Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Beverage or beverage concentrate
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-06
2003-10-14
Weier, Anthony J. (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Beverage or beverage concentrate
C426S655000, C426S656000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06632469
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to pectin and a method for its production, as well as to acidic foods incorporating it and to a method for their production. More specifically, the present invention relates to pectin obtained from root vegetables and especially potatoes, to a method for its production, to acidic foods such as acidic protein drinks, acidic dairy beverages, acidic frozen desserts and acidic desserts obtained by adding citrus juices or other fruit juices, organic acids or inorganic acids to protein drinks such as milk and soy milk, as well as coffee beverages, lactic acid bacteria beverages, liquid yogurt and the like, and to a method for their production.
BACKGROUND ART
Root vegetables, and potatoes in particular, have long been known to contain pectin substances in combination with starch (Ullmanns Enzyklopaedie der techn. Chemie, Bd. 13, 171, Urban & Schwarzenberg, Muenchen-Berlin (1962)), and many studies have been carried out on their use as raw materials for production of pectin (Die Staerke 26 (1974) 12, 417-421, CCB 3, 1(1978) 48-50; Getreide Mehl und Brot. 37, 5(1983) 131-137; Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication SHO No. 60-161401; Chem. Eng. Technol. 17(1994) 291-300; WO 97/49298). Research has also been carried out for years on its uses, with most studies focusing on its use as a gelling agent (ZSW Bd. 31(1978) H.9 348-351, Getreide Mehl und Brot 37, 5(1983) 131-137, WO 97/49298).
As mentioned above, production of pectin from potatoes has long been studied as a research topic. However, in terms of its function as a gelling agent for jams and the like that has been examined as a major use, it has not excelled over pectin derived from fruits such as apples and citrus fruits, and its use has therefore not been practical to date. The uses and production methods for fruit-derived pectin have therefore been studied, but there has been virtually no research to date on the unique functions or detailed production conditions for pectin derived from root vegetables, and potatoes in particular.
Production of acidic protein foods has traditionally employed apple- and citrus fruit-derived pectin, water-soluble soybean polysaccharides, carboxymethylcellulose sodium, propyleneglycol alginate and the like for the purpose of preventing aggregation and precipitation of protein particles. However, when using any of these stabilizers, dispersion of the protein can only be satisfactorily stabilized in a pH range below the isoelectric point of the protein, and a problem has existed in that there are no stabilizers that can stabilize acidic protein foods in the acidic pH range exceeding the isoelectric point.
On the other hand, it has been reported that in the weakly acidic pH range of from neutral to pH 5.2, addition of an organic acid salt can stabilize the protein components (Japanese Examined Patent Publication HEI No. 5-52170), but even with this proposal the emulsifying property of the stabilized protein solution is lost, and the effect of the added organic acid salt makes it impossible to achieve satisfactory acidity.
In addition, lactoproteins in acidic dairy beverages such as “yogurt drinks”, lactic acid bacteria beverages and fruit-added milk are extremely unstable, such that the lactoproteins aggregate and with passing time produce lactoprotein precipitates, resulting in separation of the whey. Upon heat sterilization, the aggregates become notable resulting in total loss of the product value.
Also, dairy component-added coffee, for example, that is transportable at ordinary temperature, has traditionally been produced through a procedure whereby the raw materials such as coffee extract, dairy components, sugars, emulsifiers, etc. are mixed and dissolved to make a coffee preparation, and then passed through a homogenizer and heated to 110-135° C. for sterilization, either before or after packing into a storage container; however, the high temperature of the heating step causes a decomposition reaction of the coffee components, and lowers the pH of the coffee solution. Thus, when the pH of the solution is lowered, giving it an acidity of pH 6.0 or below, the lactoproteins in the dairy components contained in the coffee solution are denatured resulting in separation and aggregation, so that the product value is lost. In order to prevent denaturation of the lactoproteins, an alkali substance such as sodium bicarbonate is often added beforehand to the coffee solution to adjust the pH of the coffee solution to greater than pH 6.5 prior to the heating step, but since dairy component-added coffee prepared by such a method is heat sterilized with the pH at greater than 6.5, the aroma of the coffee is altered, resulting in the characteristic aroma and flavor of retorted can coffee which is different from the original regular coffee.
On the other hand, there is a strong demand for development of heat-sterilized dairy component-added coffee beverages that can be stored at ordinary temperature and still have excellent taste with acidity, and methods for production of dairy component-added coffee beverages with acidity have been proposed such as a method of using fresh cream, butter or the like as dairy components and adding emulsifiers such as sucrose fatty acid esters and crystalline cellulose (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication HEI No. 6-245703) and a method of using acidic polysaccharides to stabilize the lactoproteins (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication SHO, No. 62-74241); however, none of these methods have been successful at stabilizing dairy components without losing the unique coffee taste and properties.
Thus, because coffee exhibits the characteristic aroma and acidity of regular coffee in a weak acidic pH range of pH 6.5 and below, a problem occurs when the pH of a coffee solution is modified during preparation and is kept at above pH 6.5 as it loses the characteristic aroma and acidity of regular coffee, while the coffee obtained upon heat sterilization undergoes a drastic deterioration in taste as compared to the original regular coffee. In other words, no technique has existed in the prior art that can stabilize dairy components over long periods in order to avoid losing the characteristic taste and properties of regular coffee.
As mentioned above, there exist techniques for achieving stabilization of protein dispersion in the pH range below their isoelectric point and in the pH range of from pH 5.2 to neutral, but at the current time there is no technique available that can satisfactorily stabilize acidic protein foods in a general pH range of higher acidity than the protein isoelectric point.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a unique pectin obtained from root vegetables, and potatoes in particular, and to a method for its production, as well as acidic protein foods that are stable in an acidic pH range above the isoelectric point of the protein and a method for their production, in order to thereby provide heat sterilized dairy component-added beverages that have stable dairy components over long periods and that can be transported at ordinary temperature. Here, “acidity” will refer to the pH range of 6.5 and lower.
As a result of diligent research aimed at overcoming the problems mentioned above, the present inventors have found that a unique function is expressed by pectin obtained by hot water extraction under weak acidic conditions from starch pulp as a processing by-product of potatoes. In particular, it was discovered that using white potato-derived pectin allows acidic protein foods to be satisfactorily stabilized in a pH range above the isoelectric point of the protein, at a lower viscosity than with fruit-derived pectin. The present invention has been completed on the basis of this discovery.
The present invention therefore provides a method for production of pectin that comprises hot water extraction from root vegetables under weak acidic conditions of pH 3.8-5.3 and pectin produced by the method, as well as a method for production of acidic protein foods comprising addition of thi
Furuta Hitoshi
Kiwata Ryosuke
Takahashi Taro
Tobe Junko
Fuji Oil Co., Ltd.
Paul & Paul
Weier Anthony J.
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