JPH06276947A - Viscosity-lowering agent - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a viscosity-lowering agent which contains a specific sugar alcohol as an active ingredient and is useful in high-viscosity sugar melt or food products with excellent workability without adverse effect on the sweetness and taste. CONSTITUTION:The viscosity-lowering agent contains, as an active ingredient, one or more sugar alcohols selected from erythritol, xylitol, sorbitol, mannitol of 3 to 6 carbon atoms. The sugar alcohol is added to high-viscosity sacchariness in an amount of 0.5 to 20wt.% to lower the viscosity of the sacchariness melt.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a viscosity reducing agent for high viscosity sugar melts. Specifically, it relates to a viscosity reducing agent containing a sugar alcohol having 3 to 6 carbon atoms as an active ingredient.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When manufacturing various foods containing sugar,
The viscosity of the heated melt may be high and difficult to handle. For example, candy consists of sucrose, maltitol, etc. as the main raw material, syrup is added to this, and then boiled in the state of being heated and melted. After that, it is manufactured by a method of cooling and solidifying.

However, the heated and melted solution of these sugars has a high viscosity and is difficult to boil, it is difficult to flow in the production line, or it is difficult to fill the molding machine and it takes a long time to fill. . It is considered to add oil or the like to reduce the viscosity, but it is not preferable because it changes the sweetness and flavor. In recent years, erythritol has been cultivated for various uses as a low-calorie, non-cariogenic sugar. For example, a sugar-free composition for preventing or reducing dental caries (Mesoerythritol) (Japanese Patent Publication No. 56-18180), brittleness, Hard candy applications with improved fragility (JP-A-64-4)
7348) is known.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is to develop a viscosity-reducing agent that lowers the viscosity of a high-viscosity sugar melt without significantly changing sweetness and flavor.

[0005]

The present inventors have made diligent efforts to solve the above-mentioned problems, and as a result, when a specific sugar alcohol was added to a heated melt such as sucrose or starch syrup, the flavor was not significantly changed. The present invention has been accomplished by knowing that the viscosity can be reduced. That is, the gist of the present invention is to have 3 to 6 carbon atoms.
In the viscosity-reducing agent for a high-viscosity sugar melt containing the above sugar alcohol as an active ingredient.

The present invention will be described in detail below. Examples of the sugar alcohol having 3 to 6 carbon atoms used in the present invention include erythritol, sorbitol, xylitol, mannitol, glycerin and the like, and erythritol is particularly preferable. Erythritol is known as a low-calorie, non-cariogenic sugar alcohol as shown in the prior art, but it is novel to significantly reduce the viscosity of a heated melt such as sucrose or maltitol with a slight addition. Knowledge. Also, it is generally known that the viscosity of the sugar aqueous solution is proportional to the logarithm of the concentration of the solute, but it is not known how the viscosity of the mixture in the non-aqueous system changes.

The method for adding the viscosity reducing agent containing the sugar alcohol of the present invention as an active ingredient is not particularly limited,
As powder, various sugars may be mixed with the powder before being heat-melted, or may be added by gradually dividing in the step of heat-melting sugar. As various sugars applied to the present invention,
Sucrose, coupling sugar, starch syrup, starch syrup, starch sugar (maltose, maltotriose, maltotetraose, isomerized sugar, isomaltose, isomaltotriose, isomaltooligosaccharide, linear dextrin, branched dextrin, etc.), Examples include starch sugar alcohols (maltitol, reduced starch saccharified products, etc.), starch sugar decomposition products, fructooligosaccharides, palatinose and the like. Expressed in terms of the degree of condensation of monosaccharides, such saccharides are usually 10 or less, preferably 2
~ 6.

The temperature of heating and melting varies depending on the type of sugar, but is usually 130 to 180 ° C., preferably 140 to 17
It is selected from the range of 0 ° C. Although the heating and melting are finally carried out in an anhydrous state, it may be effective to prevent the local heating by adding some water in the initial stage of the heating start. This is because when the container for containing the saccharide is at a high temperature and the stirring is insufficient, the saccharide may be partially decomposed or browned.

The amount of sugar alcohol to be mixed with the high-viscosity sugar melt has a remarkable effect of decreasing the viscosity in the range of 0.5 to 20% by weight as added to sugar, but depending on the kind of sugar, sweetness and sweetness Since the strength changes, it is more preferable to adjust in a small range of 1 to 10% by weight.

[0010]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to the examples as long as the gist thereof is not exceeded. (1) The following samples were used.

[Table 1] Sucrose Dainippon Sugar Co., Ltd. Granulated sugar Maltitol Tokyo Chemicals Co., Ltd. Purity 98% Erythritol Nikken Chemicals Co., Ltd. Xylitol Funakoshi Co., Ltd. Sorbitol Kishida Chemical Co., Ltd. Special grade (2) Viscosity

[Table 2] Equipment used: RMS-800 mechanical spectrometer manufactured by Rheometric Co., Ltd. Measurement conditions: cone plate diameter 25 mm φ gap 50 μm temperature 140 ° C.

Example 1 A predetermined amount of sucrose and erythritol were added to a stainless steel container and mixed well, and heated to 145 ° C. over about 10 minutes to obtain a molten mixture. A part of the melt was sampled with a spatula and the viscosity was measured. The results are shown in Table-1.

[0012]

[Table 3]

Example 2 Table 2 shows the results of the same procedure as in Example 1 using sucrose and xylitol.

[0014]

[Table 4]

Example 3 Table 3 shows the results of the same procedure as in Example 1 using sucrose and sorbitol.

[0016]

[Table 5]

Example 4 Table 4 shows the results of carrying out the same procedure as in Example 1 using maltitol and erythritol.

[0018]

[Table 6]

Example 5 Table 5 shows the results of an example similar to Example 1 using maltitol and xylitol.

[0020]

[Table 7]

Example 6 Table 6 shows the results of the same procedure as in Example 1 using maltitol and sorbitol.

[0022]

[Table 8]

Example 7 The results obtained by adding the mixture of xylitol and erythritol (1: 1 weight ratio) to sucrose and carrying out the same procedure as in Example 1 are shown in Table 7.

[0024]

[Table 9]

[0025]

The viscosity-reducing agent of the present invention remarkably reduces the viscosity of a sugar melt, and reduces the viscosity of a heated melt of sugar in the production of candy such as sucrose, maltitol, and coupling sugar. Boil-down work and filling into a molding machine become easy. Since such a viscosity reducing agent does not significantly affect the sweetness and flavor of sugar, it has a wide range of application in the food industry.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A viscosity reducing agent for a high-viscosity sugar melt, which comprises a sugar alcohol having 3 to 6 carbon atoms as an active ingredient. 2. The viscosity reducing agent according to claim 1, wherein the sugar alcohol is one or more selected from erythritol, xylitol, sorbitol and mannitol. 3. A method for reducing the viscosity of a high-viscosity sugar melt, which comprises adding 0.5 to 20% by weight of a sugar alcohol having 3 to 6 carbon atoms to the high-viscosity sugar.