JPH05276886A - Flavor improver - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the subject improver consisting of a lipid-protein composite, capable of substantially improving or modifying food flavor through either addition to various kinds of food or combination with other food material(s). CONSTITUTION:The objective flavor improver consisting of a lipid-protein composite which can be obtained by binding (A) a lipid (pref. soybean lecithin of powder type) to (B) a protein (pref. water-soluble one such as lactoprotein). It is recommended that this composite be obtained by the following process: the components A and B, and, as necessary, other ingredient(s) are dispersed in water followed by emulsification by a mechanical means and/or ultrasonic treatment, and the resulting emulsified composition is put to drying treatment through dehydration at <=40 deg.C so as to come to <=10wt.% in the water content.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flavor improving agent, and more particularly to a flavor improving agent which imparts a good flavor when used in food.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The flavor of food is one of the important factors for giving richness and satisfaction to eating habits, and many flavors have conventionally been used to improve the flavor of food. Is being made. On the other hand, many foods have stability that deteriorates over time, and for example, as the flavor deteriorates, off-flavors such as rotten odors and rancid odors are generated, and the value of foods is significantly impaired. ..

Conventionally, various food additives have been used in order to maintain the rich flavor of foods.
Various emulsifiers, proteins, flavors, etc. have been proposed. Among them, recently, those used as a simple mixture by combining lipids and proteins represented by various emulsifiers (JP-A-63-221725) and those used as an emulsified oil / fat composition (JP-A-57). -26540) and the like. However, although these substances achieve some initial objectives in maintaining the flavor of foods, they are not yet sufficient for enhancing the flavor expression inherent in foods and further enhancing their richness. Therefore, under the present circumstances, there is a demand for a flavor improving agent which is added to a food and has the effect of enhancing the unique flavor and richness of the food and which is easy to handle.

[0004]

The present inventors have completed the present invention as a result of intensive research to solve the above problems. That is, the present invention provides a flavor improving agent characterized by comprising a lipid-protein complex which is a conjugate of a lipid and a protein.

It is known in the art that lipids and proteins form a lipid-protein complex with a strong affinity (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. Sho-Sho).
60-95000), and in particular, some applications have been found as new food materials in the food field (for example, JP-A-62-241511 [defoamer for foods] and 62-58960 [for frying]. Additives] etc.). On the other hand, since the lipid-protein complex exists in the living body as, for example, a fat globule membrane constituent element, attempts have been made to use the biological tissue itself containing these lipid-protein complexes for the modification of foods (JP-A-58-58). twenty one
6659, 57-26540, etc.). However, there are still no reports etc. that the flavor of food is significantly improved or modified by adding a lipid-protein complex formed of lipid and protein to food or by using it in combination with other food materials. unacceptable.

The present invention will be described in detail below. The protein used in the present invention is a water-soluble protein. As the protein, milk protein, vegetable protein, animal protein or the like, or a protein preparation comprising these, for example, skim milk powder, whole milk powder, casein, whey protein, soybean powder, serum protein, fish meat powder, egg white powder, egg yolk. One or more selected from powders and the like can be mentioned.

Examples of the lipid used in the present invention include monoglyceride, diglyceride, triglyceride, glycolipid, phospholipid and the like. Examples of the monoglyceride, diglyceride, and triglyceride include those containing saturated fatty acid residues having 8 to 24 carbon atoms and unsaturated fatty acid residues. As glycolipids, for example, natural-derived monogalactoside monoglyceride (MGMG), monogalactoside diglyceride (MGDG), digalactoside monoglyceride (D
GMG), digalactoside diglyceride (DGDG) and the like. Examples of the phospholipid include lecithin of plant or animal origin, and those obtained by purifying or enzymatically decomposing them. Among these lipids, phospholipids such as lecithin are preferable.

The lecithin used in the present invention is an animal or plant such as soybean, egg yolk, beef tallow, rapeseed, sunflower, safflower, cottonseed, corn, linseed, rubber, olive, rice, ground, grape, avocado, palm and palm. Lecithin is not limited to a specific lecithin. But,
Vegetable lecithin, particularly soybean lecithin, is preferable in terms of price, raw material and flavor. With the progress of purification technology of lecithin in recent years, various types of lecithin such as paste, powder, gum, and lump have been developed depending on the degree of purification, and any type can be used in the present invention, but workability is improved. When considering, the powder type is preferable.

