JP7597506B2 - Composition for enhancing the chewiness of food, method for enhancing the chewiness of food, barley flour from glutinous rice and food containing the same - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a composition for enhancing the chewiness of food, such as steamed bread, a method for enhancing the chewiness of food, and barley flour and food made from glutinous rice.

The β-glucan contained in barley is said to be effective in lowering cholesterol and suppressing the rise in blood sugar levels. For this reason, barley flour is often included as an ingredient in food products. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses heat-treated barley flour that can be used in confectioneries, snacks, bread, noodles, etc.

Barley also contains ingredients that significantly increase the viscosity of foods. For this reason, efforts are being made to reduce the viscosity of foods that contain barley. For example, Patent Document 2 discloses a food ingredient that contains a viscosity regulator such as gelatin and barley powder.

JP 2017-136020 A JP 2019-010127 A

However, gelatin and other substances listed as viscosity adjusters in Patent Document 2 have their own unique flavors, which may impair the original taste of the food.

In view of the above-mentioned conventional techniques, the present invention aims to provide a composition for enhancing the chewiness of food that can improve the chewiness of food without impairing the original taste of the food, a method for enhancing the chewiness of food, barley flour made from glutinous barley, and food containing the same.

To achieve the above objective, the food composition for enhancing the mochi texture of the present invention is characterized by having an average particle size of 15 to 100 μm and containing non-heat-treated barley flour from glutinous rice as an active ingredient.

The food composition for enhancing the chewiness of the present invention uses barley flour from glutinous rice as an active ingredient, making it possible to improve the chewiness, which is the texture of food, without compromising the original taste of the food.

In the food composition for enhancing the glutinous texture of the present invention, the maltose value of the glutinous barley flour is preferably greater than 150 mg/10 g.

The barley flour made from glutinous barley should preferably be whole-grain barley flour. The barley flour made from glutinous barley should preferably be whole-grain barley flour made from naked barley.

The method for enhancing the chewiness of food of the present invention is characterized in that the food composition for enhancing the chewiness of food is added to a food made from grain flour and/or starch so that the composition is contained in an amount of 5 to 100 parts by mass per 100 parts by mass of the grain flour and the starch combined.

The glutinous barley flour of the present invention is whole-grain glutinous barley flour, has an average particle size of 15 to 100 μm, and is not heat-treated.

The glutinous barley flour of the present invention preferably has a maltose value of more than 150 mg/10 g. The glutinous barley flour is preferably naked barley flour.

The food product of the present invention is a food product made from flour and/or starch, and is characterized in that it contains 5 to 100 parts by mass of the glutinous barley flour per 100 parts by mass of the flour and starch combined. In addition, the food product is preferably selected from bread, confectionery, snacks, and noodles.

The present invention does not contain ingredients with unique flavors such as viscosity modifiers, and instead uses barley flour from glutinous rice as the active ingredient, making it possible to improve the chewy texture of food without compromising the original taste of the food.

The waxy barley used in the present invention has a higher amylopectin content than non-glutinous barley. For example, the amylopectin content in waxy barley flour is usually 90% by mass or more, more specifically about 95 to 100% by mass, whereas the amylopectin content in non-glutinous barley flour is usually 75% by mass or less, more specifically about 70 to 75% by mass.

In the present invention, the type of waxy barley is not particularly limited, but naked barley is particularly preferably used because the grain and the husk are easily separated. Examples of naked barley varieties include Daishimochi .

In addition, whole grain barley flour is particularly preferred for use as barley flour for glutinous rice, as it has a higher water absorption rate than peeled barley flour and produces a chewy texture.

Furthermore, when the barley flour of the glutinous variety is heat-treated, it turns brown, which limits its use when added to foods, and so non-heat-treated barley flour is used. Here, heat treatment in the present invention means heat treatment carried out during the process of producing barley flour. For example, heat treatment carried out by known methods such as dry heat heating and wet heat heating on barley itself or on barley flour after milling is included. The glutinous barley flour used in the present invention is both barley grains and barley flour made by powdering barley grains that have not been heat-treated.

