JP2004330078A - Food pulverization method and food and drink - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a method of pulverizing a food, which can pulverize the food into fine powder without affecting the quality of the product, and a food and drink using the pulverization method.
A method of finely pulverizing a food in which the coarse particles are food is performed by passing a dispersion obtained by dispersing coarse particles to be pulverized in a dispersion medium through a wet pulverizer to pulverize the coarse particles into fine powder. , A powder which is insoluble or hardly soluble in the dispersion medium and is a food additive is added to the dispersion and passed through the wet pulverizer. According to this pulverization method, coarse particles of food can be effectively turned into fine powder. Further, even if the powder is worn or crushed during the pulverizing step, the powder is a food additive, so that even if the powder is mixed into the product, there is no direct adverse effect on the quality of the food.
[Selection diagram] None

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method of finely pulverizing food, which is a method of pulverizing coarse particles, which are food, into fine powder by a wet method, and a food and drink containing the fine food powder.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In the field of foods, it is widely practiced to grind foods and process them into fine powders. Food fine powder is in a form that can be easily used even when it is blended into foods, beverages, and the like as one of the raw materials. For example, when dispersed in a liquid for use in beverages such as cocoa and matcha, the fine powder is less likely to settle and the stability of the dispersion is increased (for example, see Patent Documents 1 to 3).
In addition, in the case of foods derived from plants, fungi such as yeast, cell walls are crushed by pulverization, so that digestibility is improved, and proteins, vitamins, minerals, and the like in the cytoplasm are easily used. Therefore, the importance of the grinding treatment is high from a nutritional point of view (for example, see Patent Document 4).
[0003]
The production of fine powder of food is performed by coarsely pulverizing the material into coarse particles such as granules, powders, and fragments, and then pulverizing the coarse particles into fine powder. As a method for grinding coarse particles, there are a wet grinding method in which the coarse particles are dispersed in a liquid such as water, and a dry grinding method in which the coarse particles are crushed in a dry state without intervening liquid. In producing powder, a wet pulverization method is generally used in order to avoid inferior deterioration of food due to frictional heat during pulverization.
As a wet pulverizer for performing a wet pulverization method, a medium stirring mill that disperses coarse particles to be pulverized together with a pulverizing medium in a dispersion medium such as water and stirs them is generally used. As a pulverizing medium, beads made of ceramics, glass, steel or the like (sometimes referred to as balls and media, but referred to as beads in the present specification) are used (for example, see Patent Documents 5 to 8).
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-11-018744 [Patent Document 2]
JP-A-11-169079 [Patent Document 3]
JP-A-11-318340 [Patent Document 4]
JP-A-63-273468 [Patent Document 5]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 07-088391 [Patent Document 6]
JP-A-11-033377 [Patent Document 7]
JP 2000-143707 A [Patent Document 8]
JP 2000-237563 A
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the case of a wet pulverizer using a bead, there is a possibility that abrasion powder or a peeled piece due to damage may be mixed into a product due to abrasion during a pulverization process or damage due to a crack or the like. In the field of foods, the incorporation of foreign matter has a direct adverse effect on the quality of products in particular. Therefore, it is desired to develop a pulverization method capable of pulverizing food without affecting the quality of products.
[0006]
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of finely pulverizing food, which can pulverize food into fine powder without affecting the quality of the product, and to provide food and drink using the finely pulverizing method. And
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention provides a method in which a dispersion obtained by dispersing coarse particles to be ground in a dispersion medium is passed through a wet pulverizer to pulverize the coarse particles into fine powder, and the coarse particles are used as food. In the method of finely pulverizing food, the food is insoluble or hardly soluble in the dispersion medium, and a powder as a food additive is added to the dispersion and passed through the wet pulverizer. To provide a method of pulverizing.
According to the fine pulverization method of the present invention, coarse particles of food can be effectively turned into fine powder. Further, even if the powder is worn or crushed during the pulverizing process, the powder is a food additive, so that even if the powder is mixed into the product, the quality is not directly adversely affected, and the pulverizing process is stably performed. Can be.
As the wet pulverizer, a homogenizer can be exemplified.
