Flake (CRUMB) food production method

The method of producing flake foods from vegetable ingredients addresses the high carbohydrate and low nutrient issue in grain-based foods by ensuring high vegetable content and nutrient retention, providing a low-calorie, low-carb option with improved nutritional value and waste reduction.

JP2025019434APending Publication Date: 2025-02-07GF株式会社
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Patent Information

Application Number
JP2023123047
Authority / Receiving Office
JP · JP
Patent Type
Applications
Current Assignee / Owner
Filing Date
2023-07-28
Publication Date
2025-02-07

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

Existing flake foods primarily made from grains have high carbohydrate content and low nutrient density, failing to meet the nutritional needs of health-conscious consumers seeking low-calorie, low-carb options and sufficient vegetable intake.

Method used

A method involving pulverization of vegetable raw materials, addition of polysaccharides to form a paste, and subsequent heating and pressing to create a sheet-like mold, followed by crushing into flakes, ensuring a high vegetable content and maintaining nutrient integrity.

Benefits of technology

Produces flake foods rich in vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals, offering a low-calorie, low-carb option with excellent shelf life, utilizing non-standard vegetables and reducing waste, and catering to health-conscious diets.

✦ Generated by Eureka AI based on patent content.

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Abstract

To provide a flake (crumb) production method including using a vegetable as a main raw material.SOLUTION: A flake production method includes: a ground product production step of producing a ground product of a vegetable raw material; a paste forming step of adding a polysaccharide to the ground product to produce a paste; a shape-forming step of hot-pressing the paste so as to shape-form the paste into a sheet-shaped shape-formed body; and a crushing step of crushing the shape-formed body into a flake shape.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1
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Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for producing a flake (crumb) food product, and more particularly to a method for producing a flake (crumb) food product made from vegetable ingredients. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, various flake foods (crumb foods) made mainly from grains have been commercially available. These foods are generally made mainly from one of the grains such as corn, wheat, brown rice, etc., with a small amount of flavoring and seasoning added, and can be eaten as is or with milk. These flake foods are characterized by their good preservability, ease of eating, and the fact that they are ready-to-eat foods. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0003] Meanwhile, in recent years, as people have become more health-conscious in their diet, the demand for low-calorie, low-sugar foods is expanding. In addition, in order to improve health, it is recommended to consume a lot of vegetables, but the target intake is generally set at 350g of seven colors per day, and it is difficult to consume this target amount. In addition, the above-mentioned conventionally known flake (crumb) foods have an extremely high sugar content, and although they are satisfactory foods from the perspective of energy supply, they have a problem of being extremely low in the content of nutrients that are abundant in vegetables.

[0004] In view of the above problems, the present invention aims to provide a method for producing flakes (crumbs) made primarily from vegetables. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] The above-mentioned object of the present invention can be achieved by a method for producing a flake food, comprising a pulverized product production step of producing a pulverized product of vegetable raw materials, a pasting step of adding polysaccharides to the pulverized product to produce a paste, a shaping step of hot-pressing the paste to form a sheet-like body, and a crushing step of crushing the body into flakes.

[0006] In the above-mentioned method for producing a flake (crumb) food product, in the pulverized material generating step, the pulverized material of the vegetable raw material preferably has a maximum diameter in the range of 10 μm or more and 1000 μm or less.

[0007] In addition, it is preferable that the ground vegetable raw material is not dried.

[0008] In addition, the content of the ground vegetable raw material contained in the paste is preferably 60 parts by mass or more. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to the present invention, a method for producing a flake (crumb) food product using vegetables as a main ingredient can be provided. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining a method for producing a flake (crumb) food product according to the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a molding step included in the method for producing flake (crumb) food according to the present invention. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a crushing step included in the method for producing flake (crumb) food according to the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] The method for producing a flake (crumb) food according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The method for producing a flake (crumb) food according to the present invention is a method for producing a flake (crumb) food mainly made of vegetables, and includes a pulverized material producing step, a paste making step, a molding step, and a crushing step, as shown in the block diagram of Fig. 1.

