JP5649113B2 - Process cheese manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing a novel processed cheese. In the present invention, “process cheeses” are defined in the process cheese, cheese food, etc., in the Ministerial Ordinance of Milk (December 27, 1951, Ministry of Health and Welfare Ordinance No. 52), the component standards of the Fair Competition Code, etc. In addition, all those having a normal meaning in the technical field are included.

  In the growing Japanese cheese market in recent years, processed cheeses account for about half of that. The basic steps in the production of processed cheeses are: a blending step of pulverizing natural cheese as a raw material, mixing molten salt and water, an emulsifying step of kneading, stirring and emulsifying the blended raw material, and emulsification It is a cooling molding process for cooling and molding the processed cheese, and various food materials and food additives may be added for the purpose of imparting physical properties and flavor.

  In the manufacture of processed cheeses, for the purpose of adjusting the physical properties of the final product, a sharing process such as a creaming process or a creaming process may be performed to improve heat-resistant shape retention. The treatment is known to excessively increase the viscosity of processed cheeses, and this excessively increased viscosity is called over creaming.

  Due to the viscosity of over creamed cheese, liquid feeding with a pump becomes difficult, so that the suitability for production is greatly deteriorated. Moreover, since the structure | tissue after cooling is hard and it becomes brittle, it cannot provide as a product and there are many problems, such as a use being restrict | limited as a precook. It has been reported that over-creamed processed cheeses can be reduced in viscosity by carrying out a high-temperature treatment at 120 ° C. or higher (patent document 1), but this method is continuous. There is a problem that it is difficult to cope with over creaming on the production line. For this reason, when over creaming generate | occur | produced in the continuous production line of process cheese, the operation | work of extracting cheese from a production line was required.

  By the way, when manufacturing processed cheeses, the cross-linking of colloidal calcium phosphate that connects between the casein submicelles constituting paracasein in the raw natural cheese is broken by the action of the molten salt, and the casein micelles are in the casein submicelle state. Solubilized and dispersed in cheese. Since casein has an action as an emulsifier, water and fat in the cheese become stable and finally become processed cheeses.

  According to recent research, casein submicelles solubilized and dispersed during the manufacture of processed cheese can be repolymerized during the emulsification process, forming a structure different from that in the original natural cheese, and insolubilized again. It has also been clarified, and it has also been clarified that the insolubilized casein increases by stirring after emulsification. (Non-patent documents 1 to 3).

  So far, regarding the adjustment of pH of process cheeses, process cheeses having high storage stability at room temperature and the production method thereof (Patent Document 2) have been reported, but for dealing with over-creaming process cheeses, It is not described at all.

Patent 3665022 JP2002-209515

Y. Kawasaki, Milchwissenschaft, 63, 149-152 (2008) S. K. Lee et al., Lebensm.-Wiss.-Technol., 36, 339-345 (2003) I. Heertje, Food Structure, 12, 343-364 (1993)

  This invention makes it a subject to provide the manufacturing method which thickens during manufacture and reduces the viscosity of over creaming process cheese, and improves manufacture aptitude. “Over creaming” is a term generally used by those skilled in the art as a term indicating a state in which cheese loses its fluidity and solidifies in a pudding. However, since there is no clear definition of “over creaming”, for the sake of convenience in the present invention, “over 10 mm / 30 seconds or less with a Bostwick viscometer at a product temperature of 80 ° C.” is used.

  As a result of intensive investigations on factors affecting the thickening of processed cheeses, the present inventors have found a method for producing processed cheeses that eliminates thickening by a conventionally unknown method, and completed the present invention. I came to let you.

That is, the present invention has the following configuration.
(1) A process comprising adding a emulsifier and / or a molten salt to a raw material cheese and heat emulsifying the process cheese, wherein the process includes a pH adjustment step of adjusting the pH after heat emulsification to 6.0 or more. A method for producing cheeses.
(2) The process cheese production method according to (1), wherein the pH adjustment step is performed by addition of any one or more selected from baking soda, trisodium monophosphate, and sodium hydroxide.
(3) A method for eliminating over creaming in process cheeses by setting the pH to 6.0 or higher in over creamed process cheeses.

  According to the method of the present invention, even in processed cheese whose manufacturing suitability has deteriorated due to thickening, the viscosity can be reduced and processed cheese can be manufactured.

