to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present inventors used macaronis (that is, macaronis after aging and drying) as defined in Japanese Agricultural Standards as raw materials. At least a part of the starch contained in the macaroni is boiled or steamed to increase the water content, and then dry and then roast to obtain macaroni having an vacuole structure inside. As a result, the present inventors have found that the macaroni thus obtained has a significantly improved restorability and texture compared to conventional ones, and has completed the present invention.

  That is, the present invention provides the following instant foamed macaroni manufacturing method.

  (1) A heating step of heating macaroni in the presence of moisture to obtain heated macaroni having a moisture content of 55% or more, a drying step of drying the heated macaroni and obtaining dried macaroni having a moisture content of 15% or less, A method for producing instant foamed macaroni having a roasting step of foaming dried macaroni to obtain foamed macaroni having an vacuole structure therein.

  (2) A sticking prevention process for preventing mutual sticking of the macaroni, the macaroni after the heating process is started and before the end, and / or the heated macaroni, before the heating process is started and after the heating process is started. And the manufacturing method of the instant foaming macaroni as described in (1) which it has further before completion | finish and / or after completion | finish of the said heating process.

  (3) The heating step is performed in two steps of a first heating step and a second heating step, and the sticking prevention step is the first heating step and the second heating step. The first heating step is a step of heating the macaroni in the presence of moisture to obtain a first heated macaroni having a moisture content of less than 55%, and the sticking prevention step Is a step of immersing the first heated macaroni in an aqueous solution of an anti-sticking agent to obtain a water-absorbing macaroni having a moisture content of 55% or more, and the second heating step steams the water-absorbing macaroni to produce the moisture. The method for producing instant foamed macaroni according to (2), which is a step of obtaining 55% or more of heated macaroni.

  (4) The method for producing instant foamed macaroni according to any one of (1) to (3), wherein the roasting step is performed by bringing the dried macaroni into contact with a powder heated to 120 ° C. or higher. .

  The present invention also provides an instant foamed macaroni having an vacuole structure inside. This vacuolar structure of instant foamed macaroni can only exist inside the instant foamed macaroni. The instant foamed macaroni having a vacuole structure therein can be produced by the above method.

  The instant foamed macaroni can be used as a float such as soup.

  Further, the instant foamed macaroni can be suitably used in a container-filled instant foamed macaroni product that is accommodated in a container and powder soup or the like is attached if necessary.

  According to the method of the present invention, it is possible to produce an instant foamed macaroni having a good restorability that can be quickly and uniformly reconstituted and a good texture after the restoration.

  Moreover, since the instant foamed macaroni of the present invention has a vacuole structure inside, it can have a good restorability that allows quick and uniform reconstitution and a good texture after the restoration. Such instant foamed macaroni of the present invention can be used as a float such as soup.

<Definition>
In this specification, “macaroni” refers to “macaroni” that satisfies the requirements stipulated in the Japanese Agricultural Standard described in the background section above. Accordingly, the “macaroni” of the present invention includes all Japanese agricultural and forestry regardless of its shape (bar shape, tubular shape, plate shape, twist shape, spiral field, ribbon shape, shell shape, alphabet shape, etc.), thickness and thickness. “Macaroni” as defined in the standard is included.

  Further, “moisture x%” refers to the water content of noodles determined by the formula: {weight of water / (weight of water + weight of solid content)} × 100.

  Further, the “yield x%” by the treatment is calculated by the formula: [(weight of water after treatment + weight of solid content) / (weight of water before treatment + weight of solid content)] × 100. The rate of change in weight.

<Method of the present invention>
First, the manufacturing method of the instant foaming macaroni of this invention is demonstrated in detail.

  In the instant foamed macaroni manufacturing method of the present invention, (I) a heating step of heating macaroni in the presence of moisture to obtain heated macaroni having a moisture content of 55% or more, and (II) drying the heated macaroni And a drying step for obtaining dried macaroni having a moisture content of 15% or less, and (III) a roasting step for obtaining foamed macaroni having a vacuole structure inside by baking the dried macaroni.

  As described above, the macaroni to which the method of the present invention is applied includes “macaronis” defined in Japanese Agricultural and Forestry Standards, and commercially available products can be used. Although there is no restriction | limiting in particular in the shape (a shape, a magnitude | size, thickness, etc.) of macaroni, When the thickness is 1 mm or less, the effect of this invention can be exhibited better.

