JPH0752054B2 - Method for producing colored ice blocks - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention can be used for various purposes in place of a commercially available ice block, and further adds brilliance or exhibits a unique effect. The present invention relates to a method for producing a hard colored ice block without uneven color.

[Prior Art] Conventionally-colored ice includes iced confectionery represented by ice candy, and granular ice mixed in ice cream.

Ice lolly is obtained by adding syrup or pigment to water, placing it in a container having a diameter of 2 cm and a length of 12 cm and freezing by external cooling. Further, the granular colored ice is water in which a pigment is added and colored and is dripped into liquefied nitrogen and instantly frozen, and there is no color unevenness.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, the former has a soft ice quality and the unique luster of ice is not recognized, and the latter is hard, but its manufacturing method is at most 5 mm.
The size is about the corner.

In order to produce a commercially available colored ice block of about 30 x 60 x 120 cm, put colored water in an ice making can according to the usual ice making method and externally cool it with brine at about -10 ° C to form a colored ice block. And as ice crystals gradually grow,
The dye is segregated during the freezing process, and a large ice block that is uniformly colored throughout cannot be obtained. Therefore, a method for producing a uniformly colored ice block has not been found.

The present inventors have conducted intensive studies to obtain an ice mass that is uniformly colored as a whole, and as a result, a combination of indirect cooling from the outside and direct cooling with liquefied nitrogen or liquefied air gives an ice mass with relatively uniform color. I was discovered.

The present invention has been made based on the above findings, and is uniformly colored, and has a hard, unique luster of 100 kg or more, which does not have a heart-shaped heart ice, as seen in commercially available ice blocks at the center. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method capable of easily producing an ice block having the same.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention has been made to achieve the above object, and the gist thereof is a method for producing a colored ice block without color unevenness, in which water that has been uniformly colored by dissolving a pigment or the like is added to the outside by -5 ~
It is supplied at a speed sufficient to form a film-like ice layer on the inner wall of the ice making can that is cooled to -20 ° C, and liquefied nitrogen or liquefied air is dropped into the ice making can to form ice. It is in the method of making a colored ice mass that cools the layer.

[Action]

Since the method for producing a colored ice block according to the present invention has the above-mentioned structure, the supplied colored water touches the ice making can to form a thin film of ice, and the thickness gradually increases, so that the freezing force due to external cooling is not sufficient. Even if it becomes sufficient, since it is cooled from the inside by the liquefied nitrogen or liquefied air (hereinafter referred to as a refrigerant) that is dripped, the supplied colored water is further laminated on the surface of the colored ice layer to freeze, The water gradually freezes, and ice crystals do not grow, and therefore, segregation of the pigment does not occur, and a uniformly colored ice block is formed. Further, unlike the general ice making method, crystals are not gradually generated from the outside toward the center, so that a heart-shaped ice cube is not generated.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 shows an example of an apparatus for carrying out the method of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is an ice making can which is externally cooled by a spline of −5 to −20 ° C. A sprayer 4 for spraying colored water from the colored water storage tank 3 to the upper portion of the inner wall surface of the can is provided in the upper center of the ice making can 1. Further, a coolant supply pipe 5 for dropping the coolant 5a is provided inside the ice making can 1.

Furthermore, coloring water that accumulates at the bottom of the ice making can 1 without freezing
A suction pipe 7 is provided which sucks through the pump 6 and collects it in the colored water storage tank 3.

In order to make a colored ice block using this apparatus, first, colored water is manufactured and filled in the colored water storage tank 3, but there is no limitation on the type of pigment used, and for example, a colored ice block used for ice engraving or the like can be used. In the case of producing, if it is well dissolved in water, it is selected according to the beauty of color, and in the case of being used for food, in addition to food colorants, coffee, oolong tea, sencha, etc. are used. Further, in the case of crushing to make sherbet or the like, a sweetener is further added.

The prepared colored water is filled in the colored water storage tank 3 and kept at a low temperature in a range where it is never frozen. If this temperature is high, the amount of refrigerant used increases, which is economically disadvantageous.

The filled and cooled colored water is sprayed from the outside by the sprayer 4 to -5.
It is sprayed on the upper part of the inner wall of the ice making can 1 cooled to -20 ° C to form a thin film, which flows down toward the bottom, but in the process, it freezes in a film form. At this time, if the outside brine temperature exceeds -5 ° C, no freezing occurs while flowing down to the bottom, and if it is lower than -20 ° C, unnecessary brine is cooled and the economy is lost.

