Method for producing alcoholic fermented honey

Abstract

To provide a method for producing an alcohol fermentation product of honey capable of heightening an alcohol content by adding a substance having good image and easily favored by consumers.SOLUTION: By keeping the raw material liquid containing honey, water, yeast, and royal jelly protein hydrolysate at room temperature, alcohol fermentation is carried out. Since royal jelly protein hydrolysate is a bee product like honey, it is a substance that is well-perceived as an additive for making mead and honey vinegar, and it can increase the alcohol content of honey's alcoholic fermentation products.SELECTED DRAWING: None

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for producing an alcoholic fermentation product of honey. [Background technology]

[0002] Mead, made by fermenting honey, has long been produced in Europe and elsewhere. Honey is less susceptible to alcoholic fermentation than grape juice or wort, and the higher the honey's sugar content (honey-derived Brix), the more difficult it is to ferment. Traditionally, therefore, the honey was diluted with water so that its sugar content was less than 20, and then fermented with yeast to produce alcohol, but even then, the alcohol content reached was only around 2% to 3%. If the alcohol content of the resulting alcohol is high, it is possible to either produce the product with a high alcohol content or adjust the alcohol content, allowing for greater freedom in production, so a high alcohol content is desirable for mead as well.

[0003] Therefore, in order to promote alcoholic fermentation of honey by yeast, various methods of adding additives to raw materials have been proposed, such as adding rice koji for shochu (see Patent Document 1), adding sake koji and brown sugar (see Patent Document 2), and adding peanut seed coats (see Patent Document 3).

[0004] However, the present applicants believe that a substance that promotes the alcoholic fermentation of honey should have a good image as a raw material for mead and be popular among consumers.

[0005] Furthermore, Patent Document 1 proposes not only adding rice koji for shochu to promote the alcoholic fermentation of honey, but also increasing the alcohol content by carrying out alcoholic fermentation in two stages. Specifically, Patent Document 1 describes that the alcohol content can be increased by adding yeast to honey diluted with water, then adding rice koji for shochu to carry out primary fermentation, and then adding honey in an amount 1 to 1.5 times the weight used in the primary fermentation, and carrying out secondary fermentation. However, carrying out alcoholic fermentation in two stages has the problem of being a complicated and time-consuming process. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 4376256 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-158 [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-197933 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] In view of the above circumstances, the first object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing an alcoholic fermented product of honey that can increase the alcohol content by adding a substance that has a good image and is likely to be popular among consumers. The second object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing an alcoholic fermented product of honey that can increase the alcohol content by a simple process. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to solve the above problems, the method for producing an alcoholic fermented product of honey according to the present invention comprises the steps of: "Alcoholic fermentation is carried out by maintaining a raw material liquid containing honey, water, yeast, and royal jelly protein hydrolysate at room temperature."

[0009] As mentioned above, honey is inherently difficult to alcoholically ferment, and therefore, if honey is simply alcoholically fermented using yeast, the alcohol content of the resulting alcoholic fermented honey product will be as low as 2% to 3%. After examining various components, the inventors discovered that royal jelly protein hydrolysate promotes the alcoholic fermentation of honey, leading to the present invention.

[0010] "Alcoholic fermentation of honey" refers to the alcoholic fermentation of honey with yeast before the solids are removed (clarified). Mead is obtained by clarifying the alcoholic fermentation of honey. Furthermore, honey vinegar can be obtained by further acetic acid fermentation of mead or the alcoholic fermentation of honey before clarifying.

[0011] "Royal jelly protein hydrolysate" is a protein separated from royal jelly that has been hydrolyzed and reduced in molecular weight.

[0012] Because royal jelly protein hydrolysate is derived from royal jelly, which is a bee product like honey, it has a good image as a raw material ingredient for mead (and even as a raw material ingredient for honey vinegar) and is readily accepted by consumers. Therefore, according to the present invention, the first problem of providing a method for producing an alcoholic fermentation product of honey, which can increase the alcohol content by adding a substance that has a good image and is readily preferred by consumers, can be solved.

[0013] In addition to the above configuration, the method for producing an alcoholic fermented product of honey according to the present invention further comprises: "The alcoholic fermentation is carried out in only one stage without adding honey again."

