RU2662928C1 - Method for processing a narrow-leaved willowherb - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: biotechnology.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to tea industry and biotechnology. Collect and sort the raw materials from the leaves of the angustifolia. Leaves are crushed to a particle size of 2–6 mm. Ferment for 3–6 hours to obtain final color of the drink like green tea, for 10–16 hours to get a drink like red tea and for 36–48 hours to get a drink like black tea. Dry raw materials in two stages: with temperature intervals of 45–50 °C to a moisture content of not more than 12 % and 80–90 °C to a moisture content of 7–9 %. Packed in bags or special containers.

EFFECT: invention consists in obtaining drink from narrow-leaved willowherb like green, black and red teas.

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Description

The invention relates to the tea and food industries and can be used in the processing of plant materials to produce drinks like green, red and black types of tea.

The method involves the collection and sorting of raw materials from leaves, grinding to a particle size of 2-6 mm, fermentation for 3-6 hours to obtain the final color of the drink like green tea, for 10-16 hours to obtain a drink like red tea and for 36-48 hours - to obtain a drink like black tea, as well as the subsequent two-stage drying with temperature ranges of 45-50 ° C to a moisture content of not more than 12% and 80-90 ° C to a moisture content of 7-9% and packaging in bags or special tara.

Known methods of processing tea leaves in order to preserve in the final product the maximum amount of all biologically valuable components. At the same time, tea can be produced in the traditional form - long leaf: small or leaf, as well as in the form of granules. For this, the green tea leaf is chopped in stages, fermented, dehydrated, granulated, sorted and dried [4]. The disadvantage of the presented method is the complexity of the processes, in particular, before granulation is supposed to moisten the raw material with a binder. The proposed grinding stage also consists of several stages.

There is also known a method of producing granules from plant materials for the preparation of a tea drink, which includes the processing of mint or thyme, which is taken already in dry form in powder form. The powder is moistened with a binder, granulated and dried [4, 5]. The disadvantage of this method is the lack of proposals for the preservation of biologically active components of the raw material.

Close to the technical solution and the achieved result is a method of producing tea from fireweed [6], which includes drying, grinding, heat treatment, fermentation, granulation and drying of raw materials from Ivan tea. The presented method can significantly reduce the loss of valuable substances from the leaves of fireweed and keep the food and taste of the products unchanged for three years.

The disadvantage of this method is the complex process of granulation and drying of tea, requiring sophisticated equipment and therefore not acceptable for individual entrepreneurs, small farmers and personal subsidiary plots.

The closest analogue is the method of fermentation of narrow-leaved fireweed, which involves the collection and sorting of raw materials from leaves, grinding, fermentation for 10-12 hours to obtain a fruity smell, two-stage drying with temperature ranges of 35-40 ° C and 50-55 ° C to moisture content of 8.5-9.5%, packaging in bags or in special containers (patent RU 2469546), which allows to obtain a tea drink with high biological value. But in the description of this method there are no parameters of the crushed particles and a method of fermenting raw materials, without indicating which it is not possible to achieve the indicated qualities and properties of a tea drink (for example, without using a press or a special “oppression” in the form of a kettlebell or other heavy object) as evidenced by more than a decade of personal practice of collecting and fermenting fireweed to obtain a tea drink.

The same disadvantages are characteristic of patent RU 25234361 C1, in the description of which the particle sizes of the crushed raw materials, the temperature regime and the duration of the fermentation are indicated, but there is no additional data to judge the beginning and end of the fermentation process.

From the patent RU 2407350 C1 it is also known that the drying of raw materials must be carried out at a temperature of 88-92 ° C, but it is technically problematic to carry out the drying process in the specified temperature range, since the raw materials that have passed the fermentation stage have high humidity and when placed in a chamber with at such a high temperature, the particles stick together, forming lumps, which prevents drying and obtaining a high-quality final product. In addition, the method specified in these fermentation methods for determining the completion of fermentation in the form of the appearance of a “fruit smell” is not practicable, since such a smell appears in the middle of the process, but not at the beginning or at the end of fermentation.

