JP4554553B2 - Two-stage coagulation process for tofu and tofu products by the process - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing tofu that can be easily taken out from a container of tofu produced by coagulating a soymilk composition in a container, and a tofu product obtained by the method.

  Tofu is classified into a wide variety according to its manufacturing method. Typically, tofu is coagulated in a large SUS-made mold box (bucket), cut into pieces in water, and then poured into water. Products that have been soaked in a product container (those that are distributed as final product containers) (hereinafter referred to as cut tofu) or filled with a single soy milk in the product container are coagulated and then the appearance In particular, it is classified as being sealed without being immersed in water (hereinafter referred to as filled tofu).

  Cut tofu needs to be cut into the mold box after it is transferred into the mold box or after being transferred from the mold box to the aquarium. In addition, the cut tofu must be placed in the product container without breaking the tofu, especially without the tofu sticking to the bucket. There is a problem that it is not easy to take out cleanly and takes a lot of work, and it is difficult to increase the production speed especially when a production line is made for mass production.

  In addition, filled tofu is superior in terms of productivity because it can omit the process of cutting into one piece in water, but it is sealed in a state where it is not immersed in water, so there is an image that the product value is low in appearance is there.

On the other hand, as a device for improving the peelability between the tofu and the container or the bucket, a method for heating the bucket for coagulating soymilk in advance to facilitate the peeling of the tofu from the bucket (Patent Document 1), coagulation A method of preheating the soymilk temperature before mixing with an agent to 18-30 ° C. (Patent Document 2), an aqueous solution containing magnesium salt or calcium salt on the inner wall surface of the container (Patent Document 3) or ethanol (Patent Document 4) A method of using a product container coated with is being studied. However, none of these methods can sufficiently solve the problem of peelability from the container, particularly when the container is made of SUS. In addition, in the method that requires heating and cooling of the soy milk composition, the number of processes increases and the equipment cost increases, and the temperature of the soy milk composition changes several times during the process, which may impair the good taste of tofu. There was also sex.
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 6-38576 Japanese Patent No. 2936175 JP 2002-272404 A JP 2002-191308 A

  Therefore, the subject of this invention is providing the tofu which does not impair a taste and flavor by making it easy to take out tofu from the container or bucket at the time of coagulating soymilk, and improving productivity.

  As a result of intensive studies to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present inventors use two types of coagulants and promote the coagulation of soy milk in the vicinity of the inner wall surface of the container faster than the central part of the container. As a result of finding that the releasability of the tofu from the container is dramatically improved and further researching it, the present invention has been completed.

That is, the present invention provides a method for producing a tofu by coagulating a soymilk composition containing soymilk and a first coagulant in a container, wherein a second coagulant having a faster effect than the first coagulant is used in the container. It is related with the said method characterized by pre-applying to the inner wall surface of this.
Furthermore, this invention relates to the said method whose temperature of soymilk is 25-95 degreeC.
The present invention also relates to the above method, wherein the first coagulant is an emulsified bittern and the second coagulant is seawater bite.

The invention further relates to the method, wherein the container is made of stainless steel.
Moreover, this invention relates to the tofu product formed by sealing the tofu obtained by the said method in a container .

  When the tofu according to the present invention is taken out from the container, the tofu can be taken out without remaining in the container. It is considered that this is because the soymilk composition containing soymilk and the coagulant solidifies faster in the vicinity of the inner wall surface than in the central part of the container, so that the tofu is easily peeled off at the contact surface between the tofu and the container. In particular, when a soymilk composition consisting of soymilk and a slow-acting bittern is filled into a container coated with a fast-acting bittern, coagulation rapidly proceeds on the inner wall of the container due to the reaction between warm soymilk and a fast-acting bittern. On the other hand, since solidification gradually progresses by reaction with the slow-acting bittern inside, the difference in the solidification rate between the inner wall surface and the central portion can be realized more suitably. The method for producing tofu according to the present invention has the following advantages.

