JPS6120259B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

The present invention relates to a method for producing bite-sized cheese. Conventionally, attempts have been made to manufacture cheese products into bite-sized pieces (approximately the size of a caramel) and twist-wrap the pieces. For example, in JP-A No. 50-155384, melted cheese is pressurized into a scraped-surface heat exchanger at a pump pressure of about 26.7 to 35.2 Kg/ ^cm2 , precooled to about 4 to 16 degrees Celsius, and then The cheese rope extruded from the nozzle heated to about 62 to 63 degrees Celsius is quickly cooled in a cooling tunnel of about -48 to -42 degrees Celsius using liquefied carbon dioxide, and the temperature of the cheese rope is reduced to about -9 degrees Celsius. A method of twist packaging after cutting into cheese pieces at ~-6°C is disclosed. Also, U.S. Patent No. 3,761,284 includes approximately
The bar-shaped cheese is pre-cooled to approximately 21.1-29.4℃ using a scraped-surface heat exchanger under high pressure of 11.6-13.7Kg/ ^cm2 , and then rapidly cooled using a blower cooling device to bring the temperature of the bar-shaped cheese to approximately -17.2 to approximately -17.2℃. A method is disclosed in which the product is heated to -12.2°C, cut into bite-sized pieces, and then packaged. However, according to the former method, the cheese rope with a product temperature of 4°C or more passes through a cooling tunnel of about -48 to -42°C using liquefied carbon dioxide in an exposed state, causing deformation and damage to the conveyor of the conveyor. There is a possibility that the product will leave marks and become undesirable in appearance, and there are food hygiene problems such as secondary contamination.Furthermore, the amount of refrigerant consumed is enormous, and there is also a problem in terms of economic efficiency. Furthermore, pre-cool to about 4-16℃ and cool to about 62-63℃.
Because the cheese rope is extruded from a heated nozzle, the fat that seeps out onto the surface of the cheese rope oxidizes and deteriorates, resulting in serious quality defects. In addition, both the former and latter methods require a special pump that can withstand high pressure because they are pre-cooled using a scraped-surface heat exchanger under high pressure, and a pre-cooling device is also essential. It was complex and enormous. The present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for efficiently producing high-quality bite-sized cheese without requiring complicated steps. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The structure of the present invention will be explained below based on the accompanying drawings showing embodiments. In the drawings, reference numeral 1 denotes cheese melted by a conventional method, which is put into a hopper 2 of a filling machine, and is continuously pushed through a nozzle 4 by a pump 3. On the other hand, a belt-shaped synthetic resin film 5 is made into a tube-shaped bag using a former 7 and a sealer 8 to form a film tube 6. The cheese 1 extruded from the nozzle 4 is filled into the film tube 6 to form a tube-filled cheese 9. do. The tubed cheese 9 is guided to rotating drums 12 and 13 immersed in a refrigerant tank 11 filled with a refrigerant 10, and is conveyed back and forth between the rotating drums 12 and 13 while maintaining properties suitable for film peeling and cutting in the next step. Cool for an appropriate amount of time until Next, the cooled tubed cheese 9 is guided by a guide roller 14 to a tubed cheese feed roller 15 of a film peeling device, and only the film is cut in the flow direction of the tubed cheese by a cutter 16 such as a knife cutter. Peeled from the cheese by a peeling roller 17,
The peeling film is taken up by a take-up roller 18. On the other hand, the rope-shaped cheese with a circular cross section from which the film has been peeled is guided to a cheese cutting device by a cheese guide roller 19, and cut into bite-sized cheese pieces 21 (approximately the size of a caramel) by a cutting machine 20 such as a rotary cutter. disconnected. The cut cheese pieces 21 are placed in a chute 22 and a guide 23
The product is supplied to the supply conveyor 24 of a twist wrapping machine (not shown) and twisted wrapped. As the resin for forming the film used in the film tube in the above method, it is preferable to use a resin such as a vinylidene chloride resin that is transparent, has high water resistance, has good heat resistance and chemical resistance, and has low gas permeability.
