JP7426809B2 - Candy-coated roasted almonds and their production method, as well as chocolate-coated almonds - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to candy-coated roasted almonds, a method for producing the same, and chocolate-coated almonds.

Nut products such as almonds are manufactured by heat treating (roasting) raw nuts. Known heat treatments include an oil roasting method in which raw materials are heated in oil and fat, and a dry roasting method in which raw materials are roasted using heat without using any oil or fat. Such heat treatment develops the aromatic roasted odor characteristic of nuts. Heat-treated nuts can be eaten as is or added to confectionery such as chocolate, candy, and cake.

Furthermore, flavor, texture, preservability, etc. are added by coating, adhering, and heating liquid materials such as honey and sugar solutions, and powder materials such as nuts, sugars, seasonings, and sweeteners. It is used as it is or added to confectionery such as chocolate, candy, and cake (Patent Document 1).

When producing candy-coated almonds, it is desirable to achieve a good and uniform roasting and candying state in order to obtain a good texture, flavor, aroma, and appearance of the almonds, but large-scale production equipment is required. When mass-producing almonds, it is difficult to achieve both a roasted state and a candy state because the way heat is transmitted to individual almonds tends to be uneven.

For example, when producing candy coated almonds under the mass production conditions of 60 kg/batch according to the description in Non-Patent Document 1, if the roasting conditions are not properly adjusted, the candy coating will be insufficient and the candy coat will have an uneven shape with many sugar crystals remaining. However, if the candy state is not properly adjusted, the almonds will be over-roasted and have a strong bitterness, which will significantly reduce the value of the product in either case.

Furthermore, when producing shell chocolate with almonds in the center, the uneven shape of the surface easily causes the almonds to be exposed on the chocolate surface, which directly leads to product loss. Therefore, it is necessary to use small-sized almonds with irregularities, resulting in a nut chocolate with a low proportion of almonds, which significantly impairs the product value.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-27953

Encyclopedia of Sweets, Asakura Shoten Co., Ltd., April 10, 2004, 343-347

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing uniformly and in large quantities candy-coated almonds with a roasted almond flavor, texture, and appearance, and a method for producing chocolate containing the same.

As a result of repeated studies in view of the above-mentioned problems, the present inventor has discovered that almonds are placed in a sugar solution and heated, and when the sugar starts to melt after crystallization, salts are added to roast and candy-coat the almonds. It has been found that by simultaneously performing the above, the flavor is significantly improved, and the texture is also improved by adding sugar, and the resulting almonds have almost no bald skin and are excellent in appearance.

The present invention provides the following candy-coated almonds, a method for producing the same, and chocolate-coated almonds.
Item 1. A candy coated roasted almond having a candy coat layer, the candy coat layer containing sugar and at least one salt selected from the group consisting of sodium chloride, potassium chloride, and calcium chloride.
Item 2. Production of candy-coated roasted almonds, characterized in that the almonds are put into a sugar solution and heated, and salts are added when the sugar starts to melt after crystallization, thereby simultaneously roasting and candy-coating the almonds. Method.
Item 3. Item 1. Chocolate-covered almonds obtained by coating the candy-coated roasted almonds according to Item 1 or the candy-coated roasted almonds obtained by the production method according to Item 2 with chocolate.

According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain candy-coated almonds in which the fragrant roasted flavor of the almonds is significantly improved, the appearance is excellent because the almonds are covered with uniform candy, and the desirable crunchy texture of the almonds is improved. .

The candy coated almond of the present invention is a roasted almond with skin (roasted almond) coated with a candy coat layer.

The candy coat layer contains sugar as a main component, and further contains at least one salt selected from the group consisting of sodium chloride, potassium chloride, and calcium chloride. In addition, the almonds are evenly coated with the candy coat layer, with little variation, which provides an excellent texture. Preferred salts contained in the candy coat layer are sodium chloride and potassium chloride, more preferably sodium chloride alone or a combination of sodium chloride and potassium chloride.

The proportion of sugar in the solid content of the candy coat layer is 85 to 99.5% by mass, and the proportion of salts is 0.5 to 15% by mass.

A preferred candy-coated almond of the present invention is composed of 70-99% by weight of roasted almonds and 1-30% by weight of the candy-coated layer. Further, the thickness of the candy coat layer is preferably 5 to 2500 μm, more preferably 10 to 2000 μm, even more preferably 50 to 1800 μm, particularly preferably 100 to 1600 μm.

The candy-coated roasted almonds of the present invention can be produced by adding almonds to a sugar solution containing sugar, heating them, adding salts when the sugar begins to melt after crystallization, and further mixing.