<(I) Heating process>
In the present invention, first, macaroni is heated in the presence of moisture to obtain heated macaroni having a moisture content of 55% or more. This heating step can be performed by boiling or steaming. The amount of water used in the heating step, the temperature, the heating time, and the like can be appropriately set such that the moisture of the heated macaroni rises to 55% or more by performing the heating step. The moisture of the noodles can be preferably 60% or more, more preferably 70% or more. The upper limit of moisture can be up to 80%, but it is preferably 70% or less from the viewpoint of drying efficiency and the like in order to prevent the noodles from becoming too soft.

  In order to adjust the moisture of the to-be-heated macaroni within the above-described range, the heating temperature and the time may be adjusted. For example, when using a commercially available macaroni and performing a heating process with a boil, it can be set as a standard about the time of the recommended boil by which the heating time is displayed about twice. In addition, it is convenient to use the yield as an index in consideration of the water originally contained in macaroni (usually 10%). There is a fixed relationship between moisture and yield, and moisture of 55% corresponds to a yield of approximately 208%. Also, the yields of moisture 60%, 70 and 80% correspond to about 231%, about 308% and about 462%, respectively.

  In this heating step, in addition to adjusting the moisture to an appropriate value, it is important to adjust the degree of gelatinization of the starch contained in the macaroni to an appropriate value in order to achieve the effects of the present invention. In the method of the present invention, it is preferable that the degree of alpha conversion of the instant foamed macaroni which is the final product is in the range of 75% to 100%. The pre-gelatinization of the heated macaroni obtained in the heating process may further proceed depending on the conditions in the subsequent process, and the degree of alpha conversion may increase. Therefore, it is preferable to appropriately adjust the degree of alpha conversion in this heating step according to the conditions of the subsequent steps. Here, the degree of alpha is measured by the glucoamylase method described in Example 1 described later.

<Arbitrary sticking prevention step and optional cooling step>
In the method of the present invention, before the start of the heating step, after the start and end of the heating step, and / or after the end of the heating step, macaroni before the start of the heating step, after the start of the heating step, the heating step is ended. In order to prevent the unsealed macaroni and / or the heated macaroni after the heating process from sticking to each other, a sticking prevention process can be performed.

  In the method of the present invention, a cooling step can be performed after the heating step is completed.

  The sticking prevention step can be performed by bringing a sticking prevention agent {for example, fats and oils, emulsifier, etc. and / or loosening agent-soluble vegetable fiber, etc.}} into contact with macaroni or the like. As an example of the contact method, a method of immersing or applying macaroni or the like in an aqueous solution of an anti-sticking agent, a method of directly applying an anti-sticking agent, or the like can be given. When immersed in an aqueous solution of an anti-sticking agent, the concentration and immersion time of the anti-sticking agent depend on the anti-sticking function exhibited by the anti-sticking agent, etc., but usually about 0.2% to 5%, and It can be about 0.5 to 20 minutes.

  Moreover, a cooling process can be performed by immersing to-be-heated macaroni in water (temperature about 10-30 degreeC). By performing this cooling step, it is possible to stop the moisture and α-degree of the heated macaroni in a desired state.

  In the method of the present invention, if the above-described sticking prevention step is carried out by immersion, this cooling step can also be used conveniently. As will be described below, in the method of the present invention, particularly when this sticking prevention step is performed by dipping, the moisture of the heated macaroni may increase during the dipping if the dipping time is long. Therefore, it is desirable to select the immersion time and other conditions in the sticking prevention process so that the moisture of the heated macaroni does not deviate from a desired value.

  On the other hand, in the method of the present invention, it is also possible to obtain a heated macaroni having a water content of 55% or more by positively utilizing the water increasing action of the sticking prevention step. This is referred to as a “deformation heating step” and will be described below.

<(I ′) Deformation Heating Step>
The deformation heating step is performed by dividing the heating step (I) of the present invention described above into two steps, a first heating step and a second heating step, and the first heating step and the second heating step. In the meantime, the above-described fixing prevention process by immersion is performed.

