JPH10150961A - Tea leaf of euonymus tricocarpus and its production - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain the subject tea leaf having a high geniposidic acid content and vitamin C content by cooling picked leaf of Euonymus tricocarpus as rapidly as possible while preventing the leaf from becoming stuffy, roughly cutting the leaf, boiling the cut leaf, roughly drying the boiled leaf, finely cutting the dried material and subjecting the cut material to roasting, etc., by infrared rays in post-processing. SOLUTION: The leaf of Euonymus tricocarpus picked so as not to fold or injure is put in a container having good ventilating property and gradually cooled to <=10 deg.C, preferably 1-4 deg.C as rapidly as possible while preventing the leaf from becoming stuffy and the leaf is retained at the same temperature and roughly cut into a material having about 2cm width, boiled and finely cut into a material having about <=5mm width and subjected to rough rolling, finish drying and finish rolling and roasted by far-infrared rays.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to tea leaves produced from leaves of Tonaka trees, that is, Tonaka leaves tea leaves and a method for producing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The bark of Tonakagi has been prized as an ancient Chinese herbal medicine, and its medicinal components have attracted attention. Recently, however, it has been found that not only bark, but also leaves of Tonaka tree, namely Tonaka leaves, contain large amounts of metal elements such as minerals, geniposidic acid as a medicinal component, and many medicinal components such as vitamins. As a result, the medicinal effects of the synergistic effect of these components have received special attention.In addition, due to the recent growing interest in health foods, this Tonaka leaf has been processed as a health food ingredient or herbal medicine, and further as a Tonaka leaf tea leaf. In addition, canned beverages and this tea leaf have been crushed and mixed with a bulking agent to be sold as tablet-like granular foods, or have been actively used as tea leaves in ordinary households.

[0003] In the same manner as in the process of processing tea leaves of traditional Japanese and Chinese teas, Tonaka leaf tea leaves are first picked from Tonaka trees and carried to a processing plant where they are steamed and shredded. , Rough rubbing, drying, fine rubbing, roasting, etc. to make tea leaves. In addition, powdered Tonaka leaf tea leaves, like the method of manufacturing matcha leaves in conventional Japanese tea, after the above roasting process Tonaka leaf tea leaves, powder manufacturing tools such as stone mortar and crusher, It is manufactured by crushing into a powder.
Further, in the case of producing a beverage in a can, the tea leaf is decocted to extract a tea leaf component, and then a liquid containing the tea leaf component is sealed in a can, followed by a sterilization step.

[0004] However, when the Tonaka leaves, which are the leaves of Tonaka trees, are picked from the Tonaka trees, from that point on, they rapidly begin to self-digest, ie, "humidify", due to the physiologically active substances such as enzymes contained in the leaves. It is known that the contained medicinal components and the like begin to decompose, and as a result of this autolysis, the color of the picked leaves changes rapidly from green like a leaf when it is in a living tree to brownish brown .

[0005] When this Tonaka leaf is steamed in a processing plant, the heat of the steaming deactivates physiologically active substances such as enzymes and inhibits or stops the autolysis function. At this time, decomposition and discoloration of the medicinal component are interrupted. However, during the subsequent shredding and rough rubbing processes, the medicinal ingredients contained in Tonaka leaf exude to the leaf surface together with the moisture contained therein, and this comes into contact with oxygen in the air, causing deterioration. It is also known to do.

[0006] Further, in the drying, rubbing and roasting steps, the leaves of the Tonaka leaves come into contact with oxygen in the air, and the medicinal components of the leaves are decomposed or browned due to factors such as temperature and time in these steps. Is also known to progress further.

[0007] As a result, the Tonaka leaf tea leaves processed by the conventional method have a color similar to that of black tea rather than green tea, and the medicinal component contained therein per 100 g of Tonaka leaf tea is at most a maximum. For example, vitamin C is 100m
g, geniposide acid is 1000 mg.

[0008]

However, there have been the following various problems in the conventional method for producing Tochu leaf tea leaves. That is, the leaf-leafing worker casually plucks the leaves from the Tonakagi, and usually pushes the plucked leaves into a basket or container made mainly of bamboo or the like without gaps. For this reason, the leaves produce a "humidity" phenomenon in baskets and containers, and the heat generated by the "humidification" phenomenon further promotes the self-digestion effect. When a wound is broken or a leaf is broken, sap oozes from the wound or broken part, and this sap is exposed to oxygen in the air and oxidatively decomposed, thereby promoting the decomposition of the medicinal components of tea leaves. The problem is that the leaves become more and more brown than green, which is the image of tea that many Japanese people have potentially.