[0014] The "single-stage" alcoholic fermentation is different from the two-stage alcoholic fermentation attempted in the aforementioned Patent Document 1, in which new honey is added after the alcoholic fermentation by yeast has progressed to a certain extent, and the new honey is also subjected to alcoholic fermentation. In contrast, the "one-stage" alcoholic fermentation is a production method in which no honey is added to the raw material liquid after the alcoholic fermentation has begun.

[0015] In the present invention, the royal jelly protein hydrolysate effectively promotes the alcoholic fermentation of honey, making it possible to produce an alcoholic fermentation product of honey with a high alcohol content through a simple process of alcoholic fermentation at room temperature in only one stage. Thus, in addition to the first object, the present invention can also solve the second object of providing a method for producing an alcoholic fermentation product of honey that can increase the alcohol content through a simple process.

[0016] In addition to the above configuration, the method for producing an alcoholic fermented product of honey according to the present invention further comprises: "The mass of the solid content of the honey is 25g to 35g and the mass of the royal jelly protein hydrolysate is 0.1g to 4.0g per 100ml of the raw material liquid." Yes do.

[0017] By adopting this configuration, it is possible to produce an alcoholic fermentation product of honey with a high alcohol content, that is, an alcohol content of at least 8% or more, as will be described in detail later.

[0018] Furthermore, as mentioned above, when honey has a high sugar content, i.e., when the honey solids content is high, it is difficult to carry out alcoholic fermentation. However, in this configuration, the royal jelly protein hydrolysate promotes the alcoholic fermentation of honey, making it possible to produce an alcoholic fermented honey product with a high alcohol content, even though the honey solids content is very high, with a honey solids mass of 25 g to 35 g per 100 ml of raw material liquid.

[0019] In addition to the above configuration, the method for producing an alcoholic fermented product of honey according to the present invention further comprises: " before The mass of the royal jelly protein hydrolysate may be 0.5 g to 2.0 g.

[0020] By adopting this configuration, it is possible to produce an alcoholic fermented product of honey having an alcohol content of at least 10% or more, as will be described in detail later.

[0021] Furthermore, by using this configuration, as will be described in detail later, it is possible to produce an alcoholic fermented product of honey with a high alcohol content of at least 10% or more in a short fermentation period of two weeks or less. [Effects of the Invention]

[0022] As described above, the present invention can solve the first problem of providing a method for producing an alcoholic fermented product of honey that can increase the alcohol content by adding a substance that has a good image and is likely to be popular among consumers, and can also solve the second problem of providing a method for producing an alcoholic fermented product of honey that can increase the alcohol content using a simple process. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0023] A method for producing an alcoholic fermented product of honey, which is a specific embodiment of the present invention, is described below. In this embodiment, a raw material liquid containing honey, water, yeast, and royal jelly protein hydrolysate is kept at room temperature, and alcoholic fermentation is carried out in a single step. The resulting alcoholic fermented product is then separated into a tank to produce mead. For example, the supernatant obtained after centrifugation of the alcoholic fermented product, the filtrate obtained after filtration, or the filtrate obtained by further filtration after centrifugation can be used to produce mead.

[0024] In this production method, the royal jelly protein hydrolysate promotes the alcoholic fermentation of honey, so that it is possible to produce a high-alcohol fermented honey product, and ultimately a high-alcohol mead, using honey, which is normally difficult to ferment, as a raw material within a practical fermentation period.

[0025] In the past, because it was not possible to obtain mead with a high alcohol content, it was common to add pre-made alcohol to a low-alcohol content liquid obtained by fermenting honey, thereby producing mead through "post-alcohol addition." In contrast, the production method of the present embodiment produces an alcoholic fermentation product of honey with a high alcohol content, eliminating the need for such post-alcohol addition. Furthermore, because honey with a high sugar content is less susceptible to fermentation, it was common to produce mead from a low-sugar content raw material liquid obtained by diluting honey with water, and then add honey to the mead to enhance the honey flavor, thereby eliminating the need for such post-honey addition. In contrast, the production method of the present embodiment allows for the alcoholic fermentation of a raw material liquid containing a high amount of honey solids, thereby producing an alcoholic fermentation product of honey rich in honey flavor, eliminating the need for such post-honey addition. [Example]

[0026] First, the results of a search for substances that promote the alcoholic fermentation of honey (hereinafter referred to as "fermentation promoters") are explained using Table 1. For the search, a raw material solution containing honey, water, yeast, and candidate substances for the fermentation promoter was used. The concentration of yeast in the raw material solution was 5.0 x 10 6 The honey content per 100 ml (milliliters) of raw material liquid was kept constant at 24 g. In addition, 0.18 g of lactic acid was added to the raw material liquid per 100 ml in order to suppress the growth of unwanted bacteria during the alcohol fermentation process.

