Barley green leaf powder manufacturing method

Abstract

To provide a barley green leaf powder manufacturing method that can increase a flow rate while maintaining quality of resulting barley green leaf powder.SOLUTION: A barley green leaf powder manufacturing method comprises a step of cutting barley green leaves, a step of blanching the cut barley green leaves, and a step of drying and pulverizing the blanched barley green leaves. In this manufacturing method, the step of cutting the barley green leaves is preferably carried out by a specific cutting device. The specific cutting device is preferably such that: a rotary cutter, on which disks each having circumferentially arranged multiple blades thereon are disposed side by side at predetermined intervals in a central axis direction of the disks, is disposed on each of parallelly arranged two rotary shafts; the two rotary cutters are arranged such that the disks of one of the rotary cutters are positioned between adjoining disks of the other rotary cutter; and the barley green leaf cutting processing is performed such that the barley green leaves are pulled into between the two rotary cutters and sheared by the two rotary cutters.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for producing barley green leaf powder. [Background technology]

[0002] The green leaves of green plants such as barley are rich in vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, etc., and are expected to have various functions, so they are attracting attention as ingredients for health foods. Green leaves are powdered and provided in solid forms such as powder, granules, tablets, etc., as well as in liquid form for preparation when used.

[0003] Several methods for producing powder of barley leaves have been known so far (Patent Documents 1 to 5). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2002-065204 A [Patent Document 2] JP 2003-033151 A [Patent Document 3] JP 2004-000210 A [Patent Document 4] JP 2016-059380 A [Patent Document 5] Patent Publication No. 2021-136989 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] In each of the above-mentioned production methods, after harvesting, the barley leaves are pre-treated by cutting them with a cutter or the like, then blanched, dried and pulverized. In such a method for producing barley leaves, the pre-treatment of cutting is the rate-limiting factor. For this reason, there has been a demand for a pre-treatment method that can increase the flow rate of barley leaf powder while obtaining the same quality as before. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The present invention relates to a method for producing a barley green leaf powder, the method comprising the steps of cutting the barley green leaves, blanching the cut barley green leaves, and drying and grinding the blanched barley green leaves, The present invention provides a method for producing barley green leaf powder, in which a step of cutting barley green leaves is carried out using a specific cutting device.

[0007] Specifically, the outline of the present invention is as follows. <1> A method for producing barley green leaf powder, comprising the steps of cutting barley green leaves, blanching the cut barley green leaves, and drying and grinding the blanched barley green leaves, A method for producing barley green leaf powder, in which the step of cutting barley green leaves is carried out by a cutting device in which a rotating cutter, each of which has a disk with a plurality of blades arranged in a circumferential direction and juxtaposed at a predetermined interval along the central axis of the disk, is provided on each of two parallel rotating shafts, and both rotating cutters are arranged so that the disk on one rotating cutter is positioned between the adjacent disks on the other rotating cutter, and the barley green leaves are drawn between the two rotating cutters and cut by shearing with the two rotating cutters. <2> The cutting edge of the blade is formed obliquely with respect to the axial direction of the rotation shaft. <1> A method for producing barley green leaf powder according to claim 1. <3> The blade has a first blade surface inclined at a first inclination angle with respect to a rotation direction of the rotation shaft, and a second blade surface inclined at a second inclination angle with respect to the rotation direction that is smaller than the first inclination angle, The cutting edge of the blade is formed between the first blade surface and the second blade surface. <2> A method for producing barley green leaf powder according to claim 1. <4> The thickness of the disk in the axial direction of the rotating shaft is 10 to 35 mm. <1> ~ <3> 10. A method for producing barley green leaf powder according to any one of the above. <5> The spacing between the blades in the axial direction of the rotating shaft is 10 to 35 mm. <1> ~ <3> 10. A method for producing barley green leaf powder according to any one of the above. <6> The grinding in the step of drying and grinding the blanched green leaves of barley is carried out using a jet mill. <1> ~ <3> 10. A method for producing barley green leaf powder according to any one of the above. Effect of the Invention

[0008] According to the present invention, there can be provided a method for producing barley green leaf powder that can increase the flow rate while maintaining the quality of the obtained barley green leaf powder. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for explaining the method for producing barley green leaf powder according to the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view showing one embodiment of a cutting device used in the manufacturing method of FIG. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of the cutting device of FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of a main part of the cutting device of FIG. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a schematic side view showing the side shape of the rotary cutter. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] The present invention will be described in more detail below by way of embodiments of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to these.

[0011] The present invention will be described in detail below. As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention provides a method for producing barley green leaf powder, comprising a cutting step of cutting barley green leaves (hereinafter referred to as "barley green leaves"), a blanching and dehydration step of blanching and dehydrating the cut barley green leaves, and a drying and grinding step of drying and grinding the blanched and dehydrated barley green leaves, The cutting process for cutting the green leaves of barley is carried out using a specific cutting device. This specific cutting device (cutting device 1) will be described later.