[0009] The picked eucommia leaves are steamed as quickly as possible to inactivate vital substances such as enzymes which promote the self-digestion effect, inhibit this autodigestion effect, and remove the components contained in the eucommia leaves. Needs to be stabilized. However, the location where the Tonaka leaves are picked and the place where the steam is cooked are generally far away, and usually the picked Tonaka leaves must be transported to a distant processing plant. During this transportation, there is a problem that "humidification" is further promoted, the autolysis action is further promoted, the decomposition of the medicinal component is further promoted, and the browning is further promoted.

[0010] In addition, Tochu-yo leaves are different from the raw material leaves used in conventional Japanese and Chinese teas in that the leaf shape is considerably large.
The leaf veins are thick and large. Therefore, if the picked leaves are put in a steamer with the same size and steamed, it is not possible to uniformly heat up to the center of a large and large leaf vein. In addition, there is a problem that excessive heat is applied to thin portions around the leaves and thin portions of the veins, so that the medicinal component contained in Tochu leaves changes or decreases.

In the conventional production process of Tochu leaf tea leaves, the leaves are steamed and cooled, and then the leaves are 2 to 5 mm thick.
Shred to width, and perform rough kneading and drying. Tonaka leaves that have been steamed and cooled contain extremely large amounts of water, and during rough rubbing and drying,
The medicinal components contained in Tochu leaves exude to the surface of the leaves with water. Then, the medicinal component that has exuded on the leaf surface is oxidatively decomposed by oxygen in the air, and the browning of the leaf is further promoted.

In addition, a roasting process is required to remove the green odor inherent in tea leaves, to emit aroma peculiar to tea leaves, and to withstand storage by completely removing water. In the method, there are problems that a long time is required, uneven heating occurs, browning, and heat change of the medicinal ingredient are promoted.

[0013]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve these problems, the present invention comprehensively addresses the problems that occur in the steps of picking Tonaka leaves, transporting the picked Tonaka leaves, steaming, roasting and crushing. To solve the problem, the following method is adopted.

[0014] In order to solve the problem that the picked leaves generate an auto-digestion action and further promote the auto-digestion action due to the generation of heat, the container in which the picked tochu leaves are placed is an open container made of metal wire. To improve ventilation and prevent stuffiness. In addition, when picking the Tonaka leaves, if the leaves are scratched or broken, the sap will ooze from the wounds and broken parts, and this sap will be exposed to the air to solve the problem of oxidative decomposition, Leaves should be handled with care and not broken or damaged. Broken or damaged leaves are collected in a separate container and discarded as necessary.

[0015] In order to solve the problem that the "humidity" is further promoted during the transportation of the picked eucommia leaves and the autolysis is promoted, the eucommerated eucommia leaves are brought to 10 ° C or less as quickly as possible. Preferably, it is cooled rapidly to 1 to 4 ° C. In addition, the cooled Tonaka leaves are 10 °
C or lower, preferably transported to the processing site using a cold storage vehicle that can keep the temperature at 1 to 4 ° C. However, if the temperature is lower than 1 ° C., the picked leaves freeze and must be avoided.

If the picked leaves are put into a steaming machine and steamed in the same size, the heat cannot be uniformly heated to the center of the large and large veins, and excessive heat is applied to thin and thin veins around the leaves. In order to solve the problem that the medicinal component contained in the tobacco leaves undergoes a thermal change or a decrease, the tobacco leaves are roughly cut into, for example, 2 cm intervals with a shredder before the steaming step. By slicing Tochu leaves in this way,
The shredded Tonaka leaves are appropriately entangled with each other, the interval between the leaves is maintained, and the steam easily passes between the Tonaka leaves in the steamer, so that uneven steaming in the steaming process can be prevented.

