JP5075610B2 - Dried vegetables and method for producing the same - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a dried vegetable and a method for producing the same, and more specifically, excellent shape retention, effectively preventing loss of shape, easily disperses and leaves easily during restoration, and after restoration, is unique to vegetables. It is related with dried vegetables and its manufacturing method which can demonstrate flavor, texture, etc. of the food.

  In general, dried foods are produced by hot-air drying or freeze-drying, but for vegetables there is a risk of browning by hot-air drying, and it takes time to restore due to shrinkage due to drying. There is a problem that the flavor and texture of food are lost. On the other hand, when freeze-drying vegetables, the amount of water contained in the food is large, so that the energy cost is high and the tissue is easily collapsed by freezing. For this reason, there is a problem that the shape retention of the dried vegetables is lowered, and it is not easy to handle due to chipping or losing its shape, and the restored vegetables become soft and the texture unique to the crunchy vegetables is lost.

In order to solve these problems, conventionally, a drying method combining hot air drying and freeze drying has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1, hereinafter referred to as Conventional Technology 1).
That is, this prior art 1 is a method in which a heat-treated or sweetened vegetable is dried with hot air to reduce moisture in the vegetable, and then vacuum dried or vacuum freeze dried. According to this prior art 1, by reducing the moisture content of the vegetables before freeze-drying, it can be carried out at a low cost, the shape retention can be prevented from being lowered, the handling is easy, and it is relatively short. There is an advantage that it can be restored in time, and the flavor and texture peculiar to vegetables can be exhibited well after restoration.

In addition, as a conventional drying method in which hot air drying and freeze drying are combined, a drying method in which a hot air dried food is subjected to press molding treatment and then freeze-dried has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 2 below). , Referred to as Conventional Technology 2).
That is, in this prior art 2, sugar is added as an excipient to a branch-treated food, and then the food is dried with hot air until the weight is reduced to 20 to 70%, and then the food is 0.05 to 0.00. This is a method of performing freeze-drying after press molding at a pressure of 5 kg / cm ² . According to this prior art 2, there is an advantage that the restored vegetables can be restored to have a sense of volume when restored, and the restored vegetables have excellent flavor and texture.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-309161 Japanese Patent No. 3854614

In the above prior art 1, in order to prevent the loss of shape after freeze-drying, saccharides are added to the already-branched vegetables as an excipient, and then the hot air drying process is performed. At this time, if the amount of saccharide added is small, the resulting dried vegetable cannot be sufficiently prevented from being deformed, and actually, for example, 4% by weight or more of saccharide in solid content is added to the already-branched vegetable. There is a need.
However, when a large amount of saccharide is added, saccharide powder precipitates due to freeze-drying, and there is a problem that the appearance deteriorates and it takes time to restore, and the vegetables do not fall well at the time of restoration, especially in leafy vegetables. There is a problem that leaves are difficult to spread.

  Further, in the above-described conventional technique 2, saccharide is added as an excipient before hot-air drying. However, even if the addition amount of the saccharide is small, pressing molding is performed, so that the shape loss of the dried vegetables is prevented. The However, in this prior art 2, since dried vegetables are compressed, there is a problem that it takes time to restore, and the vegetables do not fall well at the time of restoration, and leaves are difficult to spread especially in leafy vegetables.

  The technical problem of the present invention is that the above problems are solved, the shape retention is excellent, the shape is effectively prevented, and the leaves are easily separated and easily spread at the time of restoration. It is in providing a dried vegetable and its manufacturing method which can exhibit the flavor, texture, etc. of this.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention is described as follows, for example, based on FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 showing an embodiment of the present invention.
That is, the present invention 1 is a method for producing dried vegetables, which includes a branching process (3) for branching raw vegetables, and a semi-drying process (4) for drying the above-branched vegetables to a predetermined moisture content with hot air. When, and a freeze-drying step (7) freeze-drying After freeze the above semi-dry vegetables, prior to lyophilization step (7) after the branch process (3), the total of the branches already vegetables with added sugars as solid content becomes amount of 3 to 10 wt% based on the weight, prior to lyophilization step (7) after the semi-drying step (4), the total of the semi-dry vegetables Gelatin is added so that the solid content is 0.01 to 1% by weight based on the weight .

  In addition, the present invention 2 relates to a dried vegetable, which is produced by the method for producing a dried vegetable of the present invention 1 described above.

