JPS6326974B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

The present invention relates to dehydrated food products, in particular food products comprising pieces or particles of comminuted food products derived from, for example, meat and vegetable purees. Dried foods that can be reconstituted by adding water are well known. Examples include soups, desserts and snack foods. Some of these foods, often referred to as "instant", are suitable for consumption within a short time, eg, 1 to 2 minutes, after reconstitution. while others require prolonged soaking to rehydrate the food ingredients. Obviously, the specifics of the rehydration conditions will depend on the nature of the ingredients making up the food product. If the food contains dried vegetables or pieces of meat, such food cannot be accepted as a ready-to-eat food because it must be simmered in boiling water for up to 20 minutes. Instant foods consisting of dried food pieces such as dried vegetables and dried meat are commercially available. These can be obtained by freeze-dried pieces of suitable foods. However, pieces obtained by such methods do not always have all the desired properties. For example, rehydrated foods can be spongy;
Lacking flavor, color or texture. Therefore, it is impossible to completely imitate the original food.
As an example, rehydrated freeze-dried tomato pieces were found to be undesirably pale, spongy, and lacking in flavor. Moreover, such pieces are also expensive. Another source of dry foods is described in the prior art (Belgium Patent No. 836194). These are made by preparing a ground food dispersion in an aerated calcium alginate or calcium pectate gel, cutting the gel into pieces, and drying the pieces. The use of blowing agents is expensive and in some cases can produce an undesirable spongy texture in the rehydrated pieces. This approach is therefore disadvantageous. It has surprisingly been found that air-free alginate gels containing ground foods, such as piure, can be produced after cutting and air drying to provide dry food pieces that are acceptable for use in ready-to-eat foods. Ta. The ability of alginate solutions to form films upon drying is well known. Therefore it would not be surprising at all. In fact, alginate
It has also been found that the gel pieces tend to form a film after air drying. In some cases, the geometry of the gel pieces before drying results in a dry skin with internal depressions. Such results can be obtained when drying gel dice. Furthermore, it must be noted that the dry material thus obtained has very poor rehydration properties. In contrast, by incorporating the ground food into the gel matrix according to the present invention as described below, a superior texture resembling vegetable or meat pieces can be obtained after rehydration of the air-dried gel pieces. can. Without being bound by theory, it appears that the presence of ground food particles prevents the breakdown of the alginate network with concomitant film formation. The finely ground food particles dispersed in the dry alginate substrate are then applied to a dry food product. The food particles are liberated to hydrate upon addition of water, but in doing so the alginate matrix prevents separation. Separate rehydrated particles are produced. According to the invention, fine particles dispersed in an edible (and preferably thermostable) gel that is air-free and has a gel strength corresponding to a value of at least 200 g when measured in the manner specified below. For example, a dehydrated food product obtained by drying a composition consisting of a crushed or pureed food product is provided. Since the gel does not contain air, there is no overflow or otherwise a small amount due to unintentional inclusion of air bubbles, not enough to foam the material.
For example, it has less than 10%, preferably 5% or less, such as less than 1%, such as 0.5%, of air bubbles before drying. Desirably, the product can be satisfactorily rehydrated by 60 to 120 seconds of immersion in water, such as hot water.
Of course, the gel can also be produced without the addition of blowing agents or foaming agents. That is, any components that are added for other reasons and which may promote entrainment of air are preferably limited to a level where any foam promoting effect is negligible. In order to produce a dried food product with satisfactory rehydration capacity, drying is preferably carried out by air drying or oven drying. Gel strength can be measured with a commercially available Instron™ tester. The machine compresses a gel of a defined size between two plates at a defined speed. That is, the stress increases to a peak at the yield point, and the yield stress indicates the gel strength. The gel used in the present invention has a gel strength of at least 200 g when compressed at 5 cm/min for a cylindrical gel sample of 12 mm diameter and 12 mm height. Preferably the strength is a height corresponding to 350 or more and advantageously can reach heights of 600 or 700 or more. One highly desirable method of producing a gel that provides a satisfactory dehydrated food product according to the present invention is a rapid setting method (e.g. less than 30 minutes, e.g. gelation time), the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference. That is, the disclosed method involves rapidly mixing solid calcium sulfate particles as an aqueous slurry with, for example, a ground food product, into an aqueous alginate or low methoxy pectate sol with gelling capability, and then dissolving the solid calcium sulfate under non-shear conditions. , by gelling the mixture. However, other methods of producing gels to be dehydrated can also be used in carrying out the present invention. For example, it is described in Applicant's UK Patent No. 1369198-9, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference. i.e. alginate or low methoxy pectate sols, agents capable of liberating calcium ions (e.g. acids)
A mixture consisting of a source of calcium ions (e.g. dicalcium phosphate), a fruit pulp or puree, and an agent capable of liberating calcium ions, which does not provide sufficient calcium ions to gel the sol in the absence of calcium ions, is thus rapidly prepared. It relates to gelling the prepared mixture under substantially no shear conditions. Using the present invention, dried pieces of vegetables and meat are produced that have excellent color, flavor and texture after reconstitution with water for 1-2 minutes. After formation, the gel can be cut into desired shapes, eg, dice, strips, and dried in commercially available air drying equipment, such as ovens or draft dryers.
The preferred temperature range for drying is 60-80°C. The use of lower drying temperatures increases drying time, while the use of higher temperatures can result in unacceptable flavor loss and charring. Alternatively, drying can be carried out or advantageous with the aid of vacuum and/or desiccant agents such as P ₂ O ₅ or calcium chloride. Final moisture content 4-12%, preferably 4-9 for most applications
%, for example 7%. The selection of suitable drying conditions depends on the type of gelled comminuted food product to be dried and its intended use.
Such conditions are easily determined by simple tests. It is desirable to carry out two-step drying with intermediate storage for a period of time to equilibrate the moisture content of the partially dried material. If the product is used as an ingredient in a ready-to-eat food, best results are obtained by rehydrating in boiling water for 1-2 minutes. If necessary, the rehydration can be improved and the texture of the rehydrated particles suitably modified by adding a texture modifier during the gel preparation process. Such texture modifying agents are usually natural proteins or carbohydrates such as caseinates, egg whites, gelatin, starch derivatives, cellulose derivatives, carrageenan, xanthan gum, and the like. For economic reasons, inexpensive texture modifiers are preferred. It has been found that levels of preheated or modified starch of approximately 0.5-3% by weight of the gelled milled food product provide acceptable results. The dehydrated food products of the invention may be in the form of particles, slices or small blocks or other advantageous shapes of regular or irregular pieces. Although the foods of the invention can be used acceptably in ready-to-eat foods, they retain their full structure and organoleptic properties even longer and under extreme rehydration conditions, such as boiling in water for 20 minutes, and thus It can generally be used as an ingredient in dry foods, such as dry soup mixes. The invention is illustrated by the following example. The table below shows the composition of the mixture used.

