JP4839398B2 - Umeboshi production method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing umeboshi.

Plums are concentrated in June and July, but raw plums are generally stored as dried plums because they are difficult to preserve. In order to produce dried ume, it is common to process the harvested raw ume into salted products without taking time, and as a processing method, add 18-23 wt% salt to the raw ume and weigh it. Store in salt for more than 1 month. Cells die due to the osmotic pressure of the salt and the pressure of the salt, and undesired components (bitter taste blue odor, cyanide glycosides that are the bases of agumi, etc.) are decomposed by enzymes into useful components such as tasty organic acids Change.
This salting method has been practiced for a long time and is still widely practiced today. A large amount of salt is used to suppress the occurrence of mold and spoilage, so a high salt concentration ume (18-20 wt%), and a ume vinegar solution (salt concentration of about 20 wt%) mixed with leaching solution and salt from ume is generated.

Low salinity, which is a consumer requirement, is achieved by desalting high-concentration salted plums. In general, plums with high salt content are sun-dried for about 3 days, and salt is removed by exposure to running water to reduce the salt content to 5-10 wt% to make plum dried products, or a large amount of food additives are added thereafter. It is soaked in the seasoning liquid, drained and made into a low salt plum dried product called seasoned plum.
As described above, the harvest time of plums is short and it is difficult to preserve raw plums, so the processing time of salted products is limited. Therefore, JP 2005-261276 has been proposed as a method for producing dried ume that freezes and then colors and seasons ripe plums, but there is no suitable thawing technique, and only low-quality processed products are available. Is the current situation.

JP-A-2005-261276

The inventor of this application diligently researched focusing on the fact that if frozen plums are used as a raw material, there will be no problem of securing raw materials, production can be planned according to the anniversary plan, and contribution can be made to producers and consumers through stable quality, stable supply, and cost reduction. As a result, the present invention has been achieved.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing high quality dried plums from frozen plums.

The method for producing umeboshi according to the present invention includes the following steps.
The process of freezing the fruits of the plum;
A process of thawing frozen plum fruit in contact with hot water of 50 to 65 ° C .;
A step of immersing the thawed ume fruit in a plum vinegar solution at a normal temperature or lower than normal temperature and adjusting the salt concentration for 1 to 5 weeks; and
And drying the plum fruit to evaporate the water until the weight is 85 to 50 wt%.

  Preferably, a step of adding 10 to 50 wt% of the sugar of the weight of the plum fruit dried and semi-dried as described above is added.

Preferably, the plum fruit is dried by sun-drying.
Preferably, the ume is frozen by IQF (Individual Quick Freezing).
Moreover, Preferably, the temperature of the warm water which thaws the said ume fruit shall be 55-60 degreeC.
Moreover, it is preferable that the salt concentration of the ume vinegar in which the ume fruit is immersed is 2 to 12 wt%.

Since the dried plums of the present invention are made from frozen plums, they can be produced on an annual basis, and stable quality, stable supply, and cost reduction can be realized.
Moreover, since the frozen plum fruit is thawed in contact with hot water at 50 to 65 ° C., rapid thawing is possible without causing inactivation of the enzyme.
In addition, since the ume vinegar can be reused in the ume vinegar pickling process, the active ingredients of the ume are not impaired, and there is no waste liquid (plum vinegar, salt-free water, seasoning residual liquid, etc.), so there is a significant cost reduction. It becomes possible.

The manufacturing process figure of the pickled plum which makes one Embodiment of this invention. The schematic explanatory drawing of the hot water defroster used in embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, a specific embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, raw plums can be used from green to fully-ripe plums. In the washing process, dirt such as soil, dust, and dead leaves are removed from the raw plum by washing with water. In the sorting process, grades based on maturity, color, insect bite, scratches, rot, etc., and sizes are classified into S, M, L to 4L sizes, and sorted and ranked. It is desirable that the plums to be used have a uniform size, good shape and no scratches. Next, in the freezing step, it is desirable to freeze IQF (Individual Quick Freezing) in a freezer at −20 ° C. or lower, but it can be used even if it becomes a little clumped. In the frozen storage process, frozen plums are sealed in a container and stored in a freezer. Since the storage cost is between -20 ° C and -25 ° C, storage within one year is desirable, but there is no quality problem even over one year.

  In the warm water thawing step, the frozen plums are defrosted by contacting with warm water having a temperature of 50 to 65 ° C. If it is less than 50 ° C., the thawing time is long and the degradation by the enzyme is insufficient. Of these, thawing at 55 to 60 ° C. is effective. The time for which the frozen plums are brought into contact with the warm water varies depending on the size and ripeness of the frozen plums, but is generally 10 to 30 minutes. If the time is short, the thawing is insufficient and the enzyme reaction is insufficient. On the other hand, if the time is long, the skin becomes soft, and there is a risk that the plum will be crushed. Ripe plum IQF, 2L is optimal for 15-25 minutes. As the thawing device, a shower type or a tank type can be used.

