JP5035679B2 - Sugarcane fermented product and brown sugar-like food produced therefrom - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To research a process for producing muscovado from sugarcane, ingredients contained in the muscovado, and the like to provide a new muscovado-like food excellent in functionality, and to provide a method for producing the muscovado-like food. <P>SOLUTION: The present invention relates to a sugarcane fermentation product obtained by inoculating a sugarcane juice with lactobacillus and then subjecting to a lactic fermentation, to the muscovado-like food obtained by concentrating-solidifying the sugarcane fermentation product, and to provide methods for producing the sugarcane fermentation product and the muscovado-like food, respectively. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a fermented sugarcane obtained from sugarcane as a raw material, a brown sugar-like food produced therefrom, and a method for producing these.

Sugarcane is a key crop in Okinawa and the Nansei Islands, and is mainly used as a raw material for sugar production.
In the main island area, honey sugar (crude sugar) is produced from this sugarcane, and in the remote island area, honey sugar (brown sugar) is produced, which is also the key industry of the area. However, due to problems such as the slump in sugar prices and the aging of farmers, the sugar industry is declining along with the production of raw sugar cane. Therefore, the development of new uses for sugarcane is an urgent issue from the viewpoint of effective use of resources and promotion of agriculture.

  Until now, sugarcane is known to contain a variety of useful ingredients, and brown sugar, which is a concentrated processed product, has been traditionally recognized for its health benefits. In addition, research on the flavor and properties of brown sugar (Patent Documents 1 and 2) and development of pharmaceuticals and foods using useful components derived from sugarcane or brown sugar (Patent Documents 3 to 8) are also being carried out.

  However, until now, research on the process for producing brown sugar from sugarcane and the components contained in brown sugar has not progressed so far.

JP-A-7-227300 JP 2006-136234 A JP 2000-297045 A Special Table 2000-297046 JP 2001-302533 A JP 2001-335505 A Special table 2004-75612 gazette JP 2006-22070 A

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to study a process for producing brown sugar from sugarcane, components contained in brown sugar, and the like, and to obtain a new food having excellent functionality using sugarcane as a raw material.

  The present inventors have made various studies in order to solve the above-mentioned problems. As a result, in addition to the components produced by lactic acid bacteria, γ-amino is contained in the fermented sugar cane obtained by fermenting the sugarcane juice with lactic acid bacteria. It was found that butyric acid (GABA) was included at a high concentration. And it discovered that brown sugar-like food could be manufactured from this sugarcane fermented product.

  Moreover, it discovered that the brown sugar-like foodstuff manufactured using this sugarcane fermented product had a high GABA density | concentration, and also the component which was not contained in the conventional brown sugar was contained. Furthermore, in these lactic acid fermentation, it discovered that the polyphenol derived from sugarcane and antioxidant ability were hard to be influenced.

  The present invention is based on the above findings, and provides a fermented sugarcane obtained by inoculating a sugarcane juice with lactic acid bacteria and subjecting it to lactic acid fermentation.

  In addition, the present invention provides a brown sugar-like food obtained by inoculating lactic acid bacteria into a sugarcane juice and subjecting it to lactic acid fermentation to obtain a fermented sugarcane, and then concentrating and solidifying the fermented product.

  Furthermore, this invention provides the manufacturing method of the sugarcane fermented product characterized by inoculating lactic acid bacteria in sugarcane juice, and carrying out lactic acid fermentation.

  Furthermore, the present invention provides a method for producing a brown sugar-like food characterized by inoculating a sugarcane juice with lactic acid bacteria and subjecting it to lactic acid fermentation to obtain a fermented sugarcane, and then concentrating and solidifying the fermented product. Is.

  The sugarcane fermented product of the present invention has a higher GABA concentration than the conventional sugarcane juice used as a raw material for brown sugar, and further contains useful components such as lactic acid produced by lactic acid bacteria. Furthermore, in the sugarcane juice, Since glucose and fructose are assimilated, the ratio of sucrose in the total sugar content is high.

  Therefore, the sugarcane fermented product can be suitably used as a functional carbohydrate material.

  The brown sugar-like food produced using the fermented sugar cane has a high GABA concentration and a high ratio of sucrose in the total sugar content, and further contains useful components such as lactic acid produced by lactic acid bacteria. It has a lighter color tone and smooth mouthfeel than conventional brown sugar.

  The sugarcane fermented product of the present invention is obtained by inoculating a sugarcane juice with lactic acid bacteria and subjecting it to lactic acid fermentation.