[0012] The barley used as the raw material for the barley green leaf powder obtained in the present invention may be two-rowed barley, six-rowed barley, naked barley, etc., without any particular limitation, and these may be used alone or in combination of two or more. The barley green leaves may include not only the leaf portion of the plant body, but also the stem and other portions together with the leaves.

[0013] The barley green leaves may be harvested at any harvest time, and are not particularly limited, but are preferably harvested before maturity, that is, from the time when tillers start to the time when heading starts. Specifically, although it varies depending on the variety, it is generally preferable to harvest the green leaves from barley that is 10 cm or more tall, preferably about 10 to 90 cm tall, particularly preferably about 20 to 80 cm tall, and particularly preferably about 30 to 70 cm tall, but are not limited thereto.

[0014] Barley is preferably pulverized immediately after harvesting. If it takes time to pulverize, it is preferably stored by a storage method commonly used by those skilled in the art, such as low-temperature storage, to prevent deterioration of the green leaves.

[0015] The barley leaf cutting device will be described below. As shown in Fig. 1, the cutting device 1 according to this embodiment is used in the cutting process described above, and is configured so that barley leaves are continuously supplied by a conveying device B1. Note that, as the conveying device B1, for example, a belt conveyor, a top chain conveyor, a roller conveyor, or a linear conveying system can be used.

[0016] (Configuration of cutting device 1) The cutting device 1 includes a machine frame 10, a pair of rotating cutters 20a and 20b, and a drive unit 30, as shown in FIGS.

[0017] (Machine frame 10) The machine frame 10 is made of metal components such as aluminum or stainless steel, and includes a hopper section 11, a main body section 12 connected to the bottom of the hopper section 11, and a chute section 15 (see Figure 3) connected to the bottom of the main body section 12. The hopper section 11 is a member for introducing green barley leaves into the main body section 12, and functions as an inlet for feeding the green barley leaves into the cutting device 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the hopper section 11 is formed in a rectangular shape in a plan view, and has an upper end opening 11a and a lower end opening 11b. As shown in FIG. 3, the hopper section 11 has a shape that gradually becomes narrower toward the bottom in a side view. The shape of the hopper section 11 can also be said to be an inverted square pyramid. By having such a structure in which a rotating cutter is arranged below the hopper section, the cutting device 1 can receive the green barley leaves as if sucking them in, and cut them.

[0018] As shown in Figures 2 to 4, the main body 12 is a member that rotatably supports the rotating shafts 40a, 40b attached to each of the rotating cutters 20a, 20b, and guides the barley leaves chopped by the rotating cutters 20a, 20b to the chute section 15. The rotating cutters 20a, 20b and the rotating shafts 40a, 40b will be described later. In addition, since the rotating cutters 20a, 20b have the same configuration, in the following, for convenience of explanation, they will be collectively referred to as the "rotating cutter 20" unless otherwise necessary. In addition, since the rotating shafts 40a, 40b have approximately the same configuration, they will be collectively referred to as the "rotating shaft 40" unless otherwise necessary.

[0019] The main body 12 has a hollow, generally rectangular parallelepiped shape, and the drive unit 30 is attached to one of the side wall 12A of both side wall portions 12A, 12B on the shorter sides of the main body 12. In the following, for ease of explanation, the right side wall portion in Figs. 2 and 3 will be referred to as the right side wall portion 12A, and the left side wall portion in Figs. 2 and 3 will be referred to as the left side wall portion 12B.

[0020] One end of the rotating shaft 40a is directly connected to the driving unit 30, while the other end is rotatably supported by the left side wall 12B via a support member such as a bearing (not shown). The other end of the rotating shaft 40a is disposed so as to protrude from the left side wall portion 12B, and a spur gear 41a that meshes with a spur gear 41b (described later) is fitted and fixed onto this portion (see FIG. 2).

[0021] The other rotating shaft 40b is arranged parallel to the rotating shaft 40a with a predetermined horizontal distance therebetween, and one end and the other end are rotatably supported by the right side wall portion 12A and the left side wall portion 12B, respectively, via support members such as bearings. Similar to the rotating shaft 40a, the rotating shaft 40b has a rotating cutter 20b attached to one end thereof and a spur gear 41b fixedly fitted onto the other end thereof.

[0022] In this embodiment, the rotating shaft 40a is rotated by the driving of the driving unit 30, and the driving force is transmitted to the spur gear 41b meshing with the spur gear 41a. This makes it possible to rotate the rotating shafts 40a and 40b simultaneously in opposite directions. Specifically, in this embodiment, the rotating shafts 40a, 40b are configured to rotate in a direction shown in FIG. 5(a) (hereinafter referred to as "rotation direction R") in cross section. By rotating in the rotation direction R, the barley leaves in the hobber section can be cut while being pulled in. The outer diameters of the spur gears 41a, 41b may be the same or different. For example, by making the outer diameter of the spur gear 41b smaller than the outer diameter of the spur gear 41a, it is possible to make the rotation speed of the rotating shaft 40b faster than that of the rotating shaft 40a.