It is extremely important to freeze during flowing down from the upper part of the inner wall to the bottom part, and subsequently, the colored water spray-supplied forms a film-like ice layer on the surface of the film-like colored ice layer. In this way, the colored ice layers are stacked and the thickness increases toward the center. As the thickness of the laminated body gradually increases, the cooling effect of the brine 2 decreases, but since the refrigerant 5a is dropped in the ice making can 1, it is also cooled by this and the formation of the colored ice layer is continued. .

In this case, if the amount of the refrigerant is too large, the sprayed colored water is immediately frozen, air is blown in, and soft colored ice is formed. Further, when the amount of the refrigerant is small, the colored water is gradually cooled and crystals grow, so that the segregation of the dye occurs and the color unevenness occurs. That is, it is extremely important to adjust the supply amount of colored water and the supply amount of refrigerant.

Furthermore, if the colored water that does not freeze remains on the bottom of the ice making can 1,
When this freezes, the pigment segregates and color unevenness occurs, so it is continuously sucked by the suction pipe 7 connected to the pump 6 and returned to the colored water storage tank 3 so that the colored water remains in the ice making can 1. Try not to.

Since the colored ice chunks hung by such a method are formed by laminating thin colored ice layers, a large colored ice chunk that is evenly colored to the inside and has the unique luster and transparency of ice and is hard is obtained.

Example 1 A colored ice mass was produced using the apparatus shown in FIG.

First, 200 water was put into a colored water storage tank 3 equipped with a stirrer with an internal volume of 300, and 5 blue dyes (Hawaii blue) were added.
0 ml was added, cooled with stirring, and kept at 2 ° C.

In addition, an ice can 1 with a length of 30 cm, width of 60 cm, and depth of 120 cm is placed at -10 ° C.
It was soaked in brine 2 and fixed so as not to rise.

Next, while the liquefied nitrogen 5a was dropped from the refrigerant supply pipe 5 at a rate of 1 / minute, the sprayer 4 sprayed colored water at a rate of 0.5 / minute onto the upper portion of the inner wall of the ice making can 1. The sprayed colored water flows along the inner wall surface of the ice making can 1 and almost freezes up by the time it reaches the bottom, but a part of it does not freeze but accumulates at the bottom. This was continuously sucked by the suction pipe 7 and returned to the colored water storage tank 3. At this time, it is necessary to gradually pull up the suction pipe 7 as the colored ice is piled up. In this way, 25 hours after the start of spraying the colored water, the inside of the ice making can 1 was entirely frozen.

The obtained ice block, weighing 135 kg, was colored in a uniform blue color throughout, and had a gloss and transparency unique to ice and was hard ice.

The following differences are observed when this colored ice is compared with ice lollies.

Test pieces A and B each having a size of 1 cm 3 were cut out from the colored ice blocks and ice lollies and kept at -5 ° C.

These colored ice block test pieces and ice lolly test pieces B
Was dropped on the concrete floor from a height of 1 m,
The test piece A was not broken and the test piece B was crushed into pieces.

Further, when the test pieces A and B were placed on a newspaper and the characters were seen through ice, the test piece A could clearly read the characters through ice, but the test piece B could not read the characters at all.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, the method for producing a colored ice block according to the present invention,
Large, solid colored ice blocks with no color unevenness and the unique luster of ice can be obtained, so replace sculptures made of normal ice used for parties and other purposes with sculptures colored in the desired color. Because it is possible, the splendor is greatly promoted. A colored ice block made by using an edible colorant, a sweetener, etc. can be crushed as desired to make a frozen dessert such as a frappe or a sherbet. May be. Furthermore, when amber colored ice is added to the whiskey water mix, the color of the water mix does not dilute even if the ice melts.

Thus, the colored ice block produced by the method of the present invention has no heart ice, can be used for the same purpose as a normal ice block, and in addition to adding brilliance, sherbet,
It is an excellent method for obtaining colored ice blocks that are used as ice for water splitting, etc. and have the characteristics of enhancing each effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of an apparatus for carrying out the method of the present invention. 1 ... Ice can, 2 ... Brine, 3 ... Colored water storage tank, 4
...... Atomizer, 5 …… Refrigerant supply pipe, 5a …… Liquefied nitrogen or liquefied air (refrigerant), 6 …… Pump, 7 …… Suction pipe.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method for producing a colored ice block having no color unevenness, wherein water uniformly colored by dissolving a dye or the like is cooled to -5 to -20 ° C. from the outside, the upper part of the inner wall of an ice making can. In addition, while supplying at a rate that can form a film-like ice layer on the inner wall of the ice making can, liquefied nitrogen or liquefied air is dropped into the ice making can to cool the ice layer. Method of manufacturing ice blocks.