JPH0761236B2 - Manufacturing method of solid food in containers - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method for producing a solid food product in a container, more specifically, it is possible to prevent excessive binding of solid food products to each other and browning the upper surface of the solid food product. The present invention relates to a method for producing a solid food product in a container that can prevent the occurrence of charring.

[Prior Art] Recently, a food product in a container, which has been subjected to a pressure and heat treatment and which can be eaten only by immersing it in hot water or heating in a microwave oven, is commercially available.

Such a container is filled with solid food such as noodles and cooked rice as food.

However, the conventional solid food in a container is one in which a solid food is excessively filled in a container and subjected to pressure heating treatment after sealing, and the solid food and the solid food are excessively bound to each other. There was a problem that the feeling was significantly reduced. In order to prevent such drawbacks, the present applicant pays attention to the air content of a solid food group after filling and sealing, and sets the air content in a specific range so that it is suitable for the gap between the solid food and the solid food. Has been found to be able to secure a large space and prevent excessive binding between the solid foods, and has already applied for a patent (Japanese Patent Application No. 60-278328, Japanese Patent Application No. 60-279994). .

However, according to the method, although it is possible to prevent excessive binding of solid foods, in some cases browning on the upper surface of the solid foods, charring occurs, taste, texture, the problem that the appearance deteriorates. occured.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for producing a food product in a container, which can prevent the solid foods in the container from binding to each other and which does not cause browning or charring of the upper surface of the food product.

[Means for solving problems]

The present inventors have been able to prevent excessive binding of solid foods, and have conducted diligent research to prevent browning on the upper surface of the above solid foods and the occurrence of charring,
(I) The browning and charring occur only when the container has a head space during the heat treatment under pressure. (Ii) The browning and charring occur only in the portion facing the head space. (Iii) It has been found that the browning and charring occur remarkably during pressure heating treatment, especially when the temperature of the upper surface of the solid food is 100 ° C. or higher, and further 115 ° C. or higher.

Therefore, in order to prevent the occurrence of charring and browning, it is considered from the findings of (i) and (ii) that the container is filled with solid food so that there is no head space in the container. Considering the injection of soup, sauce, curry, etc., a headspace is required to prevent spillage of the soup, etc. On the other hand, even if the container is filled with solid food so that the head space does not exist, the solid food does not excessively bind to each other as described above, that is, there is an appropriate space between the solid food and the solid food. When filled in, the solid food may sink due to its own weight after filling, resulting in a head space in the container. The degree of this subsidence depends on the type of solid food, the stickiness of the surface of the solid food, the product temperature, etc., and is calculated in advance to determine the filling amount of the solid food so that no headspace will occur in the container after subsidence. It is practically difficult to do.

Further, from the knowledge of the above (iii), a method of lowering the temperature condition at the time of pressure heat treatment can be considered, but the pressure heat treatment makes the container 100 ° C. from the viewpoint of minimizing deterioration of food due to heat. Since it is placed in the above heat sterilization treatment tank for a certain period of time,
It is practically difficult to keep the temperature of the upper surface of the solid food in the container at 100 ° C or lower.

As a result of further research conducted by the present inventors, the upper surface of the solid food and the lid portion are brought into contact with each other during the pressure heating treatment, and an inert gas such as air constituting the headspace is mixed between the solid food and the solid food. The present invention has been made based on the finding that browning and charring on the upper surface of a solid food can be prevented by compressing into the gap and reducing the volume of the head space portion.

That is, the present invention, a rigid or quasi-rigid heat-resistant control container, the air content of the container after filling and sealing solid food is filled and sealed so as to be 40 to 85% by volume of the total volume of the container, then,
In performing the pressure heating treatment in the state where the head space is present in the container, the upper surface of the solid food and the lid portion of the container are brought into contact with each other during the pressure heating treatment. Provide a manufacturing method.

In the present invention, examples of solid foods are not non-dried foods, but granular foods such as cooked rice and boiled beans, and noodle foods such as ramen, udon, spaghetti, yakisoba, buckwheat, rice noodles, and pasta.

Further, the solid food may be one which is pregelatinized or may not be pregelatinized, and is not particularly limited. Examples of the above-mentioned gelatinization method include means such as steaming and immersion in boiling water.

