JPH0653048B2 - Manufacturing method of low-calorie sugar containing stevia sweetener - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention controls the amount of Stevia sweetener added and the amount of increase in volume associated with granulation to maintain the sweetness per volume and reduce only calories. The present invention relates to a method for producing low calorie sugar.

Throughout this specification, "Stevia sweetener" is a sweet component extracted from Stevia rebaudiana Bartoni, a perennial plant of the Asteraceae family from South America, which includes stevioside and rebaudioside-A. And the like, which means a glycoside having a steviol skeleton consisting of several homologues thereof, and includes those in which at least a part of stevioside is converted to rebaudioside-A.

Background of the Invention Sugar is a typical sweetener that is added to various foods and drinks, tastes and the like, but in recent years, excessive intake of calories due to excessive use of sugar, and further obesity and poor health caused by it have been observed. There is a growing concern that there is a need for low-calorie sugar that retains the sweetness per unit volume and reduces only calories. In order to meet such a demand, low-calorie sugar obtained by adding a very small amount of stevia sweetener having a sweetness of about 100 times that of sugar to the sugar is in the spotlight.

Conventional technology and its problems Conventionally, in order to obtain low-calorie sugar containing stevia sweetener, an aqueous solution of stevia sweetener having a required concentration is sprayed on hard sugar such as granular sugar or granulated sugar under stirring to form particles of particles. A method of forming a coating layer of stevia on the surface (I) and a method of forming a coating layer of stevia sweetener on the surface of crystals by kneading crystalline sugar with an aqueous solution of stevia sweetener (II) have been proposed. ing.

However, in these methods, stevia sweetener is coated on the surface of sugar granules or crystals,
It was not stored inside the crystal. Therefore, when such stevia sweetener-containing sugar is used as, for example, coffee sugar, the stevia sweetener forming the coating layer is first dissolved, and a sweet taste peculiar to stevia, which is different from sugar sweetness, appears strongly. Therefore, until the sugar containing the Stevia sweetener was almost entirely dissolved, there was a feeling of strangeness in sweetness due to the Stevia sweetener.

In addition, since sugar is always processed in a solid phase in these production methods, it is extremely difficult to obtain a homogeneous stevia-sweetened product.

It is an object of the present invention to solve the above problems and provide a method for producing a homogeneous low calorie sugar containing stevia sweetener, which does not cause a feeling of strangeness in sweetness caused by stevia sweetener during use. .

Solution to Problem A method for producing low-calorie sugar containing stevia sweetener according to the present invention comprises a step of concentrating an aqueous solution of sucrose having a pure sugar rate of 85% or more until the boiling point thereof reaches 124 to 134 ° C. under atmospheric pressure, A step of adding an aqueous solution of stevia sweetener to the obtained concentrated sugar solution, a step of stirring the concentrated sugar solution and cooling by evaporating water to precipitate crystals, and crushing the obtained crystal powder and granules, The crushed product is dried and then classified to obtain granules.

The sugar produced by the method of the present invention is in the form of granules composed of fine crystals of sucrose having a stevia sweetener coated on the surface and containing the stevia sweetener inside. In the low calorie sugar thus obtained, the proportion of stevia sweetener is preferably 0.2 to 1.0% by weight of sugar. The reason is that if it is less than 0.2% by weight, a sufficient calorie reducing effect cannot be obtained, and conversely, if it exceeds 1.0% by weight, the volume of sugar must be increased to more than twice the normal volume. Because it is not practical. A particularly desirable ratio is 0.3 to 0.5% by weight.

Stevia sweetener is a highly safe natural product, has a sweetness that easily blends in with the sweetness of sugar, and is an extremely stable substance under heating conditions and a wide pH range when added to cooking, confectionery, beverages and the like.

Action and effect of the invention The production method according to the present invention comprises a step of concentrating an aqueous solution of sucrose having a pure sugar rate of 85% or more until the boiling point thereof reaches 124 to 134 ° C under atmospheric pressure, and stevia sweetness in the obtained concentrated sugar solution. Since it has a step of adding an aqueous solution of an ingredient and a step of stirring the concentrated sugar solution and cooling it by evaporating water to precipitate crystals, part of the stevia sweetener remains inside during the crystal precipitation process, It is stored in the crystal. Therefore, in the stevia sweetener-containing sugar according to the present invention, the elution ratio of sucrose in the dissolution process of sugar is higher than that of the above-described conventional stevia sweetener-coated sugar, and the sweetness peculiar to stevia sweetener is significantly weakened.

Further, since the production method according to the present invention comprises the steps of crushing the crystal powder after crystal precipitation, drying the crushed material, and then classifying to obtain granules, the obtained granular product has an extremely high dissolution rate. Indicates.

Therefore, according to the present invention, as described above, the weak sweetness peculiar to Stevia sweetener and the excellent solubility due to the granular form are combined, and the above-mentioned problem, namely, Stevia peculiar to It is possible to eliminate the unpleasant sensation of sweetness due to the sweetness.

Further, in the production method of the present invention, as described above, the concentrated sugar solution and the aqueous solution of stevia sweetener are stirred and mixed in the liquid phase, so that a product containing stevia sweetener which is homogeneous throughout can be obtained.