[0023] The main body 12 has an intermediate wall 13 between a right side wall 12A and a left side wall 12B, and a cover member 16 that covers the spur gears 41a, 41b is attached to the outer surface of the left side wall 12B. The intermediate wall 13 is fixed so as to straddle between the side walls 12C, 12D on the long side, and is disposed so as to face the right side wall 12A and the left side wall 12B. In this embodiment, a pair of rotary cutters 20, 20 are disposed in a space S defined by the left side wall 12B, both side walls 12C, 12D, and the intermediate wall 13 (see FIGS. 2 and 3).

[0024] An upper end opening 12a and a lower end opening 12b are formed in the upper wall portion 12E and the lower wall portion 12F of the main body portion 12 at positions corresponding to the space S, respectively (see FIG. 3). The upper end opening 12a and the lower end opening 12b are formed in a rectangular shape and have substantially the same opening shape as the lower end opening 11b of the hopper section 11 and the upper end opening 15a and the lower end opening 15b of the chute section 15 described below. The hopper section 11 and the main body section 12 are joined by bolting, welding, or the like, with the lower end opening 11b and the upper end opening 12a aligned. This makes it possible to introduce the barley leaves fed from the hopper section 11 into the space S in which the pair of rotating cutters 20, 20 are arranged.

[0025] Guide plates 14, 14 that are inclined downward are attached to the upper end portions of the inner faces of the long side wall portions 12C, 12D, respectively (see FIGS. 2 and 4). The upper end of the guide plate 14 is formed in a straight line, while the lower end is formed in a comb-teeth shape (continuous concaves and convexes). As will be described in detail later, the rotary cutter 20 is provided with circular disks 21 provided with blades 22 and collars 26 having a smaller diameter than the disks 21, which are alternately arranged along the axial direction X of the rotary shaft 40, and the shape of the radial end in a plan view is comb-teeth (convex and convex) (see Figs. 2 and 4).

[0026] The lower end of the guide plate 14 has a comb-tooth shape in which the width of the protrusion is smaller than the width of the collar 26, while the width of the recess is larger than the width of the disk 21. The guide plates 14, 14 having such a shape are arranged so as to fit with the radially outer end of the rotating cutter 20 with a small gap therebetween when attached to the main body 12 (see Figs. 2 and 4). This makes it possible in this embodiment to accumulate barley put in from the hopper 11 on the pair of rotating cutters 20, 20 without it spilling out from around the pair of rotating cutters 20, 20.

[0027] The chute section 15 is a member for discharging the green leaves of barley cut by the main body section 12 to the outside of the cutting device 1 (see FIG. 3). The chute portion 15 is formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape and has an upper end opening 15a having substantially the same shape as the lower end opening 12b of the main body portion 12, and a lower end opening 15b communicating with the upper end opening. The chute section 15 is connected to the lower part of the main body section 12 by bolting, welding, or the like, with the upper end opening 15a aligned with the lower end opening 12b of the main body section 12. This allows the green barley leaves cut by the main body section 12 to be smoothly discharged through the lower end opening 15b.

[0028] (Rotary cutter 20) Next, the rotating cutter 20 will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIGS. 2 to 5, the rotary cutter 20 is made of a metal member such as aluminum or stainless steel, and has a plurality of substantially circular disks 21 and a plurality of collars 26 each having a smaller diameter than the disks 21. The disks 21 and collars 26 are fixed to the rotating shaft 40 in a concentric, alternating state of close contact. The bottom surfaces 22c of the disks 21 and collars 26 are formed to be perpendicular to the rotating shaft 40, and the disks 21 and collars 26 of the rotating cutters 20a and 20b have sharp corners at the bottom and side so that the barley leaves can be cut by sliding the disks 21 against each other or the disks 21 and collars 26 against each other.

[0029] As shown in Fig. 5(a), a plurality of blades (cutting blades) 22 having the same blade length L1 are formed at equal intervals along the circumferential direction on the outer peripheral surface of the disk 21. Note that in Figs. 5(a) and (b), the number of blades is set to "6" to facilitate understanding of the side shape of the rotary cutter 20, but it may be "5" or less, or "7" or more.

