JP4842337B2 - Amaume manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing sweet ume from frozen ume by making use of the nutritional components of ume.

  Ume is rich in organic acids such as citric acid and minerals such as calcium, magnesium and potassium, and has long been said to be medicinal and healthy. In recent years, citric acid contained in plum has attracted attention in the energy production theory of the Crabs citric acid cycle. Ripe plums contain 4 wt% or more of citric acid, but are not fully utilized in conventional plum products.

  Unripe plums are very bitter, bitter, astringent, and have an astringent taste and are not suitable for food. Ome has a unique flavor and is processed for plum wine and Japanese sweets. However, umeshu is mainly made of ume and the amount of citric acid is low from the beginning.

  Ripe plums have a strong acidity, sweetness, and good aroma, making them delicious foods, but they require a certain amount of processing because of their low freshness and quick decay.

  Overripe plums are not suitable for food because the flesh elutes during processing and becomes a stone-like shape with only skin and seeds.

  Thus, in order to make ume a delicious food, it is necessary to use fully ripened ume and prevent the freshness of the ripened plum from being deteriorated and rotting. If the plum can be processed without salt and without food additives, it will be an excellent health food.

  Plums are harvested in large quantities during the month of June-July. Therefore, rapid mass processing is required, and as a method of mass processing, pickled plums (seasoned plums) by salting and sugar / alcohol pickles have long been used. Umeshu by is common. In both of these cases, plums come into contact with a substance with high osmotic pressure, intracellular water is sucked out by the difference in osmotic pressure, and cell death occurs due to separation of the cell wall and plasma membrane. Salt and sugar / alcohol infiltrate the inside of the plum, giving it a strong taste, and the same thing happens with plum vinegar and plum wine, which are exudates from plum.

  On the other hand, at the same time as cell death, the endogenous enzyme is switched on, and the aquatic and harmful substances of cyanide glycosides such as amygdalin are decomposed by the enzyme to change to a plum-specific aroma and taste (acidity). Since this mechanism proceeds slowly, processing takes 1 month to 1 year, so high salt or high alcohol / sugar is required to suppress mold generation. In either case, demand has reached its peak in the current diet, and new plum products are being sought. Foods such as plum juice, plum wine, plum jam, and plum seasoning have also been developed, but there are many restrictions on raw materials, quality, price, etc., and they are not distributed in large quantities.

In recent years, sweet ume boiled with sugar has attracted attention. These are expected to be used for Japanese confectionery materials, Western confectionery toppings, addition to shochu.
Conventional low-salt sweet plums are manufactured in a process as shown in FIG. This is a manufacturing method established by years of experience using raw plums, which takes a lot of time and effort, and causes high costs.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-104406 proposes an improved method thereof, but all of them contain a salt content, and it cannot be said that the degradation of mamgdalin by an enzymatic reaction is sufficiently performed. On the other hand, because sweet ume uses a lot of sugar, fermentation and fungi caused by yeast are problematic. As a countermeasure against this, countermeasures against spore bacteria (sterilization) are important. There is a need for a sterilization method that does not use bactericides and food additives.

  On the other hand, freezing and storing ume harvested in large quantities in a short period of time is essential for equalizing production, streamlining processes, and reducing costs. However, there is currently no suitable thawing technique, and many quality issues remain.

  When plums freeze, some of the cells are frozen and destroyed, and others survive. In cells destroyed by thawing, an oxidation reaction occurs, and browning occurs due to oxygen in the air. However, rapid thawing at high temperature deactivates the enzyme and an enzyme reaction cannot be expected.

JP2008-104406

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its purpose is to produce stably by using frozen plums, to achieve uniform quality and cost reduction, and without salt and without food additives. The purpose is to provide a method for producing sweet ume.

In the method for producing sweet ume according to the present invention for achieving the above object, frozen ume is brought into contact with hot water at a temperature of 50 to 65 ° C. to defrost, and the defrosted ume is put into a heated sugar solution, and thereafter The temperature of the sugar solution is quickly raised to the boiling point, and the temperature is maintained near the boiling point to perform boiling and sterilization.
By setting the thawing temperature of frozen plums to 50 to 65 ° C., both rapid thawing and enzyme reaction can be achieved. In addition, surviving cells will die due to heat in this temperature range, and the enzyme reaction switch enter.

