JPH07102084B2 - Method for improving flavor of roasted cacao mass - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method for improving the flavor of roasted cacao mass used as a raw material for chocolate and cocoa. More specifically, it is unpleasant taste such as astringent taste and astringent taste. It relates to a method for improving the flavor of roasted cacao mass with significantly reduced content.

(Prior Art) Generally, chocolate is one of the sweets most favored by consumers, and usually contains 10 to 40% by weight of cocoa mass. This cocoa mass is the most important raw material for determining the flavor of chocolate, along with dairy products, sugars, etc., which are raw materials for chocolate. Cocoa is also a processed product of cacao mass, and its flavor is determined by the quality of cacao mass. Usually, cocoa mass is produced by roasting cocoa beans, removing the shell, and then polishing.

As a conventional method for improving the flavor of cacao mass, a method of improving the roasting method and a method of treating the cacao mass after roasting have been known. As a flavor improving technique by improving the roasting method, specifically, a method developed by the inventors of the present invention, in which the pH of the cocoa beans is adjusted during roasting of the cocoa beans, or reducing sugar or the like is added to the cocoa beans. Method of adding flavor to improve Maillard reaction and improve flavor (Japanese Patent Publication Sho 53-31943)
Gazette), a method of adsorbing ammonia gas to cacao beans and roasting (Japanese Patent Publication No. 62-25013), and a method of adsorbing oxygen gas to cacao beans and roasting (Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-56975). )was there. In addition, as a technique for improving the flavor of cacao mass after roasting, a thin film heat exchanger is used, and the roasted cacao mass is made to flow down in a thin film in a stirring container, and air is countercurrently contacted with the roasted cacao mass in the roasted cacao mass. There was a method of escaping the volatile organic acid, volatile unpleasant flavor, water and the like.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) A method for improving the flavor of cacao mass by promoting the Maillard reaction disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 53-31943 mentioned above aims to improve the flavor of low-quality cacao beans having a strong sourness. However, the effect obtained by this method is at most close to the quality of normal cocoa beans, and it was not intended to remove the unpleasant taste component in cocoa mass that causes an astringent taste, astringent taste and the like. Further, in the method disclosed in JP-B-62-25013, that is, in a method of roasting cocoa beans after adsorbing ammonia gas on cocoa beans, ammonia gas acts as a flavor substance precursor (precursor),
Although the flavor of roasted cocoa mass is improved by increasing the generation of pyrazine-based flavors and changing the quality of flavor, this method also did not reduce the unpleasant taste components in cocoa mass. Furthermore, said Japanese Patent Publication 61-56975
According to the method of roasting cocoa beans after adsorbing oxygen gas disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication, the flavor unique to cacao increases and unpleasant tastes such as astringent taste and astringent taste are slightly reduced. Since the time is short, it is not sufficient to eliminate unpleasant tastes such as astringent taste, and since cacao mass beans being roasted at a product temperature of 110 to 150 ° C are supplied with oxygen gas at a concentration of 40% by volume or more, explosion-proof From the viewpoint of the above, the apparatus becomes complicated, and it is inevitable that the cost becomes high for industrial implementation. Furthermore, in the method of using the conching treatment or the thin film heat exchanger described above which is usually performed in the production of chocolate,
A portion of the volatile organic acids, volatile unpleasant flavors, and the preferred flavors escape with the escape of water at the same time, causing the original flavor balance of the cacao to be lost, impairing the desirable cacao flavor to some extent. The unpleasant taste components present in the stir-fried cacao mass remained almost without escaping. As described above, the roasted cocoa mass according to the conventional technique has unpleasant taste components such as astringent taste and astringent taste as a result, which has been a factor of deteriorating the quality of chocolate. In particular, sweet chocolate with a large amount of roasted cocoa mass has a strong unpleasant taste, which is one of the reasons why consumers do not like it. Even chocolate containing a small amount of roasted cocoa mass contains unpleasant taste components, so that it is not possible to provide consumers with truly high-quality chocolate. Even in cocoa containing roasted cacao mass as a main ingredient, unpleasant taste components remain as in the case of chocolate, so it has been desired to provide roasted cacao mass with less unpleasant taste components.