[0030] The blade 22 has a first blade surface 22A inclined at a first inclination angle θ1 with respect to the rotation direction R of the rotating shaft 40, and a second blade surface 22B inclined at a second inclination angle θ2 smaller than the first inclination angle θ1 with respect to the rotation direction R, and is configured so that a cutting edge 22a is formed between the first blade surface 22A and the second blade surface 22B (see Figure 5(b)). That is, in this embodiment, since the blade 22 has such a shape, the barley leaves loaded on the pair of rotating cutters 20, 20 can be caught by the cutting edge 20a and efficiently collected by the first blade surface 22A, and then cut by the cutting edge 20a or by sliding between the disks 21 of the rotating cutters 20a, 20b. As a result, the cutting efficiency of the barley leaves can be improved. Note that the first blade surface 22A and the second blade surface 22B are not limited to being connected to form a continuous surface (a smoothly connected curved surface) as shown in Figures 5(a) and (b), and may be connected to form, for example, a corner.

[0031] The disk 21 and the collar 26 are both formed to have substantially the same width dimension in the axial direction X (see FIGS. 2 to 4). The rotating cutters 20a, 20b are fixed to the rotating shafts 40a, 40b, respectively, in a state in which the disk 21 of one rotating cutter 20 (e.g., rotating cutter 20a) and the collar 26 of the other rotating cutter 20 (e.g., rotating cutter 20b) are arranged opposite each other and engaged with each other.

[0032] The distance between the axial centers of the rotating shafts 40a and 40b is set to be equal to or slightly smaller than the sum of the radius L3 of the cutting edge circle of the blade 22 (the sum of the cutting edge length L1 and the radius L2 of the disk 21) and the radius L4 of the collar 26 (see FIG. 5(a)). That is, in this embodiment, as the rotating shaft 40 rotates, the cutting edge 22a of one rotating cutter 20 (e.g., rotating cutter 20a) is configured to be circumscribed on the outer circumferential surface of the collar 26 of the other rotating cutter 20 (e.g., rotating cutter 20b) or to be positioned with a small gap therebetween.

[0033] 2 to 4, in this embodiment, it is preferable that the cutting edges 22a arranged at intervals in the axial direction X are arranged side by side so as to be located on the extension lines of each other in a plan view. In other words, in this embodiment, it is preferable that (1) the cutting edges 22a are formed to be inclined with respect to the axial direction X of the rotation shaft 40, and (2) the phases of the blades 22 adjacent in the axial direction X are slightly shifted along the rotation direction R.

[0034] That is, in this embodiment, the cutting edge 22a has the configuration described above in (1), which creates a gap between the cutting edge and the green leaves to be cut, and moisture that accumulates on the blade can escape downward through the gap, making it easy to effectively bite into the green leaves even when they are very wet. As shown in FIG. 4, when the rotating cutter 20 is viewed from a direction perpendicular to the axial direction, the angle θx between the cutting edge 22a and the bottom surface 22c of the disk is preferably 50° to 70° in order to improve the efficiency of taking in and cutting the barley green leaves, and is particularly preferably 55° to 65°.

[0035] Furthermore, since this embodiment has the configuration as described above in (2), it is possible to prevent the cutting edge 22a of one rotating cutter 20 (e.g., rotating cutter 20a) from approaching the collar 26 of the other rotating cutter 20 (e.g., rotating cutter 20b) at the same time. As a result, the load (stress) acting on the rotating shaft 40 can be dispersed, making it possible to reliably suppress breakage and damage to the rotating cutter 20 and the rotating shaft 40.

[0036] (Drive unit 30) As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the driving unit 30 according to this embodiment is, for example, an electric motor that is electrically driven to rotate, and has a rotating shaft 40a directly connected thereto. In this embodiment, as described above, the rotating shaft 40a to which the spur gear 41a is fixed is rotated by driving the drive unit 30, and the rotational force is transmitted to the rotating shaft 40b via the spur gear 41b meshing with the spur gear 41a. This makes it possible to rotate the rotating cutters 20a and 20b in opposite directions to each other and in the direction (inward) of pulling in the dropped barley green leaves, as shown in Fig. 5(a) (see "rotation direction R" in Fig. 5(a)).

[0037] (Operation of cutting device 1) Next, the operation of the cutting device 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. In this embodiment, the cutting device 1 is configured so that the cutting step (see FIG. 1) is carried out by feeding barley leaves into a hopper section 11 of the cutting device 1. When green barley leaves are put into the hopper section 11, the green barley leaves are guided by the inner surface of the hopper section 11 and loaded onto the rotating cutter 20 through the upper end opening 12a of the main body section 12.