In addition, the temperature gradient in the process of cooling and solidifying cheese in tubes is preferably about 12 to 15 degrees Celsius per minute, and the temperature after cooling of cheese in tubes is 0 to 15 degrees Celsius per minute.
If the temperature is preferably 15°C or higher, the shape will collapse during cutting and the shape will lack uniformity. Furthermore, the refrigerant used in the refrigerant tank may be appropriately selected from a cooled aqueous solution of calcium chloride, alcohol, ammonium chloride, salt, etc., which are legally recognized as food additives. By adding a circulation regenerator, the refrigerant may be used economically. Next, examples of the present invention are listed. Example Melted cheese (temperature 70°C) in a conventional manner is charged into a hopper of a filling machine, and the cheese is filled into a tube made of a film strip to form a tubed cheese.Then, the tubed cheese is It was immersed and transported into a refrigerant tank filled with an aqueous calcium chloride solution at 15°C. The temperature of the tubed cheese was 0° C. when it was removed from the refrigerant bath after 5 minutes.
The film is then conveyed to a film peeling device, where the film is cut and peeled with a knife cutter, and the cheese rope is cut into bite-sized pieces of cheese with a rotary cutter.
It was then twisted and wrapped using a conventional confectionery packaging machine. The effects of the present invention will be listed below. (1) According to this method, since the cheese is filled in a film tube, it can be directly immersed in a liquid refrigerant and can be efficiently cooled. This cooling efficiency is also clear from the experimental results shown in FIG. 3, which show the relationship between cooling time and cheese temperature by various cooling methods. By the way, the thermal conductivity of air and liquid is 4-7Kcal/mh℃ in air natural convection, 300-400Kcal/mh℃ in liquid natural convection, and 2000-3000Kcal/mh℃ in liquid forced convection. Also, the specific heat is air 0.24Kcal/Kg℃, carbon dioxide gas 0.21Kcal/Kg
℃, 25% salt brine 0.98 kcal/Kg ℃. (2) When filling the tube with cheese, it is filled with highly fluid molten cheese at a high temperature of 70°C, so there is almost no need to apply pressure and no special pressure pump is required. In this regard, if you make a cheese rope by cooling cheese while extruding it using a surface scraping type heat exchanger, which is the conventional method, when the temperature of the cheese rope is cooled to 14℃ and it is extruded, the pressure will be about 35.2℃.
Kg/cm ² , and therefore, conventional methods required a special pump that could withstand high pressure. (3) Since the cheese is filled in a tube, there is no pressure difference between the surface and the center of the cheese, and the cut surface will not have an uneven shape no matter where you cut the cooled and solidified cheese into small pieces. A clean cut surface can be obtained without deformation. In this regard, when cheese rope is made by extrusion using a conventional heat exchanger, there is a time difference between the time for the cheese to cool and solidify between the surface of the cheese that contacts the inner wall of the cooling tube and the center of the cheese. Since the cheese is pressed under a high pressure of 35.2Kg/ ^cm2 , there is a large difference in internal stress between the surface and the center of the cheese. The cut surface of the small piece becomes uneven and deformed, greatly reducing its commercial value. In order to prevent this, it is necessary to cut the cheese rope coming out of the nozzle into bite-sized pieces after the internal stress has been completely relaxed. This had to be left unattended, resulting in poor production efficiency. (4) According to this method, since the tube is filled with molten cheese, there is no need for separate primary cooling and secondary cooling, and the product can be cooled to a predetermined temperature in one cooling step. In this regard, in the conventional method, in order to pass cheese through a cooling tunnel, the cheese must be cooled and solidified into a rope shape. It was necessary to make a cheese rope at a temperature of 10°C and further cool the cheese rope to a predetermined product temperature by passing it through a cooling tunnel as a secondary cooling. (5) According to this method, since the tube is filled with cheese, it does not deform, and the diameter of the cheese rope can be kept constant. In this regard, in the conventional method, a cheese rope with a temperature of about 4 to 16 degrees Celsius or about 21.1 to 29.4 degrees Celsius is made using a scraped surface heat exchanger and passed through a cooling tunnel, etc., but cheese at this temperature protects the cheese. If there is no tube to hold the cheese, it will be deformed by the weight of the cheese itself and external forces, and there is a possibility that conveyor marks will be left on the cheese, especially while passing through the cooling tunnel, which will greatly reduce the product value. It was hot. (6) According to this method, cheese is filled into tubes;