[0012] The pulverized product generating step is a process for generating pulverized vegetable raw materials. The vegetables to be pulverized here may be green-yellow vegetables or light-colored vegetables, but examples include carrots, celery, cabbage, kale, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, komatsuna, spinach, parsley, radish leaves, cucumbers, angelica, shiso, bitter melon, asparagus, pumpkin, ginger, onions, corn, eggplant, green peppers, Japanese ginger, molokheiya, green onions, garlic, sesame, and Chinese chives, and the skins and cores of these vegetables may also be used. In addition, scraps of processed vegetables from the secondary industry, non-standard products from the primary industry, and surplus products from the tertiary industry can also be used.

[0013] In addition, in the pulverized material production step, in addition to vegetables, fruits such as apples, grapes, melons, and watermelons, mushrooms such as shiitake, shimeji, maitake, and enoki mushrooms, nuts and seeds such as walnuts and almonds, and seaweeds such as wakame and hijiki may be pulverized and included in the pulverized vegetable material.

[0014] The method for crushing the vegetables in this crushed product generating step is not particularly limited, and for example, the vegetables can be crushed using a food crusher or a grinder. The crushed vegetable raw material is preferably configured so that the maximum diameter is in the range of 10 μm to 1000 μm, more preferably in the range of 10 μm to 200 μm.

[0015] Furthermore, the vegetables pulverized in the pulverized material production step are transferred to the next step without being dried, that is, the paste-making step is carried out.

[0016] The pasting step is a process of adding polysaccharides to the ground vegetable raw material to produce a paste. The polysaccharides function as a binder for the ground material. Examples of polysaccharides that can be used include acidic polysaccharides such as carrageenan, pectin, gum arabic, xanthan gum, gellan gum, agar, and tragacanth gum, and neutral polysaccharides such as tamarind seed gum, guar gum, locust bean gum, starch, and pullulan.

[0017] Here, the content of the ground vegetable raw material contained in the paste is preferably 60 parts by mass or more, more preferably set in the range of 70 parts by mass or more and 90 parts by mass or less. The content of the polysaccharides contained in the paste is preferably 40 parts by mass or less, and more preferably set in the range of 10 parts by mass or more and 30 parts by mass or less. In addition to the above-mentioned polysaccharides, additives such as salt, soy sauce, mirin, yeast extract, kelp extract, fermented seasoning, amino acid seasoning, nucleic acid seasoning, edible oils and fats, colorants, flavorings, and natural colorants may be mixed in this pasting step. The content of the additives contained in the paste is preferably set to 5 parts by mass or less. Water may be added to adjust the viscosity of the paste.

[0018] The method for producing the paste in this pasting step is not particularly limited. For example, the paste is produced by putting the ground vegetable raw material and polysaccharides into a container and stirring and mixing them.

[0019] The forming step is a process of forming a sheet-like molded body by hot pressing a paste, which is a mixture of ground vegetable raw materials and polysaccharides. Through this process, excess water contained in the paste evaporates and the paste becomes dry. The thickness of the sheet-like molded body formed in the forming step is not particularly limited, but the pressing conditions are set so that the thickness is in the range of 0.5 mm to 3 mm, for example.

[0020] In this molding step, examples of the method of hot pressing the paste include a method of pouring the paste P between two hot press plates 1, 1 as shown in Fig. 2(a) to (c), sandwiching the paste P between the pair of hot press plates 1, 1 and hot pressing to form a molded body S, and a method of pouring the paste onto the conveying surface of a belt conveyer and subjecting the paste to roller processing at high temperature and high pressure using a hot press roller installed so as to form a predetermined gap (for example, a gap of 0.5 mm or more and 3 mm or less) between the conveying surface and the paste.

[0021] The crushing step is a process of crushing a dry sheet-like body into flakes, and through this process, flakes (crumbs) mainly composed of vegetables are completed. The flake (crumb) food produced in this way is packaged in bags or the like in a subsequent process and shipped. In this crushing step, the specific method is not limited as long as it can crush the sheet-like body into flakes, and for example, it is performed using a crusher such as a general-purpose crusher machine or a hammer. Also, as shown in FIG. 3, the sheet-like body S may be fed between a pair of crushing rolls 5, 5, and the convex and concave portions of the pair of crushing rolls 5, 5 may mesh with each other to crush the body S into flakes to form a flake food Z.

