JPS6250101B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

The present invention relates to a method for sterilizing spices, and more specifically, to a method for sterilizing spices using steam, which is extremely safe from a food hygiene perspective and kills pathogenic bacteria adhering to the skin of spice halls without substantially impairing their spiciness. Regarding the method. In general, ethylene oxide and propylene oxide are considered to be optimal as disinfectants for spices, and their disinfectant effects have been reported by many experimenters. However, from a practical perspective, these disinfectants are flammable and combustible, and when used, the surrounding working environment must be prepared, and they must be treated in a sealed state. Since there are various problems in handling, such as the necessity of handling, it cannot necessarily be said to be suitable for industrial practical use. A sterilization method using gamma ray irradiation has also been attempted and achieved some success, but it is not permitted under the Food Sanitation Act and therefore lacks practicality. In addition, sterilization using ultraviolet light is also carried out.
Ultraviolet rays can cause deterioration of the main ingredients of spices. Despite this, many experimenters have reported various experimental results regarding the sterilization effects of the above sterilization methods.The reason for this is that many of the main components of spices are volatile, so heat sterilization is necessary for sterilization. is fatal to spices, and therefore sterilization by heating must be avoided. This is because there is an urgent need to develop a sterilization method that does not apply heat, which is different from heat sterilization. Under these circumstances, the present inventors conducted research on a method for sterilizing spices, and found that by contacting whole spices with steam under certain conditions without pulverizing them, the spices adhered to the epidermis of the whole spices. It has been found that pathogenic bacteria can be killed and that the spiciness of spice holes is hardly impaired even when heated with steam. Such findings fundamentally overturn the common sense in the industry that heat sterilization must be avoided because many of the main components of spices are volatile. That is, the present invention makes it possible for the first time to effectively carry out steam sterilization of spices, which has not been done in the conventional literature, by setting certain conditions.
The gist of the present invention, which was completed based on such knowledge, is that spices can be made into whole spices without pulverizing them.
A method for sterilizing spices, which comprises contacting with steam at a temperature of 145°C and holding for 600 to 1 second, followed by drying at high temperature for a short period of time, followed by cooling by a conventional method and pulverizing if necessary. It is in. The sterilization method of the present invention will be specifically described below. Spices that can be used in the sterilization method of the present invention include koshiyo, cardamom, metsumeg, mace, allspice, anise, caraway, cumin, fenugreek, coriander, clove, laurel, cinnamon, and the like. The above heat sterilization conditions are for spice halls of about 100~
The purpose is to bring it into contact with steam at a temperature of 145°C and hold it for 600 to 1 second. When the spice holes are brought into contact with steam under the above conditions, it is preferable to contact them with pressurized steam ejected from a nozzle, etc. This allows the surface temperature of the spice holes to rise rapidly, so it can be done in a short time. This makes it possible to suppress the loss of the spiciness of the spices, and to easily and accurately set the sterilization conditions for the spice hall. Further, in this case, it is more preferable to use superheated steam in order to achieve the above-mentioned effects. The method of bringing the spice holes into contact with steam is to fill a container with water, set up a net-like shelf in a position where it will not come into contact with the water in the container, leave the spice holes there, and then heat the container to generate steam. A method of bringing the hole into contact with steam is also considered, but such a method cannot rapidly raise the temperature of the surface of the spice hole, and therefore the hole is exposed to a heated atmosphere for a long time. Not only does this cause loss of the spiciness of spices, but it is also almost impossible to keep the sterilization conditions constant at all times. The conditions for heat sterilization can be determined as appropriate by the practitioner as long as it is within the range of contacting with steam for 600 to 1 second at a temperature of about 100 to 145°C as described above, but
The temperature and time that achieve the sterilizing effect and the effect of preserving the spiciness of the spices may be determined within the above condition ranges based on the conditions of 15 to 600 seconds in the case of ℃ and 1 to 250 seconds in the case of 145 ℃. If the conditions for sterilization by contacting steam and spice holes are milder than the above conditions, a sufficient sterilization effect cannot be expected; on the other hand, if the conditions are harsher than the above conditions, it may cause the spice to lose its original spiciness. Become. In this case, when bringing the spice hole into contact with pressurized steam, it is better to actively spray the pressurized steam onto the spice hole to quickly spread the steam to every corner of the hole's surface than to bring the spice hole into contact with the pressurized steam in a stationary steam atmosphere. As a result, the spices can be completely sterilized in a very short period of time without losing much of their original spiciness. Specifically, it is preferable to carry out the blowing of steam at a flow rate of 7.0 kg/min or more per 1 m ³ . Next, the spice wholes heat-sterilized under the above conditions are preferably dried at high temperature for a short period of time, specifically at 100 to 120°C for 0.5 to 3 minutes. The main purpose of drying is to remove the moisture increased during the heat sterilization process, and the drying conditions are determined with consideration to maintaining the quality of the spice whole, especially preserving the spiciness.
If the drying conditions are too strict, it will be difficult to maintain the quality of the spice holes, while if the drying conditions are too loose, the drying efficiency will decrease. Drying methods include fluidized bed drying, flash drying,
There are methods such as ventilation drying. Next, the spice holes dried by these methods are cooled, but the cooling method is not particularly limited and may be carried out according to a conventional method. A preferred example of the sterilization method of the present invention will be described below based on the apparatus arrangement diagram in FIG. Insert the black koshiyo hole into hopper 1, then pass it through wind selection machine 2. Dust is removed by passing air from below to above the wind separator 2, and the removed dust is processed by the cyclone 3 together with the wind. The air-selected black koshiyo holes are then put into a hopper 4 and guided through a quantitative feeder 5 to a net conveyor-type tunnel-type steamer 6. The net conveyor type tunnel steaming device 6 consists of a net conveyor 7 and a steam supply pipe 8 having a steam jet hole, and the black koshiyo holes sent from the quantitative feed device 5 are placed on the net conveyor 7 in a single layer. The steam is brought into contact with the pressurized steam ejected from the steam outlet of the steam supply pipe 8 to kill pathogenic bacteria adhering to the surface of the hole of the black koshiyo. The sterilized black koshiyo holes are sent to a fluidized bed dryer 10 by a conveyor 9. The fluidized bed dryer 10 has a hot air supply pipe 11 , a rectifying plate 12 , and a dried material take-out pipe 13 , and the hot air supplied to the fluidized bed dryer 10 through the supply pipe 11 is treated in a cyclone 14 . The black koshiyo holes dried with hot air in the fluidized bed dryer 10 are sent through a hopper 15 to a conveyor 16 and a cooling device 17
Obtain sterilized black koshiyo holes through
Furthermore, if necessary, the black koshiyohole is crushed. Next, comparative experimental examples for confirming the effects of sterilization and spiciness retention by the method of the present invention are shown below. Comparative Experimental Example 1 (Black Koshiyo Hall) The steaming conditions are shown in Table 1. However, the pressure steaming was carried out in a retort pot, and the normal pressure steaming was carried out in a net conveyor-type tunnel type steaming apparatus shown in Fig. 1 at a steam injection rate of 7.0 kg/min per 1 ^m3 . All drying was done in a fluidized bed dryer at 110°C for 1 minute.