Next, the solid food is filled in a rigid or semi-rigid heat resistant container.

The rigid or quasi-rigid container is a container that retains a certain shape regardless of whether or not the contents are stored therein, and the rigid container is used when the contents are filled and when the contents are taken out. A container having a strength such that the shape of the container does not change, and a quasi-rigid container means a container having a strength such that the container is temporarily deformed at the time of taking out the contents, heating under pressure, etc. .

The rigid or quasi-rigid container is preferably made of a material having heat resistance up to about 135 ° C., and a polygonal container such as a cylinder, a cube or a rectangular parallelepiped, or a cup-shaped or bowl-shaped container is used. To be done. The rigid or semi-rigid container is preferably made of a water resistant material and made of a flexible material such as polyethylene, polystyrene, polypropylene, polyester, nylon or the like, which is a single layer or a laminate.

If such a rigid or semi-rigid container is adopted, it can be used as food at the time of eating, and there is an advantage that the trouble of taking out the solid food into a plate or the like is unnecessary.

The container has a structure such that the upper surface of the solid food and the lid of the container can come into contact with each other in the pressure heating step after filling and sealing the solid food. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the strength of the lid is weaker than the strength of the side wall and bottom of the container, and the container is temporarily deformed to the inside of the container so that the lid comes into contact with the upper surface of the solid food. It may be one. Specifically, the container side portion, the bottom portion, and the lid portion are formed of the same flexible material, and the thickness of only the lid portion is reduced so that only the lid portion is deformed in the heating and pressing process. Examples of the method include a method of forming only the lid portion from another weak material. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the bottom of the container may be temporarily transformed, and the lid of the container and the upper surface of the solid food may be brought into contact with each other by pushing up the solid food by an external force. As shown in Figure 3, the side wall of the container is temporarily deformed,
It may be configured such that the lid portion of the container and the upper surface of the solid food are in contact with each other. Of these, the one shown in FIG. 1 is the most practical and preferable, and the lid is preferably made of a thin and deformable material, for example, a single layer or a laminate of polyethylene, polystyrene, polypropylene, polyester, nylon or the like. .

The filling and sealing of the solid food into the container is performed so that the air content of the container after filling and sealing is 40 to 85% by volume of the total volume of the container. At this time, when the food to be filled is noodle-like food, the air content is 40 to 70% by volume, preferably 50 to 70% by volume. In the case of granular foods, the air content is 40 to 85% by volume.
It is preferably 45 to 80% by volume. If the air content is less than the above range, the effect of preventing excessive binding of solid foods tends to decrease, if it exceeds the above range, an inert gas such as air that constitutes the headspace. It tends to be difficult to reduce the volume of the head space portion by compressing the solid food into a gap between the solid food and the solid food.

Here, the air content means the volume% of the solid food to be filled, with the volume of the container being 100%, that is, the volume% of the inert gas such as air or nitrogen in the container.
When the solid foods are filled and sealed in the container so as to have the above air content, it is preferable that the solid foods are uniformly arranged so that there is an appropriate space in the gap between the solid foods.

Next, pressure heating treatment is performed under the conditions of, for example, 112 to 122 ° C. and about 10 to 50 minutes.

In the above pressure heating treatment, it is particularly important to bring the upper surface of the solid food into contact with the lid of the container in order to achieve the object of the present invention. Thereby, it is possible to compress the air or the inert gas constituting the head space of the container into the gap between the solid food and the solid food, and reduce the volume of the head space portion, and as a result, face the head space portion. It is possible to effectively prevent browning and burning that occur on the upper surface of the solid food.

The contact between the upper surface of the solid food and the lid does not have to be performed during the pressure heat treatment period, and the temperature of the upper surface of the solid food group is 11
It is sufficient if the temperature is 5 ℃ or higher, but 100 ℃
It is preferable to carry out during the above period. In addition, the contact area is 60% or more of the total surface area of the solid food, and further 70 to 100%.
Is preferred.