[0038] The barley leaves loaded onto the rotating cutter 20 via the hopper section 11 are guided to the peripheral surfaces of the pair of rotating cutters 20 and are dragged between them. For example, the cutting edge 22a of one blade 22 of one rotating cutter 20 (e.g., 20a) and the cutting edge 22a of the adjacent blade 22 in the axial tail direction X of the other rotating cutter 20 (e.g., 20b) hook the barley leaves and guide them between the two rolls. The barley leaves guided between the pair of rotating cutters 20 in this manner function as scissors, for example, by the disk 21 of one rotating cutter 20 and the end face 22c perpendicular to the axial direction X of the disk 21 of the other rotating cutter 20 sliding against each other, and the barley leaves positioned between them are cut by shearing or scraping. Also, for example, when a barley leaf is present between a pair of blades 22, 22, the first blade surface 22A (cutting edge 22a) of the other rotating cutter 20 may enter between the pair of blades 22, 22, causing the barley leaf to be pulled and cut. Also, the barley leaf may be cut by the pulling and cutting action between the blade 22 of the disk 21 of one rotating cutter 20 and the collar 26 of the other rotating cutter 20.

[0039] Thereafter, the barley green leaves that have been chopped in stages in this manner are led out (discharged) to the outside of the cutting device 1 through the lower end opening 12b of the main body 12 and the chute portion 15 as the pair of rotating cutters 20, 20 rotate.

[0040] In this way, in this embodiment, the barley leaves can be efficiently chopped by the multiple blades 22 provided on each of the pair of rotating cutters 20, 20, making it possible to significantly improve the productivity (flow rate) of the chopped barley leaves.

[0041] Furthermore, as shown in the comparative example described below, in contrast to vertical cutting, in which cutting is done by lowering a blade vertically like the movement of a knife blade, in this embodiment, as described above, the barley leaves are primarily shredded by a pushing action, scraping action, pulling action, etc. due to shearing force. Moreover, despite the pushing, scraping and pulling actions, this embodiment can provide quality equivalent to that of the vertical cutting method.

[0042] This embodiment is also superior in that it has many cutting mechanisms for the barley leaves, reducing the effect of some individuals having strong fibers that make them difficult to cut, and enabling stable cutting with a high throughput. Furthermore, this embodiment can shorten the time required to cut the barley leaves to a size that can be sufficiently uniformly heated to a predetermined temperature by blanching after harvesting, thereby shortening the pre-processing time from harvesting to blanching, and thereby stabilizing the quality of the powder obtained.

[0043] The length of the green barley leaves fed to the cutting device 1 is preferably within a range of 20 to 80 cm, and more preferably 30 to 60 cm, in order to maintain quality while improving the flow rate.

[0044] The length of the barley green leaves cut by the cutting device 1 is preferably within the range of 2 to 10 cm, more preferably within the range of 3 to 8 cm, and particularly preferably 3 to 7 cm, in order to improve the flow rate while maintaining the quality.

[0045] The length of barley green leaves as referred to in this specification may be the average length of 20 arbitrarily selected points.

[0046] From the viewpoint of producing barley green leaves of such a length, the thickness of the disk 21 in the axial direction X of the rotating shaft 40 is preferably set within the range of 10 to 35 mm, and more preferably within the range of 15 to 30 mm.

[0047] The cross-sectional shape of the outer circumferential ends of the blades 22 may be formed so as to gradually taper outward in the radial direction. In this case, from the viewpoint of producing barley green leaves of the above-mentioned length, the spacing between the blades 22 in the axial direction X of the rotating shaft 40 is preferably set within the range of 10 to 35 mm, and more preferably within the range of 15 to 30 mm.

[0048] For example, the diameter of the disk is preferably within a range of 20 to 30 cm, and more preferably within a range of 22 to 27 cm, in order to improve the flow rate while maintaining the quality.

[0049] The barley green leaves that have been treated by the cutting device 1 may be subjected to an additional cutting treatment, if necessary, before being subjected to the blanching treatment. For example, in Fig. 1, the barley leaves cut (discharged) by the cutting device 1 are subjected to a blanching process using conveying devices B2 and B3 such as belt conveyors, but it is also possible to install another cutting device between the conveying device B3 and the blanching process and perform a second stage of cutting by this cutting device. As such another cutting device, for example, a device similar to the above-mentioned cutting device 1 can be used, and a known cutting device can be used.

[0050] Blanching is a treatment for maintaining the vivid green color of barley leaves, and examples of the blanching method include hot water treatment and steaming. Examples of hot water treatment include a method in which barley leaves are treated for 30 to 240 seconds, preferably 60 to 180 seconds, in hot water or steam at 70 to 100° C., preferably 80 to 100° C. In addition, it is preferable to use a carbonate such as magnesium carbonate or a bicarbonate such as sodium bicarbonate in the hot water treatment, and dissolving a bicarbonate in hot water can make the green color of the barley leaves more vivid.

[0051] The steaming treatment is a treatment in which barley leaves are steamed with water vapor under normal pressure or under pressure. The steaming treatment may be an intermittent steaming treatment in which a steaming treatment and a cooling treatment are repeated. In the steaming treatment, the steaming treatment with water vapor is carried out for, for example, 30 to 240 seconds, preferably 60 to 180 seconds. The cooling treatment after the steaming treatment is preferably carried out immediately, and the method thereof is not particularly limited, but immersion in cold water, refrigeration, cooling with cold air, evaporative cooling with hot air, evaporative cooling using a combination of hot air and cold air, etc. are used. Such a cooling treatment is carried out so that the product temperature of the barley leaves is preferably 60°C or less, more preferably 50°C or less, and even more preferably 40°C or less.