[0027] As a fermentation promoter, we focused on royal jelly, which, like honey, is a bee product that has a good image as a raw material for mead and is likely to be popular with consumers.We prepared the following raw material solutions: Sample E1, in which raw royal jelly (referred to as "raw RJ" in the table) was used as the candidate substance; Sample E2, in which dried royal jelly (referred to as "dried RJ" in the table), which was made by drying and powdering raw royal jelly, was used as the candidate substance; Sample E3, in which the residue of royal jelly extracted with alcohol (referred to as "RJ extraction residue" in the table), was used as the candidate substance; Sample E4, in which royal jelly obtained by enzymatic hydrolysis (referred to as "RJ enzymatic hydrolysate" in the table), was used as the candidate substance; and Sample E5, in which royal jelly protein hydrolysate (referred to as "RJpep" in the table), which was made by enzymatic hydrolysis of the residue of royal jelly extracted with alcohol, was used as the candidate substance. In addition to bee products, a raw material solution for sample E6 was also prepared using diammonium phosphate ((NH4)2HPO4), which is sometimes used as a culture medium for microorganisms, as the candidate substance.

[0028] The amount of each candidate substance added to the raw material solution was determined so that the amount of assimilable nitrogen was approximately the same. The amount of assimilable nitrogen was measured by formol titration using an automatic titration system AT-710 / CHA-700 manufactured by Kyoto Electronics Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

[0029] For comparison, a raw material solution of sample R was prepared in the same manner as above, except that no candidate substances for fermentation promotion were added. The raw material solutions of sample R and samples E1 to E6 were each kept at room temperature (25°C) for 5 days to undergo alcoholic fermentation. The fermented solution was centrifuged (3000 rpm, 5 minutes), and the supernatant was filtered through quantitative filter paper, and the alcohol content of the solution was measured. The alcohol content was measured using an SDK system manufactured by Kyoto Electronics Manufacturing Co., Ltd. The alcohol content of each sample is shown in Table 1.

[0030] [Table 1]

[0031] As can be seen from Table 1, the comparative sample, sample R, i.e., a sample without the addition of a candidate substance for fermentation promotion, had a low alcohol content of 1.9%. However, sample E1, which contained fresh royal jelly, and sample E2, which contained dried royal jelly, had an even lower alcohol content of 0.1%, suggesting that alcoholic fermentation had hardly progressed. Decenoic acid, contained in royal jelly, is said to have antibacterial properties. It is believed that the antibacterial properties of decenoic acid inhibit alcoholic fermentation in the raw material solutions containing fresh royal jelly and dried royal jelly, both of which contain decenoic acid. This is supported by the fact that the alcohol content was higher in samples E3 and E5, from which decenoic acid had been removed as an alcohol-soluble component.

[0032] Furthermore, samples E4 and E5, which were made by enzymatic hydrolysis of royal jelly or its derived components, also had high alcohol content. This suggests that the reduction in molecular weight due to enzymatic hydrolysis is beneficial for promoting alcoholic fermentation. Sample E5, which uses royal jelly protein hydrolysate that has undergone both the removal of decenoic acid and the reduction in molecular weight due to enzymatic hydrolysis, had the highest alcohol content and was found to be the most effective of the candidate substances in promoting the alcoholic fermentation of honey by yeast.

[0033] Since the above confirmed that royal jelly protein hydrolysate has the effect of promoting alcoholic fermentation of honey by yeast, the effect of promoting alcoholic fermentation was examined in more detail by varying the amount of royal jelly protein hydrolysate added to a raw material solution containing honey, water, yeast, and royal jelly protein hydrolysate. Furthermore, as mentioned above, alcoholic fermentation is difficult when the sugar content of honey is high (when the honey solids content is high), so in order to examine to what extent the honey solids content can be increased by promoting alcoholic fermentation with royal jelly protein hydrolysate, the mass of honey solids added to the raw material solution was also varied.

