JPH02150237A - Method for treating cacao mass - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain chocolates excellent in flavor by homogeneously adding and mixing cacao mass with vanillin. CONSTITUTION:Vanillin in an amount of preferably 1-5wt.% is added to cacao mass and homogeneously mixed therewith. The resultant mixture is then preferably subjected to sterilization treatment.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a method for processing cacao mass, and more specifically, a method for processing cacao mass, in which chocolate with excellent flavor can be obtained by adding vanillin to cacao mass and mixing it uniformly. Regarding the processing method.

(Prior Art) Chocolate is usually manufactured through the following processing steps. ■ "Sorting process" which removes foreign substances such as metals, stone chips, sand, thread waste, paper waste, wood chips, etc. from cacao beans, ■ Changes specific substances in cacao beans into flavor, reduces bitterness and improves taste. The "roasting process" involves preparing the cocoa beans and making it easier to exfoliate the outer skin of the cocoa beans; ■ Roughly crushing the roasted cocoa beans and separating them into the outer skin (cells), endosperm, and germ (germ); ``Separation process'', ``Blending process'' in which the base beans and flavoring beans are skillfully blended by taking advantage of the characteristics of each cacao bean from each region, ■Crushing the cacao nibs with a grinding mill or roll mill, etc. "Grinding process" to make a paste-like product
, this paste-like substance is converted into cacao paste, cacao liquor,
It is also called cacao mass, etc., and is called bitter chocolate in general trade. ■ "Mixing process" in which cocoa mass is appropriately mixed with sugar, cocoa butter, milk powder, etc.; ■ "Atomization process" in which the mixture is further rolled to make the particles finer; ■ The atomized chocolate is passed through a machine called a conchie. Knead it well and adjust the flavor.
``Scouring (conching) process'', ■ When chocolate that has finished conching is cooled and molded into a product, the ``conching'' process adjusts the gloss of the chocolate surface, appearance, and internal structure of the chocolate to give it a good flavor and texture. Tempering
This step produces a stable crystalline form of cocoa butter. [Phase] The liquid chocolate dough that has been tempered is poured into molds of various shapes such as plate, bar, round, and square, and then cooled by passing through a ring tunnel. It is manufactured through the following steps: (1) the packaging process, in which cocoa butter is removed from the mold and packaged, and (2) the ripening process, in which the cocoa butter is aged at a constant temperature for a certain period of time to stabilize its crystalline form. Prior to each of the above steps, the cacao fruit (bond) is harvested from the cacao tree on site, the fruit is split open and the seeds (cacao beans) are taken out, placed in a wooden box, and fermented uniformly for 4 to 7 days. It is dried, packed in bags, and shipped to various locations.

Generally, chocolate is manufactured through the steps listed above, and in each step, the chocolate is processed under optimal conditions so that the flavor and physical properties of the chocolate are good.

Recently, as a method to improve the flavor of chocolate, for example, some or all of the cacao fat in chemically processed cacao mass is replaced with a cacao fat substitute, and the raw mixed cacao mass is heated and roasted.
Alternatively, a surfactant is added together with the cocoa butter substitute in the above method, or defatted raw cocoa mass is defatted to a predetermined cocoa fat content, or a raw mixture is prepared by adding a cocoa butter substitute to the defatted raw cocoa mass to a predetermined fat content. After heating and roasting cacao mass, an adjusted amount of cacao fat substitute is added to obtain cacao mass with a flavor equal to or greater than that of roasted cacao mass without using cacao fat substitute by conventional production methods. A method for preparing roasted mixed cacao mass has been proposed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 568645). Alternatively, hot water may be added to cocoa mass or cocoa powder treated with alkali and mixed uniformly, or cocoa mass may be treated with alkali to separate the water-soluble portion and fine particle portion, and/or cocoa butter may be extracted and separated. A method for processing cocoa beans has also been proposed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 169452/1982) to obtain cocoa powder with a rich taste and aroma, without alkaline odor, and with high yield efficiency.

However, these methods require complicated processing, and the flavor has not yet been sufficiently improved.

Furthermore, in the past, when manufacturing chocolate, appropriate flavoring agents are sometimes added and blended at the same time in the above-mentioned "mixing step" (2), in which cocoa butter, powdered sugar, or milk powder, etc. are appropriately mixed with cocoa mass. However, even with the addition of such fragrances, sufficient effects have not been obtained.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As mentioned above, in order to produce chocolate with good flavor, methods such as complicated processing of cacao beans or adding flavoring to chocolate dough have been tried, but none of them have been successful. At present, a satisfactory flavor has not yet been obtained.