As a specific means for bringing the upper surface of the solid food into contact with the container lid, for example, a holding tool may be used, or pressure heating treatment may be performed in a state where the pressure outside the container is larger than the pressure inside the container. And adopt a pressure difference as the means,
There is no particular limitation. As a specific method in the case of adopting the latter means, for example, the pressure in the heat sterilization treatment tank may be adjusted while confirming the contact state between the upper surface of the solid food and the lid of the container visually or with a displacement meter, The pressure outside the container may be obtained by calculation, and the pressurizing and heating conditions may be set accordingly. The method based on this calculation will be specifically described in the case of using a container of the type shown in FIG. First, the contact area of the upper surface of the solid food with the container lid is determined. Then, the volume of the head space is obtained from the volume of the container and the bulk specific gravity of the solid food. Next, the volume of the container in the state where the lid is in contact with the upper surface of the solid food is determined by applying a differential pressure based on the contact area, the area of the lid of the container, and the distance from the upper surface of the solid food to the lid. Then, the true volume of the solid food is subtracted from the volume, and a differential pressure is applied to determine the volume of the container in the state where the lid is in contact with the upper surface of the solid food. Next, the pressure in the heat sterilization treatment tank during pressure heat treatment is determined from the relational expression of pressure and volume.

When determining the pressure during the pressurizing and heating treatment, it is necessary to set the control when the pressure in the processing tank drops so that the time when the pressure starts falling in the processing tank is later than the time when the cooling starts. It is preferable in that it effectively prevents permanent deformation of the container and peeling of the lid.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the present invention, it is possible to easily manufacture a food product in a container without browning or burning on the upper surface of the food product and without binding between the food products.

Furthermore, under the computer control of the manufacturing method of the present invention,
It can be carried out automatically and is a very effective method as an industrial manufacturing method.

Therefore, the food in a container produced by the method of the present invention is suitably used as an instant food together with sauce, soup and the like. In particular, the one according to the present invention has a large air content in the container, and foods such as noodle strings and rice grains are less bound, so open the lid of the container and add the sauce and soup attached thereto to the sauce. Since the soup and the like can easily penetrate into the inside of the noodle band group or the like through the gaps between the noodle strings and the container has a sufficient space for storing the sauce, soup, etc., the sauce,
The soup will not spill out of the container. Furthermore, the sauce,
There is an advantage that the soup can be evenly entangled in noodle strings and the like and can be eaten immediately by heating the soup in a microwave oven as it is. The food in a container according to the present invention can be sold without attaching the sauce, soup or the like.

The means for heating the food during eating is not limited to the one using a microwave oven, and the noodles may be heated in boiling water, and is not particularly limited.

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

〔Example〕

Example 1 1300 g of soaked rice (glutinous rice) was pre-boiled under conditions of 100 ° C. for 5 minutes, and then soaked in boiling water at 98 ° C. for 2 minutes. On the other hand, soy sauce 18.0 parts by weight, skipjack extract 1.0 parts by weight, sodium glutamate 0.7 parts by weight, salt 5.3 parts by weight, sugar 6.0.
By weight, xanthan gum 0.2 parts by weight and water 68.8 parts by weight were mixed to obtain a seasoning liquid (80 cps). 300 g of the obtained seasoning liquid is added to the above-mentioned rice grains to adhere them. Then, add the above rice grains to 10
The steaming treatment was performed at 0 ° C. for 20 minutes. Its water is 6
It was 4.0% by weight. Next, the gelatinized rice grains are placed at 40 ° C, RH4
Air-drying treatment was carried out under the condition of 7% for about 3 minutes to reduce the water content of the α-rice grains by 3.8% by weight.

200 g of the seasoned cooked rice (water content 60.2% by weight) 0.7m thick
A m-shaped polypropylene circular tray (upper diameter: 134 mm, lower diameter: 90 mm, depth: 35 ml, volume: 350 ml) was filled and heat-sealed with a 0.08 mm thick circular film (diameter: 134 mm) of inner layer polypropylene / outer layer nylon. The air content in this case was about 52% by volume.