  The sugarcane used as the raw material for the fermented product is a plant belonging to the genus Sugaraceae (scientific name: Sacharum officinarum). In the present invention, any type of sugarcane can be used without particular limitation. The sugarcane juice is obtained by squeezing the whole stem or inner solid part of sugarcane. Although it does not restrict | limit especially as a means of squeezing, For example, a mill, a screw press, Kane separation etc. are mentioned. The squeezed liquid obtained by the squeezing means may be one obtained by removing heat-insoluble components by heat sterilization treatment or centrifugation, and may be one obtained by concentrating the squeezed liquid by a conventional method. In the present invention, the sucrose concentration of the sugarcane juice is about 10 to 20% by mass, particularly about 15% by mass.

  Although it does not specifically limit as lactic acid bacteria inoculated in the said sugarcane juice, For example, lactic acid bacteria, such as Lactobacillus genus and Lactococcus genus, can be used. Among these lactic acid bacteria, lactic acid bacteria that assimilate glutamic acid and produce GABA without degrading GABA in sugarcane juice (hereinafter referred to as “GABA-producing lactic acid bacteria”) are preferable. As such lactic acid bacteria, for example, Lactococcus lactis subsp. Lactis, Lactobacillus brevis and the like are preferable. Among these GABA-producing lactic acid bacteria, Lactococcus brevis is particularly preferable because it produces a large amount of GABA. These lactic acid bacteria are all available from the Biological Resource Center, the Japan Dairy Technology Association, and others.

  In producing the fermented sugar cane of the present invention, first, the lactic acid bacterium is used as a starter by a conventional method, and this is inoculated with 1 to 20% by mass, preferably about 10% by mass with respect to the sugar cane juice. Next, this is subjected to lactic acid fermentation at about 25 ° C. to 37 ° C., preferably about 30 ° C., for about 24 to 48 hours, preferably about 24 hours, to about pH 3.7 to 4.3, preferably about pH 4.0.

  The fermented sugarcane obtained in this way has a higher GABA concentration than the sugarcane juice and contains useful components such as lactic acid produced by lactic acid bacteria. Moreover, since glucose and fructose in sugarcane juice are assimilated by lactic acid bacteria, the ratio of sucrose in the total sugar content of the sugarcane fermentation product is high. This can be used as it is, or after removing insoluble components, concentrating, etc. to obtain a functional carbohydrate material, which can be added to various foods and drinks.

  Moreover, the said sugarcane fermented material can be made into a brown sugar-like food by concentrating and solidifying according to the method of manufacturing brown sugar from the well-known sugarcane juice. For the concentration, heating concentration, vacuum concentration or the like can be used, and solidification is performed by cooling the concentrate.

  An example of producing brown sugar-like food from fermented sugar cane is as follows. First, the fermented sugarcane is heated to about 50 ° C. and adjusted to pH 6.8 to 7.2 using calcium hydroxide or the like. Next, insoluble components are removed by centrifugation, and the mixture is heated under normal pressure. Boiled while removing insoluble components, and when the temperature reaches 120 ° C., the heating is stopped, and the mixture is stirred while solidifying rapidly by air cooling to obtain a brown sugar-like food.

  The brown sugar-like food of the present invention thus obtained contains 15 mg or more, preferably about 15 to 20 mg of GABA per 100 g. Further, the brown sugar-like food of the present invention is rich in lactic acid and acetic acid produced by fermentation of sugarcane juice with lactic acid bacteria, and other components not contained in conventional brown sugar at all. Furthermore, this brown sugar-like food has a high ratio of sucrose in the total sugar content. Furthermore, this brown sugar-like food has a lighter color tone and smooth mouthfeel than conventional brown sugar.

  Moreover, this brown sugar-like food may be eaten as it is as brown sugar, or may be added to various foods and drinks by pulverization or liquefaction by a known method.

  EXAMPLES Hereinafter, although an Example is given and this invention is demonstrated in more detail, this invention is not restrict | limited at all by these Examples.

Example 1
Selection of lactic acid bacteria:
Sugar cane (Norin 8) is squeezed into a mill, sterilized by heating, and then insoluble components are removed by centrifugation. A sugarcane juice liquid having a concentration of 15% by mass was obtained. About 2% by mass of the lactic acid strain described in Table 1 below was inoculated into 100 ml of this sugarcane juice, and this was cultured at 30 ° C. for 96 hours to obtain a sugarcane fermented product. The pH of this fermented product and the concentrations of GABA and glutamic acid contained in the fermented product were measured by the HPLC method using Shimadzu amino acid analysis system Na type.

  From this result, the GABA concentration in the sugarcane fermentation product is increased by fermenting the sugarcane juice with Lactobacillus brevis or Lactococcus lactis subsp. Lactis. all right. Lactobacillus brevis was also found to consume glutamic acid in sugarcane juice.

