JPH08193001A - Production of dry flower - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To obtain a dry flower for administration or a food, hardly having change of color and fading from the color of a material itself by sealing a fresh flower material together with an oxygen absorbent and a dehumidifying agent in a gas barrier container and simply and efficiently drying. CONSTITUTION: This dry flower is obtained by drying a fresh flower material in a gas barrier container in a substantially oxygen removed state (namely <=5%, especially <=0.1% oxygen concentration) and a water removed state (namely <=10%, especially <=1% relative humidity). The oxygen absorbent used here is especially one comprising an unsaturated fatty acid compound and an unsaturated group-containing chain hydrocarbon polymer as main agents and an oxygen absorption promoting substance For example, oleic acid, linoleic acid, linseed oil fatty acid, an oligomer and a polymer of butadiene or isoprene may be cited as the oxygen absorbent. Natural pulp, silica gel, active carbon and zeolite may be cited as the dehumidifying agent. Carnation, rose, begonia, cattleya and chrysanthemum may be cited as the fresh flower material.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for producing dried flowers to be used for appreciation and for eating.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, dried flowers have come to be used not only for appreciation but also for eating. To make this dried flower, the most familiar example is rose,
In addition to the method of hanging dull grass etc. upside down in a dry atmosphere, various methods have been conventionally proposed. For example, a method of immersing in a desiccant such as silica gel (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 52-7963) is known. In this case, a method is used in which granular or powdered silica gel or the like is placed in a container, fresh flowers are enclosed in the container, sealed, and usually left at room temperature for 3 to 7 days. Further, in order to accelerate the removal of water, a method of using a microwave oven (Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-30642) and a technique of utilizing infrared rays (Actual No. Sho 63-1)
99101, JP-A-1-272501), a method by freeze-drying (Japanese Patent Publication No. 52-2650) and a method by vacuum drying (Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-11881) have been proposed. Has also been proposed (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-215401).

However, the natural drying method has drawbacks in that the drying conditions depend on the weather and the location, and the finished product varies and a uniform product cannot be obtained, and a vivid flower color cannot be reproduced. Although the method using a desiccant is effective, it has a drawback that the color of the raw flower material is faded by oxygen during drying. As a more efficient drying means, vacuum drying, freeze drying, frequency drying, blast drying and the like often cause discoloration due to rapid drying,
The operation is complicated, especially because special equipment is required.
In addition, there is a problem in that it is costly and cannot be performed easily.

[0004]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the conventional method for producing dried flowers, and when the raw flower material is dried and made into dried flowers, the petals are less discolored, and the peeling is reduced. An object of the present invention is to provide a simple method for producing dried flowers, in which there is little change from the color of the raw material itself, such as less browning of the stem, efficient drying, and a simple method.

[0005]

In order to achieve this object, it is necessary to dry the atmosphere in a state where oxygen is cut off. That is, drying in an atmosphere in which only water is removed is insufficient to prevent discoloration of fresh flowers, and it is essential to remove oxygen and water at the same time to create an atmosphere substantially free of oxygen and water.

That is, the method for producing dried flowers of the present invention is characterized in that, as a means for solving the problem, the raw flower material is dried in a gas barrier container from which oxygen and water have been substantially removed. Further, the method of the present invention is the above-mentioned method, wherein the raw flower material is an oxygen absorbent and a dehumidifying agent containing an unsaturated fatty acid compound and / or a chain hydrocarbon polymer having an unsaturated group as a main component and an oxygen absorption promoter. At the same time, the method is characterized by sealing in a gas barrier container.

Here, the state in which oxygen is substantially removed means an oxygen concentration of 5% or less, preferably 1% or less, more preferably 0.1% or less. Further, the state in which water is substantially removed means a relative humidity of 10% or less, preferably 5% or less, more preferably 1% or less. If the oxygen concentration is higher than the above concentration range, the color of the petals may fade during drying or the leaves, stems, etc. may become brown, resulting in significant discoloration from the fresh flower material, which is not preferable. Further, when the relative humidity is higher than the above range, there arises a problem that it cannot be dried sufficiently, or that it takes time to dry and an dried flower cannot be efficiently produced. It is not preferable.

The oxygen absorbent used in the present invention includes:
An oxygen absorber that absorbs oxygen even under dry conditions is required,
Any material can be used as long as it can absorb oxygen under dry conditions with low humidity. However, oxygen absorbers that require water to absorb oxygen, for example, known oxygen absorbers whose main component is a metal / metal salt represented by iron sulfite / iron powder / iron salt, catechol, ascorbin, etc. Below, it can be used by allowing water to coexist, but when used in the present invention,
It is not suitable for the method of the present invention because it stops absorbing oxygen during the drying process and also interferes with dehumidification of the dehumidifying agent.