[0052] The resulting blanched product is then further cut, if necessary, and then subjected to a drying and grinding process. The drying treatment is preferably a treatment to dry the stems and leaves so that their moisture content is 10% by mass or less, particularly 5% by mass or less. The moisture content is preferably measured using either the normal pressure heating and drying method or the infrared moisture meter method. When the moisture content is below the upper limit described in this specification when measured using one of the methods but not the other measurement method, it is also considered to have a moisture content below the upper limit. This drying treatment can be performed by any method known to those skilled in the art, such as hot air drying, high pressure steam drying, electromagnetic wave drying, and freeze drying. Drying by heating can be performed at a temperature and time that does not cause the stems and leaves to discolor due to heating, preferably at 40°C to 140°C, more preferably at 80°C to 130°C.

[0053] The pulverization process may be performed by any method commonly used by those skilled in the art, such as a crusher, a mill, a blender, or a stone mill. The pulverized stems and leaves are sieved as necessary, and it is preferable to use those that pass through a 30 to 250 mesh as the stem and leaf powder. By making the particle size 250 mesh or less, the stem and leaf powder is easy to handle during further processing, and by making the particle size 30 mesh or more, it is easy to uniformly mix the stem and leaf powder with other materials. Among them, in the present invention, pulverization using a jet mill is preferable because it can be combined with the cutting means of the present invention to successfully obtain barley green leaves, which are highly palatable in terms of flavor and color, with a good yield. For example, pulverization using a jet mill has the advantage of obtaining high-quality green leaf powder. In order to improve the efficiency of pulverization using a jet mill and maintain the quality of the pulverized product obtained, it is required that the particle size of the cut product to be subjected to jet mill pulverization is relatively small (for example, a dried product that passes through a sieve with a mesh size of 1 mm). For these reasons, pre-cutting of barley green leaves, which are difficult to cut because of their high fiber content, has been a bottleneck in production efficiency. The cutting device of the present invention can easily obtain a shorter cutting length than before while maintaining quality without lengthening the manufacturing time, and therefore can easily obtain a desired particle size of the coarsely ground material to be fed to the jet mill even when another cutting device is used between the cutting device 1 and the jet mill. From this point of view, the combination of the cutting device 1 and the jet mill is excellent in the effect of achieving both quality and yield.

[0054] From the standpoints of storage stability, good flavor, vivid color, etc., the bulk density of the barley leaf powder obtained by the present invention is preferably 1 or less, more preferably 0.7 or less, particularly preferably 0.5 or less, and especially preferably 0.3 or less. The bulk density of the barley leaf powder can be measured, for example, using a bulk density measuring device in accordance with JIS K6721.

[0055] The barley green leaf powder obtained by the present invention has an appropriate shape and size due to the cutting treatment before the blanching treatment as described above, and therefore does not deteriorate in quality during the blanching treatment, resulting in good color and flavor.

[0056] When applied to food and beverage products, they may contain only barley leaf powder, or may contain other ingredients. When other ingredients are contained, the content of barley leaf powder in the food and beverage product, in terms of dry mass, is preferably 0.01% by mass or more, more preferably 0.1% by mass or more, and even more preferably 1% by mass or more, and is preferably 99% by mass or less, more preferably 90% by mass or less, and even more preferably 80% by mass or less.

[0057] The daily intake amount for adults of the barley leaf powder obtained by the present invention is not particularly limited and can be set appropriately depending on the type of barley leaves, the mode of intake, and the dietary contents of the consumer, but is, for example, 0.1 to 100 g, and preferably 1 to 50 g, calculated as the mass of barley leaf powder.

