JPS6129704B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

The present invention relates to foods containing chlorella. Chlorella algae, a type of freshwater green algae, is rich in nutrients such as high-quality protein, vitamins, and minerals, so it is expected to be a food source for humans in the future. It is well known that many attempts were made early on to make food into food, and some of them have even been put into practical use. However, the use of chlorella as a food product has not developed as much as originally expected, and only a few tablets or granules of chlorella are on the market as so-called health foods. This method of use is more like taking medicine than eating. There are other examples of chlorella being mixed into matcha, furikake nori, natto, tofu, sweets, etc., but these have low contamination rates and cannot be said to fully utilize the characteristics of chlorella. The reason for the slow progress in the use of chlorella is not only that chlorella is still relatively expensive, but also that its taste is unappealing. Therefore, the present inventors have conducted extensive research with the aim of providing attractive chlorella-based foods that many people like to eat, going beyond the conventional framework of chlorella products as pharmaceutical health foods. As a result, we have completed the present invention, which consists of two inventions as detailed below. That is, the first aspect of the present invention has a hardness of 0.8 to 1.7 kg/
Chlorella 40-70% formed into hard granules of ^cm2
(wt%, same below), Umeboshi shaped into granules 5
This is an invention of a granular chlorella-containing food characterized by being a mixture of 15% to 55% of a granular molded powdered food containing nutritional foods other than chlorella and umeboshi as essential ingredients, and the present invention The second invention is a non-uniform structure formed by molding the same granule mixture as in the first invention into an arbitrary shape (in other words, the constituent components of the three types of granules are not uniformly mixed together and are not visible to the naked eye). This is an invention of a solid chlorella-containing food (individually forming regions consisting only of clearly distinguishable chlorella). As mentioned above, the chlorella-containing food according to the present invention is made by granulating chlorella with particularly high hardness and blending it with umeboshi etc. in a specific ratio and in a unique manner, so that it has a physical structure suitable for chewing. properties and good flavor, and also green (chlorella), red (pickled plums) and brown (other nutritional foods)
The contrast between the three types of granules makes it an attractive food that looks beautiful. Next, a method for producing a chlorella-containing food according to the present invention will be explained. Currently, Chlorella is commercially available in both pure cultured form in a dark place in a tank and that which has been cultured in the air, and either of these can be used as a raw material for the food of the present invention, but chlorella is particularly preferred. The former has good digestibility and high purity. When using commercially available chlorella algae in the form of dry powder, it is molded into granules. The molding is
Basically, it can be carried out according to the method conventionally adopted for manufacturing granules of chlorella and other pharmaceuticals, but depending on the molding method and molding conditions,
The color and hardness of the resulting chlorella granules vary considerably. First, the color tone varies from bright green with a hint of yellowish green to dark green with a black tinge. Since dark green granules have a particularly beautiful color contrast when mixed with other granules as mentioned above, methods and conditions that yield dark green granules should be adopted when producing chlorella granules. is desirable. For example, dark green granules are produced by a simple process in which the grading process is moved between the granulation process and the drying process among the processes of kneading, granulation, drying, sizing, and sieving in conventional granule production. Can be manufactured by modification. The dark green chlorella granules obtained by this method can be measured using a color difference meter (for example, ND-
L value, a value, and b measured by 101DC)
The values are as follows. Note that the light-colored chlorella granules also described are those produced by the above-mentioned conventional method.

