JPH0928341A - Production of tofu, apparatus for producing tofu and apparatus for continuously producing tofu - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and an apparatus and capable of producing a TOFU (bean curd) excellent in quality and taste and technology suitable for continuous mass production. SOLUTION: This apparatus for producing a TOFU is equipped with a coagulating frame 1 which is formed into a cylindrical shape having plural stages each with volume of one TOFU in the vertical direction and has a feed opening 16 for soybean milk at the lower part, a receiving face 26 which receives the under surface of TOFU sliding down from an opening part 21 at the lower end of the coagulating frame 1 and a shutter device 2 which openably and closably slides the opening part 21 at the lower end and cuts the TOFU 8 during closing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention is intended to produce uniform tofu with small dimensional errors and no entrainment of air bubbles, and to produce good-tasting tofu by using a difficult-to-use coagulant rationally. The present invention relates to a tofu production method, a tofu production apparatus, and a continuous tofu production apparatus which can be produced continuously and efficiently.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Tofu is produced by mixing a soybean milk formed from soybeans with a coagulant, coagulating it in a coagulation frame, and then, after demolding or cutting in a mold frame, to an appropriate size. However, in the case of mass production, the coagulation frame is enlarged, or a large number of coagulation frames of the size of one tofu are provided on an endless chain, and conveyed at a speed at which coagulation is completed at the end portion.
As a coagulant, calcium sulfate, which has a relatively slow reaction and is easy to handle, is used for high-temperature filling.

[0003]

However, in the case of using the conventional large coagulation frame, the tofu is cut to the size of one tofu. Since there are cuts, there are four cut surfaces in one tofu, and the size of the tofu is apt to cause errors in the bending condition of the cutter and in use, and with a solidification frame of the size of one tofu In the case of molding, a relatively long time is required before demolding in conjunction with the use of a slow-acting coagulant. However, there is a problem that a large object is required. In addition, there is no other way than to pour soymilk into the coagulation frame from above, so that there is also a problem that air bubbles are entangled and the quality is deteriorated.

[0004] In addition, when magnesium chloride (bits) is used, the taste is improved and the operation is carried out quickly with an immediate effect. However, it is not suitable for the conventional high-temperature filling method, and there is a problem that the production efficiency cannot be increased. . In addition, after adding magnesium chloride with immediate effect to low temperature soy milk and filling the coagulation frame, it is only necessary to apply electricity to the soy milk and perform Joule heating, but it is difficult to reach the optimum temperature by applying a constant voltage, and it is difficult to achieve the optimum temperature. There is also a problem that it is difficult to obtain a good coagulation and cannot give a good taste. In addition, in this Joule heating, conventionally, one kind of voltage, for example, 200
Although only V is applied from the beginning until the end of heating, in the case of soymilk, the higher the temperature, the lower the resistance and the greater the current flow. For this reason, the power supply equipment needs a large capacity, there is a problem that the temperature control is difficult,
If a low voltage is applied from the beginning, there is a problem that the reaction is slow and inefficient.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to produce high quality tofu having high dimensional accuracy and no defects. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for producing tofu, which can efficiently produce good-tasting tofu and are suitable for continuous mass production.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for producing tofu, comprising the steps of: coagulating soy milk into a state in which a plurality of tofu pieces are stacked in a mold; A vertically long tofu was formed, and the tofu was cut from the lower end of the mold at an appropriate thickness at the time of demolding.

[0007]

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tofu manufacturing apparatus comprising: a solidification frame formed in a cylindrical shape having a plurality of vertical stages having a volume of one tofu; and a lower end having a soymilk filling port; A receiving surface for receiving the tofu lower surface slid down from the opening; and a shutter for slidably opening and closing the lower end opening to cut the tofu when closed.

[0008] In the tofu manufacturing apparatus according to the third aspect,
The tofu manufacturing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the coagulation frame has an electrode facing substantially the entire length of the inside, and a power supply applied to the electrode is provided.

Further, in the tofu manufacturing apparatus according to the fourth aspect,
The apparatus for producing tofu according to claim 3, wherein the power supply is provided with control means for changing from a high voltage to a low voltage before the application is completed.

Further, in the tofu manufacturing apparatus according to the fifth aspect, in the tofu manufacturing apparatus according to the third or fourth aspect, the receiving surface is provided in an elevating table and is formed so as to be movable up and down from the shutter position to a lower set position. And provided on the upper surface of the piston.

