Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Plant material is basic ingredient other than extract,...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-05
2001-05-22
Weier, Anthony J. (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Plant material is basic ingredient other than extract,...
C426S392000, C426S393000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06235337
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to soybean milk and soybean milk pack which can be stored for a long time without the deterioration of freshness of the soybean milk, and relates to methods for manufacturing the soybean milk and the soybean milk packs, and relates to a method of manufacturing a delicious and mild soybean curd (a tofu in Japanese) which can be easily and stably manufactured anywhere even by nonprofessionals without failure, using the thus manufactured soybean milk and the soybean milk packs and can be eaten in a fresh and hot state just after it is manufactured.
BACKGROUND ART
A soybean curd, being nutritious and manufactured by coagulating soybean protein is a food which has been eaten by many people. Thus, the soybean curd is manufactured by speciality manufacturers in large amounts and sold in supermarkets and the like in large quantities at less expensive price. However, the packed soybean curd sold in large quantities is eaten after a time passes from the time it was manufactured, the taste, deliciousness, smell, and feeling in the mouth, such as on the teeth or tongue thereof are inferior to those of a fresh soybean curd manufactured by soybean curd stores in town. Consequently, since a small, traditional soybean curd stores in town supply a fresh and tasteful soybean curd to dining tables of homes, there exists a soybean curd which is manufactured by hand using a conventional method, although the quantity thereof is small.
Incidentally, a soybean curd is manufactured by grinding soybeans immersed in water; boiling the thus obtained ground soybeans; obtaining a “go” (bean juice which is obtained by grinding soybeans immersed in water or thereafter by boiling ground soybeans) by extracting soybean protein from the boiled soybeans; obtaining soybean milk by separating an okara (solid soybean curd lees) as a solid matter from the bean juice (or nigo which is boiled bean juice); cooling the thus obtained soybean milk; mixing the cooled soybean milk with a coagulant such as a “nigari” (magnesium chloride which is usually used as an aqueous solution) to thereby obtain a mixture of the soybean milk and the nigari; and coagulating the soybean protein by heating the mixture. Calcium sulfate and the like are used as the coagulant of the soybean milk, in addition to the nigari.
As described above, the soybean curd is a very popular food. However, to make a soybean curd having a good taste and a good smell, not only high speciality is required in a technique for manufacturing soybean milk of high quality as a raw material of the soybean curd and in a technique for adding a nigari to the soybean milk and coagulating the soybean milk but also the entire soybean curd manufacturing steps from a step of boiling ground soybeans to a step of coagulating the soybean milk must be successively carried out. As a result, a small soybean curd store is compelled to work from an early morning without a rest to supply a fresh and tasteful soybean curd so that it is in time for family breakfast.
To produce the soybean milk as the raw material of the soybean curd, ground soybeans are conventionally boiled in a dedicated bean-juice-manufacturing caldron. The bean-juice-manufacturing caldron used to the manufacture of soybean milk, a soybean curd and membrane-like soybean curds (“yuba”) comprises a cylindrical caldron main body having closed upper and lower ends, a charge port disposed at lower portion of the caldron main body for charging a raw material of bean juice such as ground soybeans to which water is added or the heated ones thereof, a discharge port disposed at upper portion of the caldron main body for discharging the raw material after it is processed in the caldron, and a steam injection pipe having a plurality of injection ports simply formed therethrough and installed in interior of the caldron main body.
Steam used in the conventional bean-juice-manufacturing caldron is air-containing steam obtained by simply heating ordinary water. The ordinary water contains oxygen in an amount of 8-10 ppm.
In the conventional bean-juice-manufacturing caldron, the steam injected from the injection ports of the steam injection pipe is injected in a radial direction. The steam injected in the radial direction collides against the inner peripheral wall of the caldron main body and lose their motion energy so that the flow rate of the streams is reduced. Therefore, the steam having the reduced flow rate cannot sufficiently turn and flow into the space located backward of the injection ports in the caldron main body and the steam only moves upward in the caldron main body. As a result, the steam is in good contact with the raw material of bean juice or the heated one thereof (hereinafter, they are referred to as raw material of bean juice as a whole) which is located in the vicinity of the radially injecting passages of the steam which is directed radially from the injection ports so that the raw material of bean juice located at the position is sufficiently heated with the heat of the steam. However, since the steam comes into contact with the raw material of bean juice in a small quantity which is located in the space backward of the injection ports of the caldron main body, the heat of the steam is not sufficiently transmitted to the raw material of bean juice located at the backward position. Thus, the raw material of bean juice cannot be heated with a necessary quantity of heat. As a result, a part of the raw material of bean juice is sufficiently heated and the other part thereof is insufficiently heated, whereby the raw material of bean juice is unevenly boiled. There is caused thereby a problem that soybean milk of good quality cannot be obtained from the unevenly boiled bean juice.
In the conventional bean-juice-manufacturing caldron, since steam cannot be uniformly and sufficiently supplied to the raw material of bean juice, the steam cannot sufficiently transmit their heat to the raw material of bean juice. Accordingly, a large quantity of the steam stay in the upper portion of the caldron main body while holding a sufficient quantity of heat at high temperature and increase the pressure of the upper portion of the caldron main body as a residual steam. Thus, there arises a problem that the raw material of bean juice is pushed out into the discharge port of the caldron main body in a quantity larger than necessary, the feed of the raw material of bean juice in the caldron main body cannot be properly controlled, the raw material of bean juice has a portion to which the heat of the stream is transmitted well and which is sufficiently heated and a portion which is insufficiently heated, whereby the raw material of bean juice is unevenly boiled, bean juice of good quality cannot be produced and thus a soybean curd of good quality cannot be manufactured.
Incidentally, when a soybean curd is manufactured by coagulating soybean milk by adding a nigari (magnesium chloride) as a coagulant thereto, the nigari can well extract sweetness and flavor of soybeans. However, since the coagulating reaction proceeds too promptly, this process cannot be often performed successfully. Thus, not only a sophisticated technique is required to mix the nigari with the soybean milk but also a speed at which the nigari performs a coagulating reaction must be controlled by minutely monitoring a coagulation state thereof and controlling the temperature thereof. Therefore, conventionally, soybean milk is cooled so as to be slowly coagulated, and after a nigari is well mixed with the soybean milk, the thus obtained mixed solution is slowly heated with steam or in a water bath. Thus, there is a problem that 1-2 hours are necessary to the heating of the mixed solution, which is very inefficient. Further, since a long time is necessary to the heating of the mixed solution, the outside portion of a soybean curd is exposed to a very high temperature as compared with the inside portion thereof and heat is excessively applied to the outside portion of the soybean curd, from which a problem arises in that
Imamura Katsuhiko
Imamura Kazuhiko
Nagata Yukio
Weier Anthony J.
Young & Thompson
Yuugengaisya Yahimeshouji
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