  More specifically, in this deformation heating step, the first heating time is made shorter than the time of the heating step performed by the above-described method of the present invention, so that the first heating time is stopped at a stage where the moisture content is increased to less than 55%, One heated macaroni. This first heated macaroni is immersed in an aqueous solution containing an anti-sticking agent, thereby preventing sticking and raising the water content to 55% or more to obtain water-absorbing macaroni. The water-absorbing macaroni is steamed (second heating step) to obtain a second heated macaroni having a moisture content of 55% or more.

  In the modified heating step of the method of the present invention, since the time in the first heating step is short, the gelatinization of the starch contained in the macaroni does not progress as much as the gelatinization by the heating step in the method of the present invention. However, pregelatinization can be further advanced by the second heating step (steaming step) performed after the sticking prevention step. As a result, the moisture and α-degree of the second heated macaroni obtained by this deformation heating step (I ′) should be the same as the heated macaroni obtained by the heating step (I) in the method of the present invention. it can. Further, in this deformation heating step (I ′), since the gelatinization proceeds after the moisture reaches 55% or more, the obtained second heated macaroni is preferable because the moisture can be uniformly increased to 55% or more.

  The second heated macaroni thus obtained in the modified heating step (I ′) of the present invention is dried as described below in the same manner as the heated macaroni obtained in the heating step (I) of the method of the present invention. It can be used for the process.

<(II) Drying process>
In the method of this invention, the to-be-heated macaroni is dried and the drying process which obtains the dry macaroni of 15% or less of moisture is performed.

  The dried macaroni may be dried by any method as long as the dried macaroni has a moisture content of 15% or less. For example, it is preferable to use hot air because the drying time can be shortened. The temperature of the hot air is preferably 100 ° C. or less. This is due to the evaporation of water that was present inside the dry macaroni, forming vacuoles in this process, and hindering foaming in the subsequent foaming process, resulting in an appropriately sized and shaped vacuole structure. This is to prevent the construction of the system from being hindered. The temperature of the hot air and the blowing time vary depending on the shape, thickness, etc. of the macaroni to be used, but can usually be about 40 to 90 ° C. and 30 to 120 minutes.

  The moisture content of the dried macaroni is preferably 15% or less, and more preferably 8 to 13%, so that the size, number, shape, etc. of the cavities formed by foaming in the next roasting step are suitable. It is preferable because it can be used. Moreover, dry macaroni can be made hard to burn in the roasting process performed next by making moisture 5% or more.

  Depending on the heating conditions, the α degree of dry macaroni may be greater than that of the heated macaroni subjected to the heating step, or the degree of alphaization of the heated macaroni may be maintained as it is.

<Any aging process>
In the method of the present invention, the dried macaroni can be subjected to a ripening step in order to homogenize the moisture of the dried macaroni before being subjected to the roasting step. In this ripening step, the dried macaroni may be placed under conditions such that the moisture of the dried macaroni does not deviate from a desired value (for example, the dried macaroni is covered in a sealed state with a moisture-impermeable material such as a wrap).

<(III) Roasting process>
In the method of the present invention, dried macaroni subjected to an aging step as needed is roasted to be foamed to obtain instant foamed macaroni (hereinafter also referred to as “instant macaroni of the present invention”).

  This roasting step is performed for the purpose of foaming by rapidly evaporating water contained in the dry macaroni and providing a plurality of vacuole structures inside the dry macaroni. Therefore, any roasting method may be used as long as such an object can be achieved. Conditions such as roasting temperature and time may be set as appropriate according to the amount and size of dried macaroni, the amount of water, and the like.

  As an example of the roasting step, it can be carried out by stirring dry macaroni together with powder (eg, salt, silicon dioxide, calcium carbonate) heated to a high temperature (120 ° C. or higher). The temperature of the powder and the stirring time can be set to a temperature (preferably 180 ° C. or less) and time at which dry macaroni does not burn while causing foaming. Moreover, after performing the baking process using powder, it is preferable to remove powder from dry macaroni using a sieve etc.

<Instant macaroni of the present invention>
One of the features of the instant macaroni of the present invention that can be preferably manufactured by the method of the present invention is that a plurality of vacuole structures are provided inside the dried macaroni in the roasting step described above. The size of vacuoles forming this vacuolar structure varies from large to small, and the distribution is not always uniform. For example, vacuoles having a maximum cross-sectional diameter of about 1 to 2 mm and vacuoles having a smaller cross-sectional diameter are randomly arranged. Moreover, it is preferable that the vacuole is in a sealed state having substantially no opening on the dry macaroni surface. Here, having substantially no opening means that there is no opening of a size that can be confirmed with the naked eye. In the present invention, such a state having substantially no opening is referred to as “having an vacuole structure only inside”.