In the production method of the present invention, the almonds added to the sugar solution include almonds that have not been roasted, such as raw almonds.

Examples of the sugar solution include saccharide aqueous solutions containing sucrose, and preferably sucrose (sugar) aqueous solutions. The proportion of sucrose in the solid content of the sugar solution to which almonds are added is preferably 70% by mass or more, more preferably 80% by mass or more, even more preferably 90% by mass or more, particularly preferably 95% by mass or more, and most preferably It is 98% by mass or more. Note that the ratio of sucrose here is the ratio of sucrose to the total sugars, and may be 100% by mass. Examples of sugars other than sucrose that can be incorporated into the sugar solution include monosaccharides and disaccharides with reducing groups such as glucose, fructose, xylose, palatinose, trehalose, honey, maple sugar, brown sugar, maltose, lactose, and oligosaccharides; Examples include polysaccharides.

A sugar solution is prepared by heating and dissolving sugars including sucrose in water. The concentration of the sugar solution when adding almonds is about Brix 30 to Brix 100, preferably about Brix 50 to Brix 90. Add and soak almonds in this sugar solution. After heating and dissolving the sugar solution in water, it can be boiled down by further heating, so the temperature of the sugar solution when adding the almonds should be, for example, 80°C or higher, preferably 90°C or higher, and more preferably 100°C or higher. There may be. The preferred temperature of the sugar solution when adding almonds is about 100 to 108°C. If the temperature of the sugar solution at the time of addition is too high, the sugars are likely to burn. If the temperature of the sugar solution at the time of addition is too low, the occurrence of scorching immediately after addition will be suppressed, but the sugar solution pickling process will take too much time.

After adding the almonds, the temperature of the sugar solution drops, but then rises slowly. When the sugar solution is mixed with the almonds while stirring, the sugars recrystallize on the surface of the almonds. The product surface temperature during recrystallization is preferably about 100°C to 110°C. After recrystallization of sugars, especially sucrose, on the surface of almonds, when the temperature is further increased, the recrystallized sugars begin to melt at a product surface temperature of approximately 120°C ± 2°C. The time to add salt is when the recrystallized sugars begin to melt and before they start to burn (120℃ to 130℃). By adding salt at this timing, roasted almonds can be evenly coated with candy at a low temperature without over-roasting.

If salt is added before the sugar crystallizes, the entire sugar solution and almonds will become sticky and block, making it impossible to manufacture. Salts can be added in the form of a powder or an aqueous solution (for example, 10 to 20 wt%), as long as they can be uniformly sprinkled on the almonds. The amount of salts to be added is such that the salt concentration of the solid content in the final sugar solution (after all components such as sugars, salts, and optional mold release oil are blended) is preferably 0.3 to 15% by mass, and more preferably The amount is 0.35 to 15% by mass.

After adding the salts, the mixture is further stirred, and if necessary, release oil (optional component) is further added to obtain candy-coated roasted almonds. Addition of the release oil prevents candy-coated roasted almonds from blocking each other, so candy-coated roasted almonds can be easily obtained by cooling. Examples of the release oil include one or more vegetable or animal edible oils and fats that are liquid or solid at room temperature, and an emulsifier (for example, lecithin) may be further blended with the release oil.

By maintaining the temperature of the almonds at around 130°C to 145°C for a certain period of time (about 5-15 minutes) while the sugar crystallizes on the surface of the almonds, the almonds can be roasted and coated with candy.

The temperature is preferably controlled by a heater such as an IH heater that can adjust the temperature in 1°C increments. Burnt sugars limit the temperature increase, resulting in insufficient roasting and loss of flavor.

The time for processing almonds into a sugar solution is, for example, about 10 to 45 minutes, preferably about 15 to 40 minutes, and more preferably about 20 to 35 minutes.

The candy-coated almonds processed according to the present invention have excellent texture and flavor, and may be eaten as is or together with chocolate as almond-containing chocolate.

Chocolate as used in the present invention refers to chocolate and foods having physical properties equivalent to chocolate. In other words, not only chocolate and quasi-chocolate as referred to in the Chocolate Code, but also fats and oils that contain only a small amount of cacao or no cacao and have been developed as a substitute for cacao fat (hereinafter referred to as cacao fat substitutes), and/or their equivalents. By using non-temperable fats and oils (oils and fats that do not require temperature control, so-called tempering operations, to create chocolate crystals) with a melting point of It also includes chocolate-like foods.

Examples of chocolate include bitter chocolate, black chocolate, milk chocolate, cream chocolate, white chocolate, and raw chocolate.