The method for obtaining the processed cheeses of the present invention will be specifically described below.
There is no particular limitation on the natural cheese that is the raw material of the processed cheeses of the present invention, and examples include cheddar cheese, gouda cheese, edam cheese, emmental cheese, parmesan cheese, camembert cheese, blue cheese, cream cheese, quark cheese, and cottage cheese. Is done. In addition, there are no particular restrictions on adding dairy products such as butter, cream, skim milk powder, whey powder, buttermilk powder, and various foods, flavors, spices and the like for flavoring purposes.

  The molten salt that can be used in the present invention may be a molten salt generally used in the manufacture of processed cheeses, and examples thereof include orthophosphate, pyrophosphate, polyphosphate, hexametaphosphate, and citrate. As for the usage-amount of these molten salt, it is desirable to add 1-3% with respect to raw material cheese, Preferably 1.5-2.5% is added.

In this invention, the thickening of process cheeses is suppressed by a pH adjustment process. As the pH adjusting agent used in the pH adjusting step, any food additive that can be used for the purpose of pH adjustment in normal food production can be used, and examples thereof include sodium bicarbonate, phosphate, sodium hydroxide and the like. I can do it. In addition, in the processed cheeses of this invention, if the pH of the processed cheese after a pH adjustment process is 6.0 or more, the problem of a viscosity increase will be eliminated. However, a pH of 7.0 or higher is not preferable because the flavor tends to deteriorate. In order to solve the problem of viscosity increase and keep the flavor good, it is desirable to set the pH in the range of 6.0 to pH 6.5.
The pH is obtained by adding 45 g of water to 5 g of processed cheese, homogenizing for 3 minutes with a homoblender (manufactured by Nippon Seiki, ACE homogenizer), and measuring the pH of this homogeneous solution with a pH meter.

  On the other hand, emulsifiers and thickening polysaccharides can be used without any problem as long as they do not interfere with the texture. In addition, the emulsifier used for emulsification can be used as long as it is usually used for the production of process cheeses such as a kettle type emulsifier, a cheese cooker, a thermo cylinder, and a high-speed shear type emulsifier. Depending on the above, it can be produced by the same operation as the production of ordinary process cheeses.

  Factors that affect the thickening of processed cheeses include differences in emulsifying action and creaming action depending on the type of emulsifier used. For this reason, for example, by using a pyrophosphate having a strong emulsifying action and creaming action, the thickening of the processed cheese proceeds and over creaming tends to occur. However, according to the present invention, it is possible to eliminate the thickening in the pH adjustment step without depending on the type of the emulsifier, and the degree of freedom of the blending and the step can be increased in producing processed cheeses. It is.

  Moreover, this invention is the elimination method of the over creaming in process cheese by making pH into 6.0 or more in over creaming process cheese. Overcreaming can be eliminated by adding the above-mentioned pH adjuster to overcreamed process cheeses. Process cheeses from which over creaming has been eliminated can be filled and cooled as they are, and can be provided as products, or can be blended into process cheeses as part of raw materials.

The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to examples.
1500 g each of Gouda cheese (manufactured by Snow Brand Milk Products) and Cheddar cheese (manufactured by Snow Brand Milk Products) were pulverized and mixed, and charged into a high-speed shearing emulsifier (manufactured by Nichiraku Kikai). Water was added so that the water content was 45%, and 60 g of sodium hexametaphosphate was added. 27 g of sodium bicarbonate was added to this mixture to adjust the initial pH. The rotation speed of the blades of the emulsifier was set to 1500 rpm, and heating was performed while steam was blown into the jacket, and the emulsification was terminated when the temperature of the cheese reached 90 ° C. While maintaining the temperature of the emulsion at 90 ° C., stirring was performed at 1500 rpm and creaming was performed for 20 minutes to obtain over-creamed process cheeses. A pH adjustment step of adding sodium bicarbonate, trisodium monophosphate, or sodium hydroxide as a pH adjuster as appropriate to the obtained processed cheeses, and further reacting the pH adjuster sufficiently by creaming for 3 minutes. Processed cheeses were obtained. Process cheeses were prepared using sodium bicarbonate in the pH adjustment step, pH 6.0 (Example product 1-1), pH 6.4 (Example product 1-2), pH 6. 8 (Example product 1-3), pH adjustment step using trisodium monophosphate (pH Example 6.3) (Example product 1-4), and pH adjustment step using sodium hydroxide PH 6.2 (Example product 1-5).