  In the ume vinegar dipping process, the ume is thawed with tap water, drained, and then immersed in a vinegar vinegar at or below room temperature (in a ratio of 1 kg ume / 1 liter ume vinegar). For mass production, put a plastic bag into a 20 liter plastic container, put 10 liters of ume vinegar into it, put 10 kg of ume with coarse heat, and tie up the mouth while ventilating the air. The first ume vinegar usually has a high salinity of 18 to 20 wt%, and if used as it is, it has a high salinity, so it is necessary to dilute the salinity with water. Preferably, it is diluted so that the salt concentration becomes 2 to 12 wt%. Plum vinegar has strong bactericidal activity, and the surface of ume is pasteurized at low temperatures, so it does not generate mold even when left at room temperature for a long time. The period of soaking is kept at normal temperature or below normal temperature (30 ° C to 5 ° C) for 1 to 5 weeks. Since the soaking period is affected by the maturity, the low maturity is long and the high is short. In the case of ripe plums, the skin is easily broken, so 1 to 4 weeks is appropriate. Since the salt content of the umeboshi of the present invention is derived from the salt content of the ume vinegar, the salt concentration of the umebashi solution is 2 to 12 wt%, the salt concentration of the umeboshi is preferably 1 to 10 wt%, and preferably the salt concentration of the plum vinegar is about 10 wt%. Easy to make low salt salmon plums with a concentration of 5 to 6 wt%. In addition, there is no problem with the coloring added to the plum vinegar with Shiso.

  When the target soaking time is reached, drain the ume with a colander (liquid draining process). Separated plum vinegar solution is supplemented with salt and water, adjusted to the desired salt concentration, and reused. When used multiple times under the same conditions, organic acids such as citric acid are concentrated to the same extent as plums, so there is no loss of components of plums, no loss of nutritional value, and improved bactericidal power. Since salt is also balanced, add only the amount you want to transfer to plum. Since the ume vinegar solution can be completely reused, there is no waste solution (plum vinegar solution, salt-free water, seasoned residual solution, etc.), and waste liquid treatment that requires a great deal of cost is unnecessary, and a significant cost reduction is possible. In addition, environmental destruction caused by illegal dumping is eliminated, contributing to ecology.

  In the drying step, the drained plum is dried in the sun, and the water is evaporated until the weight of the plum fruit reaches 85 to 50 wt%. Plums turn brown with polyphenols due to UV rays, and the color of plums (brown) becomes dark, and if there is a lot of water, drip will occur when sugar is mixed and the appearance will deteriorate. For these two reasons, sun drying is preferable as the drying means in the present invention. The water of 15-50 wt% of the weight of plum is removed by sun-drying. In sun-dried, 15 to 25 wt% / day of water evaporates under direct sunlight, so that the desired plum-drying is achieved by sun-drying for 1-2 days. If there is too little moisture, it will become hard and yield will worsen. Although depending on the maturity of the plum, it is preferable from the viewpoint of quality, work effort, and yield that the moisture is reduced by about 20 wt% by daily sun drying. In any case, compared to the conventional sun-drying period of 3 days, the time is greatly shortened, and there is no need for reworking, so that labor can be saved. As a drying means, an ultraviolet / far-infrared dryer can be used instead of sun-drying in mass production.

  In order to produce dried plums, which are called low-salt seasoned plums, powdered and granular sugar (such as sugar, maltose, trehalose, powdered rice cake, etc.) is sprinkled on the dried plums as described above and mixed slowly. Those having a high water content such as chickenpox, honey, liquid sugar, and isomerized sugar are not preferable because many drip are generated. The amount of sugar to be mixed is preferably 10 to 50 wt% (vs dry plum). As seasoned plums, the acidity is strong when the sugar is 10 wt% or less, and the sweetness is strong when the sugar is 40 wt% or more. As for the acid / salt / sweet balance, when the salt content is about 5 wt%, 20 to 25 wt% of sugar is appropriate. In any case, the taste can be freely adjusted according to preference. Umeboshi with low salinity and high sugar content (for example, semi-dried plums with 1% salinity and 50% sugar content) can be used as sweet plums in the field of confectionery. As a blender, stainless steel drums, wooden barrels, closed plastic containers, etc. are convenient. In any case, it is recommended to slowly rotate and change the top and bottom several times / hour so that the plums do not collapse.

