JPH1142065A - Production of plum salt - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To utilize plum vinegar which has been discarded as waste hitherto and obtain plum salt excellent in taste and useful for natural foods, seasoning, etc., for eating by formulating a specific condensed plum vinegar extract with common salt. SOLUTION: Concentrated plum vinegar extract obtained by desalting sodium chloride which is dissolved in plum vinegar produced when Japanese plum is salted by ion exchange membrane electrodialysis and evaporating excess water content is formulated with common salt containing 1.0-5.0 wt.% magnesium chloride to provide the objective plum salt. Furthermore, organic acid concentration of concentrated plum vinegar formulated with the common salt is preferably 20-70 wt.% expressed in terms of citric acid and a formulation amount of concentrated plum vinegar extract organic acid to common salt is preferably 2-10 wt.% expressed in terms of citric acid.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for producing a ume salt comprising a concentrated ume vinegar extract produced from ume vinegar by-produced in the process of producing ume dried and salt. The resulting plum salt is a natural food with a sour flavor,
It can be provided as an edible salt seasoning.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Plum fruit is not suitable for eating raw foods due to its strong acidity. Therefore, various processing methods have been devised since ancient times, and these methods have been continuously devised. Umeboshi, a representative of this classic processed product, has penetrated deeply into the Japanese dietary habits as a preserved food that improves fatigue and promotes appetite. Organic acids such as citric acid, malic acid, tartaric acid, etc. are good as healthy vinegar, such as not only recovery from fatigue and enhancement of appetite, but also aid in absorption of calcium from the intestinal wall, help in energy metabolism of food, etc. The goodness as a health food has come to be known. However, during the production process, raw plums are first salted, taken out a few months later, and re-pickled again with the seasoning liquid, a large amount of by-products called plum vinegar is generated, and some of these by-products are used as seasonings. However, most have been disposed of and discharged, causing river pollution, and measures are urgently needed. However, the components of plum vinegar are almost the same as plum meat components such as organic acids, amino acids, carbohydrates, and minerals in addition to salt, and effective use thereof is desired.

The main component of plum vinegar is about 20% by weight of salt and about 4% by weight of organic acids. Needless to say, plum salt as a natural salt can be easily taken out by evaporating water to dryness. Absent. For example, a method for producing a seasoning substance characterized by producing a seasoning liquid used in a process of producing pickles using vegetables and fruits as raw materials by evaporating the seasoning liquid (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2-9223).
5) Also, there is a description of plum salt in a plum seasoning which is produced by boiling plum vinegar containing white plum vinegar or red diso produced in the process of producing plum (JP-A-6-62790). However, when the water in the ume vinegar is actually evaporated, a crystal of salt is obtained.However, the coexisting components in the ume vinegar, especially saccharides mainly containing pectin, result in a solidified substance with caking properties. Granules obtained by mechanically crushing after completely removing water also absorb moisture in a short period of time, and the granules solidify with each other, making handling difficult in practice. Furthermore, in order to relatively reduce the proportion of components other than salt in plum salt, salt is added during the evaporation of water in ume vinegar, excess water is heated and evaporated, and the result is the same. Give a solid
Granules after crushing also had remarkable hygroscopicity and water absorption.

[0004]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to: 1) measures against river pollution in the umeboshi production area, 2) effective use of regenerated ume vinegar as a by-product, and 3) flavored natural foods and edible products containing natural ume vinegar extract components. In order to respond to social needs such as the provision of salt seasonings, as a result of intensive studies, it was found that plum vinegar can be used effectively.
As a result, it was found that plum salt as a natural food consisting of a plum vinegar extract component mainly composed of an organic acid and salt can be rationally produced and provided to the world.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] When salting plum fruit, ion-exchange membrane electrodialysis is performed on the by-product ume vinegar or on the ume vinegar produced as a by-product when marinated with a bitter salt containing magnesium chloride. The salt is desalted by the method, and the excess water of the obtained plum vinegar is evaporated and concentrated. Plum salt is produced by mixing and adjusting the concentrated plum vinegar extract and salt. By heating and drying as appropriate in some cases,
It is possible to produce free-flowing plum salt with low moisture content.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail. Plum vinegar, which is the object of the present invention, is prepared by salting raw plum so that the salt concentration is about 15 to 22% by weight, and a few months later, the plum is separated from the plum vinegar and shipped to a plum drying plant. The main components of the remaining plum vinegar are salt and organic acids such as citric acid, malic acid, tartaric acid, succinic acid, lactic acid, and acetic acid, glucose, fructose, sucrose, and pectic saccharides, and trace amounts of serine, alanine, and aspartic amino acids. It consists of a kind. The components of these plum vinegars are almost the same as the components contained in the plum meat. The total concentration of the organic acid mainly composed of citric acid is 3 to 6% by weight, and the sugar mainly composed of pectin is 0.3%.
1.51.5% by weight, amino acids 0.05-0.10% by weight, containing a very high concentration of active ingredient, may be considered as ume extract. However, plum vinegar has a salt concentration of 15-22.
It is salty to use as food as it is as high as weight%,
Because it is too sour, it is partially used as a seasoning liquid for pickles and the like, but most of it must be discarded.

