JPS63294742A - Preparation of dried cheese - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain dried cheese which can be easily reconstituted with water giving a reconstituted product having excellent shape-retainability, by hydrating raw cheese, adding and mixing thermally coagulable substance to the cheese and drying the mixture. CONSTITUTION:The raw cheese used in the present process may be so-called field cheese or imitation cheese. Both of the cheese free from thermal melting treatment (e.g. natural cheese) and the cheese subjected to hot-melt treatment (e.g. process cheese) may be used as the raw cheese. Thermally coagulable proteins such as albumen, lactoalbumin or soybean protein or thermally coagulable polysaccharides such as starch and methylcellulose are properly selected according to the kind of the raw cheese. Raw cheese is added with the above additive and water and stirred with a cutter, mixer, etc. The temperature of the mixture is preferably maintained at a temperature higher than the melting point of the oil and fat in the cheese by several deg.C during the stirring treatment. The obtained liquid or pasty mixture is put into a container such as tray and preferably freeze-dried to obtain the objective product.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a method for producing dried cheeses, and in detail,
The present invention relates to a method for producing dried cheese that can be suitably used as an ingredient in instant foods and has excellent reconstitution properties and shape retention properties during refluxing.

[Conventional technology]

In general, if cheese is dried in a block or granular shape, it is difficult to rehydrate it in hot water, making it difficult to use it as an ingredient in instant foods.

In this regard, JP-A-61-158746 discloses that water is added to one type or a combination of multiple types of raw natural cheese, and the raw natural cheese and water are uniformly mixed throughout. A method for producing dried natural cheeses is described in which the ingredients are mixed to such an extent that they do not yet reach an emulsified state, and the mixture is freeze-dried. In the same specification, it is stated that simply mixing natural cheese and water tends to cause oil-off, and if you mix it strongly to prevent this, most of the original stickiness of the cheese is lost, resulting in a lumpy texture. Therefore, mixing using a cutter mixer, silent cutter, crusher, etc. is considered to be too strong, and mixing by these means is excluded. However, according to the findings of the present inventor, the oil-off that can be prevented by this method is only when natural cheese and water are mixed or stirred, and the effect of preventing oil-off that may occur when reconstituted with hot water after drying is not known. That's enough.

The present inventor has proposed a method for producing dried cheeses, which consists of stirring a water-containing raw material, the main raw material of which is emulsified cheese that has been heat-melted, at a temperature lower than the melting temperature, and then drying it in a shaped state. (Japanese Patent Application No. 61-314643), it has been possible to produce shaped dried cheeses that have excellent reconstitution properties and are less prone to oil-off even when rehydrated.

The above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 158746/1982 and Patent Application No. 31/1983
Both of the methods described in No. 4643 include a mode in which raw cheese is added with water and stirred, and then dried in a shaped state. However, while adding water and stirring has the effect of increasing the reconstitution property,
There is a tendency to reduce the shape retention (property of not dispersing) during hot water reconstitution, and this tendency becomes more pronounced when using cheese with a high moisture content as a raw material or when trying to obtain a mozzarella-like product as a target product. The problem is that it is noticeable, and even worse, that it scatters as soon as hot water is poured on dried cheese.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The present inventor has conducted various studies to see if it is possible to obtain dried cheeses that have both hot water restoration properties and shape retention (shatter resistance) during hot water restoration. As a result, we have arrived at this invention.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention is a method for producing dry cheeses, in which raw cheeses are added with water, stirred, and dried in a shaped state, wherein the mixture contains a thermocoagulable substance.

In this invention, cheese does not necessarily have to be "cheese" as strictly defined by law, and may be so-called filled cheese or imitation cheese. Therefore, it includes not only natural cheese but also milk components (e.g., cream, butter, butter oil, rennet casein) obtained by methods different from normal natural cheese manufacturing methods, and foreign fats and proteins that are not derived from milk. For example, JP-A-51-51550, JP-A-54-1784
No., Special Publication No. 55-39300. Tokuko Sho 60-57813
It also includes cheeses obtained by the method described in Japanese Patent Application No. 61-63206.

In this invention, cheeses that are not heat-melted (typically natural cheeses) and cheeses that have been heat-melted (typically processed cheese) can be used.