Preferably, the thawing temperature is 55 to 60 ° C. Thereby, thawing is completed in several minutes to several tens of minutes, no browning occurs, and taste and harmful substances can be decomposed.
Preferably, the frozen plums are stored frozen by IQF (Individual Quick Freezing) freezing.
Preferably, the solute of the sugar solution is 50 to 90 wt% sucrose.
Also preferably, the solvent of the sugar solution is water or / or an alcoholic beverage.
Preferably, the cooking time is 8 to 30 minutes at the boiling point.
Preferably, after the above-mentioned cooking, the sweet ume is allowed to cool, the sweet ume is separated from the sugar solution, and the moisture is reduced to 80 to 50 wt% of the initial weight by drying, It is to attach powdered sugar to.
Preferably, the sweet ume produced is packaged in a sealed container and held at 20 to 45 ° C. for 1 to 4 days, then immersed in hot water at 80 to 100 ° C. for 5 to 60 minutes, and heat sterilized. Is to do.

  In this invention, it can produce stably by using frozen plum, and can attain uniform quality and cost reduction. Enzymes contained in frozen plums maintain their activity, so that when they are thawed, they are decomposed by the enzymes, and by converting harmful substances into useful substances, processed plum products with good quality can be obtained.

FIG. 1 shows a process for producing sweet ume according to the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a conventional process for producing sweet ume.

  The present invention will be described in detail below according to FIG. 1 showing the sweet ume production process of the present invention.

<Raw material plum>
As raw material plums, those with high maturity such as ripening plums, fully-ripened plums, and falling plums excluding overripe plums are desirable, but green plums are also possible.

<Preparation>
The pre-treatment takes the plum axis (longhead), sorts it into different uses (sweet plum, plum pickled, plum jam), and is a large material such as 2L-4L as a material for sweet plums, with no worms or scratches. Choose.

<Washing>
Wash the soil, dust and dead branches with water.

<Draining>
For draining, remove the washing water adhering to the surface of the plum with dry air or cloth.

<Freezing>
Freezing is performed by IQC (Individual Quick Freezing) freezing at -20 to -30 ° C. Some lumps are acceptable.

<Frozen storage>
In terms of cost, it is desirable to store frozen products at temperatures below -20 ° C and within one year. There is no quality problem for more than one year.

<Thawing>
Thawing is preferably performed by placing 5 to 15 times the ume volume of water in a tank-type defroster and immersing the ume stored frozen in warm water heated to 50 to 65 ° C. At this time, it is desirable that 50% or more of the thawing time (main thawing time) is 55 to 60 ° C. Thawing can also be performed with a heated sugar solution, but the specific heat of 50-90 wt% sugar solution is about half of water, so approximately twice the amount of liquid is required, resulting in an increase in the size of the device. Since temperature control and subsequent steps become difficult, it is preferable to thaw using warm water. If warm water exceeds 65 ° C., the enzyme of plum may be inactivated and should be avoided. If it is less than 50 ° C., thawing time becomes long, cell death is slow, and enzyme reaction may be insufficient. The thawing time is suitably 15 to 25 minutes for 2L to 3L IQF plums.

  As a thawing device, a shower type can be used in addition to the tank type. The warm water shower is suitably 55 to 60 ° C. and 1 to 5 liters / minute for 1 kg of plum.

<Sugar solution heating>
The sugar solution heating is performed by roughly draining the thawed plum and pouring the plum into the heated sugar solution. The amount of sugar solution should be about 1 liter per 1 kg of plum, so that the plum is not exposed to the air. Moreover, heating time and heating energy can be saved by adding plums in a warm state. The heating temperature is desirably close to the boiling point where fine bubbles are generated in the sugar solution. As the sugar, edible sugars (sucrose, starch syrup, glucose, fructose, isomers, maltose, honey, trehalose, erythritol, etc.) can be used. The sugar concentration of the solution is chosen based on the acid / sweet balance. The solvent is preferably water and / or alcoholic beverages. For example, for a brandy cake (brandy), a shochu cocktail (shochu), or a Japanese confectionery (water).

  In general, the highest demand for white sucrose is a 50 to 90 wt% aqueous solution that is easy to use in terms of taste, boiling point, and viscosity. The upper white sugar solution in this range has a boiling point of less than 120 degrees and is lower than the retort sterilization temperature (120 ° C. or higher), which is insufficient to sterilize spores, but normal microorganisms can be sufficiently killed. .

