JPH02107154A - Cheeses - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain cheeses, containing a specific cellulose ether, excellent in heat resistance and restoring properties by irradiating and heating with microwave, such as microwave oven, and shape retaining properties in reconstituting with hot water and useful as an additive ingredient material for instant foods. CONSTITUTION:The objective cheeses containing a cellulose ether with 25-33wt.% methoxy group content and >=12000cP viscosity of a 2% aqueous solution thereof at 20 deg.C in an amount of >=0.5wt.% based on the cheese solid content.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Field of Application) The present invention provides cheeses with excellent heat resistance, particularly those with excellent resilience to microwave irradiation heating such as in a microwave oven, excellent shape retention when rehydrated, and instant cheeses. The present invention relates to cheeses suitable for use as food additives.

(Prior art) In the production of cheese, it is important in processing technology to have a certain degree of resistance, that is, shape retention, even when heat is applied over several tens of degrees. For example, Japanese Patent Publications No. 49-37266 and No. 58-
No. 46311, JP-A-55-11292, JP-A No. 59-1
Each publication of No. 98938 discloses a method of adding specific viscosity modifiers, proteins such as albumin, and the like.

Furthermore, if cheese is generally dried in the form of a block or granule, it cannot be rehydrated in hot water, making it difficult to use it as an additive to instant foods. For this reason, JP-A-61-158746 and JP-A-63-
Publication No. 160548 describes a method for forming dried cheeses having excellent reconstitution properties by adding water to raw cheeses, stirring them, and then drying them in a square shape.

In particular, for the latter, by stirring at a temperature slightly lower than the melting temperature of the cheese used, we are devising a method for producing dried cheese that is not only resilient to hot water reconstitution but also less prone to oil-off when rehydrated.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The invention described in item 1 has the effect of increasing the reconstitution property, but on the other hand, when high water content raw cheeses are used or when stirring is performed with a large amount of hydrolysis, the reconstitution property is In the latter method, this is particularly noticeable when a stirred paste with a low viscosity is placed in a drying pallet and shaped, and in extreme cases, the When hot water was poured over dried cheese, the cheese would fall apart, or when reconstituted with hot water using an internal heating method such as microwave irradiation, the cheese would lose its shape or fall apart.

For this reason, cheeses that have stable heat-resistant shape retention or the ability to prevent heat dispersion, especially low-cost dried cheeses that have both reconstitution properties and excellent ability to prevent dispersion even when reconstitution is performed by microwave heating, etc. development was desired.

As a result of various studies on means for solving this problem, the present inventors focused on incorporating cellulose ether having a methoxy group into cheese as a binder.

An aqueous solution of cellulose ether having a methoxy group obtained by substituting the hydroxyl group of cellulose with ether, that is, methyl cellulose, forms a cloudy gel with a certain shape retention property when heated, and this cloudy gel is cooled. It has a thermoreversible gelation ability that returns to the original aqueous solution.

When this methylcellulose solution or powder is added to cheese together with water, kneaded, shaped, and dried, a dried cheese with holes formed where water has drained is obtained. When you add an appropriate amount of water to this and microwave it for a few minutes, the water will first penetrate into the dried cheese and the dried methylcellulose will begin to dissolve.

Next, when the solution is heated, the methylcellulose turns into a thermal gel, and even if the cheese melts, it will be trapped in the methylcellulose gel, and even if the water boils and falls, the stress caused by the steam will destroy the cheese. It maintains its shape without any problems.

Furthermore, when you eat this, it is cooled to the appropriate temperature in your mouth, so the methylcellulose gel returns to its normal molten state, and the cheese maintains its texture as a paste. You should be able to eat it.

According to this principle, it should be possible to mold the desired dry cheese with excellent reconstitution properties, but if the degree of substitution and viscosity of methylcellulose are not appropriately selected, the amount of methylcellulose added will be too large, resulting in high costs. may be disadvantageous to

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide cheeses that can obtain the above characteristics with as little amount as possible.

(Means for solving the problem) The cheese according to the present invention has a methoxy group content of 25 to 3
At 3% by weight, the viscosity of a 2% aqueous solution at 20°C is 12
, 0OOcPs or more, in an amount of 0.5% by weight or more based on the solid content of the cheese.

