JPS5838142B2 - How to fix the green color of seaweed - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to a method for fixing the green color of seaweed.

Seaweed has a high content of vitamins and minerals, and also contains high-quality vegetable protein, making it an excellent food.

Therefore, it would be extremely advantageous if seaweed could be adapted to the current Westernized dietary habits and provided to the market as processed foods such as jams and juices.

However, when seaweed is heat-treated, it ends up turning brown as described below.

In other words, (1) When dried seaweed is put into boiling water, the heat-resistant red and blue pigments are destroyed, and the heat-resistant chlorophyll remains, turning it green.

(11) Furthermore, when heating is continued, magnesium is removed from the porphyrin ring of chlorophyll to form pheophytin, and the color tone changes from green to brown.

Due to the color change to brown during this heat treatment, the resulting product loses its brightness in appearance, which has the drawback of lowering its commercial value when offered to the market as a processed food.

In contrast, conventional methods for coloring food products a stable green color include using colorants such as sodium copper chlorophyllin, and alkaline treatment with sodium hydroxide to saponify and stabilize the chlorophyll in foods. A method of converting chlorophyllin into an alkaline salt, and a method of adding copper sulfate to convert chlorophyll in food into copper chlorophyll have been proposed.

However, it is not preferable to use synthetic food additives such as sodium copper chlorophyllin, and the use of synthetic colorants is not permitted by law, especially in seaweed.

In addition, by alkali treatment such as sodium hydroxide,
This was not desirable because there was a risk that the active ingredients in the food would be destroyed.

Copper sulfate was used to stabilize the green color of green peas and other plants, but its use is now prohibited due to its toxicity.

In this way, although seaweed has extremely excellent nutritional properties, there is no suitable method to improve the poor color after heat treatment in an aqueous solution. Only low-quality products could be provided to the market, and a solution to this problem was desired.

As a result of extensive research, the inventor of the present invention has determined that a very small amount of copper, which is completely harmless in terms of food hygiene, can be present in the food processing process without adding any synthetic colorants or chemicals, thereby making seaweed brighter. This led us to come up with a method for fixing the color green.

The method of the present invention consists of the following steps.

([) First, a trace amount of copper is added to the water or seasoning liquid in a container using an appropriate method, and the seaweed is added to the container and heated.

As a result, the red and blue pigments, which are sensitive to heat, are destroyed and the color tone of the seaweed changes somewhat.

The trace amount of copper can be present in the water or seasoning liquid by using a copper container or by placing a piece of copper in the container.

(11) When heating is continued further, the magnesium in the polyphyllin ring of chlorophyll replaces the copper eluted from the copper container or metal piece, and is converted to copper chlorophyll as shown below.

This copper chlorophyll has a bright green color and is stable to heat.

In this way, seaweed with a bright green color can be obtained.

When this seaweed is heated with the addition of an appropriate amount of sugar, pectin, and citric acid, it becomes a bright green and delicious seaweed jam.

Alternatively, if the seaweed is made into a paste using a homogenizer, water is added to the paste, and then an appropriate amount of fruit juice, sugar, citric acid, etc. are added and stirred, a bright green seaweed drink can be obtained.

Example 1 500rrL of water was placed in a copper pot and a glass beaker and heated to boil.

Add 2 sheets of black-brown dried seaweed to this and continue boiling.
The change in color tone was observed.

The observation results are as follows.

Immediately after boiling, both containers turn green, but if heating continues, the glass beaker turns brown, and the copper pot turns bright green.

Example 2 Take 1 liter of water in a glass beaker, bring it to a boil, add 10 to 40 pieces of metal containing copper and weigh about 4 g, and heat.

When the water came to a boil again, we added two pieces of dried seaweed, continued heating, and measured the time required for the color to turn bright green.

The measurement results are as follows.

The higher the amount of copper metal, the brighter the color becomes in a short time.

Example 3 Pour 1 liter of water into a copper pot and adjust the temperature to 50°C.

Two sheets of dried seaweed were placed in this, and the time required for the color to turn bright green was measured.

Measurements were made in the same manner at 60°C, 70°C, and 80°C.

The measurement results are as follows.

The higher the heating temperature, the brighter the green color becomes in a shorter time.

Example 4 Pour 300ml of water into a copper pot and bring to a boil.

Add about 2.5g of dried seaweed to this and continue boiling until the volume is about 50ml.

At this time, the seaweed is fixed in green.

Transfer this to a beaker and add 60g of sugar, 1g of pectin, and 0 citric acid.

After adding 5 g, the mixture was heated and the heating was stopped when the boiling temperature reached 104°C.

In this way, about 100 g of bright green seaweed jam was made.

Example 5 Pour 300 liters of water into a copper pot and bring to a boil.

Add about 2.5g of dried seaweed here and continue boiling until it reaches about 501ml.

At this time, the seaweed is fixed in green.

Put this in a homogenizer and make it into a paste.

Transfer to a beaker and add water to make approximately 100TLl.

Additionally, 25ml of apple juice, 10g of sugar, and 0.0ml of citric acid.
Add 29 and stir.

In this way, approximately 125 TLl of bright green seaweed beverage was produced.

Note that other algae, such as hitoegusa, wakame seaweed, and Suizenji nori, can be used in place of the seaweed, and these can be processed into jam, juice, etc. by the same method as described above.

Example 6 Pour 500 ml of water into a copper pot and a glass beaker and heat to boil.

Approximately 5 g of algae (approximately 50 g if fresh) was added thereto and continued boiling, and the color tone was observed after 30 minutes.

As algae, dried Hitoegusa (green algae), dried wakame (brown algae), dried seaweed, fresh seaweed (red algae), and dried Suizenji moss powder (blue-green algae) were used.

The observation results are as follows.

In both cases, the color becomes bright green in a copper pot, and brownish in a glass beaker.

As described above, the method for fixing green color according to the present invention utilizes the chlorophyll present in seaweed to make seaweed bright green in a safe and harmless manner from a food hygiene perspective, thereby greatly expanding the uses of seaweed as a processed food. Can be done.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method for fixing the green color of seaweed, which is characterized by heating seaweed in water or a seasoning liquid in the presence of copper metal.