[Table] Furthermore, since the chlorella granules used in the present invention have a hardness of 0.8 to 1.7 Kg/cm ² (preferably 1.0 to 1.6 Kg/cm ² ), molding is necessary to obtain hardness in this range. There is a need to do. The hardness of conventionally commercially available chlorella granules is about 0.6 Kg/ ^cm2 , and compared to this, the chlorella granules used in the present invention are quite hard (here, the hardness of the granules refers to the hardness of the tablets). A value measured by a Monsanto hardness tester used for hardness testing, with a diameter of 1
When cylindrical granules with a height of 1 mm and a height of 1 mm are compressed in the height direction, the breaking load displayed on the scale of the hardness tester [Kg/
cm ² ] is taken as the hardness of the granules. If the diameter of the granules is not 1 mm, measure in the same way after grinding the granules to a diameter of 1 mm. ). Hard chlorella granules are made with sugar,
It can be produced by adding an appropriate amount of a binder such as glucose or lactose. Hard chlorella granules with a hardness of 0.8 to 1.7Kg/ ^cm2 are
It has a nice texture when you bite into it, and it doesn't stick to your teeth. Conventional soft chlorella granules were unpleasant because they stuck to the molars when chewed with the teeth, so the food of the present invention has been improved to be suitable for chewing even when only the chlorella granules are taken. That's why there is. In addition, when granulating chlorella, other food powders, flavoring agents, seasonings, etc. may be mixed with chlorella in an amount of about 20% or less. The particle size of the granules has a subtle effect on the taste of the product. The preferred particle size is such that it passes through a 5 mesh sieve and remains on a 32 mesh sieve. Umeboshi granules are also molded from dried plum powder in the same manner as chlorella, but in this case it is not necessary to form them into particularly hard granules. It is desirable that the particle size be the same as that of chlorella granules. It is desirable that the granules use the minimum necessary amount of binder, etc., and be made mostly (90% or more) of umeboshi.
Umeboshi, which is granulated separately from chlorella, dissolves quickly when put in the mouth together with chlorella granules, and its sour taste stimulates saliva secretion, so the mouth is immediately filled with sufficient saliva. In this state, the chlorella granules rapidly absorb water and disintegrate. For this reason, together with the softness of the hard chlorella granules mentioned above, the food of the present invention does not feel sticky even when it is put in the mouth or chewed with the teeth without water.
Moreover, the product is soft to the touch and has a good taste without any foreign body sensation. The action of the umeboshi granules as described above is the second aspect of the present invention.
The same effect is exhibited in solid chlorella-containing foods. That is, as a result of molding a mixture of umeboshi granules and other granules, this food has a heterogeneous structure with a region consisting only of umeboshi that is the same or larger in size than the umeboshi granules before molding.
In the oral cavity, the portion consisting only of pickled plums quickly dissolves, producing the same effects as in the case of a granular mixture. If umeboshi is mixed with other raw materials such as chlorella in powder form and formed into granules, the umeboshi, which is a small component compared to chlorella, will be diluted and cannot exhibit the above-mentioned effects (in this case, the umeboshi It would be possible to increase the blending ratio, but if this were done, the elution of the umeboshi component would continue until the molded product completely disintegrated, resulting in an overly strong umeboshi flavor.) Umeboshi also helps eliminate the grassy smell characteristic of chlorella and improves the flavor of the product. The third granules containing nutritional foods other than chlorella and umeboshi as essential ingredients make the food of the present invention more nutritionally advanced than those consisting of chlorella and umeboshi, and also have a multicomponent complex in terms of flavor. It is useful for making it tasteful due to its effect and also for making it visually versatile. From this point of view, the raw materials for this granule include Korean carrots, shiitake mushrooms, kelp, royal jelly, garlic, honey, wheat germ, comfrey, goji leaves, habu grass, prunes, pearl barley,
It is desirable to select and use as many ingredients as possible from plants and animals that are effective in promoting health in foods with high nutritional value, such as cod liver oil and Chinese herb oil, or in Chinese medicine. However, it goes without saying that when deciding on the combination, it is necessary to take care not to make the food taste extremely bad. These granules may also be formed by conventional methods. The blending ratio of the three types of granules produced in the above manner is as described above, and this blending ratio is defined as a necessary and sufficient amount ratio for the umeboshi granules to exhibit the above-mentioned effects. . If the content of umeboshi granules is less than 5%, all of the combination effects will be insufficient;