To explain this, the cellulose ether used in the present invention has a methoxy group content of 25 to 33% by weight and a viscosity of 12,000 cPs or more in a 2% aqueous solution at 20°C, which is a natural cellulose ether with a relatively high degree of polymerization. Linters or wood bulbs are treated with sodium hydroxide to obtain alkali cellulose, which is then treated with an etherification agent such as methyl chloride or methyl iodide to cause an etherification reaction, resulting in methylcellulose, and the alkali cellulose is treated with ethylene oxide. , H1 to H2, which have a hydroxyl group such as hydroxyethyl or hydroxypropyl in addition to a methyl group, are obtained by reacting an alkylene oxide such as propylene oxide at the same time or before or after the above-mentioned methyl group ether substitution reaction. Alkyl methyl cellulose can be used alone or in combination of two or more.

The thermally reversible gelling ability of a methoxy group-containing cellulose ether aqueous solution is thought to be caused by the hydrophobic phase of the methoxy group upon heating, but those containing less than 25% methoxy group have a weak thermal gelling ability, for example 6% Even if the above-mentioned large amount of addition is carried out, the resulting cheese will be severely shattered when it is rehydrated in hot water.

Furthermore, when the degree of methoxy substitution exceeds 33%, this cellulose ether becomes extremely difficult to dissolve in water due to the action of the methoxy group, and since the cellulose ether does not dissolve when rehydrated with hot water, it does not undergo thermal gelation, and similarly cheeses I will be scattered.

The amount of cellulose ether added needs to be 0.5% by weight or more, and preferably 2% by weight or less, based on the weight of the cheese after drying, that is, the solid content of the cheese. If it is less than 0.5% by weight, the effect of addition is poor, and even if it is added in excess of 2% by weight, the effect will not be expected to increase in proportion to the increase, so the cost advantage will be lost.

On the other hand, the viscosity of a 2% aqueous solution at 20°C is 12,00
A methoxy group-containing cellulose ether having a concentration of less than 0 cPs has a weak gel strength when it is thermally gelled, so it is not possible to prevent cheese from dispersing when rehydrated in hot water.

The cheeses used in the present invention do not need to be "cheese" as legally defined as nutritious, and may be field cheese or imitation cheese. Therefore, it includes not only natural cheese, but also milk ingredients (e.g., cream, butter, butter oil, rennet casein) that are made by a method different from normal natural cheese production, and foreign fats and proteins that are not derived from milk. For example, JP-A-51-51550, JP-A-54-
No. 1784.

It also includes cheeses obtained by the methods described in Patent Application No. 163206/1983 filed by Fuji Oil Co., Ltd., one of the applicants of the present invention, etc. do.

In addition, cheeses that are not heat-melted as raw material cheeses (
Both cheeses (typically natural cheese) and heat-melted cheese (typically processed cheese) can be used. The former is more likely to cause oil-off after rehydration with hot water, but the addition of cellulose ether, which will be described later, is effective in reducing oil-off, and when used in combination with emulsified cheese that has been heat-melted, this can be further reduced. It can be improved.

Therefore, when trying to obtain a product without oil-off after reconstitution with hot water, it is preferable that the raw cheese contains a certain amount, specifically 10% or more, of emulsified cheese that has been heat-melted. Emulsification by heating and melting can be carried out in substantially the same manner as the known process for producing processed cheese from natural cheese. Therefore, processed cheese can be used as emulsified cheese that has been heat-melted. When shape retention after heating and cooling is also required, it is preferable that the raw cheese be a hard or semi-hard type of cheese, but if only to prevent dispersion during heating, use a soft type of cheese. You can also do that. Heat melting is usually 70 to 100°C, preferably 80 to 100°C.
The process was carried out at 95°C for 10 to 20 minutes to form a molten salt (emulsified salt).
Although it is not essential when carrying out special emulsification work (for example, see JP-A-61-158746), it is usually used in an amount of 0.1% or more, preferably 1.0% or more, based on the raw cheese. As the molten salt, known salts such as various orthophosphates, pyrophosphates, polyphosphates, metaphosphates, and citrates can be used alone or in combination of two or more. In the present invention, even raw cheese with a high moisture content exhibits good shape retention when reconstituted with hot water.

When obtaining dried cheeses according to the present invention, it is preferable to subject the raw cheese to a hydrostatic agitation treatment, but conventionally this treatment improves the rehydration properties after drying, but reduces the shape retention during rehydration. In this invention, we have created a unique thermal gel in hot water. By adding the above-mentioned methoxy group-containing cellulose ether, which has thermoreversible gelation that loses thermal gelation by cooling,
It is possible to produce cheeses that fully satisfy shape retention while maintaining hot water return properties.

Various other binders that do not have reversible thermal gelling properties can be used in combination with the cheese according to the present invention, as long as the purpose is not impaired.

Proteins that undergo thermal denaturation and become thermocoagulable when heated, such as soybean protein and albumin, are given the ability to prevent dry molded cheese from collapsing by being treated in a microwave oven, similar to the cellulose ether mentioned above, but they are not restored to their original state by cooling. Since it does not return to a solution and when eaten, it is impossible to return to the pasty texture unique to cheese, so it is best to limit its addition to a small amount.

