Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Basic ingredient is starch based batter – dough product – etc.
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-30
2003-07-22
Tran, Lien (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Basic ingredient is starch based batter, dough product, etc.
C426S325000, C426S451000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06596331
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to novel pasta products, in particular, long-life fresh pasta products and methods of producing the same comprising extrusion of dough (pasta dough) and acid(s)-treatment of pasta threads.
BACKGROUND ART
“Long-Life Fresh Noodles” have shelflife as long as several months at room temperature regardless of their high water content, and they have popularly been marketed in recent years. They are called in Japan as “Long-Life Noodles (LL Noodles)” or “Fresh-Type Instant Noodles”. These long-life fresh noodles are usually produced by gelatinizing noodle threads, acidifying the gelatinized threads (boilied and/or steamed threads), hermetically packing the acidified threads, and pasteurizing them at about 100° C. or below (But, in some cases, such pasteurization were performed at about 100° C. or above). Long-life fresh noodles so produced can be served in a short time in comparison with (common) dried noodles, and can be served simply by pouring hot water thereinto though it depends on the type of noodles. Qualities of the long-life fresh noodles would be better than that of the noodle products produced by “retort” process and damaged drastically thereby.
But manufacturing process of the long-life fresh noodles needs a step to acidify noodle threads with acid(s) to obtain the longer shelflife, therefore, sourness (tartness) was often felt in the noodles. Some methods have been offered to eliminate such unacceptable taste, for example, by adding particular masking agents to the acid(s) or by adding alkaline agents into the soup.
Fairly strong sourness was often felt in the long-life fresh pasta products (e.g., macaroni, spaghetti) when they were produced along with the aforenoted producing method for the long-life fresh noodles using durum semolina (semolina of durum wheat) which is raw flour for conventional dried pasta products. Unfortunately, it was quite difficult to eliminate such undesirable sourness effectively.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
The present inventors worked to solve such problems in the long-life fresh pasta products. They aimed at flours employed in the pasta products and speculated that the composition of wheat flour, and in particular, that of durum flour, may be the cause of such unacceptable taste. Then, they examined the correlation between the main components of durum flour and sourness. As a result, little correlation between protein content and sourness was confirmed. On the other hand, however, a close correlation between ash content and sourness was found.
In general, since the strength of sourness will be influenced by not only pH value but also acid concentration, even if the pH is the same, lowering acid concentration will be effective to weaken sourness. The present inventors found that ash in the flour suppressively acts to lower the pH of pasta. Further, they found that pasta threads can be effectively acidified with relatively small amount of acid, when flour of the lower ash content is employed. Thereby, problems on sourness in the conventional long-life fresh pasta products can be solved.
The present invention is directed to long-life fresh pasta products produced from flours having ash content of 0.45 wt % or less, preferably, 0.40 wt % or less. Then, the present invention is also directed to producing method of long-life fresh pasta products comprising the steps of: (1) preparing dough by mixing with water the raw flour having ash content of 0.45 wt % or less, preferably, 0.40 wt % or less (other materials such as starches, salts, alkaline agents, gelling agents, fats, oils, additives or the like may be added to the raw flour), (2) preparing pasta threads by extruding the dough, (3) gelatinizing the pasta by steaming and/or boiling the threads, (4) acidifying the gelatinized pasta with acids during or after the gelatinization, and (5) hermetically packing the acidified pasta into food-container and pasteurizing them.
Preferably, from about 1 to about 20 g of one or more of alginate-material(s) is(are) added to 1 kg of the raw flour. Such alginate-material(s) may include(s) alginic acids, salts of alginic acids and esters of alginic acids. Dough pH is adjusted from about 7 to about 9.
Further, preferably, from about 1 to about 20 g of one or more fat(s) and/or oil(s) is(are) added to the raw flour. They may include butter, butter oil, margarine and shortening.
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
The detailed description on the present invention are set forth as follows.
The term “long-life fresh pasta products” used herein directs to any pasta produced through the producing methods of the long-life fresh noodles wherein the methods comprise extrusion of the pasta dough from an extruder and acid(s)-treatment of the pasta threads. The present long-life fresh pasta products may include any extruded products such as macaroni, spaghetti, shell or lasagna.
Ash content in the raw flour of the present invention (based on weight of wheat flour) is 0.45 wt % or less, preferably 0.40 wt % or less, and most preferably 0.38 wt % or less. Although wheat flour contains at least about 0.30 wt % of ash, any wheat flour having lower ash content can also be applied to the present invention. Wheat flours commercially distributed in Japan are classified into first-grade wheat flour, semi-first-grade wheat flour or the like according to their protein content. In general, since the first-grade wheat flour is made mainly from core portion of the wheat seed and has less ash content, it is most suitable to the present invention. Besides the first-grade wheat flour, semi-first-grade wheat flour (usual ash content of which is from about 0.40 to about 0.45 wt %) is also applicable to the present invention.
A mixture of two or more kinds of wheat flours of different ash content may also be employed. However, when such mixture is employed, it is also necessary to adjust its ash content to 0.45 wt % or less, preferably 0.40 wt % or less.
On the other hand, it is not preferable to employ semolina because the semolina (roughly ground durum wheat) commonly used for pasta products contains about as much as 0.7 wt % of ash. But, if the ash content is reduced to 0.45 wt % or less by selecting milling methods or the like, such processed semolina can also be employed in the present invention. When the normal durum semolina is used as a component of the raw flour, the amount of durum semolina to raw flour should be adjusted as low as 20 wt % or less, preferably 10 wt % or less.
Wheat flours are often classified based on the protein content as noted previously. But any wheat flour having ash content of 0.45 wt % or less can be employed in the present invention. Then, according to the present invention, wheat flours having protein content of from about 11 wt % to about 12 wt % are recommended to get the natural taste and texture of the dried pasta products.
As stated previously, a step to acidify the pasta threads is essential step for producing the long-life fresh pasta products of the present invention. But, such step often result in losing the firm texture felt by cooking dried pasta products even if the pasta is made from high-protein wheat flours. Further, gelling agents, proteins, enzymes or the like can be employed in the present invention to keep the firm texture. Gelling agents may include alginate-materials, xanthan gum, pectin, curdlan or the like. Proteins may include egg white, gluten or the like. Enzymes may include trans-glutaminase or the like. Among these materials or additives, alginate-materials are preferably added to get the desired pasta texture. The amount of the alginate-materials is from about 1 g to about 20 g per 1 kg of wheat flour, preferably, from about 3 g to about 6 g per 1 kg of wheat flour. Alginate-materials may include alginic acids, salts of alginic acids (e.g., sodium alginates, potassium alginates), esters of alginic acids (e.g., alginic acid propyleneglycol ester).
It is preferable to further incorporate alkaline agents into the raw flour when the alginate-materials are added to keep firm texture of th
Akamatsu Nobuyuki
Matsuyama Shohei
Morita Yoshifumi
Nobuyasu Yoshio
Tabuchi Michiyuki
Nissin Shokuhin Kabushiki Kaisha
Tran Lien
LandOfFree
Methods of producing long-life fresh pasta products does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Methods of producing long-life fresh pasta products, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Methods of producing long-life fresh pasta products will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3080665