In the tofu manufacturing apparatus according to a sixth aspect, a plurality of the tofu manufacturing apparatuses according to the fifth aspect are arranged and arranged, and the respective shutters are interlocked and detachably fitted to the respective pistons on the elevating table. A cylinder having both ends opened is provided, and the cylinder is reciprocated to the position above the pack of the packing device.

Further, in the tofu continuous production apparatus according to the seventh aspect, the tofu production apparatus according to the sixth aspect is arranged so as to be opposed to both sides of the packing apparatus and operated alternately.

[0013]

FIG. 1 shows a solidification frame 1, a shutter device 2, and a piston device 3. The solidification frame 1 has a corner having a size obtained by stacking a volume of one tofu in a plurality of stages in the vertical direction. It is formed in a tubular shape. As shown in the sectional view of FIG. 2, the solidified frame 1 has an electrode plate 1 in an insulating cylinder 11 made of transparent resin.
2, 13 are arranged facing each other. 14 and 15 are connection points of the power supply (not shown).
00V, switch to 100V halfway. This switching timing is set according to the soymilk temperature in the coagulation frame 1.
Note that this switching timing may be performed based on the set current value.

A filling port 16 for soymilk is provided at the lower end of the coagulation frame 1 so that a piston 18 is opened and closed by a cylinder 17. It should be noted that when the filling port is closed, the piston tip surface 19 is provided so as to coincide with the insulating cylinder inner wall surface 20 so as not to form an uneven surface.

The shutter device 2 also serves as a tofu cutting device, and is slidably held along the lower end opening 21 of the coagulation frame 1. In the figure, 22 is a support frame, 2
Reference numeral 3 denotes a thin plate-shaped shutter main body, which has an opening 2 (the state shown in FIG. 1) having the same size as the lower end opening 21 at the open position.
Four. Reference numeral 25 denotes an interlocking frame.

The piston device 3 raises and lowers the tofu receiving surface 26 and is mounted in a guide hole 28 of a lifting table 27. In the drawing, reference numeral 29 denotes a tofu cylinder, which is formed to have substantially the same size as the cylinder hole 30 and the receiving surface 26, and is arranged on the same axis as the lower end opening 21. The tofu cylinder 29 is moved up and down together with the elevating table 27. When the tofu cylinder 29 is raised, the upper end convex portion 31 is fitted into the lower end concave portion 32 of the support frame 22. 27, and moves toward the pack device 4. In this case, the piston device 3
Is lowered until the receiving surface 26 is flush with the lifting table 27.

FIG. 3 shows a tofu producing apparatus 5 in which the solidification frames 1 are connected in series in nine sets. In FIG. 3, 34 is a shutter driving cylinder connected to the interlocking frame 25. 35 is a lifting table driving cylinder,
36 is an interlocking frame of the piston device 3, 37 is a driving cylinder fixed to the elevating table 27 side and connected to the interlocking frame 36, 38 is a rodless cylinder fixed to the elevating table 27 side and driving the tofu cylinder 29 It is.

In the drawing, reference numeral 39 denotes a defoaming device, 40 denotes a cleaning nozzle device, and 41 denotes a moving device of the nozzle device.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11a denotes an upper end opening into which the defoaming device 39 and the cleaning nozzle device 40 are inserted. Also 11
b is an overflow processing port.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show a continuous tofu manufacturing apparatus 6 in which the tofu manufacturing apparatuses 5 and 5a are arranged on both sides of the packing apparatus 4. One side of the packing apparatus 4 is provided upstream of the apparatus. A pack supply device 7 for supplying the same number of empty packs as the number of solidification frames 1 arranged on the side is arranged, and a chain conveyor device 43 extends from the pack supply device 7 to the discharge position 42 via the pack device 4. Has been established.

As shown in FIG. 4, the packing device 4 has one elevating table 27 extending from one side and abutting on the side surface of the conveyor frame 44 so as to be able to move up and down.
The other elevating table 27a is extended from the other and abuts up and down freely. Then, the empty pack 45 from the pack supply device 7 is intermittently transported while being held with the upper opening 46 close to the upper surface of the conveyor frame 44.

In the present apparatus 6, when one of the tofu producing apparatuses 5 is cutting out tofu, the other tofu producing apparatus 5a is cleaned, filled with soy milk, voltage applied and coagulated until the tofu is cut out. Then, the tofu can be cut out continuously and the continuous operation is performed.