Under these circumstances, the object of the present invention is to obtain cocoa mass with good flavor extremely simply and effectively.

(Means for Solving the Problem) As a result of intensive research in view of the above points, the present inventors added vanillin to cacao mass and mixed it uniformly, and then mixed sugar, cocoa butter lecithin, etc. to this cacao mass. It has been found that chocolate produced using conventional methods has an extremely good flavor.

The present invention was completed based on the above findings, and is a method for treating cacao mass, which is characterized by adding vanillin to cacao mass and mixing it uniformly.

In this invention, cacao mass is a paste-like material prepared in the chocolate manufacturing process, as described above, in the "grinding step" in which cacao nibs are ground into a paste-like material using a grinding mill or roll mill, etc. Still sugar,
It does not contain skim milk powder etc. In addition, in the above-mentioned "roasting process" of (2), the degree of roasting of the cacao beans may be phosphorized or deep roasted, and it is not affected by the presence or absence of alkali treatment.

Vanillin is an aromatic component contained in about 2% of cured Vanilla beans, but eugenol in cloves,
It is synthesized from guaiacol, catechol, and lignin in pulp waste liquid, and exhibits white to pale yellow needle-shaped crystals with a unique sweet aroma. Furthermore, as mentioned above, vanilla obtained by fermenting and drying vanilla beans contains vanillin, which is the main aromatic component, and also contains piperonal, vanillic acid, and benzoic acid. In this invention, synthetic vanillin may be used, or vanilla concentrate obtained by extracting or concentrating vanilla or vanilla beans may be used. Therefore, it goes without saying that vanilla itself may be used.

The amount of vanillin added to cocoa mass is o, 01-5
It is effective at a concentration of % by weight, and if it is less than the lower limit, it is difficult to obtain an effect, and if it is added in an amount exceeding the upper limit, no significant effect can be expected and it is economically disadvantageous. Vanillin needs to be mixed so that it is uniformly dispersed throughout the cocoa mass, and therefore the temperature after addition is sufficient as long as the cocoa mass is molten, but since the effect of vanillin itself is not affected by temperature, the cocoa mass itself The desired temperature may be set in consideration of changes in flavor. The flavor of the cacao mass itself changes at approximately 80°C, so for example, if the cacao beans are phosphorized in the roasting process in (2), they should be heated to a high temperature of 80°C or higher, or deep roasted in the roasting process. In some cases, it seems best to carry out the process at 80°C or lower.

Further, when cacao mass is sterilized, it is preferable to add vanillin to the cacao mass and then sterilize it. That is, in the series of chocolate manufacturing processes mentioned at the beginning, between the "grinding process" in (2) and the "mixing process" in which the cacao mass obtained in this grinding process is appropriately mixed with sugar, cocoa butter powder, etc. "Sterilization process" to sterilize cacao mass
may be incorporated. In this case, the flavor of the cacao mass changes before and after the sterilization process, and deterioration of the flavor of the cacao mass after the sterilization process has traditionally been unavoidable, but by adding vanillin before the sterilization process, this flavor deterioration can be suppressed. It can be done, and its effects are remarkable. As a sterilization method, for example, after adding water so that the total moisture content of cocoa mass is about 3%,
A common method is to sterilize by stirring at 0°C for 3 to 5 minutes, and the sterilization equipment is Super Benz Mat (Pezholt), PDAT (Karl Montanary), or the applicant's Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-16
An example of the method or apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4840.

Thus, when comparing the flavor of the cacao mass itself, conventional cacao mass has an unpleasant odor such as astringency and grassy odor, but the cacao mass treated in the present invention eliminates such unpleasant odor and taste.

Incidentally, it is not possible to explain exactly why the flavor is improved just by adding and mixing vanillin uniformly to cacao mass, but it is probably because vanillin effectively acts on specific components such as tannins contained in cacao mass. Conceivable. Therefore, vanillin has traditionally been added as a flavoring agent in the production of chocolate, but since this vanillin is usually added in the "mixing process" mentioned above, sugar etc. It is thought that this is because vanillin does not effectively act on specific components in cocoa mass because it contains .