The steamed and cooled Tonaka leaf contains a very large amount of water, and the medicinal components contained in the Tonaka leaf together with the moisture during the subsequent shredding, rough rubbing and drying steps of 2 to 5 mm width. In order to solve the problem that the medicinal component that oozes out on the leaf surface and oozes out on the leaf surface is oxidized by oxygen in the air and further promotes browning, it has a rough width of about 2 cm while the water content is high. Maintain the cutting state, the conventional 2-5mm
By performing a predetermined operation in a state of the shred width wider than the width, the cut area in contact with air is reduced, and the exudation of the medicinal component is reduced.

Further, the conventional roasting method using electricity, petroleum, etc., takes a lot of time, tends to cause uneven heating, causes browning, and the thermal change of medicinal components proceeds. To solve the problem, roasting is performed using a roaster equipped with a heating medium that emits far-infrared rays. This roasting using far-infrared rays enables uniform roasting and shortens the time, so that the progress of browning and the heat change of the medicinal component are reduced.

As described above, in the conventional production method, in view of the fact that Nakaha tea is brownish and that the pharmaceutically active ingredient is reduced by oxidation or thermal decomposition, the Tonaka leaf is plucked and the Tonaka leaf is removed. By solving the problems that occur in each of the transport, steaming, roasting and crushing processes, and by establishing a comprehensively combined manufacturing process, the green color originally possessed by Tonaka leaves is maintained as much as possible, The present invention provides a Tonaka leaf tea leaf containing a medicinal ingredient which is significantly improved as compared with conventional Tochu leaf tea and contains a high medicinal ingredient, and a method for producing the same.

[0020]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be illustratively described below. At first, pruning the Tonaka leaves from the moderately grown Tonaka trees. Put the picked Tochu leaves in a metal wire open container to improve ventilation and prevent stuffiness. In addition, when picking Tonaka leaves, if they are handled in a rough manner and damage the leaves or break the leaves, the sap will seep out from the wounds and broken parts, and this sap will come into contact with oxygen in the air to oxidize and decompose. As it occurs, treat Tochuyo with care and avoid breaking or damaging it. If the tree leaves are broken or damaged carelessly, store them in a separate container and discard as necessary.

[0021] Next, the picked eucommia leaves are transferred as quickly as possible (for example, transported to a dedicated cooling room or a cold storage room of a cold storage vehicle) to prevent the occurrence of self-digestion.
Cool rapidly to a temperature below ° C, preferably between 1 and 4 ° C. The tochu leaves thus cooled are transported to a processing plant while maintaining the temperature using, for example, an insulated truck. At this time, in order to avoid the picked leaves from freezing, it is necessary to take care that the temperature of the Tochu leaves does not become lower than 1 ° C.

[0022] Tochu leaves transported to the processing plant are roughly cut by a shredder equipped with rotating discs at intervals of about 2 cm, and this is steamed by a steamer. In this way, by cutting the Tonaka leaves roughly 2 cm in width, the roughly cut Tonaka leaves are properly entangled with each other, the leaves are kept at a predetermined distance, and the Tonaka leaves are steamed in a steamer. Steam is easy to pass through, and it is possible to prevent stuffiness in the steaming process.

Next, this roughed Tonaka leaf is put into a continuous steamer and steamed at 97 to 98 ° C. for 1.5 to 2 minutes in a short time. It is sent to a ventilation cooling chamber and is forcibly cooled to room temperature.

Next, the cooled Tochu leaves are roughly dried. As the first stage of the rough drying, the moisture is evaporated with hot air at about 100 ° C. while the leaf contains a large amount of moisture. After appropriate drying, the second stage of coarse drying is switched to low-temperature drying at around 60 ° C., and the leaves are dried to such an extent that the leaves no longer adhere to each other and are visually recognized as dry.

Next, the roughly dried Tonaka leaf is cut into a width of about 5 mm. The shredded Tochu leaves are further dried while roughly rubbing. By the above two-stage coarse drying process, approximately 5
Even when cut to a width of mm, almost no exudation of medicinal components and the like from the thin section is observed. After that, fine drying is performed while further finely rubbing.

Next, roasting is carried out using a roasting machine using far-infrared rays as a heating medium, and the roasting is continued until a peculiar smell of tea leaves is removed or a peculiar aroma is produced. Further dry until the moisture content is sufficient to withstand the moisture.