【table】

[Table] The experimental results are shown in Table 2. The evaluation is divided into three parts: the number of coliform bacteria, a sensory evaluation of fragrance using a 10-point scoring method, and a brief review. The scent of black koshiyo was evaluated by 10 people using a 10-point scoring system, with untreated samples being given 10 points and the worst-quality samples being given 0 points, and the average value of the sum of the scores for each sample was used for sensory evaluation. It was marked as a point. The comparative powders are all the same as the present invention except that the contact conditions with steam are outside the scope of the present invention, and the comparative powders are the same as the present invention except that the black koshiyo powder is brought into contact with steam. . As shown in Table 2, samples A to D sterilized by the method of the present invention were negative for coliform bacteria counts, and the sensory evaluation of their crushed products was excellent, at 9.0 or higher, and was in no way inferior to the aroma of the crushed products of untreated holes. It was something that didn't exist. On the other hand, although the comparative hole is superior in terms of sensory evaluation, the number of coliform bacteria is positive and no bactericidal effect can be expected. Comparison hall ~ can make the coliform count negative, but the aroma of spices will weaken and its commercial value will decrease.
Such a tendency is more pronounced in the comparative powder. The bactericidal effect of the present invention is fully recognized not only against coliform bacteria but also against general viable bacteria, mold, and yeast.