Next, the tray was filled in a sterilization tank. Next, the inside of the heat sterilization treatment tank was changed as shown in the line A of FIG. 4 and pressure heat treatment was performed. In this case, place a mark on the center of the lid in a range corresponding to about 75% of the area of the top surface of the cooked rice.In the initial stage, check the tray and the tray visually so that the lid does not become deformed and manually Adjust the pressure inside the heat sterilization treatment tank with the valve, and check the temperature inside the heat sterilization treatment tank.
While the temperature is 100 ° C or higher, make sure that the marked portion at the center of the lid comes into contact with the top surface of the cooked rice, that is, approximately 75% of the total area of the top surface of the cooked rice comes into contact with the lid. Adjust the pressure with a manual valve while visually confirming it, and then, after the temperature in the heat sterilization tank drops below 100 ° C due to cooling, visually check the tray and lid again so that the tray and lid will not be deformed. The pressure was adjusted with. The pressure change in the heat sterilization treatment tank in this case is shown in FIG.

As described above, the retort cooked rice in the tray was obtained. The obtained retort cooked rice was effectively prevented from browning and burning on its upper surface.

The resulting retort cooked rice did not show any deformation or damage to the tray.

The obtained retort cooked rice was heated in a microwave oven for 3 minutes and then eaten, and as a result, the rice grains did not excessively bind to each other and exhibited a good texture having a stickiness, and further, in terms of taste and appearance. Was also excellent.

Comparative Example 1 Except that the pressure in the heat sterilization treatment tank was adjusted while visually confirming that the tray and the lid were not deformed during the entire period of the pressure heat treatment, the same procedure as in Example 1 was performed. By the way I got retort cooked rice. Browning and burning occurred on the upper surface of the obtained retort cooked rice.

When the obtained retort cooked rice was heated in a microwave oven for 3 minutes and then eaten, the appearance, taste and texture were poor due to browning and burning.

Color tone measurement Rice grains (control) in the side portion (the portion where browning or charring has not occurred) of the retort cooked rice obtained in Example 1, the grain of rice in the upper surface of the retort cooked rice obtained in Example 1 (Sample 1), The color tone of the rice grains (Sample 2) in the upper surface portion of the retort cooked rice obtained in Comparative Example 1 was measured using a color difference meter (manufactured by Nippon Denshoku Co., Ltd.). The results are shown in Table 1.

From the results in Table 1 above, the color difference from the control was determined using the following formula. Ie control and sample 1
The color difference of (invention) was 0.49, and the color difference between the control and sample 2 (comparative example) was 6.01.

Generally, the color difference is evaluated as follows.

0-0.5; "There is a slight difference"0.5-1.5;"There is a slight difference"1.5-3.0;"There is a noticeable difference"3.0-6.0;"There is a discrepancy" 6.0- 12.0; "very different" 12.0 or more; "very different" Therefore, the product of the present invention corresponds to "slightly different", and the comparative product corresponds to "greatly different". From this, it is clear that the present invention can effectively prevent browning and charring on the upper surface of cooked rice.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are schematic views showing a mode of deformation of a container during the manufacturing process of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a pressure heat treatment of the present invention. 2 shows the temperature change and pressure change in the heat sterilization treatment tank.

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A rigid or quasi-rigid heat-resistant container filled with solid food and sealed, and the air content of the container is 40 to 40% of the total volume of the container.
It is filled and sealed so as to be 85% by volume, and then, when performing pressure heating treatment in a state where a head space is present in the container, during the pressure heating treatment, the upper surface of the solid food and the lid of the container are A method for producing a solid food product in a container, which comprises contacting 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the solid food is a granular food. 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the granular food is cooked rice or boiled beans. 4. The production method according to claim 1, wherein the solid food is noodle-like food. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the noodle-shaped food is selected from the group consisting of ramen, udon, spaghetti, yakisoba, buckwheat, rice noodles and pasta. 6. The pressure heat treatment according to claim 1, wherein the pressure heat treatment is controlled so that the timing of the pressure drop outside the container is delayed from the cooling start time. Manufacturing method. 7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the area where the solid food and the lid of the container are brought into contact with each other during the pressure heat treatment is 60% or more of the total area of the upper surface of the solid food. Or 1
The manufacturing method according to item. 8. The area of contact between the solid food and the lid of the container during the pressure heat treatment is 70 to 100 of the total area of the upper surface of the solid food.
%, The manufacturing method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.