The lipid-protein complex which is a lipid-protein conjugate according to the present invention is obtained by the following method based on the finding that lecithin and protein exhibit a strong affinity and form a lecithin-protein complex. It is what is done. In the first method, a protein, a lipid, and optionally other components are dispersed in water and emulsified by mechanical means and / or ultrasonic treatment to obtain an emulsified composition, which is dehydrated and dried to obtain a lipid protein. It is a method of preparing a complex. In the emulsion composition obtained here, the lipid-protein complex according to the present invention is present, but the complex prepared by dehydration drying treatment is more preferable in terms of handling and effect.

Regarding the emulsified form of the emulsified composition, the oil-in-water type (O / W type), the water-in-oil type (W / O type), the oil-in-oil-in-oil type (O / W type)
Examples thereof include multi-phase emulsion type (W / O type) and the like, but any form may be used. The mixture ratio of the mixture of protein and lipid and water is preferably 1/99 to 99/1 (weight ratio), more preferably 10/90 to 50/50 (weight ratio). The particle size of the emulsified composition is preferably 0.1 to 100 μm, more preferably 0.5 to 10 μm. The mixing ratio of the protein and the lipid in the emulsion composition containing the protein and the lipid is 1/2 to 100/1.
(Weight ratio) is preferable, and more preferably 1/1 to 10/1.
(Weight ratio). When the above ratio is less than 1/2, the rich flavor of the target food is not sufficiently expressed, and 100 /
The effect reaches a ceiling in a system in which the amount of protein exceeding 1 is excessive.

The flavor improving agent of the present invention can be obtained by subjecting the emulsified composition obtained as described above to dehydration drying treatment. As the dehydration / drying treatment method, known methods such as spray drying, reduced pressure drying, freeze drying, fluidized drying, and air flow drying can be used. However, as the processing conditions relating to the flavor of food, the processing at a high temperature is likely to cause problems such as yellowing and carbonization, and therefore the processing temperature is preferably within a range not exceeding 40 ° C. The shape of the obtained flavor improving agent may be a powdery, granular or pasty shape, which depends on the water content of the flavor improving agent. The size of the above-mentioned shape is not particularly limited, except that it is inconvenient in handling if it is a lump in consideration of convenience in use. Regarding the water content of the flavor improving agent of the present invention related to the above shape, it is 20% by weight or less, preferably 12% by weight or less.
It is not more than 10% by weight, more preferably not more than 10% by weight. In the present invention, after the above-mentioned freeze-drying treatment, a crushing treatment as commonly used in the art can be further performed.

Another method for obtaining a lipid-protein complex which can be used in the present invention is, for example, the buttermilk by-produced when collecting butter from milk cream, which is disclosed in JP-A-3-251143. It is a method for obtaining a milk fat globule membrane by ultrafiltration or isoelectric precipitation.

Foods to which the flavor improving agent of the present invention can be applied include, for example, frozen ginger, ginger, bamboo rings, sweet bean, fish sausage, hamburger, meat dango, salad, soup,
Dairy products, powdered soup, dairy powdered drinks, ice cream,
Sauce, bread, meat sauce, coffee, tea, soft drink, cocoa, baked goods, cakes, cookies, custard, budding, pancake mix, tomato ketchup, chocolate, mayonnaise, pickles, mustard,
Cheese, dressing, noodles, steamed bun, croquette, donut, margarine, shortening, yogurt, miso processed product, sorbet, tsukudani, sprinkle, seasoning, sauce, side dish, egg product, gyoza, chouxmai, curry, curry roux, peanut butter Etc.

The amount of the flavor improving agent of the present invention to be added varies depending on the food to which it can be applied and cannot be limited, but is generally 0.05 to 10.0% by weight, preferably 0.10 to 3.0% by weight, based on the food to which it is applied.
Is. Furthermore, when a food material containing an aroma component such as a flavor for food, a spice, or a flavor oil is used in combination with the flavor improving agent of the present invention, the flavor peculiar to the food can be more prominently expressed.

[0015]

The present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples. The parts in the examples are based on weight.

Example 1 Whey protein (trade name: Milpro H, manufactured by Sanei Chemical Co., Ltd.)
100 g of soybean lecithin (trade name: SLP White: manufactured by Tsuru Lecithin Co., Ltd.) was kneaded, dispersed in 2 liters of water and homogenized with a homomixer. The resulting emulsion is 0.
It was dehydrated under reduced pressure at 1 Torr to make the water content in the solid matter 10.8% by weight. This was crushed and sieved with a 20-mesh sieve to obtain 150 g of the flavor improving agent of the present invention (hereinafter abbreviated as sample-1).

The above-mentioned raw material protein whey protein, an emulsion of whey protein and soybean lecithin, and the obtained sample-
1. Each gel filtration pattern was compared. For gel filtration, Toyopearl HW-65 was used as a packing material, and 0.1 M potassium phosphate buffer solution (pH 6.0) was used as a transfer medium. The result is shown in FIG. From FIG. 1, it is clear that Sample-1 efficiently forms a complex.

