Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Fermentation processes – Of isolated seed – bean or nut – or material derived therefrom
Reexamination Certificate
2001-11-15
2003-11-04
Hendricks, Keith (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Fermentation processes
Of isolated seed, bean or nut, or material derived therefrom
C426S052000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06641852
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for producing a vegetarian lactic acid beverage, particularly a vegetarian lactic acid beverage similar to yogurt (Drinking yogurt). The method uses steamed rice as the raw material and edible mold to produce koji (a starter) in a conventional koji-preparation method. After the preparation of the edible koji, the method comprises the steps of producing koji-saccharified high-sugar syrup from the koji; mixing the koji-saccharified syrup with soybean protein and then sterilizing the mixture; inoculating the resulting product with lactic acid bacteria to ferment the product and then obtaining a vegetarian lactic acid beverage. The present invention also relates to the use of said koji-saccharified high-sugar syrup as a sweetening agent in non-alcoholic beverages.
2. Description of the Related Art
Sweet fermented rice and zhuo-jiu (unstrained wine) are traditional healthy beverages for people in China, Japan and Korea where rice is the staple food. Sweet fermented rice and zhuo-jiu (unstrained wine) contain plentiful oligosaccharides, amino acids, unsaturated fatty acids and minerals that are essential nutrients for human beings. Moreover, they also contain distinctive healthy components produced by edible mold. Fermented lactic acid milk including yogurt that has an intestine-regulating effect is a very common healthy beverage in Europe and America where animal husbandry has been well developed. The present invention combines the techniques for preparing the oriental and western traditional fermented foods to produce a vegetarian lactic acid beverage that has multiple health-promoting effects.
“Koji” is a fermenting starter produced by propagating molds on the grains to produce enzymes. Depending on the cultivating material, rice, wheat, soybean or bran, being used, the koji can be classified as rice koji, wheat koji, soybean koji or bran koji. The koji can also be named as wine koji, miso koji, soy sauce koji, etc., depending on the use of the koji.
Examples of the common molds used in food are listed below:
Genus Aspergillus has been widely used in the brewing industry. It can release a variety of enzymes. Generally, the amylase titer and protease titer of genus Aspergillus are higher than those of other filamentous fungi.
Aspergillus oryzae
is important in the brewing of sake, miso, soy sauce, sweet wine, etc., and it can produce amylase and protease with high activity and other digesting enzymes, such as lipase, invertase, cellulase, trypsin and so on. The Aspergillus strains used for making miso and soy sauce are those strains that can produce a large amount of spores and have high proteolytic enzyme activity. However, the Aspergillus strains used for producing sake are the strains having particularly high saccharifying enzyme activity.
Genus Rhizopus is another mold related to brewing and is capable of hydrolyzing protein and starch, but its proteolytic activity is lower than that of the genus Aspargillus. Genus Rhizopus can release pectinase, produce organic acids such as lactic acid and fumaric acid and is often used for the production of sweet fermented rice.
Genus Monascus usually presents in bright red or purple color and is capable of producing high-activity amylase. The representative species of Monascus are
Monascus purpureus
and
Monascus anka.
Genus Monascus is used to make red rice wine (Anchiew is included) and red fermented bean curd.
Genus Aspergillus may produce peptides that have the effects of reducing blood lipids, blood pressure and blood sugar (Kim, An Tsung, 1999, Japanese Brewing Association Journal).
Monascus anka
may produce anti-oxidants and cholesterol-lowering components (Lin, Zahn Feng, 1999,
Monascus anka
-The Magic Healthy Food In 21th Century, Tien Long Publisher, Taipei).
Rhizopus oryzae
may produce anti-oxidants and vitamin B
12
(Shei, I. C. et al., 2000, Food Sci. Agri. Chem. 2(1): 35-40).
Scientists have conducted an enormous amount of research on soy protein over the past 20 years. Research on soy protein's ability to reduce the cholesterol levels, and thus the risk of heart disease, has led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of a health claim on the association between consumption of soy protein and reduced risk of coronary heart disease in 1999. In addition to the benefits of soy protein in heart disease, research is also ongoing on whether soy protein plays a role in providing health benefits in the areas of menopause, bone health and cancer. The role of isoflavones (a class of nonsteroidal estrogens called phytoestrogens) in modest amounts of ingested soy protein may explain some of the biololgical effects of soy protein. Isoflavones can act as estrogen agonists or antagonists and they are weakly estrogenic (10
−2
to 10
−3
-fold) when compared with estradiol or estrone, the principle circulating estrogens of most mammals. Therefore isoflavones are expected to have the potential for physiologic effects. More importantly, isoflavones possess a myriad of potent inhibitor of protein tyrosine kinases and influences growth factors that regulate cell proliferation expands the biological potential for their action (Kenneth D R Setchell, 1998, Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 68 (suppl): 1333S-1346S). Moreover, lecithin and polyunsaturated fatty acids in soybean also have a variety of physiological functions (Sirtori, C., Lovati, M., Manzoni, C., Monstti, M., and Pazzuccone, F., J. Nutr. 125: 598-605).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing a vegetarian lactic acid beverage which comprises the steps of producing a 15-30° Brix koji-saccharified high-sugar syrup from the koji prepared by using edible mold and rice; mixing the koji-saccharified syrup and soybean protein and sterilizing the syrup and protein mixture; adding lactic acid bacteria to ferment the sterilized mixture; and optionally adding 15-30° Brix koji-saccharified high-sugar syrup, oligosaccharides, food stabilizing agents or essences for flavoring. The edible mold is preferably selected from genus Aspergillus, genus Rhizopus or genus Monascus. More preferably, the edible mold is
Aspergillus oryzae, Rhizopus oryzae,
or
Monascus purpureus.
The koji-saccharified high-sugar syrup is prepared by inoculating steamed rice with edible mold to form koji, mixing the koji with water to effect a saccharification and then separating the liquid syrup from the solid residue, where said saccharification is performed at 30° C. for 12-24 hours or at a higher temperature of above 50° C. for 2-6 hours. The lactic acid fermentation is conducted at 37-45° C. for 4-8 hours using a 2-4% concentration of
Streptococcus thermophillus
and
Lactobacillus bulgaricus.
The soybean protein is selected from isolated soybean protein, defatted soybean flour or concentrated soybean protein and the amount added to the syrup is 5-10% by weight based on the weight of the koji-saccharified syrup.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sweetening agent for non-alcoholic beverages, such as low-sugar juice beverage or healthy vinegar beverage, which was prepared by inoculating steamed rice with edible mold to make koji, mixing the koji with water to cause saccharification and then the liquid syrup is separated from the solid residue to obtain a 15-30° Brix koji-saccharified high-sugar syrup. The edible mold is preferably selected from genus Aspergillus, genus Rhizopus or genus Monascus. More preferably, the edible mold is
Aspergillus oryzae, Rhizopus oryzae,
or
Monascus purpureus.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE IVNENTION
Vegetarian lactic acid beverage made by the present invention does not have any animal fat and contains components that have widespread health-promoting effects on human beings, including healthy components derived from koji mold (e.g. anti-oxidants, cholesterol-lowering components, blood sugar-lowering components and blood lipids-lowering components) and soybean isoflavones.
The vegetarian lactic acid b
Lin Hao-Sheng
Lin Tzann-Feng
Wang Tseng-Hsing
Hendricks Keith
Kamrath Alan D.
Rider Bennett LLP
Taiwan Tobacco & Liquor Corporation
LandOfFree
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