Next, the state of use of the apparatus will be described. Referring to FIG. 1, after cleaning is completed, the lower end opening 21 is closed by the shutter device 2 and the piston 18 is retracted by the cylinder 17 to make the supply port 16a open. The filling port 16 is opened and low-temperature (approximately 5 ° C.) soymilk is pressed into the coagulation frame 1. Therefore, the soy milk is filled from the bottom to the top, and air bubbles are not involved. At this point, the soymilk is in a state where magnesium chloride is added. After the soy milk is filled to a predetermined height, the supply port 16a and the filling port 16 are closed again by the piston 18.

Thereafter, the soymilk is added to the soymilk through the electrode plates 12 and 13.
An AC voltage of 00 V is applied. In this case, electricity is supplied until the temperature of the soymilk finally reaches approximately 80 ° C. to 90 ° C., but the set temperature before that (for example, 60 ° C. to 70 ° C.)
By switching the voltage to 100 V to suppress the rate of temperature rise, the final heating and coagulation state of soymilk can be accurately performed even when magnesium chloride, which reacts quickly, is used.

After the solidification by the two-stage heating is completed, the piston device 3 is raised and the receiving surface 26 is brought into contact with the lower surface of the shutter body 23 as shown in FIG. Thereafter, by sliding the shutter body 23 so that the opening 24 coincides with the lower end opening 21, the tofu in the coagulation frame 1 is brought down and placed on the receiving surface 26 by its own weight.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 7B, when the piston device 3 is lowered, the tofu 8 enters the tofu cylinder 29 together with the receiving surface 26 due to gravity, so that the thickness of the tofu becomes equal to one tofu. Stop at the point. FIG. 1 shows this state. After the entry of the tofu 8 is stopped, the shutter body 23 is closed as shown in FIG. As a result, the opening 24 comes off from the lower opening 21, and the tofu 8 is cut at that position, and the lower end opening 21 is closed.

Then, as shown in FIG. 7D, the piston device 3 is lowered until the upper surface of the receiving surface 26 coincides with the upper surface of the lifting table 27, and the upper end convex portion 31 of the tofu cylinder 29 is supported by the support frame. The elevating table 27 is lowered until the elevating table 27 is separated from the lower end recess 32 of the 22.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 7 (e), the tofu cylinder 29 containing the one tofu 8 is placed in the packing device 4.
On the elevating table 27 up to Then, the tofu 8 drops from the tofu cylinder 29 into the empty pack 45 because the tofu 8 is no longer supported at the stage when the tofu 8 has passed the conveyor frame 44. Thereafter, the tofu cylinder 29 is returned in the reverse process and mounted on the support frame 22, so that the next tofu is cut out.

As described above, in the continuous tofu manufacturing apparatus 6, since the soy milk is coagulated in the lengthwise direction with the thickness of one tofu, the cut is performed only once and the dimensional error is small. Tofu can be produced. Further, since the tofu is cut out in a state of being inserted into the tofu cylinder 29, no extra force is applied to the tofu and the damage can be reduced.

Since the soymilk is pressed into the coagulation frame 1 from below, there is no air bubble involved, and high quality tofu can be produced. Further, since the solidification frame 1 is formed of a transparent resin, the inside can be easily monitored.

Since soymilk is switched to 100V during heating at 200V, the amount of power can be kept low and the capacity of power supply equipment such as a transformer can be reduced. Further, since the heating rate is suppressed near the high temperature, the temperature can be easily monitored and the control can be performed accurately. In addition, this two-stage heating method enables the use of magnesium chloride, which reacts quickly,
This makes it possible to produce good-tasting tofu.

Since the tofu producing apparatuses 5 are provided on both sides of the packing apparatus 4 and operated alternately, the packed tofu can be continuously produced. Further, since the tofu is transported in the tofu cylinder 29, the operation in water is not required, so that clean packed tofu can be manufactured.

[0032]

As described above, in the method for producing tofu according to the first aspect of the present invention, the side surface of the tofu is always formed to a fixed size, and the tofu having good dimensional accuracy is provided. Can be manufactured. Further, since the equipment is provided in a vertical orientation, there is no need for a large installation place, and effects such as efficiency can be obtained.

[0033] In the tofu manufacturing apparatus according to the second aspect,
Because of the above configuration, the side surface of the tofu is always formed to a fixed size, and it is possible to manufacture tofu with high dimensional accuracy. In addition, since the equipment is vertically oriented, it does not require a large installation place, and is efficient. Further, since the shutter also serves as a tofu cutter, the structure is simplified. In addition, there can be obtained an effect that high-quality tofu can be produced without air bubbles being included in soy milk.