In the present invention, an oxygen absorbent that does not require water for absorbing oxygen is preferable, and an oxygen absorbent containing an oxygen absorption promoting substance is mainly composed of an unsaturated fatty acid compound and / or a chain hydrocarbon polymer having an unsaturated group. Agents are preferably used. The oxygen absorbent used is a chain hydrocarbon polymer having an unsaturated fatty acid compound and / or an unsaturated group, which is the main agent of the oxygen absorption reaction, a substance that promotes the oxygen absorption reaction of the main agent,
And a carrier material, to which a gas absorbent can be added.

The unsaturated fatty acid compound used here is
It is an unsaturated fatty acid having 10 or more carbon atoms and having a double bond between carbons, or a salt or ester of the unsaturated fatty acid. The unsaturated fatty acid and its fatty acid salt or ester may have a substituent such as a hydroxyl group and a formyl group. Further, the unsaturated fatty acid compound does not necessarily have to be a pure substance.

Examples of unsaturated fatty acid compounds include oleic acid, linoleic acid, linolenic acid, arachidonic acid, parinaric acid dimer acid, unsaturated fatty acids such as ricinoleic acid or ricinoleic acid, and fats and oils containing these esters. , And metal salts. Further, as the unsaturated fatty acid, vegetable oil, fatty acid obtained from animal oil, that is, linseed oil fatty acid, soybean oil fatty acid, tung oil fatty acid, bran oil fatty acid, sesame oil fatty acid, cottonseed oil fatty acid rapeseed oil fatty acid, tall oil fatty acid and the like are also used.

The chain-like hydrocarbon polymer having an unsaturated group is a polymer having 10 or more carbon atoms and one or more double bonds between carbon atoms and its derivatives. The derivative may have, for example, a hydroxyl group, an amino group, a formyl group or a carboxyl group as a substituent. Examples of chain hydrocarbon polymers having unsaturated groups include oligomers and polymers such as butadiene, isoprene and 1,3 pentadiene. The chain hydrocarbon polymer having an unsaturated group does not necessarily have to be a pure substance, and a small amount of impurities such as a solvent mixed in at the time of its production is allowed within a common sense range.

Examples of the oxygen absorption promoting substance include metal salts and radical initiators that promote autoxidation of organic compounds. As the metal salt, Cu, Fe, Co,
Transition metal salts such as Ni, Cr and Mn are preferable, and as the transition metal salt, for example, unsaturated fatty acid transition metal salt is preferably used.

As the carrier substance, for example, natural pulp,
Paper or synthetic paper made of synthetic pulp, silica gel, alumina, activated carbon, zeolite, perlite, activated clay, etc. are selected. In addition, it is a practical use method to select a dehumidifying agent as a carrier substance, and at the same time, make the carrier have a dehumidifying ability. Particularly when the main agent is a liquid substance, it is preferable to use an adsorptive substance as the carrier substance.

The acidic gas absorbent may be any substance capable of absorbing or adsorbing an acidic substance produced by the reaction of the main component or an acidic substance brought into the storage atmosphere, for example, an oxide of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal, Hydroxides, carbonates, organic acid salts and organic amines are used. Further, as the gas absorbent, it is possible to make it function as an acid gas absorbent by selecting a carrier substance or a dehumidifying agent having the ability to absorb acid gas. In this case, it is not always necessary to add an acid gas absorbent. There is no.

The proportion of each component in the oxygen absorber is 0.01% by weight of the oxidation promoting substance relative to 100 parts by weight of the main agent.
10 to 10 parts by weight and 1 to 1000 parts by weight of carrier substance are arbitrarily selected. Further, the acidic gas absorbent can be used in a range of 1 to 1000 parts by weight, if necessary. The oxygen absorbent is used as a package by mixing the above-mentioned respective components and usually wrapping it in a known breathable packaging material having paper or nonwoven fabric as a base material.

The dehumidifying agent used in the present invention includes paper made of natural pulp and synthetic pulp, synthetic paper, silica gel,
Alumina, activated carbon, zeolite, perlite, activated clay, quicklime, barium oxide, calcium chloride, barium bromide, calcium hydride, calcium sulfate, magnesium chloride, magnesium oxide, magnesium sulfate, aluminum sulfate, sodium sulfate, sodium carbonate, potassium carbonate , Zinc chloride and the like. The dehumidifying agent may be used as it is or as a package, or the dehumidifying agent may be used as a mixture with the oxygen absorbent.

The gas barrier container used in the present invention is
A container made of a gas barrier material such as a plastics container, a film bag, a metal container or a glass container is selected according to the purpose of producing dried flowers. (Hereinafter, the gas barrier container may be simply referred to as a container.) The gas barrier property of the gas barrier container is 25 ° C. and 60% RH.
It is preferable that the oxygen permeability in 100 ° C. is 100 ml / m ² · Day · atm or less and the water vapor permeability at 40 ° C. and 90% RH is 10 g / m ² · Day or less. The barrier performance to be selected is set during the manufacturing period of the dried flower, and it is also advantageous in terms of cost to select it so as not to cause excessive performance depending on the purpose.