[0034] Specifically, the concentration of yeast in the raw material liquid is 5.0 × 10 6 The mass of honey solids per 100 ml of raw material solution was kept constant at 25 g, 35 g, or 40 g, and the mass of royal jelly protein hydrolysate was changed to 0.1 g, 0.5 g, 1.0 g, 2.0 g, 4.0 g, 6.0 g, or 8.0 g, to prepare a total of 21 types of raw material solution.

[0035] Here, the royal jelly protein hydrolysate used was "Royal Jelly Peptide Powder (product name)" manufactured by Nisshin Honey Co., Ltd. This was prepared by mixing dried royal jelly with ethanol, decomposing the precipitated insoluble royal jelly protein (equivalent to the ethanol extraction residue) with a protease, and purifying the resulting hydrolysate by filtration, followed by drying and powdering.

[0036] The yeast used was the "non-foaming G yeast" from the "G yeast" series, an original yeast developed by Gifu Prefecture to support sake breweries within the prefecture. It has been proposed to increase the concentration of yeast in order to increase the alcohol content (for example, Patent No. 3121872). This patent document states that 4 x 10 yeast cells per ml of honey water should be used. 7 ~12×10 7 In contrast, the yeast concentration set in this embodiment is 5.0 × 10 6 1 / ml is a typical concentration set in normal beer production.

[0037] Lactic acid was added to inhibit the growth of unwanted bacteria during the alcohol fermentation process, and the amount added was 0.2 g per 100 ml of raw material liquid.

[0038] Each prepared raw material solution was kept at room temperature (25°C) for alcoholic fermentation, and the alcohol content was measured after a predetermined period. The timing for measuring the alcohol content was empirically determined to be when the carbon dioxide loss reached 10 g, since the carbon dioxide loss is an indicator of changes in alcohol content. The carbon dioxide loss was calculated by measuring the mass of the raw material solution including the container using an electronic balance and calculating the mass decrease from the mass at the previous measurement. The alcohol content was also measured using the SDK system manufactured by Kyoto Electronics Manufacturing Co., Ltd., as described above.

[0039] The measured alcohol content and the period until the alcohol content was measured (fermentation period) for each raw material liquid are shown in Table 2. In Table 2, samples marked with an * in the fermentation period column are samples for which the rate of carbon dioxide loss tended to saturate before the carbon dioxide loss reached 10 g, and fermentation was terminated before the carbon dioxide loss reached 10 g, and the alcohol content was measured.

[0040] [Table 2]

[0041] As shown in Table 2, when the solid mass of honey was 25 g per 100 ml of raw material solution, a high alcohol content of 8% or more was obtained across the entire range of royal jelly protein hydrolysate masses from 0.1 g to 8.0 g. Up to a royal jelly protein hydrolysate mass of 4.0 g, the fermentation period tended to decrease with increasing royal jelly protein hydrolysate mass. However, as the royal jelly protein hydrolysate mass increased beyond that, the fermentation period tended to increase and the alcohol content tended to decrease. This suggests that there is an optimum range for the amount of royal jelly protein hydrolysate added to promote the alcoholic fermentation of honey, and that adding too much royal jelly protein hydrolysate does not favor the promotion of alcoholic fermentation.

[0042] When the solids content of honey was 35 g per 100 ml of raw material, the mass of royal jelly protein hydrolysate that resulted in an alcohol content of 8% or higher ranged from 0.1 g to 4.0 g. Up to a mass of 1.0 g of royal jelly protein hydrolysate, the fermentation period tended to decrease with increasing mass. However, as the mass of royal jelly protein hydrolysate increased, the fermentation period tended to increase and the alcohol content tended to decrease. This also supports the idea that there is an optimum range for the amount of royal jelly protein hydrolysate added to promote the alcoholic fermentation of honey, and that adding too much does not have a beneficial effect on promoting alcoholic fermentation.

[0043] Furthermore, the time required to reach a carbon dioxide loss of 10 g was longer when the mass of honey solids per 100 ml of liquid was 35 g than when it was 25 g. Furthermore, when the mass of honey solids per 100 ml of liquid was 40 g, only the sample containing 1.0 g of royal jelly protein hydrolysate had an alcohol content exceeding 8%. This suggests that adding too much royal jelly protein hydrolysate does not favor the promotion of alcoholic fermentation, and that when the mass of honey solids is high, even a small amount of royal jelly protein hydrolysate is insufficient to promote alcoholic fermentation.