The former is more likely to cause oil-off after drying and reconstitution with hot water than the latter, but the addition of the heat-coagulable substance described below is effective in reducing the oil-off, and when used in combination with emulsified cheese that has been heat-melted, it can be further improved. Improved. Therefore, when trying to obtain a product without oil-off after drying and oil reconstitution, it is preferable that the raw cheese contains a certain amount of heat-melted emulsified cheese, specifically 10% or more. Emulsification by heat-melting treatment can be performed in substantially the same manner as the known process of producing processed cheese from natural cheese, and therefore processed cheese can be used as emulsified cheese subjected to heat-melting treatment. Heating and melting is usually done at a temperature of 70~
The process is carried out for 10 to 20 minutes at 100°C, preferably 80 to 95°C, and molten salt (emulsifying salt) is not essential when performing special emulsification work (for example, JP-A-6I-158746), but it is used in raw cheese. 0.1% or more, preferably 1%
．． It is normal to use 0% or more. As the molten salt, known types such as various orthophosphates, birophosphates, polyphosphates, metaphosphates, citrates, or citric acid can be used alone or in combination. According to this invention, even raw cheeses with a high moisture content can exhibit good shape retention when rehydrated in hot water.

In this invention, the raw cheese is subjected to water addition and stirring treatment, but while this treatment improves the hot water return property after drying, it also reduces the shape retention during hot water return (makes it easier to scatter when hot water is poured over it). Although there is a tendency, by including a thermosetting substance, shape retention is improved while maintaining hot water return properties.

The water content after adding water is 35-70%, preferably 50-6
It is best to keep the moisture content at 5%, but 5 to 30% of this
It is preferable that an amount of water corresponding to 100% of the amount of water is added to the raw cheese in order to improve the reconstitution of the product.

Examples of thermocoagulable substances include thermocoagulable proteins such as egg white, lactalbumin, and soybean protein, and thermocoagulable polysaccharides such as starch and methyl cellulose (methoxy group content 26 to 33%). The amount is usually 0.01 to 4, preferably 0.01 to 4, preferably 0.
．． An appropriate amount is selected within the range of about 0.05 to 2%. If the amount of thermosetting substance is too small, the addition will have no effect;
If it is too large, the cheese or cheese-like texture will be impaired.

The temperature at which the stirring process is performed is lower than the melting temperature, more specifically a temperature several degrees Celsius higher than the melting point of fats and oils in cheese, usually 0 to 50 degrees Celsius, more preferably 1
It is in the range of 0 to 30°C. If the stirring temperature is several degrees higher than the melting point of the fat in the cheese, oil-off tends to occur (also, if the stirring temperature is high enough to completely melt the fat, the product structure will remain dense). If the stirring temperature is too low, mixing is difficult to occur, and particulate matter tends to remain if stirred for a short time.

Stirring is preferably carried out at the above temperature to such an extent that block-like or granular materials are not macroscopically observed.

If the block-like or granular material is easily visible, the part is likely to remain as a core even if it is returned to the drying place. However, it is sufficient to stir until the block-like or granular materials are no longer visible.
Once you reach that level, there is no need to go any further.

When the main raw material cheese is emulsified cheese that has been heat-melted, the stirring means used in this process may be a silent cutter, cutter mixer, crusher, or other kneading machine that generates strong shearing force. There are no particular inconveniences such as being too strong, and the original stickiness and smooth texture of cheese can be restored. Therefore, in this case, there is no need for the step of preparing so-called grated cheese, such as passing it through a chopper as the first stage, and the troublesome work of straining it as the second stage.

The stirred material obtained in this way is a viscous liquid or paste-like material, but rather than losing its shaped state as in spray drying, it maintains some shaped state and dries. do. That is, the stirred material is placed in a container such as a tray, or is dried by being spread on an edible material (e.g., pizza crust, protein crust).The drying method is as follows:
Airflow drying such as hot air drying may be used, but freeze drying is most preferable.

The dried cheese thus obtained can be easily reconstituted in hot water in a short period of time, and scattering of the cheese that occurs during reconstitution can be prevented.

[Effect]

Adding water and stirring the raw cheese causes a certain kind of loosening between the cheese particles, and this loosening improves the permeability when reconstituted with hot water and at the same time reduces the shape retention. It is thought that the thermosetting substance acting as a binder when in contact with hot water.

〔Example〕

This invention will be explained below with reference to Examples and Comparative Examples.

