JPH01171454A - Mixed sweetener - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the title sweetener of mild sweet taste, free from offensive taste or drug odor, by formulating alpha-glycosylglycyrrhizin, sweet weed-purified product, sweet weed-crudely treated product, stevia-extracted product and/or saccharated stevia in specified proportion. CONSTITUTION:The objective mixed sweetener comprising at least one kind of substance selected from alpha-glycosylglycyrrhizin, sweet weed-purified product, stevia-extracted product, and saccharated stevia. The proportions to be formulated are as follows: (1) alpha-glycosylglycyrrhizin + sweet weed-purified product ...0.02-1.0:1, (2) alpha-glycosylglycyrrhizin + sweet weed-crudely treated product ...0.04-1.2:1, (3) alpha=glycosylglycyrrhizin + stevia-extracted product ...0.02-0.5:1, (4) alpha=glycosylglycyrrhizin + saccharated stevia ... 0.01-0.2:1.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to a mixed sweetener using a high-intensity sweetener,
This invention relates to a method for significantly improving taste and physical property problems that could not be solved in the past by allowing α-glycosylglycyrrhizin (hereinafter abbreviated as α-GG) to coexist within a specified amount. .

[Conventional technology]

Organic acid salts, amino acids, etc. are added to one or two types of high-intensity sweeteners for the purpose of improving taste quality and physical properties.
It is used after being triturated with m, etc. and molded into powder or granules.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) The reason why a high-intensity sweetener is used as a mixed sweetener is that the high sweetness, which is several tens to hundreds of times sweeter, is diluted to an appropriate ratio with a multiplier, thereby improving workability. In addition to improving performance, the following objectives are also in place:

Firstly, it improves the inherent sweetness of high-intensity sweeteners. For example, licorice extract has a unique odor,
It has the disadvantages of bitterness and astringency, both of which are slow to develop compared to sugar, and the aftertaste that lasts for a long time.

Therefore, an attempt was made to correct these taste defects by adding amino acids such as DL-alanine and glycine, and organic acid salts such as sodium citrate and sodium tartrate (Special Publications Publication No. 1973- 7227), and this method still occupies the mainstream. Moreover, this method only improves a part of the drawbacks, and since secondary additives have their own taste qualities, there is a natural limit to the amount of additives added, and it is still insufficient to achieve the original purpose. The situation is sufficient.

Second, licorice extract has low solubility in water, and at high concentrations or low pH conditions, it becomes gel-like or precipitates as an insoluble substance. However, since the addition of organic acid salts is effective in improving solubility, there are examples in which a large amount of organic acid salts is added in an amount greater than the amount required to improve taste quality. However, this method does not always give satisfactory results when used in food products. The present invention aims to solve these problems with conventional mixed sweeteners.

[Means and effects of problem solving]

Glycyrrhizin is found in licorice (Glycyrrhiza GL)
AbraLINNE' war) is a sweet ingredient contained in the root and stolone.1 It is usually extracted with water and then precipitated under acidic conditions around pH 2 to obtain a crude product, which is further dissolved in alcohol and subjected to crystallization or ion exchange. There are purified products obtained through purification processes such as These have a unique sweet taste, and the onset of sweetness is slow after being eaten during the day, and the sweetness lasts for quite a long time. Due to its odor, it is rarely used alone as a substitute for sugar or high-fructose sugar. On the other hand, this taste curve is similar to that of table salt, and it has a strong so-called salt-acclimating effect that masks the spiciness and irritation of single table salt, so it is used in pickles, miso, and soy sauce.

It is widely used in tsukudani, seafood paste products, and delicacies.

In this case, in addition to the method of mixing other ingredients as mentioned above, a method of adding glucose to glycyrrhizin itself using an enzyme has been proposed in order to improve the taste defects (
According to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 62-259594), the outline of the method for producing α-GG is as follows.

That is, according to claim 1 of the above-mentioned document, cyclodextrin glucanotransferase is applied to an aqueous solution containing r-glycyrrhizin and starch to form an α-glycodyl residue bound to glycyrrhizin in equal mole or more.
- A method for producing α-glycosylglycyrrhizin, which comprises producing glycosylglycyrrhizin and collecting the same. As a result, ``α-GG is completely different from conventional glycyrrhizin products in that: (1) It has no unpleasant taste or chemical odor, and has a mild sweet taste.

(2) Sweetness appears quickly and does not linger as an aftertaste.

(3) Precipitate formation and gel formation are extremely suppressed even under acidic conditions.

(4) Foaming is suppressed and handling becomes easy.

It was discovered that it has extremely excellent properties as a sweetener. ” is stated. In order to solve the problems faced by the above-mentioned mixed sweeteners, the inventors of the present invention have proposed
As a result of various studies to utilize the above-mentioned product manufactured by No. 59594, we have arrived at the present invention.