  In order to saturate the taste, a heating simmering operation is effective. Heating at a boiling point of 8 to 30 minutes is good without exposing the plums from the sugar solution. If it is less than 8 minutes, the skin remains hard, and the inside is raw and the bitterness becomes strong. If it exceeds 30 minutes, the skin is torn and browned. Moreover, there is no problem in mixing salt or the like with sugar for balance of taste.

  For heating, a pan-shaped acid-resistant container (such as a clay pot, stainless steel pot, or casserole pot) may be used, and the heat source may be any of gas, electricity, steam, etc. For stirring, the sugar solution should be mixed lightly, and the plums will be boiled in a stationary state. After heating, let it cool naturally in the pan and let it cool for more than 12 hours to soak the taste. Thereby, the syrup pickled product with which the sugar liquid and sweet ume were filled into the container is obtained.

<Liquid draining>
For draining, separate the sugar solution and plums with a colander or eye plate. The separated liquid can be reused by adding sugar. The liquid can also be used for jams and beverages.

  The drained plum is packaged as Wet sweet plum. On the other hand, wet sweet ume can be dried to make dry sweet ume. Drying is performed in warm air of 50 to 80 ° C., moisture is removed so that the weight ratio of sweet ume is 80 to 50 wt%, and powdered sugar such as fructose, maltose and granulated sugar is applied and packaged as Dry sweet ume.

<Packaging>
The packaging is filled with a little air left in a plastic container, bag, glass bottle or the like. Anoxia is a concern for the growth of Clostridium botulinum.

<Heat sterilization>
Heat sterilization is intended for surviving spore bacteria, and mold, yeast, botulinum, etc. survive as spores, and if the environment is suitable, they may grow as vegetative bacteria. In order to prevent this, spore can be sterilized by changing to vegetative bacteria. In order for a spore to turn into a vegetative bacterium, conditions of 1 to 4 days at 20 to 45 ° C. are necessary. In particular, 2 days at 30 to 40 ° C. is optimal, and when the product is stored under these conditions, the spores are changed to vegetative form and heated at 80 to 100 ° C. for 5 to 60 minutes for sterilization, then generation of mold, yeast Can prevent fermentation.

<Product>
The product can be stored at room temperature for a long period (one year) because there is no worry about spore bacteria.
The following description is based on examples.

Example 1
A throwing heater (1 Kw electric heating) with a temperature controller was installed at the bottom of a short pan (220φ × 300H) of a food constant temperature heating device (utility model registration No. 3116321), and 8 liters of water was placed and heated to 62 ° C. IQF frozen plum (2 to 3 L of ripening south high, stored at −20 ° C. for 6 months) 32 grains / 1024 g was put into the net installed in the upper part of the tank. Since the water temperature dropped to 56 ° C. after 3 minutes, the water temperature was maintained at 56-58 ° C. for 17 minutes to complete the thawing.

  The weight after thawing was 989 g (96.6 wt% with respect to IQF plum). The thawed ume was added to a boiling liquid of 800 g of super white sugar / 200 g of water, and the heating was maintained while removing the ag at the boiling point for 20 minutes. After natural cooling, the mixture was left for 24 hours to make sweet plums. Then it was divided into solid and liquid and weighed. The sweet plum weight was 928 g (90.6% based on IQF plum) and the sugar / plum vinegar solution was 863 g. There were 22 non-defective products and 10 destructible skins, and the non-defective rate was about 70%.

The evaluation of Amame was as follows.
Color-light yellow brown and transparent.
Taste-Plum has good acidity and sweetness, rich aroma of plum, almost no bitterness, no bitterness.
Skin-soft.

Comparative Example 1
By the same operation as in Example 1, a sweet ume was made experimentally with only the thawing temperature set to 70 to 75 ° C.
The evaluation of Amame was as follows.
Color-light yellow brown and transparent.
Taste-The acidity and aroma of plum are weak. There is bitterness and pity.
Skin-soft and tears were over 50%.

Comparative Example 2
By the same operation as in Example 1, a sweet ume was made experimentally with only the thawing temperature set to 40 to 45 ° C.
The evaluation of Amame was as follows.
Color-light brown.
Taste-The acidity and aroma of plum are weak. The bitterness is strong.
Skin-Hard and not torn.