% or more, not only will the taste of umeboshi become strong, but also the nutritional value will inevitably decrease due to a decrease in the ratio of other nutritional components, so it is not suitable as a umeboshi-like food. This results in something that does not meet the purpose of the invention. The blending ratio of the other two types of granules is relatively unrestricted and may be determined as appropriate while taking into consideration the balance of taste, nutritional components, etc., but it is usually desirable to be within the above range. It is easy to produce a solid chlorella-containing food product with a heterogeneous structure according to the second aspect of the present invention by molding a mixture of three types of granules, and the granule mixture may be placed in a mold and compression molded. Compression molding of granules is commonly carried out in the manufacture of pharmaceutical tablets, and all methods can be followed. The shape of the molded product is arbitrary, and in addition to being tablet-shaped, it may also be plate-shaped or rod-shaped. As described above, the chlorella-containing food according to the present invention has a unique form as a food and has a good flavor and ease of eating that are not found in conventional chlorella products. Since it can be manufactured and does not require special auxiliary raw materials or equipment, it has the advantage that processing costs are low. The present invention will be explained below with reference to Examples. Example 1 Tank-cultured chlorella was dried with a spray dryer and powdered, then kneaded using a conventional method (using 10% lactose as a binder) and granulated (dice pore size: 1
mm), drying, sizing, and sieving (pass through a 5-mesh sieve and take what remains on a 32-mesh sieve) to granulate it. The hardness of the obtained granules (hereinafter referred to as chlorella granules A) was 1.4 Kg/cm ² . Chlorella granules B (hardness 0.6 Kg/cm ² ) were produced in the same manner except that lactose was not added during kneading. Separately, freeze-dried umeboshi powder was granulated by a conventional method. Additionally, 20% Korean carrots, 15% shiitake mushrooms, and kelp
A mixture of 15% royal jelly, 5% garlic, and 40% lactose was similarly granulated. Next, two types of granular chlorella-containing foods were produced using the above-mentioned chlorella granules A or B in a ratio of 50 chlorella granules, 10 granules of pickled plums, and 40 (weight ratio) of other component granules. A sensory test was conducted using the Shitsufue method to determine the flavor, texture, and difficulty of sticking to the teeth when these were chewed. The panel used was a consumer panel of 50 people (an equal number of men and women selected from general consumers). In the test, a paired comparison test using a 7-level evaluation was conducted on the food according to the present invention using chlorella granules A and a control product (chlorella granules B and 3 types of mixed granules using the same). The results are shown in Table 1, and it can be seen that the food according to the present invention has not only the same hardness as chlorella granules B of normal hardness, but also
Even when compared with the three-component mixed granules using the same, it was judged to be superior in all respects, especially in terms of texture and difficulty in sticking to the teeth.

[Table] Example 2 The mixed granules of the three types of chlorella granules A produced in Example 1 were molded into a go stone shape with a diameter of 6 mm and a height of 4 mm using a tablet machine. The obtained tablet-shaped chlorella-containing food was heterogeneous with three colored areas of green, red, and brown observed like a spotted pattern, and its taste was almost unchanged from that of the granular food according to Example 1. It was in very good condition. Example 3 Powder of pond-cultured chlorella was kneaded and granulated in the same manner as in the case of Chlorella granules A, and then sized, followed by drying and sieving (passed through a 5-mesh sieve and remained on a 32-mesh sieve). The hardness increases by
Chlorella granules of 1.2Kg/cm ² were produced. These granules were much darker in color and dark green than Chlorella granules A (L=21, a=-3, b=
4). Separately, umeboshi powder was granulated in the same manner as in Example 1. Plus 8% kelp, 15% shiitake mushrooms, and 10% wheat germ.
%, 7% comfrey, and 5% adlay was granulated in the same manner as in Example 1. 50% of the three types of granules produced as described above:
They were mixed at a ratio of 10:40 (weight ratio) to obtain a granular chlorella-containing food. This food had a more beautiful color contrast between the three types of granules than that of Example 1.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. 40 to 70% by weight of chlorella formed into granules with a hardness of 0.8 to 1.7 Kg/ ^cm2 , 5 to 15% by weight of umeboshi formed into granules, and nutritional foods other than chlorella and umeboshi. Granular molded products of powdered foods containing as essential ingredients 15-55
A food containing chlorella, characterized in that it is a mixture of % by weight. 2. The food according to claim 1, wherein the nutritional food other than chlorella and pickled plums is selected from the group consisting of Korean carrots, shiitake mushrooms, kelp, royal jelly, and garlic. 3. 40-70% by weight of chlorella shaped into granules with a hardness of 0.8-1.7Kg/ ^cm2 , 5-15% by weight of umeboshi shaped into granules, and a powder containing nutritional foods other than chlorella and umeboshi as essential ingredients. Food granule moldings 15-55
Solid chlorella-containing food with a heterogeneous structure formed by molding a mixture of % by weight. 4. The food according to claim 3, wherein the nutritional food other than chlorella and pickled plums is selected from the group consisting of Korean carrots, shiitake mushrooms, kelp, royal jelly, and garlic.