【table】

[Table] Example 1 A gel containing 40% by weight of ground tomatoes (28-30% solids) was mixed together with an alginate phase and a ground food phase of the formulation shown in the attached table, and the mixture was allowed to solidify under non-shearing conditions. Manufactured by Gel is 0.4-2.0cm
It was cut into a parallelepiped shape with edges, and dried in a commercially available ventilation dryer at 75°C for 4 hours. The dried product had an average moisture content of 8.7% and rehydrated after about 1 minute in boiling water to provide tomato strips with excellent taste and pleasant texture. Example 2 A gel containing 40% by weight of ground cooked chicken was prepared as in Example 1 using the alginate phase and ground food phase formulations shown in the attached table. Gel is 0.8cm
It was cut into corner cubes and dried in a ventilation dryer at 70°C for 3 hours. The dry product has an average moisture content of 8.1%,
Rehydration in boiling water resulted in a fibrous texture somewhat similar to cooked chicken after 2 minutes. Example 3 A gel containing 30% by weight of ground red koshiyo was prepared as in Example 1 using the formulation shown in the attached table. Cut the gel into parallelepipeds (1.5 cm x 0.6 cm x 0.4 cm).
Bench-scale for 2.5 hours at 70℃
Drying was carried out in a fluidized bed dryer (Model FBD/L72 from PRL Engineering Limited). The dry product, with an average moisture content of 6.1%, still retains its intense red color even after 9 months of storage, and after about 1 minute of rehydration in boiling water provides pseudo-Koshiyo pieces with excellent color, flavor and texture. did.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A dehydrated food consisting of a dried edible gel, wherein the gel before drying has fine food dispersed therein,
When a cylindrical gel with a diameter of 12 mm and a height of 12 mm is compressed between plates moving at a speed of 5 cm/min without air, the gel strength corresponds to a yield stress of at least 200 g, and the dehydrated food product The above dehydrated food is suitable for rehydration. 2. A claim for producing a gel by rapidly mixing solid calcium sulfate particles into a gelling aqueous alginate or low methoxy pectate sol and then dissolving the solid calcium sulfate under non-shear conditions to gel the mixture. Dehydrated food according to scope 1. 3 Alginate or low methoxy pectate sol, calcium ion source, fruit pulp or piure, and an agent capable of liberating calcium ions from the calcium ion source (in the absence of this agent, the calcium ion source must provide sufficient calcium ions to gel the sol). 2. A dehydrated food product as claimed in claim 1, wherein the gel is produced by rapidly preparing a mixture containing (not subject to) and gelling the thus prepared mixture under substantially non-shearing conditions. 4. The dehydrated food according to claim 1, wherein the gel includes alginate or low methoxypectate gel. 5. The dehydrated food according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the gel strength corresponds to a yield stress of at least 350 g under specified conditions. 6. A dehydrated food product according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the dried gel is substantially rehydrated by immersion in hot water for 60 to 120 seconds. 7. The dehydrated food product according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the gel is air dried at 60°C to 80°C. 8. A dehydrated food product according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the dehydrated food product has a moisture content in the range of 4 to 12% by weight. 9. A dehydrated food product according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the gel comprises a texture improver selected from caseinate, egg white, gelatin, starch derivatives, cellulose derivatives, carrageenan and xanthan. 10 In a method for producing a dehydrated food product comprising drying an edible gel, the edible gel has fine food particles dispersed therein, is air-free and has a diameter of 12
When compressing cylindrical gels of 12 mm and 12 mm height between plates moving at a speed of 5 cm/min, the gel strength is at least equivalent to a yield stress of 200 g, and the drying step has a rehydration capacity. The method for producing a dehydrated food as described above, characterized by forming a dehydrated food having a.