[0008]
The amount of the powder added is preferably in the range of 0.5 times to 2 times the mass of the coarse particles. Thereby, the coarse particles can be finely pulverized efficiently.
As the powder, any of inorganic powder and organic powder can be selected, but from the viewpoint of pulverization efficiency, inorganic powder is preferable. Preferably, the inorganic powder is a calcium salt and / or a magnesium salt. In this case, a calcium salt or a magnesium salt can be added to the food by the step of pulverizing the coarse particles, so that a fine food powder with enhanced inorganic properties can be obtained.
[0009]
Further, the present invention provides a food or drink containing the fine food powder obtained by the above-mentioned method for finely pulverizing food. According to such foods and drinks, since the food is made into fine powder by pulverization, it is possible to improve digestive absorption, form stability, and the like.
[0010]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments.
The method of finely pulverizing food of the present invention is a method of preparing a dispersion by dispersing coarse particles of food to be pulverized and powder insoluble or hardly soluble in a dispersion medium in a dispersion medium to obtain a dispersion. Is passed through a wet pulverizer to pulverize the coarse particles into fine powder.
[0011]
In the present invention, a dispersion obtained by dispersing coarse particles to be pulverized and powder as a food additive in the liquid dispersion is used as the dispersion to be treated by the wet pulverizer.
The dispersion medium may be any liquid, but water is the most desirable in consideration of applying the obtained fine powder to foods and drinks such as foods and beverages. Here, "water" is not limited by temperature, but may be hot water. In addition to the pure solution, a solution in which various solutes are dissolved may be used. For example, an aqueous solution in which various solutes are dissolved in water may be used.
[0012]
Examples of the food to which the present invention can be applied include various foods derived from animals, plants, and fungi. For example, cocoa, matcha, red beans (anko), yellow powder, chestnut, coffee, black tea, oolong tea, green tea, barley tea, and soybean , Baker's yeast, beer yeast, sake yeast, wine yeast and the like.
It is necessary to disperse the food material as a raw material into coarse particles that can be dispersed in a dispersion medium and passed through a wet pulverizer. For this reason, it is preferable to form particles or powder by pulverization, grinding or the like as necessary.
[0013]
As the powder, one that is insoluble or hardly soluble in the dispersion medium and that is a food additive is used. Here, “insoluble or hardly soluble” means that the powder is not dissolved when the powder is dispersed in the liquid dispersion prior to the pulverizing step. During the pulverization process, a part or all of the powder may be dispersed or dissolved in the dispersion medium by abrasion, pulverization, or damage of the powder.
In the present invention, a powder approved as a food additive is used. Because it is a food additive, it is difficult to obtain extremely hard materials such as ceramics.However, even if abrasion powder is mixed into the product due to abrasion, crushing, or damage during the crushing process, There is no direct risk of adversely affecting the quality of the product.
[0014]
Specific examples of the powder include calcium salts such as calcium carbonate, calcium sulfate and calcium phosphate, magnesium salts such as magnesium carbonate, and salts containing calcium and magnesium such as dolomite (calcium magnesium carbonate). Of course, it is also preferable to use an animal-derived material containing the above calcium salt as a main component, such as milk calcium, cow bone calcium, eggshell calcium, pearl shell, pearl powder, oyster shell, scallop shell, coral powder, and fish bone powder.
The amount of the powder to be added is not particularly limited, but is preferably in the range of 0.5 times to 2 times the mass of the coarse particles of the food. Within this range, the powder and the coarse particles of the food are mixed satisfactorily, and the efficiency of pulverizing the food by the powder is high.
[0015]
The step of dispersing the coarse particles and the powder of the food in the dispersion medium is not particularly limited, and may be a continuous type or a batch type. For example, in the case of a batch system, a mode in which a predetermined amount of a dispersion medium, coarse particles of food, and powder are first charged into a tank, sufficiently stirred, and then passed through a wet pulverizer described later can be exemplified. In the case of a continuous type, a predetermined amount of food coarse particles and powder are continuously mixed into the dispersion medium while flowing the dispersion medium through the flow path at a predetermined flow rate. Can be exemplified. The order of mixing and dispersing the coarse particles of the food and the powder is not particularly limited, and both may be mixed and dispersed together in a dispersion medium, or the powder may be dispersed after dispersing the coarse particles of the food. They may be mixed and dispersed. Further, after the powder is dispersed, coarse particles of food may be mixed and dispersed. In short, it is only necessary that the coarse particles and the powder of the food are dispersed in the dispersion medium so that the food can pass through the wet pulverizer.