Example 2
Defrosting was performed using the same apparatus as in Example 1. 1083 g / 32 grains of IQF plums (Midaka Minami High School 2 to 3 L) were added to 63 ° C. warm water, and after 2 minutes, the water temperature dropped to 56 ° C., and then maintained at 56 to 60 ° C. for 18 minutes to complete thawing.
A. 520 g / 16 grains were put into 500 ml of 40 wt% sucrose solution and heated at the boiling point for 12 minutes.
B. 526 g / 16 grains were put into 500 ml of 60 wt% white sucrose solution and heated at the boiling point for 12 minutes.

Evaluation was as follows.

Example 3
Using the same food constant temperature heating apparatus as in Example 1, 1159 g / 33 grains of frozen Minami Takaume (2-3 L ripening) was added to 60 ° C. warm water, and the temperature was lowered to 54 ° C. after 3 minutes. Thereafter, the mixture was held at 55 to 60 ° C. for 17 minutes for thawing.
In a clay pot, 1000 g of upper white sugar / 220 g of 35 ° white liquor was added and slowly heated to obtain a sugar solution. Thawed ume was poured into a sugar solution, heated slowly, raised to the boiling point, and maintained at that temperature while taking a kite, and sampled every hour for evaluation.

(1) Heated skin for 5 minutes-yellow and hard. Inside-raw and soft. Bitterness and sourness are strong, sweetness is low and you cannot eat.
(2) Heated skin for 8 minutes-yellow brown. Inside-the seeds are soft and raw. It has a strong acidity and bitterness but is sweet and edible.
(3) Heated skin for 15 minutes-brown. Inside-yellow brown. Both acidity and sweetness are moderate, and it is delicious with little bitterness.
(4) Heated skin for 30 minutes-brown. Inside-light brown. Skin-soft and easy to tear. Less sour and sweet. Less bitter and delicious.

Example 4
Using the same food constant temperature heating apparatus as in Example 1, 1011 g / 30 grains of frozen Minami Takame plum (after ripening 2-3 L, IQF) was put in 62 ° C. warm water and the temperature was lowered to 55 ° C. after 3 minutes. Thawing was performed at -60 ° C for 20 minutes.
Put 800 g of white sucrose / 100 g of water in a clay pot, slowly heat it up to make a thick, thick slurry, add the thawed ume into it, slowly stir only the liquid at the boiling point, and heat for 15 minutes while removing the scum. Then, it was left overnight and cooled naturally.

(1) Pickled with syrup Six cooled ume grains (190 g) and 100 g of liquid were put into a 300 ml glass bottle and sealed. At this time, a space of 5 to 6 mm was provided between the bottle and the lid.
(2) Dry sweet ume After the cooled ume was drained, it was dried in a 60-70 ° dryer for 2 hours. The weight after drying was 71 wt% of the initial weight. The dried plums were sprinkled with 13 wt% of granulated sugar, put into a plastic bag, 5 pieces each, and deaerated and packaged.
(3) Heat sterilization Packaged syrup pickles (bottle) and Dry sweet plum (plastic packaging) are placed in a constant temperature room at 35-40 ° C for 2 days, then bottled in hot water at 85 ° C for 30 minutes in plastic packaging The product was kept for 10 minutes and cooled to obtain a product.

  This product had no mold and no discoloration or other abnormalities after 1 year of opening inspection.

Claims (8)

  Frozen ume is brought into contact with warm water at a temperature of 50 to 65 ° C. and thawed. A method for producing sweet ume, characterized in that it is boiled and sterilized while maintaining close to a point.   The method for producing sweet ume according to claim 1, wherein the thawing temperature of the frozen plum is 55 to 60 ° C.   The method for producing sweet ume according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the frozen plum is frozen and stored by IQF (Individual Quick Freezing) freezing.   The method for producing sweet ume according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the solute of the sugar solution is 50 to 90 wt% sucrose.   The method for producing sweet ume according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a solvent of the sugar solution is water or / or an alcoholic beverage.   The method for producing sweet ume according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the boiling time is 8 to 30 minutes at the boiling point.   After the simmering, the sweet ume is allowed to cool, the sweet ume is separated from the sugar solution, the moisture is reduced to 80-50 wt% of the initial weight by drying, and powdered sugar is attached to the surface of the sweet ume. The method for producing sweet ume according to any one of claims 1 to 6.   The manufactured sweet ume is packaged in a sealed container and held at 20 to 45 ° C. for 1 to 4 days, and then immersed in hot water at 80 to 100 ° C. for 5 to 60 minutes to perform heat sterilization. The method for producing sweet ume according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

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