Dry grain-like granules

Abstract

To prevent whitening obscuring from occurring after cooking dry cereal grain-like granules including starch derived from high amylose rice and scarcely digestible starch as major components and to solve the problem of whitening obscuring when the granules are heat cooked again.SOLUTION: A quality improvement agent to be used for cereal grain-like granules, which includes starch derived from high amylose rice and scarcely digestible starch as major components, contains a 0-20 DE value substance of 50-100 wt.% in the total mass of the quality improvement agent.SELECTED DRAWING: None

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an additive for cereal-like granules, and more particularly to an additive for improving the appearance and taste of cereal-like granules. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, with the diversification of lifestyles, products such as drinks, gummies, and noodles that are called "optimized nutrition foods" and claim to be an easy way to consume the nutrients needed per day have been launched on the market. These products contain more than one-third of the daily required amount of essential nutrients listed in the Nutrient Labeling Standards set by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and the Dietary Reference Intakes for Japanese people also established by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. In addition to these, there are also products such as semi-optimized foods that are almost optimized foods but lack only a few nutrients, and supplements that only supplement specific nutrients, and many foods that can easily supplement the necessary nutrients that are lacking in your daily diet have been launched on the market.

[0003] The above foods are ingredients in which new ingredients have been added to the original ingredients, and can be said to be ingredients whose ingredient composition can be freely set. Furthermore, the method of changing the ingredient composition is also relatively simple. For example, in the case of a drink, new ingredients can be added to the liquid that serves as the solvent and mixed. Also, in the case of gummies, noodles, etc., new ingredients can be added to the raw materials and then shaped through the normal manufacturing process. In this way, many of them have the aspect that it is relatively easy to add necessary ingredients to the formula and remove unnecessary ingredients.

[0004] On the other hand, rice, the staple food of the Japanese, is not a food ingredient whose composition can be freely changed. However, due to the influence of health consciousness in recent years, there is a demand for rice with reduced calorie intake and the addition of new ingredients. In response to this demand, konjac rice, which is made by forming a mixture containing konjac flour into a rice-like shape, has been proposed (see Patent Document 1). By substituting konjac rice for part of the rice before cooking, it is expected to have effects such as suppressing the rise in glucose levels in the blood, reducing calorie intake while feeling full, and preventing obesity.

[0005] A method of cooking rice with resistant dextrin has also been proposed (see Patent Document 2). The addition of resistant dextrin is expected to have physiological effects such as suppressing blood sugar level rise, regulating the intestines, and improving lipid metabolism. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] Special Publication No. 2020-505903 [Patent Document 2] Patent No. 6125681 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] However, in the case of Patent Document 1, unlike normal rice, the texture of konjac rice is soft, which creates an unpleasant feeling when eaten. On the other hand, when using a resistant substance as in Patent Document 2, only about 10 to 15% can be added before cooking, and there is a problem that more than this results in a texture and flavor that is different from that of normal rice.

[0008] Therefore, the inventors first conducted research into a dried grain-like granular material that reduces calorie intake and has a texture similar to that of cooked regular rice when cooked with heat, and discovered that by using a combination of starch derived from high amylose rice and resistant starch, it is possible to reduce calorie intake and also to achieve a texture similar to that of regular rice.

[0009] The obtained dried grain-like granular material had the same luster and transparency as regular cooked rice immediately after cooking. However, if the rice was kept warm at a constant temperature after cooking, a new problem arose in that the luster and transparency were lost and the rice became pale. In addition, if the rice was refrigerated or frozen after cooking, not only did the luster and transparency disappear and the rice became pale, but the grain-like granular material, once its appearance had deteriorated, did not improve even if it was reheated.