Waxy barley flour is obtained by grinding waxy barley grains, i.e., barley seeds after threshing. The barley grains can be ground by any known grinding method, specifically, roll grinding, stone mill grinding, impact grinding, airflow grinding, etc. In particular, airflow grinding is more preferable, since it can produce a ground product with a fine particle size.

Devices that can be used for airflow grinding include the "Wave Mill" (manufactured by Tsukasa Kogyo Co., Ltd.), the "Super Powder Mill" (manufactured by Nishimura Machinery Works Co., Ltd.), and the "Dream Mill" (manufactured by Furukawa Industrial Machinery Systems Co., Ltd.).

After grinding, it is preferable to make the particle size of the barley flour uniform by sieving or air classification. Commercially available barley flour may be used, or commercially available barley flour may be further ground, adjusted for particle size, etc. before use.

In the present invention, the average particle size of the glutinous barley flour is 15 to 100 μm, more preferably 15 to 75 μm, and even more preferably 15 to 54 μm. If the average particle size is greater than 100 μm, it tends to have an adverse effect on the texture, i.e., it becomes difficult to obtain a good chewy texture. If the average particle size is less than 15 μm, it becomes difficult to produce the glutinous barley flour, and production efficiency decreases.

The "average particle size" of barley flour can be measured, for example, by a particle size distribution measuring device based on the laser diffraction/scattering method (for example, the product name "Microtrac" manufactured by Nikkiso Co., Ltd.). In the present invention, "average particle size" refers to the volume mean diameter [MV].

The waxy barley flour used in the present invention preferably has a maltose value of more than 150 mg/10 g, and more preferably 250 mg/10 g or more. The maltose value is an index of the degree of starch damage, and the higher the maltose value, the greater the degree of starch damage. The maltose value can be measured by the official method (22-15) of the AACC (American Association of Cereal Chemists). A maltose value of more than 150 mg/10 g has the advantage of providing a chewy texture.

The food composition for enhancing the chewiness of the present invention contains the above-mentioned glutinous barley flour as an active ingredient. The method for enhancing the chewiness of food of the present invention is characterized by using the above-mentioned food composition for enhancing the chewiness as a raw material. Furthermore, the glutinous barley flour of the present invention is characterized by being whole-grain glutinous barley flour, having an average particle size of 15 to 100 μm, and not being heat-treated. Furthermore, the food of the present invention is characterized by containing the above-mentioned glutinous barley flour.

Foods to which the present invention can be applied are preferably those containing cereal flour and/or starch as ingredients, such as breads, confectioneries, snacks, noodles, etc.

Examples of breads include steamed bread, French bread, white bread, rolls, pão de queijo, sweet bread, hamburger buns, Danish pastries, doughnuts, and quick breads (muffins, American biscuits, etc.).

Examples of confectioneries include sponge cake, butter cake, cream puffs, pancakes, hotcakes, chocolate cake, soft cookies, etc.

Snacks include taiyaki, obanyaki, takoyaki, okonomiyaki, and corn dogs.

Noodles include pasta, Chinese noodles, udon, hiyamugi, somen, yakisoba, and soba-style noodles.

Examples of flours that can be used as raw materials for the above foods include wheat flour, bran, rye flour, oat flour, rice flour, and whole wheat flours of these grains. As for the wheat flour, any of strong flours (e.g., wheat flour for bread), medium-strength flours (e.g., wheat flour for noodles), and weak flours (e.g., wheat flour for confectionery) may be used.

The starch used as the raw material for the above foods can be not only raw starch such as corn starch, rice starch, or wheat starch, but also processed starch that has been pregelatinized, esterified, etherified, crosslinked, or the like. Also, oil-processed starch that has been aged by adding oils and fats to starch can be used.