  The specific gravity of the instant macaroni of the present invention is preferably in the range of 0.35 to 0.70 in order to achieve the effects of the present invention, and more preferably in the range of 0.35 to 0.60. Here, specific gravity shall be measured by the method described in Example 1 described later.

  The instant macaroni of the present invention has a relatively large cavity as described above, and therefore expands more than the unprocessed macaroni used as a raw material. When the instant macaroni of the present invention is manufactured by the method of the present invention described above (the method of manufacturing the instant macaroni of the present invention is not limited to this), a solid heat medium (powder such as salt) is used in the roasting step. In the contact heat exchange by the body), the superheated material (macaroni) is quickly heated to near the center (usually about several tens of seconds), a rapid water vapor is generated, and the dough is sufficiently alphalized. This is thought to be because the water vapor generated for this purpose causes the balloon to swell. As a result, the exterior shape of the instant macaroni swells in a similar shape to the untreated macaroni. Such a vacuolar structure of the present invention is clearly different from that which can be formed when dried using a heat medium other than solid, such as hot air drying.

  The instant macaroni of the present invention preferably has a moisture content of 10% or less, and more preferably a moisture content of 8% or less. Instant macaroni can prevent scorching in the roasting process by setting the moisture to 5% or more.

  Moreover, since the instant macaroni of the present invention has an vacuole structure inside, it has a low specific gravity and can be used as a soup or other float.

  Moreover, the instant macaroni of this invention can also accommodate an appropriate quantity in a container, and can also be set as an instant macaroni product. Such instant macaroni products include instant macaroni soup products in containers with powdered soup and other seasonings.

  Examples The present invention will be described with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.

Example 1
The instant macaroni of the present invention was manufactured as follows.

  (1) A commercially available twisted macaroni (water content 10%, thickness about 0.8 mm, recommended boil time 2 minutes displayed on macaroni packaging) was used as 100 g raw material.

  (2) Boiled in boiling water (2 L) for 6 minutes and water-cooled for 1 minute (water temperature 20 ° C.). The moisture at this time was 70%, and the raw material yield was about 308%.

  (3) It was immersed in an aqueous solution (30 ° C.) consisting of 1% of soluble soybean fiber “Soya Five” (Fuji Oil Co., Ltd.) for 30 seconds.

  (4) Hot air drying was performed at a temperature of 70 ° C. and a humidity of 20% for 80 minutes. The final moisture at this time was 12%.

  (5) Aging was performed for 1 day in order to homogenize while maintaining moisture.

  (6) Salt (2 kg) was heated to 150 ° C. and aged macaroni was added and stirred well while heating.

  (7) The heated macaroni was placed in a sieve and the salt was removed to obtain foamed instant macaroni.

  The obtained instant macaroni was measured for the degree of alpha and specific gravity by the following method. The degree of alpha was 83.5% and the specific gravity was 0.41.

<Measurement of degree of gelatinization (glucoamylase method)>
1. Preparation of sample The specimen was dehydrated with ethanol and acetone and then passed through a 100 mesh sieve as a sample.

2. Preparation of test solution A test solution (S) and a test solution (R) are prepared by the steps shown in Table 1.

A blank (R ₀ ) operated in the same manner as the preparation of the test solution (R) is used except that a solution obtained by heating the enzyme solution in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes in advance is added instead of the enzyme solution.

For the test solutions (S), (R) and blank (R ₀ ), the amount of glucose is measured by the glucose oxidase method (glucose C-II test Wako).

3. The degree of alpha is obtained by the following calculation formula.

As: Absorbance of test solution (S) in glucose oxidase method AR: Absorbance of test solution (R) in glucose oxidase method Br: Absorbance of blank (R ₀ ) in glucose oxidase method <Measurement of specific gravity>
Xg (5 to 10 g) of instant macaroni is put into a 100 mL graduated cylinder, and the total amount Yg (water + immediate macaroni weight) when water is put to the 100 mL line (floating instant macaroni is pressed with a stick) is measured.

  The specific gravity is obtained by the following formula.