(Means and Actions for Solving the Problems) The inventors of the present invention have conducted extensive studies to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and as a result, the roasted cacao mass is subjected to a simple treatment to obtain an astringent taste, an astringent taste, and the like. We succeeded in industrially advantageously producing roasted cocoa mass exhibiting a good flavor by reducing the unpleasant taste components that cause the above, and completed the present invention.

That is, according to the present invention, the above problem is the temperature of roasted cocoa mass obtained by crushing roasted cocoa beans by a conventional method, while maintaining the temperature of 40 ~ 60 ℃, the roasted cocoa mass oxygen gas It is solved by a method for improving the flavor of roasted cacao mass, which comprises the step of blowing in. Further, this oxygen gas treatment is preferably carried out by uniformly including fine oxygen gas bubbles of 0.5 mm or less in the roasted cocoa mass, and further, the oxygen gas treatment is preferably carried out in a closed system with stirring.

The method for improving the flavor of roasted cocoa mass according to the present invention is to blow oxygen gas into roasted cocoa mass obtained by crushing roasted cocoa beans by a conventional method to uniformly disperse oxygen gas bubbles, and then hold for a certain period of time. By doing so, unpleasant taste components such as astringent taste and astringent taste in the roasted cacao mass are reduced. It is generally said that the unpleasant taste components such as astringent taste and astringent taste present in roasted cacao mass are attributed to tannins. The details of the mechanism of action of why the unpleasant taste of roasted cocoa mass is reduced by oxygen gas treatment are unknown, but free tannin is probably caused by oxidative polymerization of tannins, which is probably the cause of unpleasant taste, by oxygen gas. It is considered that the amount of unpleasant taste is reduced, and as a result, the unpleasant taste such as the astringent taste that is sensually felt in the mouth is reduced. Therefore, the reduction of unpleasant taste components in the roasted cocoa mass is considered to be due to the oxidative polymerization reaction of tannins, so it is presumed that the above oxygen gas treatment method for promoting this oxidative polymerization reaction is effective.

As the oxygen gas treatment, for example, the roasted cocoa mass is stirred by a homogenizer under an oxygen gas atmosphere, whereby the oxygen gas bubbles are in a fine state of 0.5 mm or less, preferably as 0.05 mm or less bubbles in the roasted cocoa mass uniformly. It is preferable to disperse. As the oxygen gas bubbles are in a fine state of 0.5 mm or less, the contact area between the roasted cocoa mass and oxygen gas becomes large, and the oxidative polymerization reaction of tannins, which is an unpleasant taste component in the roasted cocoa mass, is significantly increased. As a result, the processing time is shortened. Further, as the homogenizer, for example, a high-speed stirring mixer having a large number of stirring blades that allows blown oxygen gas to exist in the roasted cocoa mass as fine oxygen gas bubbles is optimal. Oxygen gas bubbles in a fine state are retained in the roasted cocoa mass for a long time because the roasted cocoa mass has a relatively high viscosity and its rise and escape are suppressed. Therefore, for roasted cocoa mass in which fine oxygen gas bubbles are uniformly held, even if the blowing of oxygen gas is stopped afterwards, oxygen gas can be generated without a significant escape of oxygen gas bubbles simply by stirring with a homogenizer in the holding container. And the roasted cocoa mass can continue to react. Therefore,
According to the flavor improving method of the present invention, it is possible to carry out a sufficient reaction treatment with a small amount of oxygen gas and the necessary minimum power.

In addition, treating roasted cocoa mass with a small amount of oxygen gas does not only mean cost advantages. That is, in the roasted cocoa mass, volatile organic acids that cause the above-mentioned unpleasant taste and the like as volatile components, volatile unpleasant flavors, and also contain a lot of preferable volatile flavors related to the original flavor of cocoa. Therefore, if a large amount of oxygen gas is blown into the roasted cocoa mass for processing, desirable flavors will also escape at the same time when the oxygen gas is released, destroying the original cocoa flavor balance and possibly impairing the overall flavor. However, since the amount of oxygen gas for processing is small according to the method of the present invention, the escape of the desired flavor can be minimized. Further, if the method of the present invention is carried out in a closed system and with stirring, both of the above advantages, that is, reduction of the required oxygen amount and prevention of escape of a desired flavor become more remarkable. In the conventional method, for example, a method using a thin-film heat exchanger, roasted cocoa mass was treated at a high temperature of 90 ° C. or higher, so that the generation of secondary flavors and accompanying alteration of flavor were brought about. However, in the method of the present invention, since the roasted cocoa mass is treated at a product temperature of about 40 to 60 ° C. (heated to maintain the consistency), the above problems do not occur.