Since the cheese is cooled as it is, fat does not ooze out onto the surface of the cheese and oxidation and deterioration are less likely to occur.Also, since the cheese and the inner surface of the tube film are in close contact, when this film is peeled off, the surface of the cheese is dense. This creates a beautiful luster and greatly increases the product value. In this regard, the conventional method uses a surface scraping type heat exchanger to heat the nozzle of molten cheese to approximately 38 to 60°C, exude fat from the cheese, create a smooth surface, cool and solidify while extruding, and then Because the product is passed through a cooling tunnel, fat is artificially leached onto the surface. This oozing fat was oxidized by oxygen and ultraviolet rays, causing a serious problem. (7) In general, processed cheese begins to form a cheese structure when it is cooled to about 45℃, and as the temperature drops further, it becomes a stable structure. In addition, when high pressure is applied, the fat in cheese separates, but according to this method, melted cheese is filled into a tube and cooled to solidify, so the structure of the cheese is destroyed by mechanical stirring. Since it does not require much pressure, it is possible to obtain a good product in which fat does not easily ooze out from the cheese surface. In this regard, according to the conventional method, cheese ropes are made by extruding with a high pressure of approximately 35.2 kg/cm ² using a surface scraping type heat exchanger, so the extruded cheese ropes are very prone to fat oozing out. It was hot. The difference in the degree of fat exudation from the cheese surface between the present method and the conventional method is also clear from the following experiment. (Experiment) A composition according to the composition shown in the table below was prepared by a conventional method.
℃ to make molten cheese, cool and solidify the tube cheese by this method, and cool and solidify it while extruding it from a heat exchanger using a pressure pump using a conventional method, and then pass it through a cooling tunnel to separate the fat from the cooled and solidified cheese rope. When examining the extent, the table shows that there was a clear difference.

【table】

【table】

【table】 [Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a process outline diagram showing an example of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view showing the filling state of tube cheese, and Fig. 3 is a graph showing the relationship between cooling time and cheese temperature by various cooling methods. It is. 1...Cheese, 2...Hotsupa, 3...Pump,
4...Nozzle, 5...Strip film, 6...Film tube, 7...Former, 8...Sheila,
9...Cheese with tubes, 10...Refrigerant, 11
... Refrigerant tank, 12 ... Rotating drum, 13 ... Rotating drum, 14 ... Guide roller, 15 ... Cheese feeding roller with tube, 16 ... Cuttlefish, 17
... Film peeling roller, 18 ... Peeling film take-up roller, 19 ... Cheese guide roller, 20
... Cutting machine, 21 ... Cheese pieces, 22 ... Chute, 23 ... Guide, 24 ... Supply conveyor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A step of filling cheese melted by a conventional method into a tube made of a synthetic resin film to obtain cheese in a cylindrical tube, a step of cooling and solidifying the cheese in the tube, and a step of cooling and solidifying the cheese in the tube. The process consists of the steps of peeling off the tube made of synthetic resin film from the tubed cheese, cutting the cheese from which the tube has been peeled off into cheese pieces, and twisting and wrapping the cheese pieces with a suitable packaging material. A method for producing bite-sized cheese characterized by: 2. A bite-sized piece of cheese, characterized in that in the manufacturing method according to claim 1, the step of cooling and solidifying the tubed cheese is cooling and solidifying the tubed cheese at a temperature gradient of 12 to 15°C per minute. How to make cheese. 3. A method for producing bite-sized cheese according to claim 2, which comprises cooling and solidifying the tubed cheese at a temperature of 0 to 15°C. 4. A method for producing bite-sized cheese according to claim 1, wherein the step of cooling and solidifying the tubed cheese is immersing the tubed cheese in a refrigerant tank.