[0016]
The wet pulverizer may be any one capable of treating the above-mentioned dispersion liquid and pulverizing coarse particles in the dispersion liquid by a known wet pulverization method, and examples thereof include a homogenizer, a medium disperser, and a medium stirring mill. .
As a method of performing the pulverizing treatment by passing the dispersion through a wet pulverizer, a well-known method corresponding to each wet pulverizer may be used as described later.
[0017]
For example, in the case of a homogenizer (also referred to as a homogenizer) (for example, see the Dairy Technology Promotion Association, see Dairy Machinery Engineering Handbook, Volume 1974), a high-pressure pump is used to apply high pressure to a liquid material and pass through a homogenous valve. When flowing into the low-pressure part, particles in the liquid material are crushed by shearing, impact, cavitation or explosive action. The processing pressure is usually about 100 to 170 kgf / cm ² .
[0018]
The medium dispersing machine is, for example, a known device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-18744 by the present applicant. The medium dispersing machine has a processing tank having a supply port at one end and a discharge port at the other end, and is housed in the processing tank near the inner wall of the processing tank, and extends from the supply port side to the discharge port side. And a cylindrical rotating body that is arranged and disposed. A flow path of the dispersion from the supply port to the discharge port is provided between the inner wall of the processing tank and the outer peripheral surface of the rotating body. Irregularities having a guide surface for guiding the flow of food are formed on the outer peripheral surface of the rotating body so as to minimize the distance between the inner wall of the processing tank and the outer peripheral surface of the rotating body.
The dispersion liquid passed from the supply port into the processing tank is subjected to impact force and motion while the flow is disturbed by the rotating body that rotates around the axis connecting the supply port side and the discharge port side in the processing layer. It is emulsified and crushed and discharged from the outlet.
[0019]
As described above, the food can be pulverized into fine powder by passing the dispersion containing the coarse particles and the powder of the food through the wet pulverizer food.
The average particle size of the fine powder varies depending on the type and purpose of the food. For example, in the case of cocoa, the average particle size is preferably 15 μm or less, more preferably 10 μm or less. In the case of matcha, the average particle size is preferably 10 μm or less, more preferably 5 μm or less.
If the average particle size of the food particles does not reach the desired range in one pass-through treatment, the passage through the wet-type pulverizer may be repeated until the food particles are sufficiently pulverized. In the case of the present invention, since the above-mentioned powder is mixed in the dispersion liquid passed through the wet mill, the number of times of repetition can be reduced as compared with the conventional case even when individual liquid passing processing is repeated. In addition, the time and cost required for the pulverizing process can be reduced.
[0020]
The food fine powder obtained by the above-mentioned method of finely pulverizing food can be blended into food and drink. Foods and drinks as referred to in the present invention mean processed products that are orally ingested by animals such as humans and livestock.In addition to drinks and foods, pharmaceuticals, pet foods, feeds, and the like are also included in the scope of the foods and drinks of the present invention. Included.
Specifically, for example, biscuits, cookies, chocolate, caramel, ice cream, candies, hamburgers, ham, sausage, soups, sauces, mustard, food products such as tofu, milk drinks, red bean drinks, yellow powder drinks, chestnut drinks, Drugs orally administered in the form of beverages such as cocoa beverages and green tea beverages, tablets, powders, jellies and the like are exemplified.
[0021]
When blending the food fine powder obtained by the above-mentioned pulverization method into food or drink, it may be added while being dispersed in a liquid dispersion medium. Alternatively, fine powder of food may be separated from the dispersion using a sieve or a centrifuge, and the resulting powder may be added to food or drink.
According to such foods and drinks, since the food is made into fine powder by pulverization, it is possible to improve digestive absorption, form stability, and the like.
[0022]
【Example】
Commercially available baker's yeast and milk calcium were mixed with tap water to prepare a dispersion. As milk calcium, "Alamine" (trade name, manufactured by Daily Board, New Zealand) was used.
For each dispersion, 0.5 kg of baker's yeast as coarse particles of food to be ground and 10 liters of tap water as a dispersion medium were used.
The amount of the powdered milk calcium added was 0 kg (comparative example), 0.25 kg, 0.5 kg, 0.75 kg, and 1.0 kg.
[0023]
Each of the dispersions was homogenized in a normal homogenizer (manufactured by Sanmaru Kikai Co., Ltd.) to pulverize the baker's yeast. This homogenizer is a device that allows the dispersion liquid supplied from the hopper to flow into a homogeneous valve, and the processing liquid flowing out of the homogenizer passes through a flexible tube cooled by cold water so that the temperature of the processing liquid does not increase. Is returned to the hopper again so that the homogenizer can be circulated a plurality of times.
The processing pressure of the homogenizer was 50 MPa, and the processing flow rate was 200 liter / hour. One processing time of the pulverizing process is about 3 minutes.
[0024]
In order to measure the efficiency of the pulverization, a part of the processing solution after the pulverization was sampled. The sampled solution was cooled with ice water immediately after sampling.
The crushing efficiency was calculated by counting the number of generated colonies after culturing the sampled treatment liquid on a commercially available Petri film (manufactured by 3M) at a temperature of 20 to 30 ° C. for 3 days. That is, the viability of yeast was obtained by regarding the number of generated colonies as the number of viable yeast cells.
[0025]
FIG. 1 shows an example of the relationship between the number of treatments of the homogenizer at a treatment pressure of 50 MPa and the survival rate of the yeast. In FIG. 1, (A-1) is a case where the addition amount of milk calcium is 0. (A-2) is the case where the addition amount of milk calcium is 0.25 kg. (A-3) is a case where the addition amount of milk calcium is 0.5 kg. (A-4) is the case where the addition amount of milk calcium is 0.75 kg. (A-5) is a case where the added amount of milk calcium is 1 kg.
From the results shown in FIG. 1, it can be seen that, when milk calcium was added, the yeast was crushed with a smaller number of treatments and the viability was significantly reduced as compared with the case where milk calcium was not added. This result is considered to be due to the addition of the milling effect due to the addition of milk calcium.
[0026]
The relationship between the number of treatments and the survival rate shown in FIG. 1 was fitted to a straight line for each addition amount of milk calcium, and the slope of the straight line indicating the decrease in the survival rate (the slope of the survival rate) was calculated. FIG. 2 is a graph showing an example of the relationship between the amount of added milk calcium and the gradient of the survival rate. As shown in FIG. 2, when the amount of added milk calcium is 0.5 kg, the absolute value of the slope becomes maximum, and it can be seen that the rate of decrease in the survival rate is the highest.
In addition, it is more preferable that the amount of milk calcium added is in the range of 0.25 to 0.75 kg, but this range is equivalent to the range of 0.5 to 2 times as much as the mass of yeast. Then, the mass ratio to tap water is equivalent to 2.5 to 7.5 mass%, and the ratio to the whole dispersion is equivalent to the range of 2.3 to 6.7 mass%.
[0027]
Assuming that the added amount of milk calcium is x and the slope of the survival rate is y, the following equation (1) holds. In the equation (1), m = 0.168 and 1 = −0.179. Also, exp (), when the base of the natural logarithm e, representing the exp ^(t) ≡e t.
[0028]
y = 4.46 × 10 ⁻⁴ exp (x / m) +0.222 exp (x / l) −0.325 (1)
[0029]
Next, four types of dispersions prepared by mixing commercially available baker's yeast and milk calcium (the above-mentioned “alamine”) with tap water were prepared by changing the amounts of the baker's yeast and milk calcium, and the homogenizer was used. Each time the homogenizer treatment is performed, the concentration (pieces / ml) of the obtained treatment liquid (suspension), the viscosity (mPa · s) of the treatment liquid, and the fine powder The average particle size (μm) was measured.
Here, the “concentration of the processing solution” is the number of particles in the processing solution per unit volume, and was calculated from the particle size distribution of the particles.
[0030]
The measurement results are shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, (B-1) shows the case where the addition amount of baker's yeast was 0.5 kg and the addition amount of milk calcium was 0. (B-2) shows the case where the addition amount of baker's yeast was 1 kg and the addition amount of milk calcium was 0.5 kg. (B-3) shows the case where the addition amount of baker's yeast was 0.5 kg and the addition amount of milk calcium was 0.25 kg. (B-4) shows the case where the addition amount of baker's yeast was 1 kg and the addition amount of milk calcium was 1 kg.
[0031]
As shown in FIG. 3, the concentration of the treatment liquid and the reciprocal of the average particle size of the fine powder of the pulverized food showed a substantially good linear relationship. This indicates that the reciprocal of the average particle diameter increases and the average particle diameter decreases as the concentration of the processing liquid increases.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, the concentration of the processing liquid and the viscosity of the processing liquid showed a substantially good linear relationship. This indicates that the viscosity of the processing liquid increases as the concentration of the processing liquid increases.
[0032]
Fitting a straight line the relationship between the concentration of the treatment liquid shown in FIG. 3 the reciprocal of the average particle diameter, and the inclination T _c. Further, the relationship between the concentration of the processing liquid and the viscosity of the processing liquid shown in FIG. 4 is fitted to a straight line, and this slope is defined as T _η .
At this time, assuming that the gradient of the survival rate shown in FIG. 1 is y, the following equation (2) is established with a being a constant. In the equation (2), m and l are constants equal to those used in the equation (1).
[0033]
^{_{y = a × T c m /}} T η l ............ (2)
[0034]
As described above, in performing the pulverization treatment, the physical properties of the treatment liquid by the pulverization treatment should be measured by performing preliminary experiments, and the decrease in the pulverization effect due to the increase in the viscosity of the treatment liquid due to the pulverization of the powder itself should be evaluated. Is preferred. Thereby, an appropriate amount of powder to be added can be determined.
The evaluation method described in this example is not limited to the case where the coarse particles to be pulverized are yeast, and is not limited to the case where the powder is milk calcium. It goes without saying that the same method can be applied to the case where coarse particles or powders of other types of food are used.
[0035]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the method of finely pulverizing food of the present invention, coarse particles of food can be effectively turned into fine powder. Further, even if the powder is worn or crushed during the pulverizing process, the powder is a food additive, so that even if the powder is mixed into the product, there is no direct adverse effect on the quality of the food.
In particular, when the powder is a calcium salt and / or a magnesium salt, the calcium salt and the magnesium salt can be efficiently added to the food by the pulverization step, and a fine food powder with enhanced inorganics can be obtained. be able to.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a graph showing an example of the relationship between the number of times of pulverization and the survival rate (survival rate) of yeast.
FIG. 2 is a graph in which the horizontal axis represents the amount of powder added, and the vertical axis represents the slope obtained by fitting the relationship between the number of treatments and the survival rate in FIG. 1 to a straight line.
FIG. 3 is a graph showing an example of the relationship between the concentration of a processing solution obtained by a pulverization process and the average particle size of fine powder of a pulverized food.
FIG. 4 is a graph showing an example of a relationship between a concentration of a processing liquid by a pulverizing process and a viscosity of the processing liquid.

Claims (5)

In a method of finely pulverizing a food, wherein the coarse particles are crushed into fine powder by passing a dispersion obtained by dispersing coarse particles to be crushed in a dispersion medium into a wet crusher, wherein the coarse particles are food.
A method of finely pulverizing food, comprising adding a powder which is insoluble or hardly soluble in the dispersion medium and is a food additive to the dispersion and passing the powder through the wet pulverizer. The method according to claim 1, wherein the wet mill is a homogenizer. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the amount of the powder added is 0.5 to 2 times the mass of the coarse particles. 4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the powder is a calcium salt and / or a magnesium salt. A food or drink comprising a fine food powder obtained by the method for finely pulverizing food according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

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