When powdered Tonaka leaf tea leaves are produced from the tea leaves produced according to the present invention, the roasting step is carried out in the same manner as in the conventional method for producing matcha leaves in Japanese tea. After that, it is produced by crushing Tonaka leaf tea leaves into powder by using a powder manufacturing tool such as a stone mill or a crusher. Further, in the case of producing a beverage in a can, the tea leaf is decocted to extract a tea leaf component, and then a liquid containing the tea leaf component is sealed in a can, followed by a sterilization step.

[0028]

According to the present invention, in the present invention, after the Tonaka leaves are removed, the Tonaka leaves are further removed by 10 ° during transportation.
C, preferably cooled to 1 to 4 ° C., and the low temperature control of Tonaka leaves is carried out by transporting the cooled Tonaka leaves to a processing plant using a cooler or the like while maintaining the temperature. For this reason, the problem that "humidity" is promoted or the autodigestion progresses is solved.In addition, by controlling at such a low temperature, the autodigestion can be extremely reduced, and the browning of tea leaves and the effect of the medicinal component are reduced. The problem of reduction was solved.

Prior to the steaming step, the eucalypt leaves are for example about 2 cm.
By roughing the interval, the shredded Tonaka leaves are properly entangled with each other, the interval between the leaves is maintained, and the steam easily passes between the Tonaka leaves in the steaming machine. By preventing unevenness, steaming for a short time becomes possible, and the problem that the medicinal component decreases during steaming can be solved. Also, about 2c
Rough drying is performed while keeping the m width. For this reason, tea leaves are
Since the width is wider than 5 mm, the entire cut area is small, the exudation of the medicinal component and the contact with oxygen in the air can be reduced, and the browning of the tea leaves and the decrease in the medicinal component can be solved.

In the roasting step, a roasting machine equipped with a heating medium that emits far-infrared rays is used. This solves the problem that the conventional roasting method requires a long time, causes uneven heating, causes browning to progress, and causes thermal change of medicinal components to progress. That is, the leaves of Tonakagi are 2.5 to 2
When receiving radiation of far-infrared rays of 5 microns, the material is resonantly absorbed at the vibration frequency specific to the molecules constituting the material, or is attenuated by scattering, and is converted into heat radiation energy, which is efficiently absorbed. In addition, since thermal radiation propagates without being absorbed by air, it reaches the surface of the object to be heated and is absorbed, and is immediately converted into thermal energy inside the Tonaka leaf. As a result, it is possible to heat and roast evenly within an extremely short time, and to solve the problems of browning tea leaves and reducing medicinal components.

As a result of the production by such a novel production process, the Tonaka leaf tea leaves according to the present invention include the Tonaka leaf tea leaves 10
It contains 3200 mg of geniposidic acid and 162 mg of vitamin C per 0 g, and is a reflection color by a color difference meter method. L is 53.6, a is -9.5, b is 22.1, and is almost ordinary green tea. Tonakaha tea leaves having the same color as the leaves (Japanese Food Analysis Center No. 0S59091)
393-001 analysis test results).

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. At least 2200 mg of geniposidic acid and at least 150 mg of vitamin C per 100 g.
Tochu leaf tea leaves characterized by containing. 2. The Tochu leaf tea leaf according to claim 1, wherein the reflection color has substantially the same hue as that of a normal green tea leaf. 3. Geniposide acid is added to 3200 per 100 g.
Tonaka leaf tea leaves, comprising about 162 mg of vitamin C and about 162 mg of vitamin C. 4. The Tochu leaf tea leaf according to claim 3, wherein the reflection color has a color tone substantially similar to that of ordinary green tea leaf. 5. Putting the leaves of the Tonaka tree, which has been removed so as not to hurt, in a well-ventilated transport container to prevent stuffiness during transport, cooling the leaves of the Tonaka tree to a temperature of 10 ° C. or less as quickly as possible; Transporting the leaves to a tea processing place while maintaining this temperature, cutting and cutting the leaves of the Tonaka tree to a width of about 2 cm, then steaming the leaves, cooling the steamed leaves of the Tonaka tree, Coarsely drying the cooled Tonaka leaf, then shredding the Tonaka leaf to a width of about 5 mm or less, finely drying and finely rubbing the shredded Tonaka leaf, coarsely drying and finely A method for producing Tonaka leaf tea leaves, comprising the steps of roasting using far-infrared rays as a heat source after rubbing. 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the rough drying step is performed for about 1 hour.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first step is performed at a temperature of 00C and the second step is performed at a low temperature of about 60C.