  Water remains in the ume after the drying step, and when sugar is added, the water is eluted into the sugar due to the difference in osmotic pressure and becomes drip. Since the sugar turns into a clear solution in a few hours and stays at the bottom of the container, it is sometimes necessary to move the container slowly to make it uniform. Since the plum / drip state stabilizes in about one day, the plum and drip are separated (drip removal step). The drip is reused by evaporating and condensing moisture. Concentration is easy to use when the liquid volume is reduced to 1/2 to 1/4. Moreover, this drip contains a high sugar content and moderate salt and is rich in plum aroma, and is also suitable as a seasoning for boiled green fish.

  The plums from which the drip has been removed are inspected, weighed, and packed into containers (container packing process). Suitable containers are plastic containers and bags currently used in the market.

  Umeboshi packed in a container is packed in corrugated cardboard, stored in a room temperature warehouse, and shipped at normal temperature distribution (storage / shipment process).

  The umeboshi of the present invention produced by the above-described process can be stored without the use of preservatives at room temperature and for one year without generation of mold.

== Example 1 ==
A low-temperature food heating device (utility model registration No. 3116321 size drum pan (220φ x 300 (H)) was equipped with a heater (1 kW) with temperature controller, 8 liters of water was put in, and heated to 65 ° C. Frozen Minami Takaume (2-3 L, IQF) 1,030 g (32 grains) was immersed in the storage bowl installed at the top of the tank, and the temperature in the tank dropped to 58 ° C. after 2 minutes. Thawing was completed for another 13 minutes at ° C. The weight of the ume after draining was 995 g (97% vs. frozen ume), soaked in 800 ml of room temperature ume vinegar stock (20% salt), The ume after immersion was left on the net and drained, and its weight was 1,040 g (101% vs. frozen ume). Sun-dried side by side (6 hours / day x 2 days). It was 25 g (50.5% dry yield).

  From the first day of container filling, a honey-like drip came out, and the whole became a moist and soft plum dried. The color of the hull and flesh was umeboshi (brown), and the fibers around the seeds had no yellowish taste, and there was no raw place. The taste was sour, salty and old-style plum blossoms. The edible portion had a salt content of 13.5% and a citric acid content of 7.2%.

== Example 2 ==
Using the defroster of Example 1, 8 liters of water was charged and heated to 62 ° C. Into a storage bowl installed in the upper part of the size pan, 1200 g of frozen Ome (Juroume L, IQF, Kanagawa Prefecture, 10 months frozen storage) was placed and immersed. The temperature in the tank dropped to 52 ° C. after 2 minutes, and during that time, it was recovered to 60 ° C. after 12 minutes by heating with a heater. Plums that had been subjected to rough heat with tap water were put into 1.2 liters of ume vinegar solution adjusted to a salt content of 10% and stored at room temperature for 25 days.

Next, the ume vinegar solution and the separated plum were sun-dried for a day on a colander with a paper towel. The dry weight was 998 g, and about half of 500 g was mixed with 100 g (20 wt%) of white sucrose, placed in a 1 liter bottle, and rolled to achieve homogenization. At first, powdered sugar remained, but after several hours it was completely dissolved, so it occasionally rolled and left for one day. Since the drip collected at the bottom of the bottle, it was separated from the plum and weighed. Seasoned plum (low salt plum dried) 425g, drip 175g. The yields relative to the raw material plum were 71% and 29%. The product was good in color and gloss, and the acid / salt / sweet balance was good. The remaining half was kept dry and the overall material balance was calculated.
IQF plum 100
After thawing 98
Plum vinegar solution soaked on the day 102 Plum vinegar solution swollen Sun dried for 1 day 83 Soft and semi-dried condition Sun dried for 2 days 68 Soft and semi-dried condition Sun dried for 3 days 59 Plum dried condition Sun dried for 4 days 53 Hard and mummy

== Example 3 ==
810 g of fully ripe Minami Takaume (3 liters, Wakayama Prefecture, 15 months frozen storage) was thawed with the decompressor of Example 1. It was immersed in 8 liters of warm water heated to a temperature of 63 ° C. The temperature dropped to 56 ° C., and after heating with a heater, it reached 60 ° C. after 5 minutes, and the temperature was maintained for 15 minutes. 41 g (810 g × 5%) of sodium chloride was dissolved in 0.8 liter of ume vinegar used three times and poured into a 2 liter glass bottle. Plums were sunk with tap water, wiped with a paper towel, put in, closed and stored at room temperature. It was taken out after 14 days, dried for 2 minutes after draining, and then sun-dried for 1 day and sun-dried for 2 days.