It is preferable that the water content of the water-containing raw material to be dried is 35 to 70%, particularly 50 to 65%.
The best result is that water equivalent to ~30% is added to the raw cheese to improve the rehydration of the product.

The temperature at which the stirring process is carried out is lower than the molten salt temperature, more specifically a temperature several degrees Celsius higher than the melting point of fats and oils in cheese, usually 0 to 50 degrees Celsius, more preferably 10 to 30 degrees Celsius. within the range of ℃.

If the stirring temperature is several degrees Celsius higher than the melting point of the fats and oils in cheese, oil-off is likely to occur, and in that case, the more complete heating and melting is performed, the more dense the product structure remains and the improvement in rehydration. No effect appears. On the other hand, if the stirring temperature is too low, mixing is difficult to occur, and particulate matter tends to remain if stirred for a short time. Therefore, it is preferable to carry out stirring at the above-mentioned temperature to such an extent that no block-like or particulate matter is macroscopically observed. If these parts are easily visible, they tend to remain as cores even if you try to return them to the place after drying.

Even with the stirring means used in this process, such as silent cutters, cutter mixers, and cross-talk machines that generate strong shearing force, there are no problems such as excessive mixing, and the inherent stickiness of cheese and smooth texture are not observed. Since the texture can be restored, the tedious two-step process of preparing grated cheese and straining it is unnecessary.

The resulting stirred mixture is in the form of a viscous liquid or paste and can be placed in containers such as trays, spread on edible materials such as pizza craft or protein films, or extruded. After forming into a predetermined shape, it is dried.

Although the drying method may be air flow drying such as hot air drying, it is preferable to use a freeze drying method.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be explained using Examples and Comparative Examples, but the present invention is not limited to these Examples. Note that all the parts in the examples indicate the heavy pin parts.

(Example) As cheeses, No. 1: 23 parts of dry rennet casein, hydrogenated oil (rising melting point 32
℃) 30 parts, water 45 parts, disodium citrate (+ dihydrate) 2.0 parts, salt 1.8%, PI-1 of the mixture 5
．． Imitation cheese obtained by heating and mixing the amount of citric acid required to adjust the temperature to 7 and a small amount of cheese flavor at 90 to 92°C for 5 minutes, and then cooling; No.
2: Two types of commercially available 1 brand baby process cheese (solid content 55%) were prepared.

Cellulose ether with the physical properties shown in the table is dissolved in the water in the formulation in advance so that the amount added to the freeze-dried product is indicated (the amount added to the solid content of the cheese used), and then the proportions specified in the formulation are added. Add it to cheese (solid content 55%) and use a food processor (manufactured by Cuisinart Sanei ■, D
LC-7) and kneaded for 1 to 2 minutes at a material temperature of 15 to 20°C to make a paste.

The resulting paste is 8 m deep, 14 nn long, and 10 nw wide.
Pour into a container and heat to -40°C using a freeze dryer.
The sample was prepared by freezing by leaving the sample at 0.3 torr for 12 hours.

This sample was placed in a 200 cc beaker containing 175 g of water, and treated in a 600 W microwave oven for 4 minutes and 30 seconds. The state of collapse of the molded product and the texture after eating were evaluated using the following criteria. Shown in the table.

Criteria for disintegration: Does not lose its shape even when processed in a microwave oven...O Partially loses its shape when processed in a microwave oven...∆The shape completely collapses when processed in a microwave oven.・・・・・・×Texture: Spongy Slightly spongy Slightly paste-like between 2 and 4 Paste-like 1 ・・・・・・2 ・・・3 ・・・4 ...5 As is clear from the table, 1. The dried cheese produced according to the present invention can reproduce a paste-like texture while maintaining its pre-processing shape by adding water and processing it in a microwave oven. is clear.

Furthermore, in each of the Examples, it was found that the dried cheeses produced did not rot like normal processed cheeses even if left at room temperature for more than 3 months, and the above-mentioned functions were maintained.

(Effects of the Invention) The cheeses according to the present invention have excellent heat resistance, and in particular, have both the ability to restore the cheese flavor by reconstitution with hot water and the excellent resistance to spoilage when reconstituted with hot water using microwave heating, etc.
It has excellent long-term storage stability and is suitable as an additive for instant foods.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Cheese containing 0.5% by weight or more of cellulose ether having a methoxy group content of 25 to 33% by weight and a viscosity of 2% aqueous solution at 20°C of 12,000 cPs or more based on the solid content of the cheese. .