In addition, when cacao mass is sterilized, the flavor of the cacao mass deteriorates due to the addition of moisture, and this is thought to be because water-soluble substances decompose upon heating and produce substances that inhibit flavor. It is thought that the addition suppresses the production of the flavor-inhibiting substance. In any case, there is a clear difference between the effect of vanillin on cocoa mass alone and the effect of vanillin on a cocoa mass mixture containing sugar or the like, or on cocoa mass after sterilization.

As described above, the cacao mass processed according to the present invention exhibits a good flavor that has never been seen before, and can be used not only for ordinary chocolates but also for various other foods using cacao mass. can be granted.

(Examples) Examples are illustrated below to further clarify the effects of the present invention, but it goes without saying that these are merely illustrative and the spirit of the present invention is not limited to these examples. In addition,
In the examples, parts and % refer to weight of 1 g.

Example 1 [Sweet chocolate] 0.125 parts of vanillin was added to 100 parts of cacao mass, and 6
The mixture was stirred at 0°C for 1 hour. After that, this cocoa mass 4
1.50 parts of sand and 0.1 part of lecithin were added to 0 parts, kneaded with a kneader, refined with a roll refiner, and then conched in a conche for 10 hours, followed by 10 parts of cocoa butter.
The chocolate dough was tempered and molded to obtain chocolate.

For comparison, as a conventional method, 40 parts of cacao mass and 1 part of sugar were used.
0.00 parts of lecithin and 0.05 parts of vanillin were added, and the rest was carried out in exactly the same manner as in Example 1 to obtain chocolate.

As a result, the chocolate obtained in Example 1 had a weaker astringency and stronger chocolate flavor than the chocolate obtained by the conventional method, and had a refreshing taste. -As a result of sensory evaluation, 27 people said they liked the chocolate obtained in Example 1.
In contrast, 3 people preferred chocolate obtained by conventional methods. The sensory evaluation results indicate that Example 1 exhibits a more preferable flavor at a 1% risk rate.

Example 2 [Sponge cake containing cocoa mass] 0.2 parts of vanillin was added to 100 parts of cocoa mass, and the mixture was stirred for 30 minutes to uniformly disperse vanillin in the cocoa mass.

On the other hand, whip 100 parts of sugar and 120 parts of eggs, mix this with 100 parts of flour, 50 parts of milk, and 10 parts of the cacao mass prepared above. Put the dough into a No. 18 mold and heat it to 190°.
It was baked in oven C for 30 minutes to obtain a sponge cake containing cocoa mass (A).

For comparison, a sponge cake (B) was obtained by baking in the same manner using conventional cacao mass that was not treated with vanillin. In addition, using conventional cacao mass that is not treated with vanillin, 0.02 part of vanillin is added to the dough obtained in the same manner and mixed, and then baked in the same manner to create a sponge cake (C).
I got it.

The above sponge cakes (A), (B), and (C) were sensory evaluated by 15 panelists by ranking, and the following evaluation results were obtained.

Evaluation results (in order of preference) Panel ABC As a result of the above, an overwhelming majority of people evaluated the sponge cake obtained in Example 2 (B) as the most preferable.

Example 3 Water was continuously added to cocoa mass to which 0.1% vanillin had been added so that the total moisture content was 3%.
Sterilization was performed using a continuous cacao mass sterilizer disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 164840. As a control, cocoa mass to which vanillin was not added was similarly sterilized.

Using each of the above cacao masses, chocolate was manufactured according to a conventional method using the following chocolate formulation.

[Chocolate combination]

* A, A' Results beyond Nisuid chocolate combination,
Both sweet chocolate and milk chocolate, which were manufactured using cocoa mass that had been sterilized after adding vanillin, had a different odor and taste compared to a control product that was manufactured using cocoa mass that had been sterilized without adding vanillin. It had a strong chocolate flavor and was delicious.

(Effects) As described above, by adding and mixing vanillin to cacao mass and dispersing it uniformly, it has become possible to significantly improve the flavor of cacao mass, and also to sterilize cacao mass, which was previously unavoidable. It has become possible to significantly improve flavor deterioration due to processing by adding vanillin and then sterilizing it, and with this invention, it has become possible to provide the world with various foods with excellent chocolate flavor using cacao mass. It became possible.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A method for processing cacao mass, which is characterized by adding vanillin to cacao mass and mixing it uniformly. (2), the amount of vanillin added is 0.0 to cocoa mass
The treatment method according to claim 1, wherein the amount is 1 to 5% by weight. (3) A method for treating cacao mass, which comprises adding vanillin to the cacao mass and then sterilizing the cacao mass.