【table】

[Table] Comparative Experimental Example 2 The piperine content and essential oil content of Samples A to D, which were sterilized by the method of the present invention obtained in Comparative Experimental Example 1, and untreated holes were measured and compared using the ASTA method. The results are shown in Table 3. However, each content is per anhydride.

[Table] Table 3 shows the effect of the sterilization method of the present invention on black koshiyo by comparing the piperine content and essential oil content of samples A to D sterilized by the method of the present invention and untreated whole. Show the results. As is clear from these results, the piperine content of Samples A to D sterilized by the method of the present invention was the same as that of the untreated whole, and the essential oil content thereof was almost the same as that of the untreated whole. This shows that the sterilization method of the present invention has almost no adverse effect on black koshiyohole. The results of Comparative Experimental Examples 1 and 2 above showed similar trends not only for black koshiyo but also for other spices. As described in detail above, if spices are sterilized in the whole state without being crushed by the method of the present invention, the spices will not lose their original spiciness and will be able to eliminate pathogens attached to the surface of the whole spices. It can completely kill living bacteria. In addition, since steam is used for sterilization, it is extremely safe in terms of food hygiene, and it is also advantageous in terms of industrial practicality because it can be carried out using a simple device. Example 1 Tunnel-type steaming in which 10 kg of black koshiyo in a whole state is air-sorted and then fed into a substantially single layer on a net conveyor, and steam is blown in from the steam outlet at a rate of 7 kg/min per 1 ^m3 . After guiding the black koshiyo to the steamer (temperature inside the steamer: approx. 100°C) and contacting the pressurized steam ejected from the steam outlet for 60 seconds to kill the pathogenic bacteria attached to the surface of the black koshiyo hole. , and fluidized bed drying was carried out for 3 minutes at a hot air temperature of 100°C. Thereafter, the product was cooled to a temperature of 25°C with cold air to obtain sterilized black koshiyo holes, which were crushed to obtain powdered koshiyo. Example 2 Tunnel steaming in which 10 kg of cinnamon in the whole state is air sorted and then fed onto a net conveyor in a slightly multi-layered manner, and steam is blown in from the steam outlet at a rate of 14 kg/min per ¹ m3. The material is guided into the device and brought into contact with superheated steam (120℃) spewing out from the steam vent for 200 seconds to kill pathogenic bacteria adhering to the surface of the cinnamon hole, and then placed in a hot air drying device. The cinnamon holes were arranged in a substantially single layer on a shelf and dried with hot air at a temperature of 100° C. for 2 minutes. Thereafter, the material temperature was cooled to 20° C. with cold air to obtain sterilized cinnamon holes. Example 3 After 10 kg of whole cumin was sorted by air, it was fed into a net-like container so as to form a substantially single layer, then put into a retort pot, and pressurized steam was injected to immediately reduce the amount of cumin to 0.15 kg.
Kg/cm ² (103°C) of pressure was applied, and the holes in the cumin were heated for 30 minutes while maintaining the pressure and temperature.
After holding for a second to kill pathogenic bacteria adhering to the surface of the cumin hole, fluidized bed drying was performed at a hot air temperature of 120° C. for 1 minute. After that, the temperature of the product is reduced to 20℃ by cold air.
The mixture was cooled to obtain sterilized cumin holes.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an apparatus arrangement diagram of a preferred embodiment of the sterilization method of the present invention. 1...Hopper, 2...Wind sorter, 3...Cyclone, 4...Hopper, 5...Quantitative supply device, 6
...Net conveyor type tunnel type steamer, 7...
... Net conveyor, 8 ... Steam supply pipe, 9 ... Conveyor, 10 ... Fluidized bed dryer, 11 ... Hot air supply pipe, 12 ... Straightening plate, 13 ... Dry material removal pipe,
14...Cyclone, 15...Hopper, 16...
...Conveyor, 17...Cooling device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Leave the spices whole without crushing them.
It is characterized by being brought into contact with steam at a temperature of 100 to 145°C and held for 600 to 1 second, then dried at high temperature for a short time, then cooled by a conventional method, and crushed if necessary. How to sterilize spices.