[0007] In such plum vinegar, if even water is removed by evaporation, salt is crystallized first as crystals, and organic acids containing saccharides are simultaneously extracted as a viscous liquid. However, the ume salt obtained by simply concentrating and solidifying has viscous properties, is difficult to handle, and after completely evaporating and drying, the granular ume salt that is mechanically crushed, classified and taken out is short. Normal handling is very difficult because it absorbs moisture, absorbs water and solidifies over time. Plum salt is first treated with a filter to remove suspended matter, and then salt is desalted and removed by ion exchange membrane electrodialysis. Organic acids such as citric acid, malic acid, tartaric acid, succinic acid and glucose, fructose,
Saccharides such as sucrose and pectin do not permeate the ion-exchange membrane, and in terms of concentration, water permeates the ion-exchange membrane together with salt during desalination. Is concentrated. The desalting of ume vinegar by this ion-exchange membrane electrodialysis method is described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-24103 as "a method for producing a natural umeic acid flavoring agent". The concentration of the main components of desalted ume vinegar is 0.1-1.0% by weight of sodium chloride and 5% of citric acid.
~ 10% by weight, malic acid 0.3 ~ 2.0% by weight, tartaric acid 0.2 ~
1.0% by weight, lactic acid 0.1-0.5% by weight, glucose 0.1-
1.0% by weight, fructose 0.1-1.0% by weight, pH1.8-
2.4.

[0008] The desalted plum vinegar is used for further concentration.
Heat to 40-90 ° C, reduce pressure or evaporate in vacuo to reduce the water content as much as possible, and increase the concentration of organic acids, mainly citric acid and malic acid, to 20-70% by weight in terms of citric acid. When the organic acid concentration is less than 20% by weight, the wet state of the plum salt is remarkable due to the excess water that is mixed in at the same time when adjusting the combination with the salt. Not good because it separates. When this is heated and dried,
Plum salt becomes caking and hardens, making it extremely difficult to process. Therefore, the organic acid concentration is 20% by weight or more,
Desirably, the concentration is as high as possible. However, when the concentration of the organic acid is 70% by weight or more, the viscosity of the solution is increased, and the solution is in a syrup state. At this time, the range of the optimal organic acid concentration of the concentrated plum vinegar extract is slightly different depending on the kind of the plum vinegar as the raw material, particularly, the ratio of the contained saccharides such as pectic substance, glucose and fructose. Further, the method of evaporating the water content of the desalted ume vinegar may be any method such as evaporation drying by heating, vacuum evaporation drying, spray drying or freeze drying. The desalination thus obtained,
Concentrated plum vinegar extract contains various organic acids, carbohydrates, serine, alanine, amino acids such as aspartic acid, sodium,
It contains inorganic components such as potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, copper, and zinc, and is an extract of plum itself.
It can be said that it is a natural acidulant rich in minerals with plum's original aroma and acidity.

Next, the concentrated ume vinegar extract is converted into citric acid as an organic acid by adding to a separately prepared salt,
1010% by weight is adjusted and, if necessary, dried by heating and drying as necessary. Organic acids in concentrated ume vinegar are mainly citric acid, malic acid, tartaric acid, succinic acid, lactic acid,
Although acetic acid is included, the analysis as total organic acids does not analyze and measure individual organic acids, but performs neutralization titration with an alkaline solution, assuming that all organic acids are citric acid,
It is calculated as a citric acid conversion value. The type of salt used here does not matter, such as ordinary commercially available salt and imported raw salt, but salt having a relatively small particle size has better processability. The amount of concentrated plum vinegar in salt is 2
~ 10% by weight is a suitable amount. If it is less than 2% by weight, the aroma and sour taste of plum are poor, and if it is more than 10% by weight, the sourness is remarkably too strong. In addition, when the salt contains an appropriate amount of bittern component, that is, magnesium chloride, acidity is suppressed, and a delicious and delicious plum salt can be obtained. The amount of magnesium chloride in the salt depends on the amount of the organic acid in the concentrated ume vinegar, but is preferably about half of the organic acid, 1.0 to 5.0% by weight. In some cases, magnesium chloride may be mixed with concentrated plum vinegar, and the mixture may be adjusted with salt.

