JPH1175787A - Production of vegetable juice fermented in low salt concentration - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain the subject juice suitable for a beverage without breaking nutrients contained in a vegetable by fermenting the vegetable in a low salt concentration. SOLUTION: This method for producing a juice fermented in a low salt concentration comprises adding salt (preferably rock salt) in an amount of <=1.5 wt.% based on the weight of a vegetable to the vegetable (preferably cabbage), fermenting the vegetable under pressurization (preferably a pressure of one to three times the weight of the vegetable), recovering the obtained fermentation juice and, if necessary, subsequently seasoning the recovered fermented juice. It is preferable that a pH-lowering agent, a glutamate and the like are added to the vegetable, before the vegetable is fermented. The fermentation temperature is preferably 10-40 deg.C. The juice may be added to foods such as jelly, sherbet, ice creams or the like.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to fermented vegetable juices. More specifically, the present invention relates to a fermented vegetable juice obtained by subjecting vegetables to lactic acid fermentation without sterilization or heat treatment under low salt and pressure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the spread of eating out and the spread of instant foods, it is easy to eat, but nutrients such as fresh vitamins, dietary fiber, and minerals necessary for maintaining human health tend to be insufficient. If these nutrients are deficient, they are more susceptible to lifestyle-related diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.

[0003] By the way, since these nutrients are contained in a large amount in vegetables, active intake of vegetables has been proposed. However, vegetables are not yet fully consumed, and vegetables are often shunned because of their unique green odor or habit. Under such circumstances, attempts have been made to process vegetables to easily ingest vegetables, and vegetable juices are also being studied.

[0004] By the way, most of the vegetable juices currently on the market are obtained by squeezing vegetables, and the peculiar green odor and savory taste of vegetables are not eliminated, and the nutrients of vegetables are difficult to drink. It cannot be said that it has been sufficiently removed. In order to eliminate such drawbacks, attempts have been made to ferment vegetable juice to eliminate the peculiar green odor and habit of vegetables and to make it easier to drink, that is, to study fermented vegetable juice.

[0005] Fermented vegetable juices are produced by subjecting vegetables or vegetable juices to lactic acid fermentation mainly using lactic acid bacteria to improve storage stability and flavor. This method is roughly classified into two methods. One is a method of fermenting by adding lactic acid bacteria, and the other is a method of fermenting vegetables without adding lactic acid bacteria.

Of these, recent advances in fermentation technology have
The former method, that is, a method of fermenting by adding lactic acid bacteria is mainly used. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-170933 discloses that vegetables are cut, crushed, ground, or squeezed into juice, then subjected to hot water treatment, sterilization treatment, and lactic acid fermentation by adding lactic acid bacteria. Is disclosed. Furthermore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-9928 discloses that a vegetable is similarly crushed by a mixer, lactic acid bacteria are added to the crushed product, fermentation is performed, and then yeast is added and further fermented. In this method, since no salt is added, it is necessary to sterilize other microorganisms in advance in order to grow various bacteria. Thereafter, lactic acid bacteria are added, and the lactic acid bacteria are selectively grown. And by the heating operation for this sterilization,
The disadvantage of this method is that the nutrients contained in the vegetables are destroyed by heat. Furthermore, since no salt is added in this method, the fermented liquid obtained has a poor taste and aroma, and it is considered that fermentation different from fermentation performed by adding salt is performed. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-9928, saccharides are added to the fermentation liquor to sterilize by heating. This is to eliminate the smell or green odor of vegetables,
In addition, nutrients are degraded.

On the other hand, the latter method, that is, a vegetable fermented liquid obtained by fermenting vegetables using lactic acid bacteria adhering to the vegetables as they are without adding lactic acid bacteria to the vegetables, is contained in the vegetables. Nutrients are included without loss. Therefore, such a method is desired. However, at present, there has been little research on fermented vegetable juice production methods for fermenting vegetables without adding lactic acid bacteria, due to the difficulty of fermentation.