[0010] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and aims to prevent the occurrence of white spots that occur after cooking of dried cereal-like granular material mainly composed of starch derived from high amylose rice and resistant starch, and to improve the appearance when cooked again. [Means for solving the problem]

[0011] The inventors have investigated whether the above-mentioned problems can be solved, and as a result of focusing on sticky rice and conducting research, they have discovered that by adding a substance having a specific DE value to dried cereal-like granular material and cooking the resulting rice, the white blurring of the cereal-like granular material after cooking can be improved, resulting in a glossy appearance, which has led to the completion of the present invention.

[0012] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is characterized in that, in a quality improver used for grain-like granular materials mainly composed of starch derived from high amylose rice and resistant starch, the substance having a DE value of 0 to 20 accounts for 50 to 100% by weight of the total weight of the quality improver. In addition, it is preferable that the substance having a DE value of 0 to 20 is derived from amylopectin with a high content. Effect of the Invention

[0013] It is believed that by cooking dried cereal-like granular material, whose main components are starch derived from high amylose rice and resistant starch, together with a substance having a specific DE value, the surface of the cereal-like granular material after cooking is coated with a substance with a DE of 0 to 20. Coating the surface suppresses the evaporation of water and the loss of ingredients, which results in preventing or improving white blurring. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0014] A preferred embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be described below. Note that the embodiment described below is an example of a typical embodiment of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is not to be interpreted narrowly by this embodiment.

[0015] The dried cereal-like granules according to the present invention are kneaded materials that have been dried to resemble the shape of cereals. Here, cereals refer to seeds of cereals such as rice, which are seeds of grass crops, but may also include pseudo-cereals such as buckwheat, amaranth, and quinoa.

[0016] The dried grain-like granular material of the present invention is mainly composed of starch derived from high amylose rice and resistant starch. Resistant starch means starch that is resistant to amylase digestion, and examples of such starches include retrograded starch, moist heat treated starch, and chemically modified processed starches such as starch that has been subjected to strong cross-linking treatment with a cross-linking agent or ether substitution. Of these, in the present invention, it is preferable to use resistant starch obtained by cross-linking treatment. The calorie content of the resistant starch used in the present invention is preferably 0 to 2 kcal / g, more preferably 0 to 1 kcal / g, and even more preferably 0 kcal / g. The calorie content is based on the value certified by the Japan Dietary Fiber Society.

[0017] The raw material for the resistant starch may be one or more selected from tapioca, wheat, horse starch, sweet potato, sago, high amylose corn, cornstarch, waxy corn, rice, and peas. Of these, rice is preferably used.

[0018] The amount of high amylose rice-derived starch contained in the dried cereal-like granule of the present invention is preferably 30 to 75% by weight, more preferably 40 to 50% by weight, per 100 g of dried cereal-like granule before cooking. The amount of resistant starch contained in the dried cereal-like granule of the present invention is preferably 25 to 70% by weight, more preferably 50 to 60% by weight, per 100 g of dried cereal-like granule before cooking. The blending ratio of resistant starch to high amylose rice-derived starch is preferably 20:80 to 80:20.

[0019] In producing the dried grain-like granules, sugars, thickeners, gluten, egg white, coloring, other nutrients, etc. can be used as secondary raw materials as necessary. Examples of necessary nutrients include vitamins, calcium, etc. Also, the secondary raw materials may be dissolved in water and used.

[0020] Incidentally, the calorie content of cooked rice is said to be about 168 kcal per 100 g. For example, when 0 kcal / g resistant starch is used under the conditions of the examples described below, the calorie content is reduced by 28% to about 122 kcal when 20% of the rice is replaced with resistant starch, and the calorie content is reduced by 64% to about 61 kcal when 60% of the rice is replaced with resistant starch. When 2 kcal / g resistant starch is used under the conditions of the examples described below, the calorie content is reduced by 28% to about 122 kcal when 40% of the rice is replaced with resistant starch, and the calorie content is reduced by 37% to about 106 kcal when 60% of the rice is replaced with resistant starch.