The inventors of the present invention, as a method for easily quantifying the complexation of protein and lipid, reduce the amount of lipid extracted into n-hexane due to the binding of protein and lipid. I paid attention. A 2 g sample of the protein-lipid composition was weighed in an Erlenmeyer flask with a sealed stopper, and pure water 15 ml, n-
Hexane is added, and the mixture is stirred at 20 ° C. for 15 minutes, allowed to stand, 10 ml of the upper layer (hexane layer) is collected, and hexane is distilled off. From the obtained weight of hexane-soluble matter, free lipid ratio (%) = (weight of n-hexane-soluble matter × 1.5) /
It is defined as (weight of lipid in 2 g of sample). Kneaded product obtained by kneading the above-mentioned raw material whey protein and soybean lecithin, after dispersing the kneaded product,
When the emulsion obtained by homogenization and the free lipid ratio of Sample-1 were measured, the results shown in Table 1 were obtained.

[0019]

[Table 1]

Application Example 1 A whipped cream was produced according to the following formulation and production method,
The cream flavors were compared. <Compound> (oil phase) Rapeseed hydrogenated oil (melting point 32.8 ° C) 20 parts Hardened coconut oil (melting point 34.5 ° C) 6 parts Butter fat (melting point 32.4 ° C) 14 parts Lecithin 0.28 parts (water phase) water 54.5 parts skimmed milk powder 4 parts Sucrose fatty acid ester (HLB 11) 0.2 parts Hexametaphosphate 0.1 parts Sample-1 0.5 parts <Production method> After preparing by dissolving or dispersing each of the oil phase and the water phase, pre-emulsification, high-pressure homogenization, sterilization treatment, and ordinary method A creamy fat composition was obtained according to the above. 80 g of granulated sugar was mixed with 1 liter of this composition and whipped with a cream mixer to obtain a whipped cream.

For comparison, Sample-1 without addition,
A kneaded product obtained by adding 0.5 part of the whey protein used in Example 1 in place of Sample-1 and kneading the whey protein used in Example 1 in place of Sample-1 and soybean lecithin
The same as above was prepared by adding 0.5 part. Sample-
No. 1 was used as a control for the sensory evaluation of the cream flavor. The results are shown in Table 2. The sample-1 added product had a strong milk flavor and was a rich cream.

[0022]

[Table 2]

Note) *: The flavor rank is determined by 20 professional panelists, 1 point is better for the control, 2 points is better for the control, 3 points is equivalent to the control, 4 points is better than the control, and 4 points is better than the control. The total score is shown.

Example 2 Milk protein (trade name PL80: manufactured by Shoei Foods Co., Ltd.) 100
40 g of soybean lecithin (trade name: Nisshin DX: manufactured by Nisshin Oil Co., Ltd.) was added to and dispersed in 2 liters of water, and homogenized with a homomixer. The obtained emulsion is 0.1 To
The water content in the solid was adjusted to 6.5% by weight by vacuum dewatering at rr. This was crushed and sieved with a 20-mesh sieve to obtain 120 g of the flavor improving agent of the present invention (hereinafter abbreviated as sample-2). When the percentage of free lipid was determined according to Example 1, it was 5.1%.

Application Example 2 Bread was prepared according to a conventional method using the following dough composition, and flavor evaluation was performed in the same manner as in Application Example 1. <Formulation> Strong flour 300 parts Yeast 6 parts Yeast food 0.3 parts Sugar 9 parts Salt 4.5 parts Skim milk powder 2 parts Shortening 6 parts Sample-2 0.5 parts Water 216 parts For comparison, sample-2 is not added, sample- What added 0.5 parts of milk proteins instead of 2 and what added 0.5 parts of emulsion of Example 2 (as solid matter) instead of sample-2 were manufactured like the above.

Sample-2 was a bread with no additive as a control,
A sensory evaluation of the bread flavor was performed in the same manner as in Application Example 1. The results are shown in Table 3. In the bread to which the sample-2 was added, the generation of acid odor of the bread was suppressed, and the savory aroma of the bread was significantly improved.

[0027]

[Table 3]

Example 3 Skim milk powder (trade name skim milk powder: manufactured by Snow Brand Milk Products Co., Ltd.) 400 g
Was dispersed and dissolved in 2 liters of water and centrifuged, and the soybean lecithin (trade name Epiclon 200:
80 g of Lucasmeyer) was added and homogenized with a homomixer. The obtained emulsion was dehydrated under reduced pressure at 0.1 Torr to adjust the water content in the solid to 7.0% by weight. Crush this thing, 20
Sifted with a mesh sieve to obtain 420 g of the flavor improving agent of the present invention (hereinafter abbreviated as sample-3). The percentage of free lipid was determined according to Example 1 and was 5.8%.