<Day sun-dried>
450 g of plums (410 g of frozen plums) soaked in ume vinegar for 2 weeks was sun-dried for 1 day. The weight was reduced to 345 g (77 wt%). To this, 69 g of super white sugar (20 wt% of semi-dried plum) was added and placed in a 500 ml glass bottle. Rolled lightly to make the plum and sugar uniform, left at room temperature as it was, and occasionally rolled or replaced. In 5 hours, the sugar was completely dissolved and became molasses (drip). The weight of the plum after standing for one day was 302 g, and the weight of the drip was 112 g. The yield of raw ume was 302/410 = 74 wt%.
Drip generation was 112/410 = 27 wt% with respect to the raw material plum.
As a product, the color is the same brown, glossy and plump as the regular seasoning plums. The texture was soft and balanced with a light salt / acid balance.

<2 days sun-dried>
After 440 g of plums soaked in ume vinegar for 2 weeks, they were dried for one day and then turned over to reverse the top and bottom for drying on the second day. The weight after drying was 284 g (63 wt%).
The above ume was divided into 2 portions, 20 g (15 wt%) of 132 g and 38 g (25 wt%) of sucrose were mixed with 152 g, and each was put into a 300 ml bottle and sealed. Occasionally rolled or changed top and bottom to observe and measure melting.
The 15 wt% added product melted the sugar in about 4 hours and became a transparent drip. The added product of 25 wt% dissolved the sugar completely after about 8 hours and became a transparent drip. The measured value and evaluation after standing at room temperature for 1 day are noted.
a. 15 wt% sugar-added product The weight of the seasoned plum was 118 g, the drip amount was 34 g, and the yields relative to the raw material plum were 57 wt% and 17 wt%. As a product, the color was brown, the skin was slightly hard, the skin was slightly hard, and it was salty.
b. 25 wt% sugar-added product The weight of the seasoning plum was 125 g and the amount of drip was 65 g, which was 53 wt% and 28 wt% with respect to the raw material plum. The product had good color, gloss, plumpness, softness, light saltiness, and good balance of acid / salt / sweetness.
Based on the above results, the product was dried in the sun for one day, evaporated to 20-25 wt% to make semi-dried plum, and added with white sugar 20-25% (based on semi-dried plum), yield, shape, shape The balance of color and taste was the best.

== Example 4 ==
The ripened Minami Takaume (Nara 2L, IQF, 3 months frozen storage) was thawed with a shower type hot water defroster with conveyor (Phoenix Tsuzuki-ku, Yokohama) shown in FIG. This decompressor has a front length of 3 m, a width of 50 cm, and a hot water shower section of 2 m. In this thawing machine, the frozen plum fruit 1 is supplied from the hopper 2 to the belt conveyor 3, and while the plum fruit 1 is conveyed by the belt conveyor 3, hot water HW is sprayed from the shower 4 from above. The sprayed hot water is collected at the lower part of the belt conveyor 3, returned to the heater 5, and circulated through the circulation pump 6. Steam St is blown into the heater so that the temperature can be adjusted. A tap water CW spray shower 7 and a dry air DA spray nozzle 8 are provided behind the belt conveyor 3 in the traveling direction of the hot water shower 4. The thawed plum 1a is collected in the storage basket 9 from the end of the belt conveyor 3.

IQF plum is supplied at a rate of 60 kg / H by the above thawing device, hot water at 60 ° C. is showered, thawing is performed with a contact time of 20 minutes, rough heat is removed, water is removed with air, and the salt is adjusted to 10 wt% in advance. 10 kg was put into a plastic container containing 10 liters of ume vinegar and stored in an airtight manner.
After 3 weeks, it was taken out from the container and dried for one day in the sun to make a semi-dried plum dried.
A semi-dried plum was added with 20 wt% of super white sugar and lightly mixed to make seasoned plum. The product was brown and glossy, with a good acid / salt / sweet balance, and a soft, savory product.

1 Frozen plum fruit 1a Thawed plum fruit 3 Belt conveyor 4 Hot water shower

Claims (6)

  Freeze the plum fruit, thaw the frozen plum fruit in contact with hot water at 50 to 65 ° C., and immerse the thawed plum fruit in a plum vinegar solution at or below room temperature with adjusted salt concentration A method for producing umeboshi, characterized in that it is kept for 1 to 5 weeks and then dried to evaporate water until the weight of the ume fruit reaches 85 to 50 wt%.   2. The method for producing umeboshi according to claim 1, wherein 10-50% by weight of sugar is mixed with the ume fruit dried and semi-dried as described above.   The method for producing umeboshi according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the drying is performed by sun drying.   The method for producing umeboshi according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the ume is frozen by IQF (Individual Quick Freezing) freezing.   The method of producing plum dried according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the temperature of hot water for thawing the plum fruit is 55 to 60 ° C.   The method for producing umeboshi according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a salt concentration of the ume vinegar in which the ume fruit is immersed is 2 to 12 wt%.

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