JPH0121748B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Today, fried tofu, which is produced in large quantities as an ingredient for side dishes, is usually made from tofu in oil. Similarly, thin fried foods, which are consumed in large quantities as an ingredient in katsupu noodles, have been made from tofu oil. However, this method using tofu as an intermediate lacks continuity and is not very productive. The present invention is intended to solve the above-mentioned problems by providing an apparatus for continuously forming a flat gel-like food product from an aqueous kneaded product of heat-coagulable protein such as soybean protein and oil.

The device of the present invention includes a flat box-like body with an inner surface that is hydrophobic and open at both ends, a jacket with a heat medium inlet and outlet that almost surrounds the box-like body, and a flat box-like body that is connected to one open end surface of the box-like body. The box-like body includes a funnel-shaped raw material introduction passage, and the box-like body is composed of a mutually separable top plate part, a bottom plate part, and a pair of side walls configured to be movable forward and backward toward the center thereof. It is characterized by Conventionally, in order to continuously produce cylindrical dough products such as skinless sausages, a method is known in which a cylinder made of a radio wave-transparent material with a small diameter is used and a high-frequency current is applied from the outside to heat the cylinder. Not only is the equipment and running cost of the equipment high, but the structure of the product is also inferior to that of ordinary steamed products. On the other hand, as in the present invention, a flat funnel-shaped introduction part is provided, and the inner width can be freely adjusted by a mutually separable top plate part, a bottom plate part, and a pair of side wall parts each having a hydrophobic inner surface. It was completely unexpected that by equipping a box-shaped heating section, it would be possible to efficiently produce a plate-shaped food with a width of several tens of centimeters or more and a good texture using only ordinary heat transfer heating. That's what happened.

In the device of the present invention, the main box-like body is made of iron,
It is made of a metal with good thermal conductivity, such as aluminum, copper or their alloys, and its outside is substantially covered by a jacket with an inlet and an outlet for the heat transfer medium. Preferably, this jacket is divided into a plurality of sections along the longitudinal direction of the box-shaped body, and each compartment is provided with an inlet and an outlet for the heat medium.

The top plate, bottom plate, and both side plates that make up the box-like body are designed to be disassembled for convenience of inspection and cleaning before and after use, and their inner surfaces, especially the top plate and bottom plate, are designed to be disassembled. The inner surface is made of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), fluorocarbon copolymer resin (PFEP),
Hydrophobic treatment using fluororesins such as polychlorotrifluoroethylene (PCTFE) or polyvinylidene fluoride (PVdF) should be applied. This processing is usually performed by pasting the resin plate, but it may be replaced by sintering the resin powder if necessary.

Of course, the side plate portions of the box-like body can be fixedly constructed of the same material as the top plate portion and the bottom plate portion, and which have been subjected to the same hydrophobic treatment.
A better option is to use a rubber elastic block made of a material acceptable under food hygiene law, such as silicone rubber, to make it movable, as in the embodiment described later. Silicone rubber is not only a hydrophobic material itself, but its rubber elasticity helps seal the gap between the top and bottom plates.

The book box-like body is made into a flat cylindrical shape with a length of 5 m or more depending on the need. The raw material is introduced through a flat funnel-shaped introduction passage connected to cover one of the two open end faces of the book box-shaped body. The emulsion-like, sol-like, or viscous liquid raw material is subjected to a beating treatment using a screw-type extrusion material, a cutter, etc., if necessary, and is then press-fitted into the passage by a pump, and while passing through the box-shaped body. It is gradually solidified by heat and is taken out from the other open end of the box-shaped body as a continuous plate-shaped molded body. It is preferable that the temperature distribution of the box-shaped body is divided into a heating zone at the front stage and a heat retention zone (ripening zone) at the rear stage. In the case of the above-mentioned soy protein mixture, for example, the steam temperature is 100℃, the core temperature of the material to be molded in the heating zone is 75℃, and the temperature inside the heating zone and heat retention zone.
Good results were obtained under the conditions of 75°C and 10 minutes of passage through the device. In this case, because the internal friction coefficient inside the box-shaped body is low, even if the total length of the heating zone and insulation zone is approximately 5 m and the internal width of the box-shaped body is 30 cm, the gauge pressure of the pump with a cocoon-shaped rotor for press-fitting materials Approximately 1.5 kg was sufficient.

A linear or triangular current plate may be inserted into the raw material introduction passage in the apparatus of the present invention, if desired. These baffle plates split the raw material in the center, where the flow velocity is maximum, to the left and right, thereby accelerating the flow velocity of the raw material in the parts that contact the side walls of the box-shaped body, thereby equalizing the heating of the raw material and also Since it has the effect of preventing sticking to walls, it is preferable to install it when the viscosity of the raw material is low, when the raw material tends to stick, or when the width of the box-shaped body exceeds 40 cm.

As mentioned above, the device of the present invention was invented with the important purpose of continuously obtaining tofu-like gelled food from an aqueous mixture (emulsion) of soybean protein and oil. Naturally, as long as the fluid is a fluid having a certain property, it can also be applied to the continuous production of other types of gel-like foods. Examples of these other types of gel-like foods include foods such as kamaboko, chikuwa, hampen, sausage, and pressed ham. These foods mainly contain salt water-soluble proteins, but may also contain heat-coagulable polysaccharides such as curdlan.

Since the device of the present invention uses ordinary heating means such as steam, heated oil, and hot air, it is not limited by the materials used, as is the case with high-frequency dielectric heating means, and the heating device itself is much cheaper than the latter. In addition, the heating cost is very low,
It is also excellent in resource saving.