  When a slow-acting coagulant is used as the first coagulant, it is possible to use high-temperature soymilk in which okara is separated from boiled cucumber, and soymilk that has been made especially in conventional methods for producing tofu Since it is possible to omit processes such as cooling and reheating after mixing the coagulant, it is possible to increase the production speed. Moreover, since it is not necessary to go through steps such as cooling and reheating, excellent flavor and texture can be obtained without impairing the quality of the soymilk composition.

  Furthermore, for example, even when manufacturing tofu products (each referred to as “1 tofu” for the sake of convenience in the present specification), each of which is solidified individually in a bucket and transferred to a product container. Since the tofu can be easily taken out from the small mold box (bucket) that produces the tofu of the tofu, there is no chipping in the appearance, so it is easy to make the tofu that has the appearance of cut tofu without going through the carving process It can be manufactured efficiently.

  In addition, according to the present invention, the desired effect can be achieved not only in the above-mentioned toccho tofu, but also in so-called soy tofu that is solidified relatively slowly, ordinary cut tofu, filled tofu, and the like.

  In general, tofu is produced by crushing soybeans soaked in water, boiling the resulting raw koji to boiled koji, filtering it into okara and soy milk, and solidifying the obtained soy milk with a coagulant. The soy milk obtained from boiled rice is hot, so when using a widely used coagulant with a relatively fast coagulation rate, such as sea water bite, cool the soy milk, mix it with the coagulant and heat it again. The coagulation reaction will proceed.

  In the method for producing tofu and tofu products according to the present invention, the coagulation of soy milk in the vicinity of the inner wall surface of the container is advanced faster than the central part of the container by using two or more coagulants having different coagulation speeds. That is, according to the present invention, when producing a tofu by coagulating a soymilk composition containing warm soymilk and a first coagulant in a container, a second coagulant that is more effective than the first coagulant is prepared. By applying in advance to the inner wall surface of the container, the soymilk composition can be solidified faster in the vicinity of the inner wall surface than in the central portion of the container.

  The “first coagulant” and the “second coagulant” used here are crude magnesium chloride (seawater bittern), emulsified bittern, magnesium chloride solution, sulfide, which are generally used as a coagulant for soy milk. Examples include calcium solutions, glucono delta lactone (GDL), and a coagulant obtained by appropriately mixing these, but the second coagulant must be a faster-acting coagulant than the first coagulant. Typically, an emulsification bittern is used as the first coagulant and seawater bite is used as the second coagulant, but the present invention is not limited to this.

  As the soy milk in the present invention, soy milk obtained by filtering boiled cucumber into okara and soy milk, so-called warm soy milk that is not cooled, or one that is naturally cooled, can be used. Although not particularly limited, it is typically 25 to 95 ° C, preferably 35 to 95 ° C, and particularly preferably 60 to 90 ° C.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the solidification of soymilk in the vicinity of the inner wall surface of the container is not particularly limited by the material and shape of the container as long as the soymilk can be advanced faster than the central part of the container. For example, the material of the container is not only made of resin such as polypropylene, polyethylene, polystyrene, and combinations thereof, which are common as the material of product containers when distributed as filled tofu products, but also cut tofu or icto tofu It may be made of a metal such as stainless steel, titanium, or aluminum, which is a general container used in the manufacture of the above.

  When the tofu solidified in the container according to the production method of the present invention is filled tofu, it can be easily taken out from the container when the consumer empties it into a dish or the like. It will be a thing. On the other hand, when the soy milk coagulated in the container is transferred to another container and then sealed to make one-chofu tofu, as shown in the following description based on FIG.

  In order to produce Iccho Tofu, the high-temperature soymilk 1 obtained from boiled tofu and the coagulant 2 with a slow coagulation rate (for example, emulsification bittern etc.) are adjusted so that the flow rate is constant with the dedicated pumps 3 and 4 respectively. Send to mixer 5 while adjusting. After the soymilk 1 and the coagulant 2 are agitated with a mixer 5 to obtain a soymilk composition, the soymilk composition is transferred to a container 6. Here, a coagulant having a high coagulation rate (for example, sea water bite) is applied to the inner wall surface of the container 6 in advance. Application can be performed by selecting an appropriate means such as spraying.

