JPH0634684B2 - Composition for fixing additive components for food and drink - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (a) Purpose of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a composition for immobilizing a small amount of an additive component for food and drink. The "small amount additive component for food and drink" described in the present specification means, for example, extracts such as coffee, black tea, green tea, and oolong tea, extracts of various fruit juices, seasonings, spices, salting agents,
It refers to a substance such as a flavoring agent for foods and drinks, a coloring agent, a stabilizer, etc., which is used by being added in a relatively small proportion to the total amount of foods and drinks.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, extracts of coffee, black tea, oolong tea and the like, various fruit juice extracts, seasonings and the like have been used in the form of liquid, powder or granule.

By the way, in general, liquid ones have a large volume and are inconvenient for transportation and handling, and powdery ones have poor fluidity and measuring properties, which require a lot of labor and cost in the packaging process. there were. Therefore, for example, instant coffee, instant tea, instant seasoning and the like are used in a granular form.

However, this type of instant coffee and other granular and powder products absorb moisture and become sticky or harden when left in humid air, making them difficult to use. Those left inside have the drawback that the scent component is lost or the lipid component is oxidized and deteriorated, which deteriorates the palatability.

In the past, a so-called "sugar-like coffee", which is made of sucrose crystals containing a color component such as caramel, is commercially available. The caramel flavor can enhance the taste of coffee or black tea, or the color of caramel can add sugar. It is preferred because it can improve the appearance. However, since the main component of this type of coffee sugar is sucrose, it causes health problems in terms of promoting diabetes due to excessive intake of the sugar, obesity, and an increase in caries morbidity due to caries. There was a point.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The present invention provides a small amount of an additive component for food and drink, which is non-hygroscopic and non-deteriorating even when left in the air, and is beautiful that it is easy to package, handle and use. It is intended to provide a composition immobilized in a particulate form.

(b) Structure of the Invention (Means for Solving Problems) The present inventor has conducted various kinds of research in order to solve the above problems, and as a result, added a small amount of an additive component for food and drink to crystals of meso-erythritol. The purpose was able to be achieved by containing and fixing it in the inside and / or between the crystals.

That is, the immobilization composition of the additive component for food and drink of the present invention contains a small amount of additive component for food and drink (excluding non-sugar sweetener) in the crystals of meso-erythritol and / or between crystals. Is a composition.

The small amount additive component for foods and drinks (excluding non-sugar sweeteners) in the present invention means a substance used by adding to the foods and drinks as described above in a relatively small proportion to the total amount.

Further, meso-erythritol used in the present invention is
Structural formula It is a tetravalent sugar alcohol represented by and has a molecular weight of 12
2. White crystals with a melting point of 119 ° C. The appearance is similar to granulated sugar of sucrose, it is well soluble in water, and it is non-digestible, non-cariogenic, and non-brown denaturing. This meso-erythritol (hereinafter, this may be simply referred to as "erythritol") is contained in natural algae, mushrooms, etc., and is also contained in small amounts in sake, wine, soy sauce and the like. According to panel test results, sweetness intensity and sweetness quality are slightly weaker than sucrose and slightly stronger than glucose,
It corresponds to about 75 to 80% of the sweetness of sucrose, and the mouthfeel is similar to that of sucrose, but the aftertaste is less sweet than sucrose.

The immobilization composition of the present invention is one in which a small amount of an additive component for food or drink is contained in and immobilized between the crystals of erythritol.

A typical method for producing the immobilizing composition is a method of precipitating erythritol crystals from a supersaturated aqueous solution of erythritol to which a small amount of a component for food and drink is added.
That is, when a crystal of erythritol is grown and precipitated from a supersaturated aqueous solution of erythritol to which a small amount of a food or drink additive component is added, the additive component is contained in the generated crystals and / or between crystals, and thus the immobilization of the present invention is achieved. A composition is obtained. In this case, as long as the erythritol aqueous solution is in a supersaturated state, crystal precipitation will be continued,
It is desirable to precipitate crystals while cooling the relatively high temperature erythritol aqueous solution to which the additive components are added.

For the precipitation of the erythritol crystals, either the static crystallization method or the fluidized crystallization method can be used, but the static crystallization method gives a crystal having a larger content of the additive component.
In this case, the size of the erythritol crystals precipitated and the amount of the additive component contained in the crystals and / or between the crystals are
Since it varies depending on the degree of supersaturation of the erythritol aqueous solution, the cooling rate, the stirring conditions, etc., the size of the crystals and the content of the added component can be adjusted to some extent by controlling these conditions. Further, the content of the additive component can be adjusted by controlling the ratio of addition of the additive component to erythritol.

In addition, the crystallizing tank in the fluidized crystal method may be either an open type or a vacuum type. In the case of adding an additive component having a large amount of volatile components to cause crystal precipitation, a stationary method is preferable. Since a supersaturated aqueous solution of erythritol can precipitate crystals in a wide range of liquid temperature of 20 to 70 ° C, erythritol aqueous solution at a relatively low temperature is used for immobilizing additive components containing a volatile component such as volatile components. It is desirable to add an additional component to the so that the crystals are precipitated. Erythritol crystals that have been precipitated from a saturated aqueous solution at a relatively low temperature for a long time using the static crystallization method are large and flat, and have a so-called "rock-sugar" -like appearance. If the crystals are crushed as necessary to make the particle size uniform, a beautiful immobilization composition of crystals that closely resembles sucrose crystals can be obtained.