Here, α-GG used in the present invention is glycyrrhizin molecule 1
It is sufficient that one mole or more of glucose molecules is added to each mole, and the ratio of impurities and the presence or absence of starch remaining in the reaction and its amount do not matter.

In other words, licorice extracts that can be subjected to α-glycosylation range from crude products to highly purified products, and in all cases, it has been confirmed that the addition of enzymes significantly improves the taste quality. It is from.

Furthermore, even if a portion of dextothrin used as a glucose donor remains, it will hardly affect the taste of the final product.

The high-intensity sweetener used here is a general product distributed in Japan, but since the intention of the present invention is to make the mixed sweetener as natural as possible, Suitable high-intensity sweeteners include purified licorice, crude licorice, stevia extract, and sugar-added stevia.

These high-intensity sweeteners each have drawbacks when used alone, but when used in combination with α-GG, these drawbacks can be corrected or properties not previously recognized can be obtained.

Generally, the amino acids added to mixed sweeteners include alanine, glycine, monosodium glutamate, sodium aspartate, aspartic acid, and arginine/glutamate, but the main purpose of all of these is to correct the taste of high-intensity sweeteners. There are some products that can be expected to improve their sweetness.

However, since many of the processed foods for which mixed sweeteners are used contain secondary amino acids, addition of amino acids is not an essential condition for some foods.

Citric acid is a commonly used organic acid.

Sodium citrate, sodium succinate, tartaric acid, sodium tartrate, sodium fumarate, malic acid, sodium malate, etc. are used.

In general, high-intensity sweeteners have the disadvantage that the onset of sweetness is slower than that of sugar, and the sweetness persists for a long time, but it is said that this can be corrected to some extent by adding organic acids.

It has also been recognized that in the case of licorice products, the addition of organic acid salts helps improve solubility in aqueous solutions.

As the dispersing agent, lactose, glucose, starch or a partially decomposed product thereof, etc. are used.

This not only serves the purpose of diluting the sweetness ratio of a high-intensity sweetener to an appropriate level, but also serves as a molding aid when molded.

That is, it is extremely difficult to form stevia extract into granules, but by adding the above-mentioned dispersing agent, it can be made into a shape that is easy to work with.

The mixed sweetener may be in the form of a molded product such as granules, a mixture of powders, or an aqueous solution depending on the case.

α-GG is produced by the method shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-259594, but as mentioned above, products made using this method differ in the glycyrrhizin content in the licorice extract, so the addition rate must be determined accurately. In order to determine this, it must be based on a pure α-GG product. Accordingly, all quantities used in the scope and description of the present invention are based on pure products, unless otherwise specified.

The purified licorice used in the present invention is defined in the voluntary standards for licorice extract established by the Licorice Industry Association, and is a product containing 15% or more glycyrrhizin as determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. The product is in the white range. For this product, α-GG was added at a weight ratio of 0.
It is appropriate that 02 to 1.0 coexist.

In addition to glycyrrhizin, which is generally a sweetening ingredient, licorice extract is known to contain many other ingredients that have seasoning and corrective effects in processed foods, and products with low glycyrrhizin content are also evaluated for other ingredients. Therefore, in the present invention, it is necessary to consider the effect of α-GG on other components as well. As a result of various studies on this point, we found that apart from the usual positive effects, these ingredients also have unfavorable taste aspects such as astringency, bitterness, and odor. We also found the effect of masking the negative aspects and emphasizing the positive aspects. Therefore, it is preferable to add α-GG in an amount corresponding to the glycyrrhizin content in a larger amount to a low-purity product than to a high-purity product. If the amount added is less than 0.02, it is insufficient for masking the unpleasant taste and improving the sharpness of the taste of glycyrrhizin, and it is also hardly effective for improving the solubility of an aqueous solution. If it exceeds 1.0, the original taste characteristics of the licorice extract will not be utilized, which will defeat the purpose of the present invention.

Licorice crude product is defined by the above-mentioned voluntary standards as a product with a quantitative value of less than 15% by high performance liquid chromatography, and is a dark brown to yellowish brown product that undergoes almost no purification other than acid removal during the manufacturing process. This product has a high proportion of non-glycyrrhizin components derived from licorice, and has a strong and unique taste.

Therefore, it is preferable to add a relatively high amount of glycyrrhizin to this product, with a weight ratio of 0.04 to 1.
．． A range of 2 is appropriate. If it is less than 0.04, the effect will be lost due to the unpleasant taste, and if it exceeds 1.2, the effect will not increase any further, which is disadvantageous.