Here, the above-mentioned vegetables are not limited to specific types. Specifically, in addition to so-called leafy vegetables such as cabbage, green curd, spinach, Chinese cabbage and persimmon, vegetative vegetables such as sprout, broccoli, etc. It may be a flower bud vegetable, a root vegetable such as carrot.
Moreover, what is generally used as a shaping material is used with said saccharide, Specifically, besides lactose and glucose, fructose, sorbitol, sucrose, maltose etc. can be mentioned, These are 2 types. These may be combined.

  Drying in the above semi-drying process varies depending on the type and moisture content of the raw vegetable and is not limited to a specific level.However, in general, if the drying is insufficient, the amount of water remaining in the vegetable increases, Since there is a possibility that the vegetables will be partially discolored when dried, it is usually preferable to set the weight so that the weight of the brunched vegetables is reduced to 40-70%.

  The saccharides may be added before the semi-drying step, but in this case, even if the already-branched vegetables are drained, when the powdered saccharide is added, the water floats to the surface by osmotic pressure, There is a risk that part of the saccharide will flow out along with the droplets. Moreover, when saccharides are added before a semi-drying process, since saccharides have adhered to the surface of vegetables, there also exists a problem that handling in a semi-drying process etc. is not easy. Therefore, the above saccharide is preferably added after this semi-drying step.

  The addition of the saccharide is not limited to a specific addition amount, and varies depending on the type of raw vegetable, but is usually set to 3 to 10% by weight in solid content with respect to the total weight including moisture of the above-branched vegetables. Is preferred. In addition, this saccharide may add a powdered thing directly to vegetables, or you may add about 10-30% of sugar solutions to vegetables.

  The addition amount of the gelatin is not limited to a specific value, but if the addition amount is large, the restorability of the dried food tends to decrease. Is preferably set to 0.01 to 1% by weight, more preferably 0.01 to 0.4% by weight. In addition, when the saccharide is added after the semi-drying step, the gelatin may be added before or after the addition of the saccharide, or after the gelatin and the saccharide are mixed, the mixture is added to the semi-dried vegetable. It may be added.

  The semi-dried vegetables to which the saccharide and gelatin are added can be freeze-dried by any method, but after filling into a predetermined container such as a tray-like container, the container is subjected to the freeze-drying process described above. And it is more preferable because dried vegetables are formed in a predetermined shape and are excellent in shape retention.

  Since the present invention is configured and operates as described above, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) Since sugar and gelatin are added, dried vegetables can be well separated during restoration, and leaves can easily spread well in leafy vegetables and can exhibit excellent resilience. .
(2) By adding gelatin, it is possible to suppress the precipitation of saccharide due to drying even if the amount of saccharide added is increased, and it is possible to prevent the occurrence of poor appearance and the deterioration of restoration property.
(3) The added amount of saccharide can be increased by adding gelatin and the saccharide is well dispersed. It can be improved well.
(4) Since the moisture content of vegetables is reduced by hot-air drying before freeze-drying, freeze-drying can be carried out at low cost and the weight of vegetable-derived solids per unit volume compared to ordinary freeze-dried products In addition, the restored vegetables can satisfactorily exhibit the flavor and texture of vegetables.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic process diagram of a method for producing dried vegetables, showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, in this embodiment, the pretreatment process (2) for washing and trimming the raw vegetable (1), the branch process (3) for branching the pretreated vegetable, A semi-drying step (4) for drying with hot air, a mixing step (5) for adding saccharides and the like to the semi-dried vegetables, a filling step (6) for filling the tray-shaped containers with the saccharides and other added vegetables A freeze-drying step (7) in which the vegetables filled in the container are frozen and then freeze-dried, and the dried vegetables (8) are obtained by sequentially performing the above steps.

Next, the above manufacturing process will be specifically described by taking, for example, a case where the green pepper is processed as the raw vegetable (1).
First, in the pre-treatment step (2) above, trimming the green vegetables, which are the raw vegetables (1), removing unnecessary parts, removing those that do not look good, washing them, and then dividing them into stem and leaf parts To do. Next, in the above branching step (3), the stem is boiled at 90 ° C. for 90 seconds, the leaves are boiled at 90 ° C. for 60 seconds, then each is cooled with water, dehydrated and drained. Get brunched vegetables.

  Next, in the semi-drying step (4), the brunched vegetables are dried with hot air of 60 ° C. for 90 minutes to reduce the weight of the vegetables to 45%, and then the mixing step (5). Add sugar to the semi-dried vegetable and then add gelatin.