[0044] As described above, honey is inherently difficult to alcoholically ferment, and conventionally, only mead with an alcohol content of approximately 2% to 3% could be produced from a liquid obtained by diluting honey so that its sugar content is 20 or less. However, according to the production method of this embodiment, the royal jelly protein hydrolysate promotes the alcoholic fermentation of honey by yeast, making it possible to produce an alcoholic fermented honey product with a high alcohol content from a raw material liquid containing honey, water, and yeast, with a high honey solids content of 25 g to 35 g per 100 ml, i.e., a raw material liquid with a high honey sugar content.

[0045] In particular, when the mass of honey solids is 25 g to 35 g per 100 ml of raw material liquid containing honey, water, and yeast, by setting the mass of royal jelly protein hydrolysate to 0.1 g to 4.0 g, an alcoholic fermentation product of honey with an alcohol content of at least 8% or more (alcohol content 8.4% to 12.6%) can be produced by alcoholic fermentation in only one stage.

[0046] Furthermore, when the mass of honey solids is 25g to 35g per 100ml of raw material liquid containing honey, water, and yeast, and the mass of royal jelly protein hydrolysate is 0.5g to 2.0g, a high alcoholic fermentation product of honey with an alcohol content of at least 10% (10.3 to 12.6% alcohol) can be produced through a single alcoholic fermentation step. This range of fermentation time is short, at less than two weeks (7 to 14 days), which has the advantage of allowing a high-alcohol fermentation product of honey to be produced in a short period of time.

[0047] Furthermore, the manufacturing method of this embodiment can produce an alcoholic fermented product of honey with a high alcohol content from honey that is inherently difficult to alcoholically ferment, eliminating the need for the above-mentioned "post-alcohol addition" to increase the alcohol content. Mead produced by the manufacturing method of this embodiment is labeled with ingredients such as "honey (origin)" and "royal jelly protein hydrolysate." In contrast, mead with post-alcohol addition includes "brewer's alcohol" in the ingredient labeling. Therefore, mead with a high alcohol content obtained by the manufacturing method of this embodiment and mead with an increased alcohol content due to post-alcohol addition can be distinguished "as a product" by the product labeling.

[0048] Furthermore, in the production method of this embodiment, a raw material liquid with a large mass of honey solids is used, and therefore an alcoholic fermented honey product rich in honey flavor, and therefore a mead rich in honey flavor, is obtained. Therefore, there is no need to perform the above-mentioned "post-honey addition" for the purpose of adding honey flavor. Mead with post-honey addition will have not only the honey flavor but also a sweet taste. In contrast, the production method of this embodiment can provide a mead that is rich in honey flavor, even if it is dry.

[0049] The present invention has been described above by citing preferred embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various improvements and design changes are possible as described below, without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0050] For example, in the above embodiment, lactic acid is added to the raw material liquid in order to suppress the proliferation of unwanted bacteria during the alcohol fermentation process, but lactic acid can be substituted for pH adjusters commonly used in food production, such as citric acid.

[0051] Furthermore, the method for producing an alcoholic fermented product of honey of the present invention can be used as a part of a production method in which the alcoholic fermented product of honey obtained by alcoholic fermentation, or the mead after separation, is further subjected to acetic acid fermentation to produce honey vinegar, in addition to producing mead as the final product.

[0052] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, an example was given of a case in which alcoholic fermentation is carried out in only one stage without adding honey again, but this does not exclude a production method in which alcoholic fermentation is carried out multiple times.

Claims

1. A raw material liquid containing honey, water, yeast, and royal jelly protein hydrolysate is kept at room temperature to cause alcoholic fermentation, The mass of the solid content of the honey is set to 25 g to 35 g and the mass of the royal jelly protein hydrolysate is set to 0.1 g to 4.0 g per 100 ml of the raw material liquid. A method for producing an alcoholic fermentation product of honey, comprising:

2. The alcoholic fermentation is carried out in one step without adding honey again. The method for producing the alcoholic fermentation product of honey according to claim 1 .

3. The mass of the royal jelly protein hydrolysate is 0.5 g to 2.0 g. A method for producing an alcoholic fermentation product of honey according to claim 1 or 2.

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