A typical example of the method for producing the immobilizing composition of the present invention using the static crystallization method will be described.
It is added to an aqueous erythritol solution having a concentration of 0% by weight or more, preferably 50% by weight or more. For example, in the case of producing an immobilizing composition of the present invention in which caramel as a coloring agent and a flavoring agent is immobilized, a temperature of 70 ° C. and a concentration of 50 are given.
Caramel powder 0.02 in a wt% erythritol aqueous solution
~ 7% by weight, preferably 0.1-4% by weight,
Let stand at room temperature and cool to precipitate erythritol crystals. In this case, a small amount of erythritol microcrystals may be added as a seed crystal to start crystallization, but it is possible to easily start crystallization without adding the crystal (however, in the case of the fluidized crystallization method, crystallization is more likely to occur). Easy to crystallize.). The saturated concentrations of the erythritol aqueous solution at various temperatures are shown in the table below.Therefore, in the case of precipitating crystals while cooling by such cooling, the erythritol amount contained in the starting erythritol aqueous solution is saturated at the final cooling concentration. The amount of erythritol excluding the amount of erythritol corresponding to the concentration can be precipitated as crystals.

Saturated Concentration of Erythritol Aqueous Solution Temperature Saturated Concentration 80 ℃ 73.2% by weight 60 ℃ 61.8〃 40 ℃ 46.8〃 20 ℃ 33.2〃 If the supersaturation of the erythritol aqueous solution that causes crystal precipitation is too high , It is easy to produce fine crystals during the crystal growth, and it is easy to obtain products with irregular crystal grain sizes. In such a case, the cooling rate of the erythritol aqueous solution is controlled to prevent the degree of supersaturation from becoming excessive.

When 1% by weight of powdered caramel was dissolved in an aqueous solution of erythritol at a temperature of 70 ° C. and a concentration of 50% by weight at room temperature to precipitate crystals by the standing crystallization method, the crystals were formed in about 6 hours. A caramel-immobilized composition having a particle size of about 1 to 3 mm was obtained. The solids yield in this case (ie Was 30%.

Further, in order to produce an immobilizing composition while adding an additive component containing a scent component and preventing the scent component from being dispersed, the additive component is added to a saturated erythritol saturated aqueous solution at a relatively low temperature (for example, 55 to 40 ° C.). Is added, and a small amount of erythritol microcrystals is added as a seed crystal, and the crystals are precipitated by the above-mentioned standing method, whereby crystals containing an additive component containing a scent component are obtained. When this is used as a seed crystal to grow crystals in a supersaturated erythritol solution (no additional component), crystals containing an additional component containing a scent component and an outer layer composed of only erythritol crystals formed on the outer periphery of the crystal Since crystals of two kinds of structures are obtained, it is possible to obtain an immobilizing composition in which the scent component is not easily dissipated.

Further, by adding a coloring matter for coloring food and drink to precipitate crystals in the same manner as described above, a core crystal containing the coloring matter,
Crystals having a two-layer structure with an outer layer formed of crystals of only erythritol formed on the outer periphery thereof are obtained, and the crystals have a beautiful appearance colored with a dye.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.

Example 1 Concentration of erythritol 400 g dissolved in water 50% by weight
4 g, 8 g, 20 g, or 40 g of caramel (product of Ikeda Saccharification Co., Ltd.) was added to and dissolved in each erythritol aqueous solution. When each of the obtained aqueous solutions was cooled from 70 ° C. by cooling at room temperature, crystals were easily precipitated without adding seed crystals. After culturing for 8 hours, each crystal was separated from the mother liquor, and the sugar solution adhering to the crystal surface was washed with cold water to obtain 75 crystals.
It was vacuum dried at 0 ° C. for 3 hours.

The obtained crystals (fixed composition) have caramel contents as shown in the table below, and all have a beautiful crystalline appearance, and are low-calorie, non-cariogenic sugar for coffee. Was preferred.

Example 2 Concentration of erythritol 400 g dissolved in water 50% by weight
20 g of instant coffee powder (product of Nestle Co., Ltd.) was mixed well with the erythritol aqueous solution, and an aqueous solution prepared by adding a small amount of erythritol microcrystals as seed crystals at 45 ° C. was left standing at room temperature to precipitate crystals while cooling. Let

The obtained crystal (immobilized composition) was used as a seed crystal and further grown in an erythritol supersaturated solution. The obtained crystallized composition had a beautiful crystalline appearance composed of two layers, a core crystal containing instant coffee and an outer layer crystal consisting of erythritol only. The obtained crystals and instant coffee powder (product of Nestle Co., Ltd.)
The results of examining the water absorption and the appearance after standing in the air at 30 ° C. and RH 79% for 1 week are shown in the table below.

Example 3 Concentration of erythritol 400 g dissolved in water 50% by weight
0.5 g, 1.0 g, or 2.0 g of commercially available food dye (Yellow No. 4 manufactured by San-ei Chemical Co., Ltd.) in erythritol aqueous solution of
Dissolved. The obtained 70 ° C. aqueous solutions were allowed to cool in the same manner as in Example 1 to precipitate crystals, and the dye contents in the obtained crystals were as shown in the table below.

All of the obtained crystals have a beautiful yellow crystalline appearance, and when dissolved in warm water, they do not float on the water surface like powder dyes and do not leave them as they are. It could be dissolved.

(c) Effect of the invention The immobilization composition of the present invention has little moisture absorption or deterioration when left in the air, has a beautiful crystalline appearance, is easy to use and handle, and has low calorie, It is non-cariogenic.

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Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A composition for immobilizing additive components for food and drink, which comprises a small amount of additive components for food and drink (excluding non-sugar sweeteners) in crystals of meso-erythritol and / or between crystals.