[0010] In the case of a slightly puffy and moist ume salt, it is only necessary to adjust the concentration of concentrated ume vinegar and salt, but it is necessary to further heat and dry to produce a smooth dry ume salt. However, in this case, the amount of water to be evaporated may be a few weight%, and a dried plum salt can be obtained at a low drying temperature in a short time. A drying temperature of 40 to 50 ° C and a flow drying time of about 30 minutes are sufficient. Dried plum salt has a slight caking property, but is easily broken down to the particle size of the raw material salt, has excellent workability, has low hygroscopicity and caking properties, Almost no caking is seen even when left undisturbed. The plum salt thus obtained has a taste with a sour taste, and can be greatly expected as a natural food or an edible salt seasoning. Hereinafter, examples of the method for producing a plum salt of the present invention will be described, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.

[0011]

Example 1 Raw plums were pickled, and after one month, the plum vinegar separated from the pickled plums was filtered through a filter, and then subjected to desalting treatment by ion exchange membrane electrodialysis to obtain plum vinegar from which dissolved salts were removed. . The main component composition of the desalted plum vinegar was as shown in Table 1.

[0012]

[Table 1]

Sodium and potassium were analyzed by flame photometry, magnesium and calcium were analyzed by atomic absorption spectrometry, and citric acid and malic acid were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography. Subsequently, the excess water of the desalted ume vinegar was concentrated under reduced pressure at 80 ° C., and converted to citric acid to obtain a concentrated ume vinegar extract having a total organic acid concentration of 45% by weight as measured by an alkali neutralization titration method. This concentrated ume vinegar extract was converted into citric acid and blended with 5% by weight of sodium chloride to prepare ume salt. This plum salt is a slightly wet granular substance, but has a mild acidity, is less salty, and can be expected as a flavorful edible salt.

[0014]

Example 2 The desalted ume vinegar prepared in Example 1 was concentrated at 80 ° C. under reduced pressure to remove excess water to obtain a concentrated ume vinegar extract having an organic acid concentration of 60% by weight. On the other hand, the imported raw salt is washed with a saturated aqueous solution of sodium chloride, dried, crushed, and classified, and the diameter is 0.2 to 0.4 mm.
Was prepared. A concentrated plum vinegar extract is added to this salt to adjust the organic acid concentration to 8% by weight in terms of citric acid.
Was obtained and dried at 50 ° C. for 1 hour. Since this dried plum salt was loosely solidified and found in a block shape, it was lightly crushed and then classified to produce a smooth plum salt. This plum salt has low hygroscopicity and caking properties, hardly shows any caking properties even when left for a long time, has a sour taste, and has a flavorful taste. It could be used as a salt seasoning.

[0015]

[Example 3] The concentration of organic acid was adjusted with respect to sodium chloride containing 1.0 wt%, 3.0 wt%, and 5.0 wt% of magnesium chloride using the concentrated umeic acid extract having an organic acid concentration of 45 wt% adjusted in Example 1. Plum salt was produced by adjusting the blending to 2.0% by weight, 6.0% by weight and 10% by weight so that the concentration became twice the concentration of magnesium chloride. All of this plum salt has a distinctly reduced bitterness inherent in magnesium chloride and a peculiar acidity of plum, has a low saltiness, and has a sweet taste. Was something.

[0016]

As described above, the ume salt according to the present invention is a pickled umeboshi, a Japanese traditional food, which has little utility value and has been discarded to become a polluting source of rivers. Is fully utilized. That is, ume vinegar is desalted with dissolved sodium chloride by ion exchange membrane electrodialysis,
Then, the excess water is evaporated and removed, and the concentrated ume vinegar extract obtained by removing and mixing is adjusted with salt to produce a natural food, an edible salt seasoning, which has been conventionally underutilized and discarded. It is an effective use of the natural resources called plum vinegar by reproduction, and it is also an effective recycling use with high social significance. The widespread use of plum salt greatly contributes to measures against river pollution caused by plum vinegar wastewater in the area where the plums are dried, and the social contribution is extremely large.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A concentrated plum vinegar extract obtained by desalting sodium chloride dissolved in ume vinegar produced when salted plum fruits are salted by ion exchange membrane electrodialysis, and then evaporating excess water. A method for producing plum salt, wherein the composition is adjusted from salt. 2. The method for producing ume salt according to claim 1, wherein sodium chloride dissolved in ume vinegar is desalted by ion exchange membrane electrodialysis. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the concentrated ume vinegar extract contains 20 to 70% by weight of organic acid in terms of citric acid. 4. The method for producing a ume salt according to claim 1, wherein the amount of the organic acid in the concentrated ume vinegar extract relative to the salt is 2 to 10% by weight in terms of citric acid. 5. A salt comprising magnesium chloride in an amount of 1.0 to 5.0.
The method for producing ume salt according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the ume salt is contained in an amount of 1% by weight. 6. The ume salt according to claim 1, wherein the ume vinegar produced when the ume fruit is salted is discarded and released to become a polluting source of a river. Manufacturing method.