In addition, in a mixed system of a licorice product and α-GG, a sweetness that is always higher than the value measured with a single taste system of each can be obtained. Generally, in a sweetener mixture system, it is difficult to develop a synergistic effect if the taste quality is similar, but the fact that there is a synergistic effect in the above mixture system is that the sweetness quality changes before and after adding sugar to glycyrrhizin. This is very interesting as it suggests that

What is stevia extract? Stevia steamed leaves are extracted in the usual way.
It refers to a product containing 80 to 95% of purified stevia sweetness components.The usual method is, for example, extraction with a relatively large amount of water,
In this method, sweet components in the extract are selectively adsorbed onto a non-polar porous resin, desorbed with an alcohol solvent, and then purified using an ion exchange method or the like. However, in the present invention, extraction,
Method of purification.

Furthermore, there are no restrictions on the sweet component ratio of the obtained product or on other components added after purification.

The sweet component of stevia extract is mainly stevioside, and also rebaudioside-A and rebaudioside-
There are C, etc. The sweetness of this product is said to be quite close to that of sugar, even compared to refined licorice, but its slightly bitter taste and lack of sweetness tend to limit its uses.

When α-GG is allowed to coexist with this stevia extract, the weight ratio is preferably in the range of 0°02 to 0.5. Within this range, it can be used not only to mask the slight bitterness and astringency of the stevia extract, but also to be used as a mixed sweetener. It can be expected to provide the desired flavor punch or enhance the taste in processed foods. If it is less than 0.02, no effect will be observed, and if it exceeds 0.5, the original sweetness will change significantly, which is not preferable.

The taste harmony between stevia extract and α-GG is extremely high, and an excellent sweetener can be obtained by appropriately blending them. This tendency is more accentuated in the coexistence of organic acids.

Sugar-added stevia is a taste-improved product of stevia extract produced by the method shown in Patent No. 1169566, and this product itself has almost no bitterness or astringency, and the aftertaste has been improved to some extent. There is. However, when compared with sugar, it is still considered to have disadvantages in its use, such as delayed onset of flavor, aftertaste, and bland taste, and improvement of these disadvantages is a major challenge.

According to the study results of the present inventors, the above-mentioned drawbacks can be considerably improved by adding α-GG to this product in a weight ratio of 0.01 to 0.2. When added in this range, the taste becomes wider and the punch is added, making it feel like a foretaste when you put it in your mouth.

Although the lingering sweetness has not been sufficiently improved even in the present invention, the lingering sensation is felt to be relatively weak due to the strong peak of sweetness development.

In terms of taste quality, in addition to the above-mentioned improvements, the taste is given a richer taste, making it feel more like sugar. A synergistic effect on sweetness by mixing Stevia sweeteners is also observed.

〔effect〕

The effects of addition to the above four types of high-intensity sweeteners are summarized as follows.

In other words, compared to when each item is used individually, (1) The onset of sweetness is felt to be rapid.

(2) A moderate aftertaste of sweetness can be felt.

(3) Adds richness and thickness to the sweetness.

(4) Unpleasant tastes such as bitterness, astringency, and odor are masked.

(5) A synergistic effect of sweetness can be expected.

(6) Solubility is improved, and it is possible to reduce or omit the amount of solubility improvers conventionally used.

It has been confirmed that the above effects are expressed in substantially the same way even when a plurality of the above-mentioned high-intensity sweeteners are present. For example, it is common sense to use stevia extract as a purified licorice product in mixed sweeteners for salty foods.

Similar effects are also expected when coexisting with synthetic sweeteners such as saccharin and aspartame.

The mixed sweetener prepared in this way can be used in all foods in which purified licorice, crude licorice, stevia extract, and sugar-added stevia are used as a mixed sweetener or alone. In this case, it is also preferable to use the sweetener in a manner that can effectively utilize the effects of the mixed sweetener described above.

To be more specific, salty foods such as miso, soy sauce,
Pickles.

Tsukudani, kamaboko, chikuwa, and fish sausage.

Fish meat ham, fish paste products such as fried fish meat, and ham.

Processed meat products such as sausages, delicacies such as salted fish and dried mirin, etc. are the most suitable mixed sweeteners for which they are most likely to be effective.

Furthermore, it can be effective in complex seasonings, frozen desserts such as ice cream and sherbet, prepared foods such as boiled beans and tempura, canned vegetables, fruits, and wild vegetables, bottle order, and dairy products.

The present invention increases the degree of utilization of mixed sweeteners in food processing, and can also be expected to develop new applications.

Experiment 1 α-GG was produced under the following conditions using heat-stable cyclodextrin lycosyltransferase (Japanese Patent Publication No. 53-27791) according to the method of JP-A No. 62-259594.