Specific gravity = X / (100−Y + X)
(Example 2)
(1) Commercially available twisted macaroni (same as in Example 1) was used as 100 g raw material.

  (2) Boiled with boiling water (2 L) for 1 minute. The moisture at this time was 45%.

  (3) It was immersed for 16 minutes in an aqueous solution (30 ° C.) consisting of 1% soluble soybean fiber “Soya Five” (Fuji Oil Co., Ltd.) and “Ematech” (Riken Vitamin Co., Ltd.). The solution was absorbed and the raw material yield was 220%.

  (4) Using a batch type steamer, steaming was performed for 3 minutes.

  (5) Hot air drying was performed at a temperature of 60 ° C. and a humidity of 20% for 60 minutes. The final moisture at this time was 8%.

  (6) Salt (2 kg) was heated to 165 ° C. and hot air dried macaroni was added and stirred well while heating.

  (7) The heated macaroni was placed in a sieve and the salt was removed to obtain foamed instant macaroni.

(Example 3)
Put 15g of foamed instant macaroni prepared in Example 1 in a cup with lid, store soup and other oysters (freeze-dried spinach, freeze-dried pork, freeze-dried carrot, etc.), seal and cup instant macaroni soup product Manufactured.

  The package of this instant macaroni soup product was opened, a part of the lid was opened, 150 mL of hot water was poured, and after 3 minutes with the lid closed, the inside of the cup was observed. Confirmed that the macaroni was floating in the soup.

(Measurement examples 1 and 2)
About Examples 1 and 2, and commercially available instant pasta (control), put in a heat-insulating container, pour 150 mL of hot water, mix well, sensory evaluation (return, hardness and elasticity) after standing for 3 minutes, and macaroni Was evaluated.

  The evaluation was carried out for each item by 10 staff members who were involved in sensory evaluation in accordance with the following evaluation terms, and were evaluated in seven stages of 1 to 7 points.

Return 1: Very poor return, 4: Normal, 7: Very good return Hardness 1: Very soft, 4: Normal, 7: Very hard Elasticity 1: Very weak, 4: Normal, 7: Very strong Floating condition 1 : Completely sinking 4: Moderate, 7: Fully floating Table 2 shows the evaluation results. In addition, evaluation was made into the average value of 10 persons.

  From the results in Table 2 above, it can be seen that the instant macaroni of the present invention produced in Examples 1 and 2 is superior to the commercial product in all evaluation items. It can be seen that the instant macaroni of the present invention is particularly superior in return and float to the commercial product.

Claims (8)

A heating step of heating macaroni in the presence of moisture to obtain heated macaroni having a moisture content of 55% or more;
Drying the heated macaroni to obtain a dried macaroni having a water content of 15% or less;
A method for producing instant foamed macaroni, comprising the step of foaming the dried macaroni to obtain a foamed macaroni having an vacuole structure therein.   The macaroni, the macaroni after the start of the heating process and before the end, and / or the sticking prevention process for preventing mutual sticking of the heated macaroni, before the start of the heating process, after the start of the heating process and before the end And / or the manufacturing method of the instant foaming macaroni of Claim 1 which further has after completion | finish of the said heating process. The heating step is performed in two steps of a first heating step and a second heating step, and the sticking prevention step is performed between the first heating step and the second heating step. Is done,
The first heating step is a step of heating the macaroni in the presence of moisture to obtain a first heated macaroni having a moisture content of less than 55%,
The anti-sticking step is a step of immersing the first heated macaroni in an aqueous solution of an anti-sticking agent to obtain a water-absorbing macaroni having a water content of 55% or more,
The method for producing instant foamed macaroni according to claim 2, wherein the second heating step is a step of steaming the water-absorbing macaroni to obtain a heated macaroni having a moisture content of 55% or more.   The method for producing instant foamed macaroni according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the roasting step is performed by bringing the dried macaroni into contact with a powder heated to 120 ° C or higher. Instant foamed macaroni having a vacuole structure only inside the substantial part of macaroni. The instant foamed macaroni according to claim 5, which is used as a float. An instant foamed macaroni product in a container in which the instant foamed macaroni according to claim 5 or 6 is contained in a container. Containers instant foaming macaroni products, packaged instant macaroni soup products, further comprising a powder soup according to claim 7.