If roasted cocoa mass obtained by the method of the present invention is used as a raw material to produce chocolate or cocoa by a conventional method, an astringent taste,
A chocolate product or a cocoa product having an excellent original flavor of cocoa with reduced unpleasant taste such as astringent taste can be obtained.

(Examples, etc.) Next, the present invention will be described more specifically by way of Examples and Test Examples.

Example 1 Oxygen gas was blown into 50 kg of roasted cocoa mass obtained by a conventional method at a required time of 1 minute per hour (5.0 l /
Min), and mixed with a mixing stirrer (Oaks mixer) so that the diameter of the oxygen gas bubbles in the roasted cocoa mass would be 0.2 mm or less, and treated in a closed system for 10 hours (during processing, the roasted cocoa mass temperature is Kept at about 50 ° C).

A panel of 50 experts conducted a preference survey on the roasted cocoa mass after treatment.

In this preference survey, the roasted cacao mass (test product) after processing
It was performed by dissolving in 10 times the amount of hot water, tasting and evaluating the taste. As a control, roasted cacao mass (control product A) roasted in the air by substituting oxygen gas for the same treatment as above and untreated roasted cacao mass (control product B) were used. Shown in the table.

As is clear from Table 1 above, the roasted cocoa mass according to the present invention has been evaluated as having less astringent taste and a refreshing aftertaste. Further, no significant difference was observed between the air-treated roasted cocoa mass and the untreated roasted cocoa mass, and therefore, the effect of reducing the unpleasant taste is remarkably expressed only in the roasted cocoa mass treated by the method of the present invention. It turned out that I did.

Test example 1 Using the oxygen-treated roasted cacao mass according to the present invention obtained in Example 1 above, chocolate (test product) was produced by a conventional method in the blending ratio shown in Table 2 above, and a preference survey was conducted by a panel of 100 experts. It was As a control, a chocolate (control product) prepared by a conventional method was used in the blending ratio shown in Table 2 above, except that the normal roasted cocoa mass was used in place of the oxygen-treated roasted cocoa mass according to the present invention. The results of this preference survey are shown in Table 3 below.

As is clear from Table 3 above, the chocolate prepared from the roasted cocoa mass obtained by the method of the present invention has less unpleasant taste such as astringent taste than the chocolate prepared from the conventional roasted cocoa mass, Most of them evaluated that the aftertaste was refreshing and easy to eat.

(Effects of the Invention) (1) The method of the present invention can significantly reduce unpleasant taste components such as astringent taste and astringency contained in roasted cacao mass, and at the same time, change the desirable flavor of roasted cacao mass. It has the advantage that roasted cocoa mass with good flavor can be industrially implemented at low cost without the occurrence of secondary flavors.

(2) The unpleasant taste component in the roasted cocoa mass can be eliminated simply by uniformly adding fine oxygen gas bubbles of 0.5 mm or less to the roasted cocoa mass, which is extremely simple in processing operation.

(3) If the oxygen gas treatment is carried out in a closed system with stirring, the amount of unpleasant taste components in the roasted cocoa mass is significantly reduced with an extremely small amount of oxygen gas and almost no escape of the desired flavor of cocoa. Can be made.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method of blowing oxygen gas into the roasted cocoa mass while maintaining the temperature of the roasted cocoa mass obtained by crushing the roasted cocoa beans by a conventional method at 40 to 60 ° C. A characteristic method for improving the flavor of roasted cacao mass. 2. The roasted cocoa mass uniformly contains fine oxygen gas bubbles of 0.5 mm or less.
The method for improving the flavor of roasted cacao mass as described in 1. 3. The method for improving the flavor of roasted cacao mass according to claim 1, wherein the process of blowing oxygen gas into the roasted cacao mass is carried out in a closed system while stirring.