[Comparative Example 1]
1500 g each of Gouda cheese (manufactured by Snow Brand Milk Products) and Cheddar cheese (manufactured by Snow Brand Milk Products) were pulverized and mixed, and charged into a high-speed shearing emulsifier (manufactured by Nichiraku Machinery). Water was added so that the water content was 45%, and 60 g of sodium hexametaphosphate was added. To this mixture, 27 g of sodium bicarbonate was added. The rotation speed of the blades of the emulsifier was set to 1500 rpm, and heating was performed while steam was blown into the jacket, and the emulsification was terminated when the temperature of the cheese reached 90 ° C. Stirring was performed at 1500 rpm while maintaining the temperature of the emulsion at 90 ° C., and creaming was performed for 20 minutes to obtain processed cheese (Comparative Example Product 1-1). The pH of the obtained processed cheese was 5.6. In addition, the process cheeses which added sodium bicarbonate as a pH adjuster to the obtained process cheeses, further creamed for 3 minutes, and made the pH adjuster fully react, and made pH 5.8 (comparative example) Article 1-2) was obtained.

[Test Example 1]
For example products 1-1 to 1-5 and comparative example products 1-1 and 1-2, the viscosity of the processed cheeses after creaming was measured using a viscometer (manufactured by Lion Co., Ltd., Viscotester VT-04K) and product temperature. Measurements were made at 80 ° C. using a Bostwick viscometer. The results are shown in Table 1.

  As shown in Table 1, it was revealed that by setting the pH to 6.0 or more, the over-creaming processed cheeses regained fluidity and the viscosity decreased.

  1500 g each of Gouda cheese (manufactured by Snow Brand Milk Products) and Cheddar cheese (manufactured by Snow Brand Milk Products) were pulverized and mixed, and charged into a high-speed shearing emulsifier (manufactured by Nichiraku Machinery). Water was added so that the water content was 45%, and 60 g of sodium hexametaphosphate was added. 27 g of sodium bicarbonate was added to this mixture to adjust the initial pH. The rotation speed of the blades of the emulsifier was set to 1500 rpm, and heating was performed while steam was blown into the jacket, and the emulsification was terminated when the temperature of the cheese reached 90 ° C. Sodium bicarbonate was added to the emulsion to adjust the pH to 6.0 (Example product 2-1), pH 6.5 (Example product 2-2), pH 6.9 (Example product) In addition to 2-3), one adjusted to pH 6.4 using trisodium monophosphate in the pH adjustment step (Example product 2-4) and one adjusted to pH 6.2 using sodium hydroxide in the pH adjustment step ( Example product 2-5), while maintaining the temperature at 90 ° C., stirring was performed at 1500 rpm and creaming was performed for 20 minutes to obtain processed cheeses.

[Comparative Example 2]
1500 g each of Gouda cheese (manufactured by Snow Brand Milk Products) and Cheddar cheese (manufactured by Snow Brand Milk Products) were pulverized and mixed, and charged into a high-speed shearing emulsifier (manufactured by Nichiraku Machinery). Water was added so that the water content was 45%, and 60 g of sodium hexametaphosphate was added. To this mixture, 27 g of sodium bicarbonate was added. The rotation speed of the blades of the emulsifier was set to 1500 rpm, and heating was performed while steam was blown into the jacket, and the emulsification was terminated when the temperature of the cheese reached 90 ° C. Nothing is added to the emulsion (Comparative Example product 2-1), or sodium bicarbonate is added to the emulsion to adjust the pH to 5.7 (Comparative Example product 2-2), and the temperature of the emulsion is maintained at 90 ° C. The processed cheese was obtained by adding stirring at 1500 rpm. The pH of Comparative Example product 2-1 was 5.5.

[Test Example 2]
For example products 2-1 to 2-5 and comparative example products 2-1 and 2-2, the viscosity of the processed cheeses after stirring was determined by viscometer (Rion Co., Ltd., Viscotester VT-04K) and product. The temperature was measured with a Bostwick viscometer at a temperature of 80 ° C. The results are shown in Table 2.

  As shown in Table 2, it was clarified that the processed cheeses can maintain fluidity without being over creamed by setting the pH to 6.0 or more in the pH adjustment step.

Claims (2)

A method for eliminating over creaming in process cheeses by setting the pH to 6.0 or higher in over creaming process cheeses.   The process in which the pH is set to 6.0 or more is performed by addition of any one or more selected from baking soda, trisodium monophosphate, and sodium hydroxide. How to eliminate creaming.