By the way, New Food Industry 7: 28-30 (1
966) describes that cabbage is subjected to lactic acid fermentation to obtain pickles (so-called Sauerkraut), and that the fermented liquid (fermented vegetable juice) is used as a beverage. However, in this document, fermented vegetable juice is described as a by-product of Sauerkraut, and a production method intended for fermented vegetable juice is not described. For example, since the fermented vegetable juice described in this document is obtained by fermenting cabbage with a salt concentration of 2.25% or more, the salt concentration in the fermented liquor is 2% or more. Not suitable as desired low salt beverage. Further, although this document describes that the salt concentration is low (1.7%), the sensory characteristics as a pickle are inferior, but there is no description of what fermentation solution was obtained. Even after that, almost no reports have been made for 30 years on attempts to reduce the salt concentration to produce pickles and to use the fermented liquid as a beverage.

One of the causes is considered as follows. First, the vegetables naturally (without adding lactic acid bacteria)
When fermenting, leaching the moisture of vegetables into the fermentation liquor,
It is necessary to prepare an environment in which only lactic acid bacteria can grow, and for that purpose, it is necessary to add a large amount of salt having an osmotic action and a bacteriostatic action. On the other hand, what modern people demand is low salt fermented vegetable juice, which requires low salt fermentation technology. Therefore, it is considered that a technique for fermenting vegetables under a low salt concentration could not be established. Therefore, there has been a demand for a method for producing a natural fermented vegetable juice containing nutrients in vegetables without destruction as they are under low salt conditions.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for producing a natural fermented vegetable juice which is fermented at a low salt concentration, preferably without the addition of lactic acid bacteria, and without destroying nutrients in the vegetables as they are.

[0011]

Specifically, the present invention provides the following steps: (1) a step of adding salt to a vegetable in an amount of 1.5% or less of the weight of the vegetable; A method for producing fermented vegetable juice, comprising: a step of fermenting vegetables; and (3) a step of collecting a fermented liquid obtained in the fermentation step of (2).

In a preferred embodiment, the method further comprises a step of adding a flavor to the recovered fermentation liquor. In a preferred embodiment, the salt is rock salt. In a preferred embodiment, the pressing is from about 1 to about 3 times the weight of the vegetables.

In a preferred embodiment, a pH-lowering agent is added before the step of fermenting the vegetables under the pressure.
Alternatively, glutamic acid or a salt thereof is added. And, in a preferred embodiment, the fermentation is performed at a temperature between 10 ° C and 40 ° C.

[0014] In a preferred embodiment, the fermentation is performed in the presence of an enzyme that degrades the cell wall of vegetables.

In a most preferred embodiment, the vegetable is cabbage and the fermented juice obtained is a cabbage fermented juice.

In a preferred embodiment, sugar is added before the step of fermenting the vegetables under the pressure. In a preferred embodiment, the sugar is a lactic acid bacteria metabolizable sugar and / or a non-metabolizable sugar. Then, lactic acid bacteria may be added before the step of fermenting the vegetables under the pressure.

[0017] The present invention also relates to a fermented vegetable juice produced by the above production method. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a beverage obtained by further fermenting vegetable juice with acetic acid fermentation, citric acid fermentation and / or alcohol fermentation. The present invention also relates to a fermented vegetable juice and / or a beverage obtained by mixing the juice obtained by further performing acetic acid fermentation, citric acid fermentation and / or alcohol fermentation with a vegetable juice not subjected to lactic acid fermentation. Also, the present invention provides a fermented vegetable juice,
In a preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a food containing a beverage obtained by further subjecting the fermented vegetable juice to acetic acid fermentation, citric acid fermentation and / or alcohol fermentation, and / or a beverage obtained by mixing the juice or the beverage with a vegetable juice not subjected to lactic acid fermentation. The food is jelly, sorbet,
It is frozen yogurt or ice cream.

Further, the present invention provides the following steps: (1) a step of adding salt to the vegetable in an amount of 1.5% or less of the weight of the vegetable; and (2) fermenting the vegetable under pressure. And low-salt pickles obtained by the method comprising:

[0019]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION According to the present invention, salt is added to vegetables in an amount of not more than 1.5% by weight, the vegetables are fermented under pressure, and the resulting fermented liquor is recovered. A fermented vegetable juice, wherein the fermented liquid is seasoned.