The technical result in our proposed method is achieved in two ways.

In the first case, to obtain the finished product, the leaves of the fireweed are twisted between the palms until the juice is darkened and juice is separated, after which small rolls are rolled up of them up to 10 cm long and 1-1.5 cm thick. Next, the leaves are laid in layers of 5 cm in a wide enameled bowl and cover with a dense damp cloth and press down with a load, leaving in a warm (+ 25-27 ° C) place for a period of 8 to 36 hours, depending on air temperature and humidity and the desired fermentation depth.

In the second method of fermentation, the leaves of the fireweed are twisted in a meat grinder with a grill with large holes, allowing to obtain particles with a diameter of 2-6 mm, or cut with a knife into particles of the same size. After that, the resulting mass is tightly packed in a 20 liter container (enameled or wooden), compacted with a load (for example, weights) and closed to complete the fermentation for 36-40 hours.

The preparedness of the intermediate semi-finished product in the first and second variants is determined by the smell, which in the process of fermentation changes from herbal to honey-flower, fruit and, finally, to sour-yeast or bread.

A sign of the end of fermentation is a change in the color of the mass from green to brown or black. The degree of fermentation (light, medium and deep) also depends on this. So, to obtain a drink like green tea, it is necessary to use light fermentation of the leaves until the first signs of the appearance of a fruity-floral smell (3-6 hours). After drying, they remain green, and subsequently brewed tea has a light color, soft taste and a delicate and strong aroma.

To obtain a drink like red tea, the raw material is fermented for 10-16 hours. This results in a rich, reddish-brown drink with a pronounced aroma, moderately tart taste with a slight acidity.

To obtain a drink like black tea, deep fermentation of the raw material is carried out for 36-48 hours depending on the temperature (the higher the temperature, the shorter the fermentation time). In this case, the finished drink from such a product has a tart taste, a relatively light aroma and is practically indistinguishable from the color of the usual black tea.

The final step in the manufacture of tea from fireweed is the drying process, which must be carried out in two stages. The first, preliminary, drying is carried out at a temperature of 45-50 ° C to a moisture content of not more than 12%, and the second, final, is carried out at a temperature of 80-90 ° C to a moisture content of 7-9%. To do this, the raw materials that have passed the fermentation stage are laid out on a baking sheet covered with parchment with a layer of 1 centimeter and heated in an electric or gas dryer (oven) for 1.5-2 hours. During drying, the product is periodically mixed with a wooden spatula, checking its readiness to the touch (the finished tea should have the color of ordinary black tea, and individual particles should break when crushed, but not crumble).

After drying, the tea is taken out of the oven and allowed to cool, and then packaged in special containers or in disposable bags.

The claimed invention solves the problem of preserving in the leaves of fireweed a large amount of vitamin C, B vitamins and other valuable biologically active components due to fermentation by microorganisms, during which, according to several researchers [3-6], the accumulation of biologically active substances in the product . At the same time, the resulting drink is organoleptically closer to the classic types of green, red and black tea.

The accumulation of the highest concentration of biologically active substances in raw materials is also facilitated by careful selection of time for the collection of leaves of fireweed, which must be carried out in the phase of budding and the beginning of flowering of plants, when the maximum amount of biologically active substances is accumulated in the leaves, and not in the flowering phase, as the authors of the above patents indicate [3-6]. According to medical and pharmaceutical manuals, even a slight shift in the moment of collection towards flowering significantly reduces the content of vitamins and other beneficial components of the fireweed towards their decrease due to their outflow to the generative organs of plants. Also, according to the data of traditional medicine directories, for collection it is necessary to choose the morning hours when the largest amount of assimilation products accumulates in leaf cells before being transported to other organs.