In order to impart a chewy texture to these foods, the food chewy texture enhancing composition of the present invention is preferably added so that it is contained in an amount of 5 to 100 parts by mass, more preferably 10 to 100 parts by mass, and even more preferably 30 to 100 parts by mass, per 100 parts by mass of the grain flour and starch that are the raw materials of these foods. Note that starch does not necessarily have to be included. If the amount of food chewy texture enhancing composition added is less than 5 parts by mass per 100 parts by mass of the grain flour and starch that are the raw materials of the foods, the effect of enhancing the chewy texture tends to be poor.

The food product of the present invention thus obtained has an average particle size of 15 to 100 μm, and contains barley flour from glutinous rice that has not been heat-treated, resulting in a food product with an enhanced chewy texture. Furthermore, the inclusion of barley flour ensures that the food product is rich in nutrients such as β-glucan.

The present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to the following examples.

<Test Example 1> (Steamed bread chewiness evaluation 1)
The steamed breads of Examples 1 to 6 and Comparative Example 1 were produced by changing the average particle size of the glutinous barley flour contained in the raw material of the steamed bread. Specifically, the steamed breads of Examples 1 to 6 and Comparative Example 1 were produced according to the formulations shown in Table 1 below.

That is, Example 1 used barley flour with an average particle size of 15 μm, Example 2 used barley flour with an average particle size of 33 μm, Example 3 used barley flour with an average particle size of 45 μm, Example 4 used barley flour with an average particle size of 54 μm, Example 5 used barley flour with an average particle size of 75 μm, Example 6 used barley flour with an average particle size of 100 μm, and Comparative Example 1 used barley flour with an average particle size of 301 μm.

The glutinous barley flour used in the production of Examples 1 to 6 and Comparative Example 1 was prepared by crushing selected glutinous barley grains (naked barley) using airflow crushing or a pin mill to the average particle size described above (whole wheat flour). The average particle size was expressed as the volume mean diameter [MV] measured using a particle size distribution measuring device based on the laser diffraction/scattering method (product name "Microtrac", manufactured by Microtrac-Bell Co., Ltd.).

The steamed breads of Examples 1 to 6 and Comparative Example 1 were produced as follows.
(Step 1) Using a beater, all the ingredients shown in Table 1 were mixed. Mixing was performed at low speed for 2 minutes, followed by scraping, and then at medium speed for 1 minute.
(Step 2) 80 g of dough was taken from each of Examples 1 to 6 and Comparative Example 1, and shaped into a shape, which was then steamed with medium pressure steam at 100° C. for 13 minutes.

A sensory evaluation was performed on the chewy texture of the steamed bread of each of Examples 1 to 6 and Comparative Example 1. The sensory evaluation was performed as follows. The results of the sensory evaluation are shown in Table 2.

The panel consisted of 10 people. In the sensory evaluation, the evaluation criteria were set so that the chewy texture of the steamed bread of Comparative Example 2 was scored as 1 point, and the panelists were asked to score on a 5-point scale out of 5 points, and the average score was calculated.
5 points: Extremely chewy 4 points: Very chewy 3 points: Quite chewy 2 points: Slightly chewy 1 point: Normal

From the results in Table 2, good chewy texture was obtained in all of Examples 1 to 6, in which the average particle size was within the range of 15 to 100 μm specified in the present invention. On the other hand, in Comparative Example 1, in which the average particle size exceeded 100 μm, the chewy texture was inferior to Examples 1 to 6.
Test Example 2 (Steamed bread chewiness evaluation 2)
The amount of whole-grain barley flour added to the steamed bread ingredients was changed to produce the steamed breads of Examples 7 to 10 and Comparative Examples 2 and 3. Specifically, the steamed breads of Examples 7 to 10 and Comparative Examples 2 to 3 were produced according to the recipes shown in Table 3 below.