Furthermore, since the product obtained by the production method of the present invention is in the form of granules, it has excellent solubility as described above, and it is difficult to form a lump called "dama", and the volume accompanying granulation is reduced. By adjusting the amount of increase, it can be taken in the same amount as conventional sugar and used, which is extremely convenient.

Example Next, in order to demonstrate the above-mentioned effect, an example of the present invention and a comparative example showing a conventional technique will be given, and the results of a sensory test comparing these will be shown.

Example 500 g of white sucrose was placed in an evaporating dish, and 235 m of water was added thereto to dissolve the white sucrose by heating. The obtained sugar aqueous solution was cooled to room temperature, and then the pH of the solution was adjusted to 7.0 by adding an alkali.
Adjusted to.

While stirring the sugar aqueous solution in a large spoon, the evaporation dish was heated on high heat to concentrate the sugar aqueous solution. After 8 minutes, the aqueous sugar solution started to boil, and after 16 minutes, the boiling point reached 127 ° C., so the concentration was completed at this point, and a concentrated sugar solution having a water content of about 9% was obtained.

On the other hand, commercially available Stevia sweetener (trade name "SK Suite")
Sanyo Kokusaku Pulp Co., Ltd.) (20 g) was dissolved in 100 m of water to prepare an aqueous solution of stevia sweetener.
m was slowly added to the above concentrated sugar solution.

Then, the concentrated sugar solution was vigorously stirred to evaporate the water. As a result, the latent heat of vaporization was removed from the concentrated sugar liquid by the evaporation of water, and the liquid was cooled. Fine crystals of sucrose appeared on the wall of the evaporation dish about 1 minute after the start of stirring, and then the concentrated sugar was stirred for 2 minutes. The entire liquid turned into a slurry. When stirring was continued for about 4 more minutes, the slurry was cooled to about 50 ° C., and brittle powder particles of various sizes from powder to lumps having a diameter of 2 to 3 cm were formed.

The obtained granules were transferred from the evaporating dish to a metal plate having a flat bottom and sufficiently crushed with a metal roller. The obtained crushed product was air-dried at a temperature of 40 ° C. for 30 minutes with occasional stirring. Then, the dried crushed product was allowed to cool to room temperature, then classified with a 28-mesh (opening 590μ) sieve, and the residue on the sieve was crushed with a roller to repeat the classification, and all were passed through the sieve.

In this way, granulated Stevia sweetener-containing sugar (A) 494
g was obtained.

Comparative Example 1 This manufacturing method is the conventional manufacturing method (I) described at the beginning of this document.
Equivalent to.

In the production method of the above-mentioned example, the addition of stevia sweetener was not carried out, and the other points were the same as in the example to obtain 500 g of granular sugar.

Then, an aqueous solution of stevia sweetener (water 10
20 g in 10 m) and 10 m were sprinkled onto the above-mentioned granular sugar with stirring, and the surface of the granular sugar was coated with a stevia sweetener. The resulting coated granules were air dried at 40 ° C. for 60 minutes with occasional agitation and then allowed to cool to room temperature.

In this way Stevia sweetener coated granule sugar (B) 5
01 g was obtained.

Comparative Example 2 This comparative example is based on the conventional manufacturing method (II) described at the beginning of this document.
Equivalent to.

An aqueous solution of the stevia sweetener also used in the examples (20 g in 100 m of water) was added to 500 g of the white sucrose used in the examples.
10 m was slowly sprinkled under kneading and the kneading was continued for 20 minutes to coat Stevia sweetener on the surface of the crystals of upper sucrose. The resulting coated sucrose was air dried at 40 ° C. for 60 minutes with occasional agitation, and then allowed to cool to room temperature.
In this way, white sugar (C) 50 on Stevia sweetener coating
0 g was obtained.

Sensory test Next, the granular stevia sweetener-containing sugar (A), the stevia sweetener-coated granule sugar (B), and the stevia sweetener-coated white sugar (C) obtained by the production methods of the above Examples and Comparative Examples 1 and 2, respectively. ) Was subjected to a sensory test. The white sucrose (D) used in the examples was also tested.

The test method was as follows. Twelve panel members having a sensitive sensitivity to the sweetness peculiar to Stevia sweetener randomly selected 5 g of each sample of the sugar (A) (B) (C) (D) wrapped in a medicine packing paper. The samples were directly tasted and were numbered 1, 2 and 3 in order from the sample in which the sweetness peculiar to Stevia sweetener was strongly felt.

The test results are shown in Table 1 below.

As is clear from Table 1 above, the sugar (A) containing the granular stevia sweetener obtained in the Examples was the stevia sweetener-coated granule sugar (B) and the stevia sweetener-coated white sugar ( It can be seen that the sweetness peculiar to Stevia sweetener is weaker than that of C).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A step of concentrating an aqueous solution of sucrose having a pure sugar rate of 85% or more until the boiling point reaches 124 to 134 ° C. under atmospheric pressure, and a step of adding an aqueous solution of stevia sweetener to the obtained concentrated sugar solution. , A step of stirring the concentrated sugar solution and cooling by evaporation of water to precipitate crystals, and a step of crushing the obtained crystal powder and granules, drying the crushed material, and then classifying to obtain granules A method for producing low-calorie sugar containing stevia sweetener.