An example of the apparatus of the present invention will be described below as an example, but this is of course an illustration and is not intended to limit the idea of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the apparatus, FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 2. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the apparatus 1 of this example includes a tapered pipe 17 for introducing the raw material, and five molding units 1a to 1e that are sequentially connected head to tail on the outlet side of the tapered pipe. It consists of Each molding unit consists of a Teflon-lined top plate part 2 and a bottom plate part 3 that are arranged parallel to each other and opposite each other, as shown in FIG.
and a pair of side plate parts 4, 4' interposed between the inner surfaces of the respective end edges of the two plates, and these four members form a passage 5 having a flat rectangular cross section. . The jackets 6 and 7 have side plates 19 and 19 erected on a pair of upper and lower blankets 12 and 12' attached to the side edges of each side of the top plate part 2 and the bottom plate part 3, and the bases of the both side plates. It is formed of an upper plate 6a and a lower plate 7a which are welded together, and these two plates are further covered with covers 8a and 9a attached to the upper and lower ends of the side plates 19 and 19, and the plates 6a and 7a are Glass wool 8, 9 for heat insulation is filled in the gap between the plate 8a and the plate 7a and the plate 9a.

The above-described molding units 1a to 1e are further provided with flanges 11, 11, . . . at both ends thereof,
Butt these flanges together and bolt 10, 10
... to form a long flat rectangular heat-formed tube (=generic term for the above-mentioned heating section and heat retention section) 1A.

In the above thermoforming cylinder 1A, the side plates 4, 4' forming both sides of the passage 5 are made of elongated blocks of silicone rubber extending over the entire length of the molding cylinder 1A, and are spaced at equal intervals on the lower blanket 12'. An upward “U”-shaped angle 1 attached to the
By rotating a butterfly nut 15 to the left or right, which is fixed to one end of a butterfly bolt 14 screwed into the butterfly bolt 14, the thermoforming cylinder 1A is fixed.
It is possible to move forward and backward towards the center of or in the opposite direction. By moving back and forth, the inner width W of the molding cylinder 1A can be freely changed (however, this adjustment must be carried out by lifting the entire top plate 2, including the heat insulating part and the jacket part, upwards).

A steam inlet 20 and a steam outlet 21 are opened for each unit to maintain the temperature inside the jacket at the desired temperature. This temperature is detected by a thermometer or thermistor attached to the temperature sensing section 18. In the figure, the units 1a to 1e are heating parts, and 1d and 1e are heat retaining parts, into which a predetermined amount of steam is introduced from their respective steam inlets.

The raw material introduction tapered pipe 17 is connected by a flange 11 to the flange 11 at the front end of the first unit 1a, and the other end of this 17 is connected to the raw material supply pipe 22.
It is connected to the raw material supply pump 16 via. Inside this tapered tube, there is a rectifying plate 2 with a planar triangular shape (FIG. 4 A) or a linear shape (FIG. 4 B) as shown in FIG.
3 may be provided. Since these current plates have the effect of equalizing the flow of raw materials, they are useful when the inner width W of the above-mentioned thermoforming cylinder is wide.

To use the above device, first tighten the wing nut 15
After adjusting the distance W between the side plates to a predetermined length by rotating the pump, the pump 16 is driven while passing steam into the jackets 6 and 7, and the raw material is sent into the passage 5 through the tapered pipe 17. At this time, if necessary, it is recommended to add a beating device such as a screw type extruder (not shown) before the pump to help fluidize the raw material (soy protein mixtures tend to gel even at room temperature). Therefore, the addition of this type of refining equipment is generally effective.)

The raw material flowing through the passage 5 is gradually solidified under the influence of heat, heated to form a uniform gel in the heat-retaining zone, and extruded as a plate from the end of the final unit 1e. This is immediately cut into pieces of specified size using a cutter (not shown) or further oiled to make a fried oil product. If a partition plate parallel to the extrusion direction is provided near the exit of 1e, the extruded material will be automatically divided along the extrusion direction.
By combining this with the cutter, a dice-shaped product is obtained.

As stated above, the present invention enables the continuous production of plate-shaped gel-like foods, which has been impossible until now, and the equipment cost and operating cost are low. It can greatly contribute to your eating habits.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a slightly schematic plan view of a gel-like food forming apparatus which is a specific example of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a side view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is taken along the line AA in Fig. 2. FIG. 4 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view showing a modified example of the tapered pipe for introducing raw materials. The meanings of the symbols in each figure are as follows: 1: Entire molding device (1A: Entire thermoforming device,
1a to 1e: Unit thermoforming unit), 2: Top plate part, 3: Bottom plate part, 4, 4': Side plate part, 5: Passage,
6, 7: Jacket (6a: upper plate of 6, 7a: 7
lower plate), 8, 9: Insulation material (glass wool) (8
a, 9a: insulation material cover), 11: flange, 1
2, 12': Blanket, 13: U-shaped angle, 14: Wing bolt, 15: Wing nut, 16:
Pump for pressure feeding raw material, 17: Tapered pipe for introducing raw material, 18: Temperature sensing part, 19: Side plate, 20: Steam inlet, 21: Steam outlet, 22: Raw material supply pipe, 23:
rectifier.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A flat box-like body with hydrophobic inner surfaces and open ends, a jacket with a heat medium inlet and outlet that almost surrounds the box-like body, and a jacket connected to one open end surface of the box-like body. The box-like body includes a mutually separable top plate, a bottom plate, and a pair of side walls that are movable toward the center thereof. A gel-like food forming device characterized by: 2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the pair of side walls of the flat box-like body are made of a rubber elastic body. 3. The device according to claim 1, wherein the flat funnel-shaped raw material introduction passage is provided with a baffle plate therein. 4 The inner surface of the flat box-like body is lined with a fluororesin selected from the group consisting of polytetrafluoroethylene, copolymer fluororesin, polychlorotrifluoroethylene, and polyvinylidene fluoride. The device according to item 1 or 2.