The vegetables used in the present invention are not limited as long as they are edible vegetables. Vegetables can be used alone or in combination of two or more. As the vegetables, vegetables that do not become a juice even when shredded or crushed are suitable. Examples include, but are not limited to, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, cucumber, lettuce, carrot, spinach, parsley, komatsuna, brussels sprouts, turnips, radish, peppers, tomatoes, kale, tomorrow leaves, moloheiya, and the like. Cabbage is particularly suitable when used as a beverage because it contains a large amount of anti-ulcer vitamin U. In addition, the present inventors have found that red cabbage, which has never been attempted before, can be fermented while maintaining the red color, so that red cabbage can be suitably used. Therefore, a normal cabbage fermented liquid and a red cabbage fermented liquid can be mixed. Hereinafter, the present invention will be described by taking cabbage as an example, but it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to a cabbage fermented liquid.

First, the vegetables are cut into a suitable size, or crushed and made into a state close to powder. For cutting, crushing, etc.,
A known method such as using a slicer is applied. It is preferable to cut as small as possible in order to be well blended with salt and to facilitate leaching of water during fermentation. In particular, when the salt concentration is low, the smaller the salt concentration, the better. However, if it is too small, there is a problem in filtration or centrifugation of the fermentation liquor.
Taking cabbage as an example, cabbage is usually cut to about 2 mm in the production of Sauerkraut, but in the present invention, it is further divided into 5 to 10 portions (that is,
It is preferable to shred it to a size of about 0.4 mm to 0.2 mm).

When cabbage is fermented into pickles (sauerkraut), it is usually necessary to carry out a so-called shirring step, a step of leaving the cabbage to remove moisture. However, when the fermented solution is obtained by low-salt fermentation, the leaching step is not always necessary in consideration of the leaching of water out of the cells.

In the present invention, salt is added for the purpose of adjusting the osmotic pressure and bacteriostatic action of bacteria other than lactic acid bacteria. For the purpose of obtaining pickles, a high salt concentration is preferable, but in the juice of the present invention, the salt content is reduced as much as possible. Therefore, in spite of lowering the salt concentration, it is the present invention that the osmotic pressure adjusting effect and the bacteriostatic effect of bacteria other than lactic acid bacteria are effectively functioned as in the case of the high salt concentration, and fermentation is performed. . In the present invention, salt is added so as not to exceed 1.5%, preferably 1.0% of the weight of the vegetables. If the concentration is such that the moisture of the vegetables will leach during fermentation,
It may be 1.0% or less, and is preferably as low as possible from the viewpoint of beverages. The added salt is mixed well with the cut vegetables. Preferably, using a mixer or the like,
Knead the vegetables with salt. As the salt, purified salt or unpurified salt containing various minerals such as rock salt is used. It is also possible to use a salt solution containing 50% of potassium chloride. Since these rock salts contain various minerals, fermentation is promoted,
Beverages also contain minerals to enhance nutritional value.
Salt may also be added as saline, but in this case the leaching water will result in a slightly lower component concentration in the resulting fermentation liquor. When using a saline solution, it is effective to combine with a cell wall treatment described later.

The function of salt while lowering the concentration of salt (osmotic pressure adjustment and bacteriostatic action of bacteria other than lactic acid bacteria)
In order to function effectively, a substance having an osmotic pressure adjusting action and a bacteriostatic action of bacteria other than lactic acid bacteria, instead of salt,
Alternatively, it can be added together with salt. As such a substance, a saccharide that cannot be metabolized by lactic acid bacteria but increases the osmotic pressure, for example, pentose (xylose, arabinose, ribose, etc.), or a reducing polymer carbohydrate, for example, starch is used. In addition, lactose or galactose which is not preferred by lactic acid bacteria adhering to plants is also used. Care must be taken when using reducing polymer carbohydrates, since anaerobic bacteria such as Clostridium or spoilage bacteria may grow. The amount to be added may be determined in consideration of the osmotic pressure.