[0022] Here, the size of the flakes formed through the crushing step is not particularly limited, but is configured to be approximately the same as the size of flake food products that are generally available on the market, that is, for example, the maximum diameter is in the range of 3 mm to 10 mm.

[0023] The vegetable-based flake (crumb) food according to the present invention has the characteristics of being a ready-to-eat food, being easy to eat, and having good preservability, similar to conventional grain-based flake (crumb) foods, and can be eaten as is or with milk. It can also be used as a seasoning or a base for mixed rice, and can be included in protein bars and nutritional supplements.

[0024] As described above, the method for producing a flake (crumb) food according to the present invention produces a ground vegetable material, then adds polysaccharides to make a paste, and then heat-presses the paste to form a sheet-like molded body, which is then ground into flakes to produce a flake (crumb) food, making it possible to produce a flake (crumb) food using vegetables as the main ingredient in an extremely simple manner. In addition, because the main ingredient is vegetables, the food is rich in vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals, and is also low in calories and sugar, meeting the needs of health-conscious people in their dietary habits.

[0025] Furthermore, the flake (crumb) food of the present invention contains the vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and other nutrients inherent to vegetables without compromising them, while the water content of the vegetables has evaporated. Therefore, by consuming a smaller amount of flake (crumb) food than would be the case if one were to actually consume 350 g of vegetables per day, it is possible to obtain a sufficient amount of necessary vegetable-derived nutrients.

[0026] In addition, since the method for producing flake (crumb) food according to the present invention uses crushed vegetable raw materials, it is possible to use scraps of processed vegetables as described above. Scraps of processed vegetables are usually discarded, but by using such scraps, it is possible to reduce disposal costs and prevent environmental pollution during incineration. In addition, for vegetables distributed in the market, there is a "standard" that determines the shape and size that vegetable producers can ship, and vegetables that do not meet this standard are not distributed in the market as non-standard vegetables and most of them are discarded as they are. However, in the method for producing flake (crumb) food according to the present invention, it is possible to effectively utilize such non-standard vegetables, which can greatly contribute to reducing the waste of non-standard vegetables.

[0027] In addition, the flake (crumb) food produced by the method for producing a flake (crumb) food according to the present invention can be used as a substitute for bread crumbs or wheat flour used in making croquettes or fried chicken. Furthermore, the flake (crumb) food according to the present invention is a flake (crumb) food that does not contain wheat, barley, or rye, and is a so-called gluten-free food ingredient, so it can be eaten by people who are following the gluten-free diet that has been attracting attention in recent years, and people with wheat allergies.

[0028] The above describes a method for producing a flake (crumb) food product according to one embodiment of the present invention, but the specific configuration is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, the above embodiment may be configured to perform the pulverization step and the paste-making step simultaneously. More specifically, after vegetables are cut into pieces of a size that fits a paste machine, the cut pieces are fed into the paste machine, and the cut pieces are pulverized to a predetermined size in the paste machine while being stirred and mixed with polysaccharides that are separately fed to obtain a predetermined paste. [Explanation of symbols]

[0029] S1 Crushed material generation step S2 Pasting step S3 Molding Step S4 Disintegration step 1 Heat press plate 5 Crushing roll

Claims

1. A pulverized material generating step of generating pulverized material of vegetable raw materials; A pasting step of adding polysaccharides to the pulverized material to form a paste; A molding step of hot pressing the paste to form a sheet-like molded body; and a crushing step of crushing the molded body into flakes.

2. 2. The method for producing flake food according to claim 1, wherein in the pulverized product generating step, the pulverized vegetable raw material has a maximum diameter in the range of 10 μm to 1000 μm.

3. 3. The method for producing flake food according to claim 1, wherein the ground vegetable material is not dried.

4. 3. The method for producing a flake food according to claim 1, wherein the content of the ground vegetable raw material contained in the paste is 60 parts by mass or more.