  The sugar added in the mixing step (5) is a mixture of 6% by weight of powdered lactose and 2% by weight of powdered glucose with respect to the total weight of the semi-dried vegetables. Therefore, the addition amount of the saccharide is 3.6% by weight in total of 2.7% by weight of lactose and 0.9% by weight of glucose with respect to the total weight of the above-mentioned brunched vegetables including moisture. It is.

  On the other hand, the gelatin is prepared by previously mixing 8 parts by weight of gelatin with 92 parts by weight of water, heating to 80 ° C. and then cooling to 50 to 60 ° C. The amount of the gelatin solution added is 1.25 to 5% by weight based on the total weight of the semi-dried vegetables, and thus corresponds to 0.1 to 0.4% by weight when converted to solid content.

  Next, the semi-dried vegetable to which the saccharide and gelatin are added is filled into a predetermined container, for example, a tray-shaped container by a predetermined amount in the filling step (6). At this time, for example, it is preferable to level the surface by pressing with a force of about 4.9 kPa or less.

  Thereafter, in the freeze-drying step (7), the semi-dried vegetables filled in the container are frozen at −20 ° C. or lower together with the container, and then frozen under a condition of 0.5 Torr or higher vacuum. dry. As a result, a dried vegetable having a predetermined water content or less, for example, a water content of 8% or less is obtained.

  The dried vegetables obtained by the above process, for example, dried green peppers, did not lose their shape such as chipping, and had excellent shape retention. When hot water was added to the dried vegetables, they quickly recovered, the kokusai vegetables rose well, and the koji vegetables leaves spread well. And when I ate this, the texture and taste that are characteristic of the chok choy were exhibited well.

FIG. 2 is a schematic process diagram of a method for producing dried vegetables, showing a second embodiment of the present invention.
In the first embodiment, sugars and gelatin are added in the mixing step (5) after the semi-drying step (4). In contrast, the second embodiment includes a first mixing step (5a) after the branch step (3), and a second mixing step (5b) after the semi-drying step (4). Sugar is added in the first mixing step (5a), and gelatin is added in the second mixing step (5b). The other configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment described above, and functions in the same manner, so that the description thereof is omitted.

  The method for producing dried vegetables described in each of the above embodiments is illustrated in order to embody the technical idea of the present invention, and the processing conditions, components, materials, etc. of each step are those of these embodiments. The present invention is not limited to this, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims of the present invention.

  For example, other types of saccharides may be used, and the amount of the saccharide or the gelatin added is not limited to that of the above embodiment. It goes without saying that the raw vegetable may be a vegetable other than the red pepper.

  The dried vegetables of the present invention and the method for producing the same are excellent in shape retention, effectively preventing the loss of shape, and are well separated during restoration and easily spread leaves, and after restoration, the flavor and texture peculiar to vegetables Are particularly suitable for dried vegetables used for ingredients such as instant soup and instant noodles, but are also suitable for dried vegetables used for other foods.

It is a schematic process drawing of the manufacturing method of dried vegetables which shows 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic process drawing of the manufacturing method of dried vegetables which shows 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Raw material vegetables 3 ... Branch process 4 ... Semi-drying process 6 ... Filling process 7 ... Freeze-drying process 8 ... Dried vegetables

Claims (5)

A method for producing dried vegetables,
A branching process (3) for branching the raw vegetables;
A semi-drying step (4) of drying the above-branched vegetables with hot air to a predetermined moisture content;
A freeze-drying step (7) in which the semi-dried vegetable is frozen and then freeze-dried,
After the branching step (3) and before the freeze-drying step (7) , saccharides are added so that the added amount is 3 to 10% by weight in solid content with respect to the total weight of the above-branched vegetables. After the semi-drying step (4) and before the freeze-drying step (7) , gelatin is added so that the solid content is 0.01 to 1% by weight based on the total weight of the semi-dried vegetables. A method for producing dried vegetables.   The said semi-drying process (4) is a manufacturing method of the dried vegetable of Claim 1 which reduces the weight of a branch finished vegetable to 40 to 70%.   The method for producing a dried vegetable according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the saccharide is added after the semi-drying step (4). Any one of Claim 1 to 3 further provided with the filling process (6) which fills the semi-dried vegetable which added said saccharide | sugar and gelatin into the predetermined container before said freeze-drying process (7). The manufacturing method of the dried vegetable as described in a term. A dried vegetable produced by the method for producing a dried vegetable according to any one of claims 1 to 4 .

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