The chocolate-covered almonds of the present invention can be produced by pouring chocolate into a mold to form a shell, or by filling the top surface of two-layer chocolate, placing almonds in the mold, and then covering the bottom with chocolate. It can be produced by filling the bottom side of a layer of chocolate.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in more detail based on Examples and Comparative Examples, but the present invention is not limited to these Examples.
Example 1
(1) Manufacture of candy-coated almonds The composition of the sugar solution, the amount of raw almonds mixed, and the release oil were as shown in Table 1 below. in particular,
- After putting the sugar and water formulated in Table 1 into an IH pot made by Kajiwara (700 L), the sugar solution was boiled by stirring and heating at 30 rpm and an IH pot wall temperature of 235°C to 102°C.
・Next, raw almonds were added and stirred and heated at 25 rpm with an IH pot wall temperature of 235°C.
・Furthermore, when the IH pot was stirred and heated at 245°C and 25 rpm, the sugar in the sugar solution crystallized when the almond temperature reached 110°C.
・Additionally, stirring and heating was continued at 25 rpm with an IH pot wall temperature of 245°C, and when the almond temperature reached 120°C, the crystallized sugar gradually began to melt.
・Next, continue stirring and heating at 25 rpm with an IH pot wall temperature of 235°C, and when the temperature of the almond surface reaches 130°C, dissolve the pre-dissolved salt aqueous solution (sugar, salts, mold release oil, solid content of lecithin). Salts (0.25 to 13.3 wt% based on the total amount) were sprinkled all over the almonds in a shower. (As a result, it rapidly becomes a candy.)
・Then, continue stirring and heating at 240℃ and 25rpm to raise the temperature of the almonds to around 135 to 145℃, roasting the almonds and melting the sugar at the same time, until the sugar crystals become transparent and cannot be visually confirmed. I stopped heating.
・Then, the obtained almonds were transferred to a horizontal shaft stirrer made by Kajiwara (500 L), sprinkled with mold release oil and lecithin, and stirred and cooled to below 60°C with a jacket of 15°C, cold air of 18°C, and stirring of 8 rpm. The candy portion on the surface of the almond was cooled and solidified, and then broken into pieces.

The ratio of sugar in the candy coat layer of the candy coated roasted almonds obtained using the raw materials in Table 1 above is 90.8% by mass, and the ratio of salts (salt) is 1.5% by mass, which are the same as the composition of the sugar solution.

(2) Evaluation The effects of additives added to the sugar solution were evaluated.
Specifically, a trial production was made using the same formulation and mixing method as in (1) above, and the candy-forming promoting effect, roasted state, flavor and texture were comparatively evaluated.

<Evaluation criteria>
Candying: The state in which sugar is turning into candy is based on the following criteria.

*Candy conversion rate: Measure the crystal survival rate of the candy part with a differential scanning calorimeter (Diamond DSC manufactured by PerkinElmer),
100 - Sugar crystal residual rate = Candying rate State where the candying rate on the almond surface is 75% or more ○
Condition where the candy conversion rate of the almond surface is less than 75% △～×

Roasted state: The roasted state of almonds is based on the following criteria.
The cross section of the almond is colored brown due to heating ○
The cross section of the almond is lightly colored and lightly roasted △
The cross section of the almond is white due to undercooking, or burnt due to overcooking.

Flavor/Texture: The flavor and texture of roasted almonds are based on the following criteria.
Has a fragrant roasted almond flavor, a disintegrating texture, and no off-taste or odor ○
There is no raw almond flavor, and the flavor and texture are strange △
Raw almond flavor and texture, burnt flavor and texture, or other unusual tastes and odors ×

The above results revealed that the candy-coated almonds of the present invention were excellent in aroma, flavor, flavor, and the like.

Claims (4)

A candy coated roasted almond having a candy coat layer, wherein the candy coat layer is made of at least one salt selected from the group consisting of sodium chloride, potassium chloride, and calcium chloride, and the candy coat layer is made of at least one salt selected from the group consisting of potassium chloride and calcium chloride. salts containing at least one selected from ;
sugar and
Contains candy coated roasted almonds. Production of candy-coated roasted almonds, characterized in that the almonds are put into a sugar solution and heated, and salts are added when the sugar begins to melt after crystallization, thereby simultaneously roasting and candy-coating the almonds. Method. A chocolate-covered almond obtained by coating the candy-coated roasted almond according to claim 1 with chocolate. Obtaining candy-coated roasted almonds by the method according to claim 2; and
A process of coating chocolate on the candy-coated roasted almonds obtained in the above process
A method for producing chocolate-covered almonds comprising: