JP2013081460A - Flavoring agent - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide a peppermint flavored ice confectionery, a flavoring agent used therefor and a method for making the flavoring agent.
A method for preparing green peppermint powder from leaves of Mentha piperita, comprising the steps of drying, crushing, sterilizing and milling fresh leaves, wherein (a) superheated steam treatment before drying Performing (b) drying at a maximum of 100 ° C. using a dryer that provides a combination of microwave heating and far-infrared heating under ultra-low pressure conditions (up to 0.4 kPa), and (c) sterilization Is carried out using superheated steam at 165 to 185 ° C. The resulting powder adds enough green to ice confectionery such as ice cream without the need for further green colorant addition.
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Description

  The present disclosure relates to peppermint flavored ice confections, flavoring agents used therein, and methods of making flavoring agents.

Peppermint is a popular flavor in ice confectionery such as ice cream and is widely used. It is traditionally provided by adding peppermint powder to an ice cream or ice confectionery base. Green peppermint powder consists of dried and milled leaves of peppermint shrub Mentha piperita. One problem with current powders is that they tend to brown. This browning begins shortly after processing as a result of enzymatic reactions in the leaves. The result is a desired non-green powder.
It is known that the desired green color can be obtained by the addition of colorants such as copper chlorophyllin sodium and edible green 3. However, there is a clear tendency towards such materials and more natural materials.

It has now been found that it is possible to provide the desired color in peppermint flavored ice confectionery without the use of artificial colorants. Thus, a method of preparing green peppermint powder from Mentha piperita leaves comprising the steps of drying, grinding, sterilizing and milling fresh leaves,
(A) performing a superheated steam treatment before drying;
(B) Drying is performed at up to 100 ° C. using a dryer that provides a combination of microwave heating and far infrared heating under ultra-low pressure conditions (up to 0.4 kPa), and (c) sterilization at 165 Provided is the method, characterized in that it is carried out using superheated steam at ˜185 ° C.
Furthermore, the green peppermint powder which can be prepared by the above-mentioned method is provided.

In processing, fresh leaves are first treated with superheated steam. This should not be too long or too short, or the temperature should not be too high or too low. If this fails, the leaves will turn brown immediately (if the temperature is too high or too long) or later in the process (if the temperature is too low or too short). Typically, the temperature is 180-220 ° C. and the treatment is applied for 20-60 seconds, although in some circumstances small variations from these numbers are possible.
They are then placed in a dryer that simultaneously performs both IR and microwave drying. Such dryers are well known and widely used in the art, and the choice is not critical. A typical example is Hyperdry HD-48SZ manufactured by Sakurai Seiki Co., Ltd. in Niigata, Japan.

The internal pressure of the dryer is reduced to 0.4 to 7 kPa, preferably 2 to 3 kPa, and drying is continued until the water content becomes 5% by weight or less. The time to achieve this will of course vary and depends on the type of dryer and the nature / size of the load, but the time required is typically between 80 and 120 minutes.
Sterilization is performed on the dried leaves using standard methods in the art, typically superheated steam at 165-185 ° C.
Then, the leaves are milled to obtain a powder having an average particle size of less than 50 micrometers, more specifically 10 micrometers or less. At least 50% of the ground particles are below this size.

  The resulting powder is a strong green color and often completely lacks any brown that is characteristic of other such commercial powders. When incorporated into ice confections such as ice cream, the result is a good flavor and a completely natural vivid green that does not require the addition of coloring material to provide the desired green color. Accordingly, a green ice confection having a peppermint flavor, comprising an ice confectionery base and a peppermint flavoring agent prepared as described above, to which no green coloring material has been added is provided.

“Frozen base” means all other ingredients necessary for the desired frozen confectionery other than peppermint flavoring. Obtaining ice confectionery by incorporation into the base of the flavoring agent prepared as described above is completely conventional.
The present disclosure is further described with reference to the following examples, which illustrate certain aspects but are not intended to be limiting in any way.

Example 29.38 Kg of fresh peppermint leaves (moisture content 84.43%) were steamed for 30 seconds. The leaves were spread on a tray and placed in a 5000 L capacity 48W Hyperdry HD-48SZ IR / microwave heater (Niigata, Japan, Sakurai Seiki Co., Ltd.). A temperature probe was placed in the leaves, the dryer was degassed to 0.4 kPa, and drying was started with a dryer setting of 24 kW. Reaching a temperature of 100 ° C. indicates that the required moisture content (5 wt% or less) has been reached. This took 107 minutes.

The weight of the completed leaf was 3.52 kg (water content 3.99%).
The leaves are sterilized by exposure to superheated steam at 165 to 185 ° C. for 2 to 10 seconds, and averaged to 8.0 micrometers by a jet mill (Tokyo, Japan, STJ-315 manufactured by Seishin Enterprise Co., Ltd.). Milled.

The result was a fine, strong green powder that was substantially greener than existing commercial powders. As a result, when the powder prepared as described above (hereinafter referred to as “powder AHD”) and the commercial powder were incorporated into an ice cream formulation at 0.2% by weight and evaluated by a panel of experts, the powder The ice cream containing AHD was clearly greener than the commercial powder. The differences were very large and powdered AHD ice creams did not require artificial color additives to make the consumer acceptable green.
On the other hand, ice cream containing commercial powders required 2 ppm edible green 3 (C.I. 42053) to make the ice cream the same acceptable color.

Claims (3)

A method for preparing green peppermint powder from Mentha piperita leaves, comprising the steps of drying, grinding, sterilizing and milling fresh leaves,
(A) performing a superheated steam treatment before drying;
(B) Drying is performed at up to 100 ° C. using a dryer that provides a combination of microwave heating and far infrared heating under ultra-low pressure conditions (up to 0.4 kPa), and (c) sterilization at 165 Said process characterized in that it is carried out using superheated steam at ˜185 ° C.   The green peppermint powder which can be prepared by the method of Claim 1.   A green ice confectionery having a peppermint flavor, comprising an ice confectionery base and a peppermint flavor agent prepared by the method of claim 1, wherein no green coloring material is added.