Example 1 Processed cheese with strong heat resistance (moisture 42.8%) [A]
and mozzarella-style processed cheese (moisture 45.0%) [
Regarding each commercially available product in
Stir 100 parts (cm square) in a silent cutter at a temperature of 15℃. 1 (1,60 Or, p, m,) l, add 33 parts of water and 0-0.4 parts of dried egg white, and mass-produce for about 5 minutes to prepare a paste with a final moisture content of 56-58%. Place it on a drying tray so that it has a thickness of about 8R, leave it in a -30℃ freezer for 3 hours to freeze, then cut it into dice of about 8U square. 18
Dry for an hour.

All of the dried cheeses obtained in this way have no oil-off immediately after freeze-drying, and are immersed in hot water at about 95°C.
It absorbed water and recovered within minutes, and no oil-off was observed after returning it to hot water. The shape retention during reconstitution and the physical properties after reconstitution were as shown in the following table.

Example 2 Dry rennet/) casein 23 parts, hydrogenated oil 30 parts, water 45 parts, sodium citrate 0.37 parts, disodium phosphate (12 hydrate) 2.0 parts, salt 1.8%, mixture An imitation cheese was obtained by heating and mixing citric acid in an amount to adjust the pH of the sample to 5.7 and a small amount of cheese flavor at 90 to 92°C for 5 minutes, and then cooling.

For 100 parts of these cheeses, 40 parts as in Example 1
The mixture was mixed with a silent cutter while adding 1 part of water and 0.1 part of a thermosetting substance (see ■ to ■ below), and then lyophilized to obtain an imitation cheese.

All of these were easily reconstituted with hot water and exhibited mozzarella-like physical properties, and the cheeses did not spoil when boiling water was poured over them, nor did oil come off after the reconstitution.

■Isolated soybean protein ("New Fuji Pro SEJ" sold by Fuji Purina Protein) ■Dried egg white ■Lactalbumin ("Sunlacto N5J" manufactured by Taiyo Kagaku ■) ■Phosphorylated starch ("Starch 100" manufactured by Nippon Star Chemical ■) Example 3 Dry Lens 27 parts net casein, 36 parts hydrogenated oil, 3 parts water
5 parts sodium citrate, 0.37 parts sodium citrate, 1.0 part tripolyphosphoric acid or disodium phosphate (1
An imitation cheese was obtained by heating and mixing 2.4 parts of dihydrate salt, 2 parts of common salt, and a small amount of cheese flavor at 90 to 92°C for 5 minutes, and then cooling, but one using tripolyphosphoric acid. (C) was a heat-resistant type, and the one using disodium phosphate (D) was a mozzarella type.

Add water and dried egg whites (1.0% based on cheese solids)
) with (this example) or without (comparative example),
Stirring was performed at a product temperature of 20°C, and then freeze-drying was performed. No oil-off was observed at the time of freeze-drying, which was good. Heat-resistant type cheeses tend to scatter less when hot water is applied than mozzarella type cheeses, but although it is desirable to add water for restorability, egg whites are effective in preventing this. there were.

Example 4 Commercially available processed cheese (moisture 44.5%) and Australian Lindres cheddar cheese (moisture 37%) were each cut into small pieces, and the amounts shown in the following table (final moisture 57-59%) were cut into small pieces.
%) of water or the amount of water shown in the table below and 1.0% of dried egg white (based on the cheese raw material solids), mix in a silent cutter for 5 minutes at a temperature of 15 to 20°C at 1600 r, p. , + m, ), the obtained pasty cheese was placed in a freezing tray and left to freeze for 3 hours in a 30°C freezer, and then frozen at 0.3)-40°C for 15 to 30 minutes.
It was dried for 18 hours. The physical properties after returning to hot water were as shown in the table (
In the table, the degree of oil-off is expressed as -1±, +, and ++ for not observed, minute oil droplets observed, large oil droplets observed, and layered oil observed, respectively.) .

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, by the method of the present invention, it is possible to produce dried cheese that is excellent in restorability when rehydrated with hot water and also has excellent shape retention during restoration. The product of the present invention can be suitably used as an ingredient for instant foods.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A method for producing dry cheeses in which raw cheeses are added with water, stirred, and dried in a shaped state, characterized in that the stirred material contains a thermocoagulable substance. (2) The manufacturing method according to claim (1), wherein the thermocoagulable substance is a protein or a polysaccharide.