  Any sugarcane fermented product contained useful components such as lactic acid and acetic acid produced by lactic acid bacteria.

Example 2
Production of brown sugar-like food:
First, sugarcane (Agricultural Forestry No. 8) is squeezed into a mill and sterilized by heating. It contains 5.4 mg of GABA and 1.3 mg of glutamic acid per 100 ml, has a pH of 5.1 and a sucrose concentration of 15.3% by mass. A sugar cane juice was obtained. To 900 ml of this sugarcane juice, 100 ml of lactic acid bacteria starter cultured in advance was added and cultured at 30 ° C. for 24 hours to obtain a sugarcane fermented product. This fermented sugarcane was heated to 50 ° C. and adjusted to pH 7.2 using calcium hydroxide. Next, the insoluble component was removed by centrifugation, and the mixture was boiled under normal pressure while removing the insoluble component. When the temperature reached 120 ° C., the heating was stopped. The mixture was stirred while being rapidly cooled by air cooling and solidified to obtain a brown sugar-like food. Further, brown sugar obtained by concentrating and solidifying the sugarcane juice without lactic acid fermentation was used as a control. The brown sugar-like food and brown sugar were evaluated for GABA concentration, organic acid concentration, polyphenol concentration, antioxidant ability and flavor. Moreover, the glucose, fructose and sucrose concentrations of brown sugar-like food and brown sugar were measured, and the ratio of sucrose in the total sugar content was determined from these measured values.

  The starter used above is Lactobacillus brevis (NBRC12520 strain: obtained from the Biological Resource Center), 0.5% by mass of peptone, 0.5% by mass of yeast extract, 0.5% by mass of glucose, and 0% of lactose. 2% by mass, 1% by mass inoculation to a medium for lactic acid bacteria (pH 6.5-6.8) consisting of 0.05% by mass of a surfactant (Tween 80) and 0.1% by mass of magnesium sulfate, Time culture was repeated.

  The GABA concentration of brown sugar-like food and brown sugar was measured in the same manner as in Example 1. In addition, the organic acid concentration was measured by an HPLC method using a Shimadzu organic acid analysis system using ion exclusion chromatography and pH buffering method detection. Furthermore, the polyphenol concentration was measured by a polyphenol content measurement method (Toshida Tojiro, “Food Function Analysis Method”, 318, Korin, 2000), and expressed as an amount corresponding to gallic acid. Furthermore, the radical scavenging method using DPPH (1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazol) for the antioxidant ability of brown sugar-like foods and brown sugar (Suda Ikuo, “Food Functionality Manual Collection”, 16, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Technology) Measured at the Conference / Food Research Institute, 1999) and expressed in an amount equivalent to the antioxidant Trolox. These results are shown in Table 2.

  Moreover, the glucose, fructose, and sucrose concentrations of brown sugar-like food and brown sugar were analyzed by HPLC using Asahi Pack-NH2P-50 column and Shimadzu Evaporative Light Scattering Detection System. These results are shown in Table 3.

  As a result, it was found that brown sugar-like foods contain more GABA than conventional brown sugar that does not undergo lactic acid fermentation, and contain lactic acid and acetic acid that are not contained in conventional brown sugar. Moreover, it turned out that lactic acid fermentation does not have big influence on polyphenol content or antioxidant ability. Further, this brown sugar-like food was characterized by a lighter color tone and smooth mouthfeel than conventional brown sugar. Furthermore, the ratio of sucrose in the total sugar content of brown sugar-like food was higher than that of conventional brown sugar.

  Since the brown sugar-like food obtained by the production method of the present invention has a high GABA concentration, it can be suitably used as a healthy carbohydrate food material that expects these effects.

Therefore, since the brown sugar-like food obtained by the present invention is expected to have a blood pressure lowering effect by GABA, it can be provided as a health-oriented carbohydrate food material, which contributes to the expansion of sugar cane applications.

that's all

Claims (6)

  A brown sugar-like food obtained by inoculating lactic acid bacteria into sugar cane juice, fermenting lactic acid to obtain a fermented sugar cane, and then concentrating and solidifying the fermented product. Lactic acid bacteria, brown sugar-like food according to claim 1, wherein the Lactobacillus brevis (Lactobacillus brevis). The brown sugar-like food according to claim 1 or 2 , which contains 15 mg or more of γ-aminobutyric acid per 100 g. The brown sugar-like food according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , which contains lactic acid and acetic acid.   A method for producing a brown sugar-like food comprising inoculating lactic acid bacteria in a sugarcane juice, fermenting lactic acid to obtain a fermented sugarcane, and then concentrating and solidifying the fermented product. The method for producing a brown sugar-like food according to claim 5 , wherein the lactic acid bacterium is Lactobacillus brevis.