The barley flour used to make the steamed breads of Examples 7 to 10 and Comparative Examples 2 and 3 had an average particle size of 33 μm. The steamed bread manufacturing process and sensory evaluation were performed in the same manner as in Test Example 1.

From the results in Table 3, it can be seen that if the amount of barley flour added is 5 parts by mass or more, the chewy texture increases. It can also be seen that the chewy texture increases as the amount of barley flour added increases.

Test Example 3 (Steamed bread chewiness evaluation 3)
The steamed breads of Examples 11 and 12 and Comparative Example 4 were produced by changing the peeling ratio of the glutinous barley flour contained in the raw material of the steamed bread. Specifically, the steamed breads of Examples 11 and 12 and Comparative Example 4 were produced according to the formulations shown in Table 4 below.

The glutinous barley flour used in Example 11 had an average particle size of 33 μm, the glutinous barley flour used in Example 12 had an average particle size of 55 μm, and the non-glutinous barley flour used in Comparative Example 4 had an average particle size of 34 μm. The mixing ratio of the ingredients for each steamed bread was the same as that shown in Table 1. The manufacturing process and sensory evaluation of the steamed bread were performed in the same manner as in Test Example 1.

From the results in Table 4, Example 11, which is a whole wheat flour of glutinous barley flour, has a significantly higher chewiness, while Example 12, which is a glutinous barley flour with a peeling ratio of 30% and an average particle size of 55 μm, has a significantly higher chewiness.
It can be seen that the chewy texture of Example 11 is inferior to that of Example 11. It can also be seen from Comparative Example 4 that the effect of increasing the chewy texture of non-glutinous barley flour is poor even if the average particle size is small. It can also be seen that the chewy texture increases as the maltose value increases. As mentioned above, the maltose value was measured by the official method (22-15) of the AACC (American Association of Cereal Chemists).

Test Example 4 (Evaluation of the chewiness of hotcakes)
A hot cake containing glutinous barley flour as an ingredient (Example 13) and a hot cake not containing glutinous barley flour as an ingredient (Comparative Example 5) were produced. The glutinous barley flour used was whole wheat flour with an average particle size of 33 μm. The composition of the ingredients for each hot cake is shown in Table 5. The composition of the mixed flour used for each hot cake is shown in Table 6.

The hot cakes of each of Example 13 and Comparative Example 5 were produced as follows.
(Step 1) Using a Hobart mixer equipped with a beater, all the ingredients shown in Table 5 were mixed. Mixing was performed at low speed for 1 minute, scraped down, and then at medium speed for 1 minute.
(Step 2) The dough weight of each of Example 13 and Comparative Example 5 was set to 80 g, and was baked on a griddle heated to 160° C. for 3 minutes on the front side and 2 minutes on the back side for a total of 5 minutes.

The sensory evaluation of the hotcakes of Example 13 and Comparative Example 5 was carried out in the same manner as in Test Example 1. The results are shown in Table 6.

As shown in Table 6, Example 13, in which 10 parts by mass of glutinous barley flour was contained in the mixed flour , was found to have an excellent effect of enhancing the chewy texture.

Claims (5)

The composition for enhancing the mochi feel of food is characterized in that it has an average particle size of 15 to 100 μm, contains non-heat-treated mochi barley flour as an active ingredient , and is used in foods selected from steamed bread and pancakes . The food composition for enhancing the mochi texture according to claim 1, characterized in that the maltose value of the mochi barley flour is greater than 150 mg/10 g. The food composition for enhancing the mochi texture according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the barley flour of the glutinous variety is whole-grain barley flour. The food composition for enhancing the mochi texture according to claim 3, characterized in that the mochi barley flour is whole grain barley flour from naked barley. A method for enhancing the chewiness of food, comprising adding a food composition for enhancing the chewiness of food described in any one of claims 1 to 4 to a food selected from steamed bread and pancakes , the food composition being made from grain flour and/or starch, in an amount of 5 to 100 parts by mass per 100 parts by mass of the total of the grain flour and the starch.