[0021] The additive of the present invention is characterized by being a substance with a DE value of 0 to 20. The DE value is an index showing the degree to which starch has been decomposed, with 0 to 20 indicating a state close to starch that has hardly been decomposed. On the other hand, a DE value of 80 to 100 indicates a state close to monosaccharides that have been decomposed. The present invention is characterized by using a substance with a DE value of 0 to 20 as the main component, which accounts for 50 to 100% by weight of the entire additive. The additive of the present invention is preferably added at a ratio of 3 to 10% of the total amount of cereal-like granular material. If it is less than 3%, the effect is weak. If it is more than 10%, the texture of the rice is deteriorated.

[0022] There are no particular limitations on the substance with DE 0 to 20 as long as it is derived from amylopectin with a high content, and examples include cereals such as wheat or rice, corn, tubers such as horse mackerel or sweet potato, and beans. These derived substances may be used after being gelatinized or without being gelatinized. In the present invention, it is preferable that the substance is derived from rice.

[0023] Furthermore, in the present invention, flavor oils, food additives, such as sweeteners, colorants, preservatives, thickening stabilizers, antioxidants, bittering agents, acidulants, emulsifiers, strengthening agents, and flavorings may be used together with the additives as necessary. In particular, it is preferable to use flavorings from the viewpoints of imparting aroma during cooking and masking the powdery taste of resistant starch and the bitter taste of nutrients, other than for the purpose of improving appearance. The flavorings can be in either liquid or powder form, but it is preferable to add the flavorings during kneading if they are powders, or during cooking or just before eating if they are liquids.

[0024] Next, a method for producing dried cereal-like granular material will be described. The raw material can be prepared using an extruder. Specifically, high amylose rice-derived starch, resistant starch, and water are kneaded using an extruder. The resulting mixture is sent by a screw driven by a screw drive unit and extruded from a die. The mixture extruded from the die is cut into pellets to obtain cereal-like granular material. The extruder used can be either a single-screw extruder or a multi-screw extruder with two or more screws, but a twin-screw type is preferable from the viewpoint of quality stability. The extruder can be one that has a raw material supply port, a mechanism for feeding raw materials in a screw inside a barrel, mixing, compressing, and heating, and further has a die attached to the tip of the barrel.

[0025] The barrel temperature in the extruder is suitably 80 to 140°C, preferably 100 to 130°C. In the present invention, the pressure at the die section is suitably 0 to 20 Bar, preferably 0.5 to 10 Bar. Also, by changing the shape of the die, cereal-like granular materials of various shapes, such as long grain rice and short grain rice, can be obtained. In the present invention, it is preferable to cut the cereal-like granular materials to an appropriate size with a rotary blade provided at the tip of the die. When the cereal-like granular materials are to be made into a rice shape, it is preferable to slice them to a thickness of about 2 mm. After extruding like noodles, they may be cut to a desired size using a cutter or the like.

[0026] Finally, the resulting cereal-like granules are dried to produce dried cereal-like granules. The drying method is not particularly limited, and examples include hot air drying, vacuum freeze drying, microwave drying, and low-temperature air drying. These methods can also be combined for drying. In the present invention, it is preferable to dry the dried cereal-like granules until the moisture content is 15% or less. EXAMPLES

[0027] The present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to examples. Here, the present invention will be described by taking as an example the case where a grain-like granular material mainly composed of starch derived from high amylose rice and resistant starch is used. In addition, commercially available rice (Koshihikari) was used as a reference example.

[0028] <Preparation of grain-like granules> First, 4 kg of starch derived from high amylose rice and 6 kg of 0 kcal / g resistant starch were mixed. Next, using a twin-screw extruder, the mixture was kneaded while adding water so that the flour and water were in a 1:1 ratio. The extruder was set at a barrel temperature of 100°C to 130°C and a screw speed (dough conveying speed) of 60 rpm. The extruder die shape was a bale shape of 2.0 x 6.5 mm. The kneaded material extruded from the die was cut into short grain rice size (thickness 2 mm) with a rotary blade installed at the tip of the die. The cut kneaded material was then dried at 60°C for 20 minutes. After storing at room temperature for 60 minutes, it was then dried at 60°C for 50 minutes to obtain a dried grain-like granular material with a moisture content of 15% or less.