Vegetables mixed with salt are soaked in wooden, plastic, concrete, or metal barrels or fermenters. In consideration of the fact that the fermentation liquor becomes acidic, it is preferable that each of the barrels is subjected to an anticorrosion treatment. The pickled vegetables are pressurized. Pressurization is primarily intended to prevent vegetables from coming into contact with oxygen. Therefore, it is common to use a plastic sheet or the like and weigh it from above, but the weight is preferably water in a plastic bag. This is because it can be brought into close contact with the shape of the surface of the pickled vegetables, and the air can be completely shut off. Pressurization is possible up to about 10 times the vegetable weight. Pressurization of about 1 to about 3 times the weight of the vegetables is preferred. When using a 4-doo barrel (about 60-70 cm in diameter), 7
Since cabbage of about 5 kg is contained, a weight of about 75 kg is applied. However, since it is difficult to place such a weight, a pressing machine such as an air press is used instead of the weight. About 3 times (225kg) by using an air press machine
Pressure can be applied. The anaerobic condition is maintained by cutting off the contact with the air to prevent the occurrence of film-forming yeast, to prevent the generation of offensive odor and to prevent the growth of putrefactive bacteria.

Before the pressure treatment (that is, before the start of fermentation), at the time of mixing the salt and the vegetable, or before and after the mixing,
Reducing agents can also be added. This is to create an environment in which lactic acid bacteria can preferentially grow. Examples of the pH lowering agent include hydrochloric acid, gluconic acid, and sorbic acid. Gluconic acid is preferred because it suppresses acidity and promotes the growth of bifidobacteria. These pH-lowering agents are preferably added in an amount of about 0.1% to 1.2% by weight based on the amount of vegetables, and 1% by weight of gluconic acid and 0.3% by weight of other organic acids. preferable. Alternatively, the pH reducing agent is preferably added so that the pH of the initial leachate is less than about 4.0. Glutamic acid or a salt thereof can also be added for preferential growth of lactic acid bacteria. The amount of glutamic acid to be added is about 0.1% to 0.5% by weight, preferably about 0.2% by weight, based on the vegetables.

In addition, an enzyme that decomposes the cell wall of the vegetable can be added before or after mixing the salt and the vegetable before the pressure treatment. Examples of these enzymes include pectin degrading enzymes (eg, polygalacturonase, pectin lyase, pectin esterase, protopectinase, etc.), and cellulolytic enzymes (eg, cellulase, hemicellulase, etc.). These enzymes can be used as a mixture, and a preparation containing protopectinase, hemicellulase, and cellulase is suitably used. These are about 0.
It is added in an amount of about 2% to 0.001%, depending on the degree of purification of the enzyme. By the addition of such enzymes, nutrients contained in the cells of the vegetables are eluted in the fermentation solution in a large amount, so that not only fermented vegetable juice with high nutrients can be obtained, but also these enzymes can be added to the vegetable cell wall (membrane). As a result of the action, a beverage containing a large amount of cellobiose, cellooligosaccharide, and the like is provided, and the effect of imparting functionality to the juice is obtained. In particular, in the case of cabbage, vitamin U having an anti-ulcer effect
Is contained in the fermentation broth in a large amount, and the conventional Sauerkraut fermentation broth contains a small amount of nucleic acid components or glutamic acid, thereby enriching nutrients. When polygalacturonase is used, water leaches from vegetables and the pH gradually drops when fermentation starts, but since the optimal pH of this enzyme is on the alkaline side, the reaction may end before the pH drops. preferable. Therefore, it is preferable that the enzyme and cabbage are mixed well and treated for a certain period of time, and it is preferable to dissolve the enzyme in salt water before use.

Further, sugar can be added before or after mixing the salt and the vegetables before the pressure treatment. Addition of sugar is useful when fermenting vegetables having a low sugar content. Therefore, when fermenting vegetables (for example, cabbage) containing 3% by weight or more of sugar, it is not necessary to add sugar. However, the addition of sugar may have the effect of promoting fermentation and adding sweetness to the beverage, and may be added. The sugar to be added may be any sugar as long as it is used for the growth and fermentation of lactic acid bacteria, for example,
Examples include, but are not limited to, sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose, and the like. These sugars are preferably added so that the sugar content is about 3% by weight in total with the vegetable sugar content, but may be higher.