In the tofu producing apparatus according to claim 3,
Because of the above configuration, soy milk is heated with Joule heat to form tofu in a state where a plurality of tofu are vertically connected in a size of one tofu, and by cutting this one step at a time, a large area is not required. The effect that a plurality of tofu can be manufactured is obtained.

In the tofu manufacturing apparatus according to the fourth aspect,
By switching to a low voltage during the application of a high voltage, a large current does not flow even if the resistance value decreases due to a rise in the temperature of the soymilk, so that the capacity of the power supply equipment can be reduced and the temperature can be accurately determined. Can be controlled. This also makes it possible to use magnesium chloride, which reacts quickly,
The effect is obtained such that good-quality tofu can be produced.

In the tofu manufacturing apparatus according to claim 5,
Due to the above configuration, the tofu formed in the vertical direction by the solidification frame falls by its own weight, but is held on the receiving surface,
By setting the lower setting position to the thickness of the tofu, it is possible to obtain an effect that one tofu can be simply placed on the receiving surface without applying extra force.

In the tofu manufacturing apparatus according to claim 6,
Because of the above configuration, the tofu in the coagulation frame falls into the cylinder, so it is lowered with a piston until it reaches the thickness of one tofu, and the shutter is closed to cut one tofu in the cylinder. After being stored, it can be transported to an empty pack and dropped and supplied on the empty pack. Since the tofu is protected by the cylinder, it is not damaged, and an effect of always producing a beautiful packed tofu can be obtained.

In the continuous tofu production apparatus according to the seventh aspect of the present invention, since the above configuration is adopted, it is possible to produce clean packed stuffed tofu that does not lose its shape and does not require a wide area,
The effect is obtained that the electric equipment can also be manufactured efficiently and continuously with a small capacity.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a combination of a solidification frame, a shutter device, and a piston device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the solidification frame according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a tofu manufacturing apparatus in which nine sets of the solidification frame are connected in series.

FIG. 4 is a detailed view showing the above pack device.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing the continuous tofu manufacturing apparatus of the above.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing the tofu continuous production apparatus of the above.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the cutout state of the tofu in the order of (a) to (e).

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Solidification frame 2 Shutter device 3 Piston device 4 Packing device 5,5a Tofu manufacturing device 6 Continuous tofu manufacturing device 8 Tofu 12,13 Electrode 16 Filling port 21 Lower end opening 24 Shutter opening 25 Shutter interlocking frame 26 Receiving surface 27 , 27a Lifting table 29 Tofu cylinder 30 Cylinder hole 33 Interlocking frame of tofu cylinder 36 Interlocking frame of piston device

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Ken Imai 18 Yanagia Co., Ltd., 189, Oaza, Ube City, Yamaguchi Prefecture (72) Inventor Shigenori Yoshimatsu 18 189 Yoshioka, Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture Yanagia Co., Ltd. Within

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A method of solidifying soy milk into a state in which a plurality of tofu pieces are piled up in a mold to form a vertically long tofu, and cutting the tofu from the lower end of the mold to a suitable thickness at the time of demolding. A method for producing tofu, characterized in that: 2. A coagulation frame which is formed in a cylindrical shape having a plurality of stages of a volume of one tofu in a vertical direction and has a soymilk filling port at a lower end portion; and a tofu lower surface slid down from an opening at a lower end of the coagulation frame. A receiving surface; and a shutter for slidably opening and closing the lower end opening to cut off the tofu when closed. 3. The tofu manufacturing apparatus according to claim 2,
A tofu manufacturing apparatus, characterized in that the coagulation frame has electrodes facing substantially the entire length of the inside thereof and a power supply applied to the electrodes. 4. The tofu manufacturing apparatus according to claim 3,
An apparatus for producing tofu, characterized in that the power supply has a control means for changing from a high voltage to a low voltage before the application is completed. 5. The tofu manufacturing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the receiving surface is provided in an elevating table, and is provided on an upper surface of a piston formed to be able to move up and down from the shutter position to a lower set position. Characteristic tofu production equipment. 6. A tofu manufacturing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a plurality of the tofu manufacturing apparatuses are arranged and arranged, and cylinders having both ends opened to be removably fitted to the respective pistons on the elevating table while interlocking the respective shutters, A tofu manufacturing apparatus characterized in that the cylinder is reciprocated on a pack of a packing apparatus. 7. A continuous tofu production apparatus, wherein the tofu production apparatus according to claim 6 is arranged opposite to both sides of the packing apparatus and operated alternately.