To improve the quality indicators of raw materials, it is necessary to collect only 5-6 of the youngest leaves, located closer to the peduncle, to the colors of the fireweed. They collect leaves, holding with one hand the stem at the peduncle, and the other holding down to the middle of the stem. In this case, the lower leaves are left on the stem, since they are coarser than the upper ones and are not suitable for fermentation. You also need to leave 3-4 tiers of leaves under the flowers, which will subsequently serve to raise water from the roots to the top of the plant and collect dew. With this method of collecting leaves, plants continue to grow, bloom, and subsequently give full seeds.

Next, manually collected leaves are folded into canvas bags. The mechanization of this operation contributes to the ingestion of yellowed, diseased or diseased leaves, flowers and stems in the raw material, which significantly reduces the consumer qualities of the finished product, worsening its taste and aroma.

With industrial volumes of raw material harvesting, the leaves of fireweed are collected from the beginning of flowering (in the middle zone of Russia it is mid-June), ending with August (from the budding phase to the moment of its fluffing).

When collecting wild plants, raw materials should be better selected areas with fireweed away from roads and contaminated places, and best of all, in shaded places along the edge of forest glades and edges. In this case, the leaves of willow tea are easier to curl and ferment, as they contain more moisture and the best tea is obtained from them.

When cultivated on plots far from roads and paths, the vegetative mass does not require additional washing, since in this case, the raw materials are better subjected to fermentation due to beneficial microorganisms stored on the leaves.

In the case of collecting raw materials near roads and paths or after past showers, the leaves of the fireweed are washed with dust from spring water before fermentation, and then sprinkled on cardboard paper or dense fabric with a layer of about 5 cm so that the leaves can slightly dry. To prevent sticking, they must be agitated periodically to allow them to dry, while avoiding direct sunlight.

Thus, using the proposed method for processing fireweed, you can get a product for making a drink like green, red and black types of tea [1, 2].

INFORMATION SOURCES

1. Kirillov N.A., Alexandrov V.V. Cultivation of fireweed for tea // N.A. Kirillov, V.V. Aleksandrov // Collection of scientific papers int. scientific pract. conf. "Actual directions of research of the XXI century: theory and practice." Voronezh: FSBEI HE "VGLTU", 2016. S. 252-256.

2. Kirillov N.A., Alexandrov V.V. Features of cultivation and protection of Ivan-tea crops in agro-climatic conditions of the Chuvash Republic / N.A. Kirillov, V.V. Aleksandrov // Road transport complex: state, problems and development prospects. Collection of scientific papers. - Cheboksary: Volga branch of MADI, 2016 .-- S. 92-97.

3. Patent SU 1738215 A1, NPO Gosagroprom of the ArmSSR for food. pr-ty, A23F 3/34. Method for the production of tea from fireweed (Ivan tea) (options) / Nakhmetov F.G., Koltsova T.P., Logvinchuk T.M., Mifodovskaya E.O., Tokarenko S.N., Trunov S.V. Published 12/27/1998.

4. Patent 2124843, A232F 3/34. Method for the production of tea from fireweed / Emelyanov V.I., Emelyanov D.V., Nikitin A.N. Published 01/20/1999.

5. Patent 2469546, A23F 3/00. Tea drink from Ivan tea / Ponomarev L.A., Veselkov V.V. Published December 20, 2012.

6. Patent RU 2095994, A23F 3/34. A method of making tea from fireweed herb / Grachev A.F. Published on November 20, 1997.

Claims (1)

A method for processing narrow leaf fireweed involves collecting and sorting raw materials from leaves, grinding to particle sizes of 2-6 mm, fermentation for 3-6 hours to obtain the final color of the drink like green tea, for 10-16 hours to produce a drink like red tea and within 36-48 hours - to obtain a drink like black tea, as well as the subsequent two-stage drying with temperature ranges of 45-50 ° C to a moisture content of not more than 12% and 80-90 ° C to a moisture content of 7-9% and packaging packages or special containers.