In addition, a lactic acid bacterium may be added at the time of mixing salt and vegetables before or after the pressure treatment. This lactic acid bacterium can function as a starter. As such a lactic acid bacterium, for example, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus brevis, or the like is used alone or in combination.

After the above treatment and preparation, the fermentation step is started. Fermentation can be carried out at a temperature lower than 10 ° C., but is generally performed at a temperature between 10 ° C. and 40 ° C. in consideration of the fermentation rate and the growth of lactic acid bacteria. Conventional fermentation at a high salt concentration has been described as being carried out at 16 ° C to 21 ° C. However, under the low salt conditions of the present invention, it has been found that fermentation is sufficiently carried out even at 25 ° C to 30 ° C. The fermentation period may be determined by the fermentation temperature, and the acidity of lactic acid in the fermentation solution may be measured, and the fermentation may be stopped when the fermentation liquid reaches a desired value. The acidity is preferably about 0.5 to 2%, more preferably 1.0% to 1.5%. If it exceeds 2%, the acidity becomes too strong.

The fermentation can be stopped by adding sugar. Such saccharides include oligosaccharides that cannot be metabolized by lactic acid bacteria, such as maltooligosaccharides, chitooligosaccharides, fructooligosaccharides, or sugar alcohols such as sorbitol. Such an oligosaccharide can contribute to improving the function of the fermented liquid as a beverage.

After completion of the fermentation, the fermented liquid is recovered. Known methods, such as centrifugation, squeezing, and filtration, can be applied to the recovery of the fermentation liquor. When the salt concentration in the fermentation solution is high, the salt concentration may be reduced using an ion exchange membrane or the like, if necessary.

The fermented liquid separated and purified in this way is directly used as a fermented vegetable juice in beverages. In addition, various seasonings, for example, sweeteners such as granulated sugar, honey, and sorbitol, alcohol, citric acid, malic acid, tartaric acid, flavors, pigments, and the like can be added to obtain a fermented vegetable juice having a desired taste. .

The fermented vegetable juice thus obtained is used as a health drink because it contains lactic acid bacteria alive. Further, it can be stored after being subjected to a heat treatment or a sterilization treatment. In the case of sterilization, it is preferable to sterilize at as low a temperature as possible in order to maintain various nutrients. In the case of cabbage, anti-ulcer vitamin U is contained in a large amount, but unless heated on the alkali side, vitamin U is kept stable.

Further, if the obtained fermented juice is mixed with vegetable juice which has not undergone lactic acid fermentation, for example, ginseng juice or mixed vegetable juice of ginseng, celery, parsley, etc., a juice having a higher nutritional value can be obtained. Can be. The mixing ratio is arbitrary. Also, this mixed juice can be sterilized under sterilization conditions of 100 ° C. or less without complete sterilization at 120 ° C. for 4 minutes. For example, sufficient sterilization can be performed even under sterilization conditions of 85 ° C.

Further, the fermented vegetable juice thus obtained can be further fermented with acetic acid, citric acid or alcohol to give a desired flavor to make a new beverage. Methods for acetic acid fermentation, citric acid fermentation or alcoholic fermentation are well known.

Further, the fermented vegetable juice produced by the above production method, and this fermented vegetable juice is further subjected to acetic acid fermentation.
Beverages that have been subjected to citric acid fermentation and / or alcohol fermentation, or beverages in which these juices or beverages are mixed with vegetable juices that have not undergone lactic acid fermentation, may be included in the food alone or in combination. For example,
Jelly can also be mixed with agar or the like, and can also be made into sherbet, frozen yogurt or ice cream.

Further, in the case of vegetables chopped to about 1 to 2 mm, if they are collected after fermentation, they can be used as low salt pickles. In particular, cabbage offers a lower salt concentration than conventional Sauerkraut.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described by taking cabbage as an example, but it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to this embodiment.