[0058] When the barley leaf powder obtained by the present invention is applied to foods and beverages together with other ingredients, examples of the other ingredients include vitamins such as vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin C, and vitamin E; proteins such as gelatin, collagen peptides, and plant-derived proteins; water-soluble dietary fibers such as resistant dextrin and polydextrose; oligosaccharides such as beet oligosaccharides, soybean oligosaccharides, xylooligosaccharides, fructooligosaccharides, and isomaltooligosaccharides; minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and iron; mucopolysaccharides such as N-acetylglucosamine, hyaluronic acid, and chondroitin sulfate; dairy products such as milk, fermented milk, and skim milk powder; soy milk products such as soy milk and soy milk powder; plants or plant products such as lemons, apples, potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, bitter melon, tomatoes, and green peas; and microorganisms such as lactic acid bacteria, natto bacteria, butyric acid bacteria, koji mold, and yeast. Further, other ingredients may be used as necessary, which are generally used in the food industry, such as saccharides such as dextrin, glucose, lactose, sucrose, maltose, fructose, erythritol, trehalose, maltitol, xylitol, and starch; sweeteners such as stevia, acesulfame potassium, sucralose, aspartame, thaumatin, and reduced maltose; acidulants such as citric acid, lactic acid, gluconic acid, and malic acid; colorants such as titanium oxide; thickeners such as gum arabic and xanthan gum; glossing agents such as shellac; and manufacturing agents such as talc, silicon dioxide, cellulose, and calcium stearate. In addition to these, various excipients, binders, lubricants, stabilizers, diluents, bulking agents, thickeners, emulsifiers, colorants, flavorings, food additives, and seasonings may be used alone or in combination of two or more. The content of other ingredients may be appropriately selected depending on the form of use of the food or drink and the content of the barley green leaf powder obtained by the present invention. Furthermore, other ingredients may be mixed in the product, or may be used together at the time of use.

[0059] The form of the food or drink is not particularly limited and can be any form. For example, powder, granules, fine granules, granules, tablets, rods, plates, blocks, solids, rounds, liquids, candies, pastes, creams, capsules such as hard capsules and soft capsules, caplets, tablets, gels, jellies, gummies, wafers, biscuits, cookies, cakes, chewables, syrups, sticks, etc. are included. When the food or drink containing the barley leaf powder obtained by the present invention is mixed with water or the like and used by dissolving or suspending it, the form of the food or drink is preferably powder, granules, fine granules, or granules from the viewpoint of solubility in water, etc., and more preferably granules, fine granules, or granules because they are less likely to scatter and form lumps.

[0060] The method of ingesting the food or beverage is not particularly limited. For example, when the food or beverage is in a solid form, it may be orally ingested in its solid form, depending on the preference of the person ingesting it, or it may be orally ingested by mixing it with a liquid such as water to make a liquid and drinking the liquid.

[0061] Specific examples of foods and beverages include various beverages such as soft drinks, various foods such as bread, confectionery, and noodles, and cooked foods. Examples of beverages include green juice, green juice to which fruit juice, vegetables, dairy products, etc. have been added to make juice, shakes, smoothies, and soft drinks, carbonated drinks, and bases for these beverages. Examples of beverages include not only liquid compositions, but also solid compositions that are mixed with a solvent such as water when consumed to make a liquid beverage. Examples of bread and confectionery include breads such as white bread, sweet bread, French bread, English bread, muffins, steamed bread, donuts, and waffles; cakes such as butter cake, sponge cake, chiffon cake, and pancake; frozen desserts such as sherbet and ice cream; jellies; and cookies. Examples of noodles include udon and somen. Examples of cooked foods include curry, stew, miso soup, vegetable soup, and other soups, bases for these soups, and powdered seasonings.

[0062] The barley leaf powder obtained by the present invention has excellent color and flavor. For this reason, the barley leaf powder obtained by the present invention is particularly preferably used in food and beverage compositions for green juice.

[0063] Examples of compositions for consumption and drinking for green juice include green juice itself; juices, shakes, smoothies made by adding fruit juice, vegetables, dairy products, etc. to green juice; and soft drinks, carbonated drinks, and bases for these drinks.

[0064] The composition for eating and drinking for green juice is particularly preferred when it is in the form of a mixture mixed with a liquid such as water and taken orally, since it effectively exhibits the effects of good dispersibility, no grassy smell or green laver smell, good aroma, weak bitterness, good aftertaste, excellent texture, no powdery feeling, good mouthfeel, good throat feel, and no roughness. When the composition for eating and drinking for green juice is in the form of a solid, as described above, it can be mixed with water to make a liquid body and taken orally, such as by drinking the liquid body, but it may also be taken orally as a solid body according to the preference of the person who takes it. It may also be added to not only water, but also milk, soy milk, fruit juice drink, whey drink, soft drink, yogurt, pancake mix, etc. for use. It goes without saying that it may also be used as a food with nutritional function claims, a food for specified health use, or a food with functional claims.

[0065] Specific forms of the composition for consumption for green juice include, for example, forms suitable for oral ingestion such as consumption, specifically, powder, granules, tablets, rods, plates, blocks, solids, rounds, liquids, candies, pastes, creams, capsules such as hard capsules and soft capsules, caplets, tablets, gels, jelly, gummy candies, wafers, biscuits, cookies, cakes, chewable tablets, syrups, sticks, etc.