Dextrin (product name Sandek 70. DE8)
300g caustic soda
6g calcium chloride
0.15 g water
1.2QCGTas
The above components other than e were mixed at 60°C, sterilized at 95°C for 20 minutes, cooled to 70°C, CGTase was added, and the mixture was allowed to react for 24 hours. After the reaction is complete, heat at 95°C for 3
After heating for 0 minutes to inactivate the enzyme, microfiltration was performed to remove solids. Approximately 172 ml of this furnace liquid was dried under reduced pressure and then ground to give Sample 1.

Apply the rest with non-polar adsorption greasing (product name: Duolite S-861)
) and then desorbed with an alcohol solvent to separate the reaction residual dextrin. This product was similarly concentrated to dryness and then ground to give Sample 2.

The results of analyzing the sweetness components are as follows.

Sample 1 α-G G 17.3% unreacted glycyrrhizin 2.9 Total 20.2 Sample 2 α-G
G 46.1% Unreacted glycyrrhizin 7.7 Total 53.8% Example 1 A mixed sweetener (powder) was prepared according to the following formulation.

Dextrin 76.0 84.1 total 100.0 10
0. A taste test was conducted by eight panelists using a 20% aqueous solution of each of the mixed sweeteners OA and B. As a result, in A, the bitterness, astringency, and other unpleasant tastes that B had were reduced, and the overall taste was rounder and richer. 8
All human panelists judged that A had a more preferable taste. In addition, even though they were mixed to have the same level of sweetness as a single flavor, 6 out of 8 people judged that the sweetness of A was stronger.

Example 2 A mixed sweetener (granules) was prepared according to the following formulation.

Sodium citrate -15,0 Dextrin 64,6 62.2 total
100.0 100. OA,
While adjusting B with acetic acid, the solid content was 15%.

An aqueous solution with a pH of 2.0 was prepared. When I observed this solution,
A slight gel-like mass was observed in No. B, but no gel-like lumps were observed in No. A, indicating that Sample 2 had a solubility improvement effect equal to or greater than that of sodium citrate. It was done.

Example 3 A mixed sweetener (liquid) was prepared using the following formulation.

When A and B were added to coffee (without milk) at 4g/100g each and the taste was compared by 8 panelists, all of them agreed that A was more similar to sugar and was preferable. I judged it to be tasteful.

Example 4 A mixed sweetener (granules) was prepared according to the following formulation.

Sodium citrate -20,0 lactose
88.2 71.5 total
100.0 100. OA
, B were used as 1% aqueous solutions, and as a result of the taste evaluation performed by eight panelists, almost the same improvement effect as in Example 1 was observed.

Example 5 A mixed sweetener (powder) was prepared according to the following formulation.

Lactose 71.2 77.3 total 100.0 10
0.0 Using the above mixed sweetener, the following pickled vegetables were prepared.

■ ■ Let's pickle salt 500 g 500 g
Sugar 5555 mixed sweetener
, A4. OB 4.0 vinegar
333 333 Mirin
7777 Potassium sorbate 1.0 1.0 Water
70g 7
0g total 1040g
A taste comparison test was conducted on 1040 g of this product by 11 panelists.

As for the overall evaluation, 8 people said that ``■'' is better than ``■'', and the other 3 people said that there was no difference.

The reasons why item (■) was better were: 7 people said it had a sharper flavor, 5 people said it had a better balance, and 2 people said it had a richer flavor (multiple answers allowed).

Example 6 Using the mixed sweetener of Example 5, the following Gamaboko was made as an experimental product.

■ ■ Walleye Surimi 10kg 10kg
Sugar 0.5 0.5 Salt 0.3 0.3 Sodium glutamate 0.1 0.1 Starch
0.1 0.1 mixed sweetener
Ao, 02g Bo, 02 water
1.0 1.0 total
Approx. 12kg 12kg
A taste comparison test was conducted on this product by 10 panelists, and in the overall evaluation, 7 people said that ■ was better, 2 people said that there was no significant difference, and 1 person said that ■ was better. did.

The reason why ■ was rated good was that those who said the taste was well balanced were rated 7.
All of them, and two others who said they had good taste.
The two people who argued that it was because of its strong sweetness were Tadao Noma, patent attorney and agent for Tokyo Shokuryo Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. α-glycosylglycyrrhizin and one or more high-intensity sweeteners selected from the group of purified licorice, crude licorice, stevia extract, and sugar-added stevia. It is a mixed sweetener characterized in that the coexistence ratio (weight ratio) of α-glycosylglycyrrhizin and purified licorice is 0.
．． 02-1.0: 1, 2, α-glycosylglycyrrhizin and licorice crude product are 0
．． 04-1.2:1, 3, α-glycosylglycyrrhizin and stevia extract: 0.02-0.5:1, 4, α-glycosylglycyrrhizin and sugar-added stevia: 0.01-0.2: 1. A mixed sweetener that is.