[0029] <Additives> As additives according to the present invention, additives (Examples 1 to 5) using only substances having DE values ​​based on the table below were prepared. The additive was added in an amount equivalent to 10 g of solid content per 200 g of dry grain-like granules.

[0030] [Table 1]

[0031] (Comparative Examples 1 to 6) Comparative Examples 1 to 5 are the same as Example 1 except that substances with different DE values ​​were used. The substances used are as shown in Table 2. Comparative Example 6 is the same as Example 1 except that no additive was added.

[0032] [Table 2]

[0033] First, an experiment was conducted on the effect of additives during warm keeping. The prepared grain-like granular materials of each Example and Comparative Example were cooked with a water content of 160%, and the Reference Example was cooked with a water content of 140%. The time immediately after cooking was set as 0 minutes, and the condition (taste, appearance) of the grains of each Example and Comparative Example compared to the Reference Example was evaluated according to the following evaluation criteria at 0, 10, 30, 60, 90, 120, and 240 minutes. During the observation over time, all the Examples, Comparative Examples, and Reference Examples were kept warm using the rice cooker's warm keeping function. The appearance results are shown in Table 3, and the taste results in Table 4.

[0034] Appearance 5: There is a transparent film-like substance on the surface of the grain, the surface is smooth, and the grain shines due to the light reflected by the film. 4: The surface of the grain is smooth and has a thin, transparent film-like layer. 3: There is a thin, transparent film on the surface of the grain, but the light reflection from the film is weak, and the grain does not shine well. 2: There is a transparent film on the surface of the grain, and the grain has a slight shine. 1: There is no transparent film on the surface of the grain, the surface is rough, and the grain is not shiny.

[0035] taste 3: When chewed, it has a slight sweetness 2: When you chew it, you feel a sweetness 1: When chewed, it tastes very sweet

[0036] [Table 3]

[0037] [Table 4]

[0038] As is clear from Table 3, the evaluation of all the Examples and Comparative Examples, including the Reference Example, decreased over time. This is thought to be because moisture constantly evaporated from the surface of the rice or granular material due to the warming, and it dried over time. In particular, in Comparative Examples 1 to 6, moisture was easily evaporated, and the surface shine began to fade 30 minutes after the start of warming, and almost no shine was observed after 60 minutes. From this, it was inferred that DE25 to 100 had a weak function of preventing moisture evaporation by forming a coating on the surface. In contrast, in Examples 1 to 5, a thin film-like thing was visible on the surface of the granular material until 90 minutes had passed since the start of warming, and the surface was smooth and shiny. In addition, even after 90 minutes, a shine was observed, although it was weak. In particular, the appearance of Example 2 was evaluated to be the same as that of the Reference Example. Incidentally, in Example 5, almost no shine was observed 240 minutes after the start of warming, but until then, it maintained a shine better than the Comparative Examples. From this, it was inferred that the lower the DE value, the stronger the ability of the material to form a coating on the surface and prevent water evaporation.

[0039] Next, the taste is confirmed. Usually, when cooked rice is chewed, starch is decomposed by amylase contained in saliva, and a slight sweetness is felt. As shown in Table 4, in this embodiment, the reference example was also chewed to a slight sweetness regardless of the elapsed time of warming. Similarly, in Examples 1 to 5 and Comparative Example 6, a slight sweetness was felt by chewing regardless of the elapsed time of warming. On the other hand, in Comparative Examples 1 to 3, the sweetness was felt more prominently than that of normal cooked rice when chewed regardless of the elapsed time, and it was unnatural. This is thought to be because in Comparative Examples 1 to 3, starch that had been decomposed to a certain extent was added as an additive, so that it was easily decomposed into monosaccharides by amylase contained in saliva, and the sweetness was easily prominent. Furthermore, in Comparative Examples 4 and 5, the sweetness was felt strongly whether or not chewed, and it was a taste that was clearly different from that felt when chewing normal cooked rice. This is thought to be because the additives used in Comparative Examples 4 and 5 were almost monosaccharides or close to monosaccharides, and therefore the sweetness was easily perceived from the beginning.