Application Example 3 A coffee whitener was produced according to the following formulation and production method, and the coffee flavors were evaluated and compared. <Composition> (Oil phase) Soybean hydrogenated oil (melting point 32.0 ° C) 25 parts Glycerin fatty acid ester 0.02 part (Aqueous phase) water 71 parts Skim milk powder 4 parts Sucrose fatty acid ester (HLB 14) 0.2 parts Dibasic sodium phosphate 0.02 parts Sample -3 0.5 parts <Production method> After preparation by dissolving or dispersing each of the oil phase and the water phase, preliminary emulsification, high-pressure homogenization and sterilization treatment were carried out to obtain a creamy fat composition.

A coffee test was conducted using this synthetic cream. 2 g of instant coffee was dissolved in 100 ml of water, heated to 80 ° C., and 10 ml of synthetic cream was put therein to perform sensory evaluation. As a control, a synthetic cream without sample-3 was prepared. The addition of Sample-3 reduced the bitterness of the coffee and emphasized the rich coffee flavor.

Example 4 400 g of egg white powder (manufactured by Taiyo Kagaku Co., Ltd.) was dispersed and dissolved in 2 liters of water, and soybean lecithin (trade name Nisshin D
X: 80 g of Nisshin Oil Co., Ltd. was added and homogenized with a homomixer. The resulting emulsion was dehydrated under reduced pressure at 0.1 Torr,
The water content in the solid was 8.6% by weight. Crush this stuff, 2
It was passed through a 0 mesh sieve to obtain 440 g of the flavor improving agent of the present invention (hereinafter abbreviated as sample-4). When the percentage of free lipid was determined according to Example 1, it was 7.1%.

Application Example 4 A dressing was produced according to the following formulation and production method, and flavor evaluations were compared. <Compound> Soybean oil 65 parts Vinegar 9.4 parts Spice 4.6 parts Sucrose fatty acid ester (HLB 16) 1 part Sample-4 0.5 parts Water 12 parts <Production method> Spice, emulsifier, vinegar and sample-4 were added to water and mixed with stirring. Soybean oil is added dropwise to the product and pre-emulsified. The dressing was obtained by thoroughly homogenizing with a colloid mill. As a control, a dressing without sample-4 was prepared. It was a rich dressing in which the spice flavor was put to good use by the addition of Sample-4.

Example 5 Soybean protein (trade name: Solpy 1500: manufactured by Nisshin Oil Co., Ltd.) 20
80 g of egg yolk lecithin (manufactured by Kewpie Co., Ltd.) was added to a solution prepared by dispersing 0 g in 2 liters of water and homogenized with a homomixer. The obtained emulsion was dehydrated under reduced pressure at 0.1 Torr to make the water content in the solid matter 10.1% by weight. This was crushed and sieved with a 20-mesh sieve to obtain 230 g of the flavor improving agent of the present invention (hereinafter abbreviated as sample-5). When the free lipid percentage was determined according to Example 1, it was 11.4%.

Application Example 5 A liquid corn soup was produced according to the following formulation and production method,
The flavor ratings were compared. <Combination> Corn 13 parts Starch 1 part Soybean hydrogenated oil (melting point 32.2 ° C) 6 parts Milk 5 parts Powdered candy 2 parts Seasoning 2 parts Glycerin fatty acid ester 0.2 parts White roux 2 parts Sample-5 0.6 parts Water 68.2 parts <Production method > Add starch, powdered candy and seasoning to water and dissolve, then add oil and fat with emulsifier dissolved. Next, roux and corn are added, and milk and sample-5 are added with stirring. The obtained preliminary emulsion was further homogenized, sterilized and cooled to produce a liquid corn soup. As a control, a liquid corn soup containing no sample-5 was prepared. With the addition of Sample-5, it was a rich soup with an enhanced corn flavor.

[0035]

The flavor improving agent of the present invention can remarkably improve or improve the flavor of food by adding it to various foods or by using it together with other food materials.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a graph showing a gel filtration pattern of whey protein, an emulsion of whey protein and soybean lecithin, and Sample-1 obtained in Example 1.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A flavor improving agent comprising a lipid-protein complex which is a combination of a lipid and a protein. 2. The flavor improving agent according to claim 1, wherein the protein is a water-soluble protein. 3. The flavor improving agent according to claim 1, wherein the lipid is monoglyceride, diglyceride, triglyceride, glycolipid or phospholipid.