  When a soymilk composition having a high temperature corresponding to one product was put in the container 6, it was applied to the inner wall surface of the container 6 depending on the temperature of the soymilk composition before coagulation with the slow-acting coagulant in the soymilk composition started. Coagulation by the fast-acting coagulant occurs, and a boundary due to water separation occurs between the solidified soymilk composition and the inner wall surface of the container. Then, when coagulation | solidification of the soymilk composition is completed in the center part of the container 6, the inner wall surface vicinity and center part of the container coagulate in two steps, so that the solidified soymilk composition (tofu) When tilted, it is not particularly necessary to give an impact to the container 6 and can be easily taken out without being chipped. And after transferring the tofu taken out from the container 6 to the product container, it can be sealed to obtain a one-chome tofu product. In this case, the product container may be filled with water so that the tofu is not damaged by impact during transportation.

  As described above, the present invention is characterized in that it solidifies in two stages in the order of the vicinity of the inner wall surface of the container and in the center, which means that a clear two-layered solidified layer is necessarily formed in tofu. It is not a thing. By adjusting the concentration of the coagulant to be applied to the inner wall surface of the container, it is possible to produce a tofu that is easy to remove from the container and that is homogeneous in quality.

Examples of tofu produced according to the present invention will be described below, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.
(Example)
A soymilk composition was prepared by mixing 82 ° C. soymilk and emulsified bittern (“Magnes Fine” (trade name) manufactured by Kao Corporation) at a volume ratio of 720: 4.38. On the other hand, sea water bite (concentration: diluted 1 to 5 times with respect to the stock solution (saturated)) is sprayed on the inner wall surface of the stainless steel container in advance, and the prepared soymilk composition is poured into this and aged at 82 ° C. for 10 minutes. did. After aging, the stainless steel container was inverted, and it was visually confirmed whether the solidified soymilk composition was peeled off from the container, and the texture and flavor were evaluated in three stages of A to C. The overall evaluation was also evaluated in three stages. The results are shown in Table 1.

(Comparative Examples 1-3)
A soybean milk composition produced at the composition and aging time shown in Table 1 was also produced and subjected to various tests in the same manner as in Examples except that the container was sprayed with seawater bittern. The results are shown in Table 1.

The tofu of the examples according to the present invention could be satisfactorily taken out from the stainless steel container, and part of the tofu was not left in the container. The texture and flavor were also excellent. On the other hand, the tofu of Comparative Example 1 increased the amount of the coagulant (emulsified bittern), so water was removed from the whole tofu and peeling from the container was good, but the texture was poor and the flavor was also good. There wasn't. Further, in Comparative Examples 2 and 3 in which the amount of the coagulant was reduced in order to enhance the texture, peeling from the container could not be performed satisfactorily, and part of the tofu remained in the container.
Moreover, in the tofu of the Example by this invention, since the quantity of the coagulant may be less than Comparative Examples 1-3, it was possible to manufacture efficiently in a short aging time.

  According to the method for producing tofu according to the present invention, in any production of cut tofu, filled tofu, jelly tofu and ichicho tofu, peeling of the tofu from the container is good. Transfer from the container to the product container when coagulating individual soymilk compositions for one can be easily and satisfactorily performed. Further, the amount of the coagulant can be reduced, the texture and flavor are enhanced, the aging time is short, and an excellent product can be supplied efficiently.

It is a conceptual explanatory drawing of the manufacturing apparatus of tofu.

Explanation of symbols

1 Soymilk tank 2 Coagulant tank 3, 4 Pump 5 Mixer 6 Stainless steel container

Claims (5)

  In the method for producing tofu by coagulating a soymilk composition containing soymilk and a first coagulant in a container, a second coagulant that is more effective than the first coagulant is previously applied to the inner wall surface of the container. The method as described above, which is applied.   The method of Claim 1 that the temperature of soymilk is 25-95 degreeC.   The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first coagulant is an emulsified bittern and the second coagulant is seawater bite.   The method according to claim 1, wherein the container is made of stainless steel.   A tofu product obtained by sealing the tofu obtained by the method according to claim 1 in a container.

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