The method of the present invention can be applied to a fresh flower material which has been conventionally used as a material for dried flowers. The fresh flower material is not particularly limited, and the dried flower is not only for appreciation but also for food. Also included are those used for The method of the present invention can also be applied to the drying of medicinal plants. Examples of the raw flower material include carnation, rose, begonia, cattleya, tulip, orchid, cymbidium, chrysanthemum, pansy, gladiolus, freesia, iris, peony, button and the like.

As a method of using the oxygen absorbent and the dehumidifying agent, it is convenient to use a packaged pouch and put it in a container together with the raw flower material. Alternatively, the oxygen absorbent and the dehumidifying agent may be put in a container as they are, and a fresh flower material may be embedded therein. It is also a practical method to appropriately use a cushioning material such as expanded polystyrene when the fresh flower material is loaded into the container depending on the strength of the material.

The amount of oxygen absorbent used is at least an amount capable of absorbing oxygen in the space volume in the sealed container, and preferably 1.2 to 2 times the amount of oxygen absorbent is used. Good. The amount of the dehumidifying agent used is at least sufficient to absorb the water in the space volume in the sealed container and to make the fresh flower material into a dry flower, and preferably 1. It is used in the range of 2 to 10 times. In addition, when the container is charged with and filled with the material, the inside of the container may be replaced with nitrogen gas, and the gas replacement leads to a reduction in the amount of the oxygen absorbent, the dehumidifying agent, and particularly the oxygen absorbent used.

[0022]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in more detail below by showing Examples of the present invention.

Example 1 First, 1 g of tall oil fatty acid and 0.5 g of tall oil fatty acid iron
A small bag (size) composed of a breathable packaging material (paper / open-pore polyethylene) was prepared by mixing 5 g of a powdery composition obtained by mixing 3.5 g of zeolite (iron content: 5%) with a blender and 2.5 g of quicklime. : 5 cm × 7.5 cm) and then heat-sealing the periphery of the pouch to produce an oxygen absorbent package. Next, one red rose petal having a stem of 1 cm in length and the above oxygen absorbent package were placed in 500 ml of air (25
Al bag (stretched polypropylene /
Made of aluminum / polyethylene, size: 220 mm x 300
mm) and then sealed this Al bag at 25 ℃, 60%
It was stored under an atmosphere of RH for 14 days. When the oxygen concentration and the water concentration in the sealed Al bag stored for 14 days were measured using a gas chromatograph, the oxygen concentration in the system was 0.0
It was 4% and the relative humidity was 0.5%, and it was confirmed that the system was maintained substantially free of oxygen and water. Next, when the rose flower was taken out from the sealed Al bag and observed, the dried flower was completed, the red color of the petals had little discoloration, and the color of the sepals and stems was not discolored to brown. Was almost the same.

Comparative Example 1 A stem having a length of 1 cm was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1, except that four pieces of Fuji Silica gel type A (manufactured by Fuji Davison Chemical Co., Ltd., containing 2 g) were enclosed in place of the oxygen absorbent A in Example 1. One red rose flower is sealed in an Al bag and kept at 25 ℃, 60
It was stored under an atmosphere of% RH for 14 days. The oxygen concentration and the water concentration in the Al bag sealed and stored for 14 days were measured in the same manner as in Example 1, and the rose flower was taken out from the bag and observed. The browning of the plant was also noticeable, and the discoloration from the time of the fresh flowers was remarkable. The oxygen concentration in the bag was 20.9% and the relative humidity was 1%.

[0025]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, dried flowers are produced by dehumidifying and drying the raw flower material in an atmosphere substantially free of oxygen and water to produce a dry flower that is hardly discolored or faded from the color of the fresh flower material itself. can do. A dried flower produced by the method of the present invention and having a bright fresh flower color maintained has an increased value for appreciation, and also contributes to an increase in appetite as a food material. The method of the present invention is a method for simply and efficiently drying a raw flower material together with an oxygen absorbent and a dehumidifying agent in a gas barrier container, and as it is, a container for storing dried flowers. Can also be

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method for producing dried flowers, which comprises drying a raw flower material in a gas barrier container from which oxygen and water have been substantially removed. 2. A fresh flower material, together with an oxygen absorbent and a dehumidifying agent containing an unsaturated fatty acid compound and / or a chain hydrocarbon polymer having an unsaturated group as a main component and an oxygen absorption promoter,
A gas barrier container is hermetically sealed.
The method for producing dried flowers according to.