[0066] The composition for eating and drinking for green juice may contain other ingredients in addition to the barley leaf powder. Examples of the other ingredients include vitamins, proteins, oligosaccharides, minerals, polysaccharides, dairy products, processed plant products, microorganisms such as lactic acid bacteria, sugars, sweeteners, citric acid, acidulants, colorants, thickeners, glossing agents, as well as manufacturing agents such as talc, silicon dioxide, cellulose, and calcium stearate. Other ingredients include various excipients, binders, lubricants, stabilizers, diluents, bulking agents, thickeners, emulsifiers, colorants, flavors, food additives, and seasonings. The content of the other ingredients can be appropriately selected depending on the form of the food or drink. When the barley leaf powder obtained by the present invention is used in an edible composition for green juice, the barley leaf powder is preferably present in an amount of 3% by mass or more of the solid content of the edible composition for green juice in order to further enhance the effect of applying the production method of the present invention, more preferably 5% by mass or more, and particularly preferably 10% by mass or more. The preferred upper limit is the same as the ratio of barley leaf powder to the food or drink. EXAMPLES

[0067] The present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to examples. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to such examples. In the following, unless otherwise specified, "%" means "mass %" and "parts" means "mass parts".

[0068] Example 1 The green leaves including barley stalks harvested at a height of 30 to 60 cm were used. The leaves were washed with water to remove adhering mud, and then pre-treated by cutting using the cutting device 1 shown in Figs. 1 to 5 (length after cutting: 3 to 7 cm). The processing capacity of the cutting device 1 was 3.7 t / h. The cut barley green leaves were immersed in hot water at 85 to 95°C for 90 seconds for blanching, and then cooled with water at room temperature. The leaves were then dried with hot air at 90 to 130°C until the final moisture content was 5% by mass or less. The resulting coarsely ground product was pulverized using a jet mill. In Example 1, the pretreatment processing capacity was doubled compared to Comparative Example 1, so that this step did not become the rate limiting step, and the overall processing capacity was improved.

[0069] Comparative Example 1 The same procedure was followed except that the cutting device 1 was then changed to a high-speed cutter using a vertical cutting method. The length after cutting by the high-speed cutter was 15 to 30 cm. The processing capacity of this pretreatment was 1.9 t / h.

[0070] (Quality Evaluation) The barley leaf powders obtained in Example 1 and Comparative Example 1 were evaluated for color and flavor using the following method, and were found to be equally excellent in terms of color and flavor. [Industrial Applicability]

[0071] The present invention provides a method for producing barley leaf powder excellent in color and flavor in a higher yield than before, and is therefore highly industrially useful. [Explanation of symbols]

[0072] 1 cutting device 10 Machine frame 11 Hopper section 11a Top opening 11b Bottom opening 12 Main body 12A Right side wall section 12B Left side wall 12C,12D Side wall part 12E Upper wall 12F lower wall 12a Top opening 12b Bottom opening 13 Intermediate wall 14 Guide plate 15 Shooting Section 15a Top opening 15b Bottom opening 16 Cover member 20, 20a, 20b Rotating cutter 21 Disc 22 Blade 22a Cutting edge 22A 1st blade surface 22B 2nd blade surface 26 Color 30 Drive unit 40, 40a, 40b Rotation shaft 41a, 41b Spur gear B1~B3 Conveyor device S space X-axis direction R Rotation direction L1 blade length L2 disk radius L3 Radius of cutting edge circle n of blade b L4 Color Radius θ1 1st inclination angle θ2 2nd inclination angle

Claims

1. A method for producing barley green leaf powder, comprising the steps of coarsely grinding barley green leaves and grinding the obtained coarsely ground product using a jet mill, The step of coarsely grinding the barley leaves includes a step of cutting the barley leaves, a step of blanching the barley leaves, a step of drying the barley leaves, and a step of grinding the barley leaves, The step of cutting the barley green leaves is carried out by a cutting device in which two rotating cutters, each of which has a disk with a plurality of blades arranged in a circumferential direction and arranged at a predetermined interval in the central axis direction of the disk, are provided on two parallel rotating shafts, and both rotating cutters are arranged so that the disk on one of the rotating cutters is located between the adjacent disks on the other rotating cutter, The cutting device draws the barley green leaves between the two rotary cutters and cuts the barley green leaves by shearing them with the two rotary cutters, In both of the rotary cutters, the disks each having a blade and a collar having a smaller diameter than the disk are alternately arranged along the axial direction of the rotary shaft, The cutting edge of the blade is formed obliquely with respect to the axial direction of the rotation shaft. Method for producing barley green leaf powder.

2. The method for producing barley green leaf powder according to claim 1, wherein the blanching temperature is 85 to 95°C.

3. 2. The method for producing barley green leaf powder according to claim 1, wherein the cutting device is configured so that barley green leaves are continuously supplied by a conveying device.

4. 2. The method for producing barley green leaf powder according to claim 1, wherein the step of drying the barley green leaves comprises a step of drying the barley green leaves with hot air at 90 to 130°C.

5. 2. The method for producing barley green leaf powder according to claim 1, further comprising a step of cooling the young barley leaves in room temperature water after the step of blanching the barley green leaves.

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