JPH0378086B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a method for producing a snack food whose main ingredient is cheese.

Conventional technology and problems In Europe, there is a custom of always enjoying cheese after dinner or at a party.
It is considered a romantic food. Even in our country,
Cheese has come to be widely used as a food rich in minerals and protein.

Those cheeses had a moist and heavy texture, and not a dry and light texture. Therefore, many people have the idea that cheese is a dairy product that has a moist and heavy texture.

On the other hand, methods for producing dried cheese have also been proposed.
(For example, Special Publication No. 59-9138, Special Publication No. 62-
(See Publication No. 27778, etc.) Among these, the special public
The invention disclosed in Publication No. 9138 involves adding water to raw natural cheese, treating it with a cutter or roll mill to emulsify it at 10 to 45°C, without adding molten salt or neutralizing agent, and emulsifying it at 10 to 45°C. (hereinafter, this conventional technique will be referred to as the first method).
(referred to as prior art). In addition, the invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 62-27778 adds water to one type or a combination of raw natural cheeses, and the raw natural cheese and water are uniformly mixed throughout. In this method, the two components are mixed to such an extent that they are compatible but not yet in an emulsified state, and the mixture is freeze-dried (hereinafter, this prior art will be referred to as the second prior art).

In both of these first and second prior art techniques, since the raw cheese is processed after adding water, it foams during the drying process and becomes a porous product, so it cannot be provided as a snack food as it is. However, since it is a dried cheese that has a porous structure to make it easier to reconstitute, it does not have a crisp, light texture as a snack food, and its product value is low. There is something lacking in terms of aspects.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and it breaks down the concept that cheese is a food that has a moist and heavy texture, and also overcomes the above-mentioned first and second prior art techniques. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a cheese snack food that exhibits a crisp, crispy and light texture that cannot be provided by other foods.

Means for Solving the Problems The means achieved by the present invention to achieve the above object include a first step of solidifying melted cheese to make a block-shaped solid cheese with a moisture content of 40% to 50%, and A second step of forming the processed product into a stick shape, and drying the processed stick-shaped product using a microwave vacuum drying means at a temperature of 30°C to 40°C while adjusting the degree of vacuum, microwave irradiation amount, microwave irradiation time, etc. This means that it consists of a third step of forcing.

Example 1st step: Using a well-known process cheese production method, mix and stir raw material cheese with an emulsifier and heat until mushy (about 8 minutes from 10°C to 140°C. Also serves as sterilization) to make melted cheese. This melted cheese is filled into a mold and cooled for about 2 days at a temperature of about 5°C to obtain a block-shaped solid cheese (solid processed cheese) with a moisture content adjusted to 40% to 50%.

According to the experimental results, the hardness of solid cheese is
It was found that the preferred foaming conditions described below are to make the foam a little firmer, and that the preferred foaming conditions for the moisture content to be about 42% are as described below.

It is possible to add and mix appropriate amounts of various additives to the melted cheese in the first step. Additives include edible marine products (seaweed debris, seafood debris, and other debris), vegetables (spinach, potatoes,
(chiso, etc. pieces, other pieces), grains, legumes (corn, sesame, peanuts, etc. pieces, other pieces), spices (chili pepper, curry powder, other spices), nuts (coffee, cocoa, other nuts) fruit (apple fragments, haskatup, banana fragments, raisins, and other fruit fragments).

2nd step: After slicing the block-shaped solid cheese obtained in the 1st step to a thickness of about 5 mm using a slicing machine,
Use a cutting machine to cut it into pieces about 5mm wide and 8cm long, and form them into sticks.

Third step: The stake-shaped processed product obtained in the second step is quickly dried by microwave vacuum drying means. As the drying means, a well-known food vacuum drying device (manufactured by Asahi Bussan Co., Ltd. located in Owariasahi City, microwave output 30 KW, frequency 2450 MHz) is used. With this vacuum drying equipment, the degree of vacuum is 50 to 70 cm/Hg, and the temperature is
We selected and adjusted the vacuum drying conditions in a numerical range of 30℃ to 40℃, microwave irradiation amount 10 to 30KW, and microwave irradiation time 10 to 40 minutes, and conducted a rapid low-temperature drying experiment while maintaining constant control. The processed product was foamed to a desired shape without being deformed, and a processed product (stick-shaped dried cheese) with a crisp, crisp and light texture was obtained, which was sufficient to be used as a product.

On the other hand, when we tried hot-air drying and freeze-drying the above-mentioned stake-shaped processed products, neither of them resulted in foaming, and it was not possible to obtain dry cheese with a crunchy texture.

From the experiment in the third step, the hot air drying experiment, and the freeze-drying experiment, it was found that stick-like processed products can be dried quickly while maintaining constant vacuum drying conditions as described in the experiment in the third step. It is thought that this will result in a product that foams while retaining its predetermined shape, maintains the flavor of the cheese, the flavor of the additives, and their color tone, and is crisp and crunchy.

Effects of the Invention Since the present invention is configured as described above, the present invention provides a smooth and crisp texture that has never been seen before.
Dried cheese with a crisp and light texture is obtained. Furthermore, since the manufacturing means can be machined for each step, it can be manufactured efficiently in assembly lines.

Therefore, it is possible to provide a new cheese snack food that can be easily enjoyed as a snack or appetizer for children.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A first step of solidifying melted cheese to make a block-shaped solid cheese with a moisture content of 40% to 50%, a second step of forming the solid cheese into a stake, and a microwave vacuum drying of the stake-shaped processed product. A method for producing a cheese snack food comprising a third step of drying at a temperature of 30°C to 40°C while adjusting the degree of vacuum, microwave irradiation amount, microwave irradiation time, etc. by means.