[0040]

【Example】

(Examples 1 to 11) Except for the core of cabbage, the outer surface is washed, and the leaves are cut into small pieces of approximately 1 mm or less. A predetermined amount of salt is added to 2 kg of the cut cabbage, and the salt is well observed and pickled. Additives were added to this and fermented as needed. Table 1 shows the processing conditions and the results when fermenting at 27 to 29 ° C. for 9 days. In each case, the fermentation was successful, and about 600 ml to about 800 ml of a savory fermentation broth was obtained. In Example 11, fermentation was performed using red cabbage. In Comparative Example 1, the conventional high salt concentration;
25%.

[0041]

[Table 1]

(Example 12) The components of Examples 1 and 11 of the obtained fermentation broth were analyzed. Table 2 shows the results. This result indicates that the fermented liquid of cabbage contains a large amount of vitamin U. The vitamin U concentration in Example 9 was 70.1 mg / 100 g. By treating the cell wall with a cellulase preparation,
Was found to be included a lot. This indicates that there is a very high possibility that many components such as other amino acids are also eluted. In addition, vitamin U was measured by the amino acid analyzer (OPA method).

[0043]

[Table 2]

(Example 13) 300 m of the fermented liquor of Example 1
l, granulated sugar 32g, honey 23g, sorbit 4
0 g, 4.5 ml (3.6 g) of alcohol and 0.75 g of citric acid were mixed and centrifuged to obtain a supernatant. This juice was fragrant and easy to drink.
Further, the supernatant which was subjected to a heat treatment at a temperature of 80 ° C. (center temperature), cooled, and then centrifuged was also an easy-to-drink juice.

(Example 14) 120 ml of fermented liquid of white cabbage of Example 1 and 180 of fermented liquid of red cabbage of Example 11
ml, mixed, seasoned as in Example 13, and centrifuged without heating. The juice had a clear red color and was very easy to drink. The juice that had been heat-treated in the same manner as in Example 13 was also very easy to drink.

[0046]

According to the present invention, a method for fermenting vegetables at a low salt concentration is provided. Further, a method is provided in which fermented vegetable juice having a high salt concentration and difficult to be used as a beverage can be reduced in salt concentration to be suitable for a beverage.

Claims (18)

[Claims] 1. The following steps: (1) adding salt to the vegetable in an amount of 1.5% or less of the weight of the vegetable; (2) fermenting the vegetable under pressure; and (3) Recovering the fermented liquid obtained in the fermentation step (2). 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of seasoning the collected fermentation liquor. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the salt is rock salt. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the pressurization is 1 to 3 times the weight of the vegetables. 5. The production method according to claim 1, wherein a pH-lowering agent is added before the step of fermenting the vegetables under the pressure. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein glutamic acid or a salt thereof is added before the step of fermenting the vegetables under the pressure. 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the fermentation is performed at a temperature between 10 ° C. and 40 ° C. 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the fermentation is performed in the presence of an enzyme that degrades a cell wall of a vegetable. 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the vegetable is cabbage. 10. The production method according to claim 1, wherein sugar is added before the step of fermenting the vegetables under the pressure. 11. The method according to claim 11, wherein the sugar is a lactic acid bacteria metabolizable sugar and / or
11. The production method according to claim 10, wherein the production method is a non-metabolizable sugar. 12. The method according to claim 1, wherein a lactic acid bacterium is added before the step of fermenting the vegetables under the pressure. 13. A fermented vegetable juice produced by the production method according to any one of claims 1 to 12. 14. A beverage obtained by further subjecting the fermented vegetable juice according to claim 13 to acetic acid fermentation, citric acid fermentation and / or alcohol fermentation. 15. A beverage obtained by mixing the fermented vegetable juice according to claim 13 and / or the beverage according to claim 14 with non-lactic acid-fermented vegetable juice. 16. A food containing the fermented vegetable juice according to claim 13, the beverage according to claim 14, and / or the mixed beverage according to claim 15. 17. The food according to claim 16, wherein the food is jelly, sorbet, frozen yogurt or ice cream. 18. The following steps: (1) adding salt to the vegetables in an amount of 1.5% or less of the weight of the vegetables; and (2) fermenting the vegetables under pressure. Pickles obtained by the method.