[0040] These findings suggest that by using additives with DE 0 to 20, it is possible to make the appearance and taste of cooked rice closer to that of commercially available cooked rice, even if the elapsed time of keeping the rice warm is long.

[0041] Next, the cooked cereal-like granules were frozen and stored, and the effect of additives on the appearance and taste when thawed was examined. The effect was verified for Example 2, Comparative Example 5, Comparative Example 6, and Reference Example based on the results of the previous Examples.

[0042] The verification was carried out as follows. First, 150 g of each of Example 2, Comparative Example 5, Comparative Example 6 and Reference Example was transferred to a tray and left at room temperature for 5 minutes to cool. Then, it was flash frozen at -40°C and kept as it was for 30 minutes. Next, it was cooked in a microwave oven at 500W for 2 minutes and 10 seconds while still on the tray. Evaluation was performed according to the above-mentioned evaluation criteria at 10, 30, 60 and 120 minutes, with 0 minutes being immediately after cooking, after freezing, after microwave cooking and immediately after microwave cooking. However, the taste after freezing was not evaluated. After microwave cooking, the tray was left at room temperature in an open state without a lid. The results of appearance are shown in Table 5 and the results of taste are shown in Table 6.

[0043] [Table 5]

[0044] [Table 6]

[0045] As is clear from Table 5, it can be seen that the surface of all samples lost its shine due to freezing. Furthermore, by heating in a microwave oven, the shine returned to all samples to some extent. However, all samples were rated lower than immediately after cooking. In particular, Comparative Examples 5 and 6 showed a significant drop in rating, and both were rated the lowest after 10 minutes. In contrast, Example 2 and Reference Example maintained their ratings for up to 30 minutes after cooking in the microwave. Here, the reason for the rapid drop in rating compared to the results of the heat retention test described above is thought to be that in the heat retention test, the rice cooker lid was closed, so the moisture content in the rice cooker was maintained to a certain extent, whereas in this test, the lid was left open even after cooking in the microwave oven, so moisture loss was accelerated.

[0046] On the other hand, the reason why the Reference Example and Example 2 received high ratings is thought to be related to the surface structure. The surface of the cooked rice in the Reference Example is covered with sticky rice. Therefore, it is thought that sticky rice plays an important role in suppressing moisture evaporation and in appearance. If that is the case, it is thought that the surface of the grain-like granular material in Example 2, which showed the same tendency as the Reference Example, is also covered with a component similar to sticky rice. In other words, it is thought that in this embodiment, the DE0 additive played a role similar to sticky rice, resulting in better results than Comparative Examples 5 and 6.

[0047] Next, the taste was examined. As with the results of the warming test described above, all the rice samples except for Comparative Example 5 had a slight sweetness that could be felt by chewing, regardless of the time that had passed since cooking in the microwave oven. On the other hand, Comparative Example 5 had a strong sweetness that could be felt with or without chewing, and had a taste that was clearly different from that of regular cooked rice.

[0048] The above results also suggest that by using the additive according to the present invention, it is possible to make the appearance and taste of cooked rice closer to that of commercially available cooked rice, even after freezing.

Claims

1. A quality improver for grain-like granular materials whose main components are high amylose rice-derived starch and resistant starch, A quality improver for use in cereal-like granular materials, the quality improver comprising 50-100% by weight of a substance having a DE value of 0-20 based on the total weight of the quality improver.

2. 2. The quality improver for use in cereal-like granular materials according to claim 1, wherein the DE 0-20 material is derived from amylopectin with a high content.

Images