JPH02273140A - Discoloration-preventing method of cut vegetable - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent discoloration of cut vegetable such as root vegetable, leaf vegetable or fruit vegetables in distributive process by treating the cut vegetable with kojic acid. CONSTITUTION:Cut vegetable is dipped in a solution of kojic acid or a mixed solution of kojic acid and a reinforcing agent, e.g. citric acid, malic acid or lactic acid, reinforcing discolorationpreventing action, or brought into contact with the solution by spraying.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a method for preventing discoloration of cut vegetables, and more specifically, the present invention relates to a method for preventing discoloration of cut vegetables, and more specifically, the cut vegetables include root vegetables, leaf vegetables, and fruit vegetables, and a method for preventing discoloration of cut vegetables during the distribution process. This is a method that can be widely used to maintain the quality of cut vegetables.

[Prior art and its problems]

The production of cut vegetables is increasing year by year, and at first the types of cut vegetables were only leafy vegetables for salads, but recently cut root vegetables and fruit vegetables have become more and more popular. However, among the cut vegetables distributed in a shredded state, some of them discolor due to being shredded or peeled before their freshness deteriorates, and this is particularly noticeable for root vegetables.

Cut vegetables have been treated with phosphates and sulfites to prevent discoloration, but these are now prohibited due to food hygiene issues. Also, ascorbic acid has been used for the same purpose, but sufficient effects have not been obtained.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention was developed in light of the above circumstances, and after repeated research into a safe method for preventing discoloration of cut vegetables using natural products as an alternative to phosphate treatment, the present invention was completed after discovering that kojic acid has an excellent effect. . Kojic acid is produced by microorganisms capable of producing kojic acid used in the production of fermented foods such as miso and soy sauce, and is commercially available. The cut vegetables that are the object of this invention include root vegetables, leaf vegetables, and fruit vegetables, such as yams, gyoza, lettuce, and eggplants, which tend to discolor significantly over time. By soaking or spraying these cut vegetables into contact with a kojic acid solution or a mixed solution of kojic acid and an enhancer for enhancing the discoloration prevention effect, the discoloration of the cut vegetables can be prevented. I can do it. The enhancer is selected from at least one organic acid that can be used in foods, such as citric acid, phosphorous acid, and lactic acid.

〔Example〕

Next, the present invention will be specifically explained with reference to Examples, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

Example 1 Peel the skin of the gyoza, cut it into pieces, and expose it to water while cutting it. Divide it into 6 groups of 40 f each group. After lightly draining the untreated group, put it on a plasti and cutray. ,Uh, I covered it with Zo. The treatment area was kojic acid solution 300 as shown in Table-IK.
d for 5 minutes. Thereafter, all the samples were stored at 5°C for 3 days in the same manner as the untreated group. The appearance of discoloration was observed with the naked eye over time. The results are shown in Table-1.

Those with no discoloration were given a score of 10, and those with discoloration were given a score of 10.

Table 1: In kojic acid solution treatment, discoloration of 1" was suppressed at a concentration of 0.3 or higher.

Example 2 From Example 1, it was found that the concentration of kojic acid used alone is effective at a concentration of 0.3 or higher, but in order to make it effective at an even lower concentration, citric acid was added as an enhancer. As in Example 1, ff was divided into non-treated areas and treated areas, and the treated areas are shown in the table below.
3,001 samples each of solutions (4) to (D) shown in No. 2 were prepared, and ff samples were immersed therein for 5 minutes. The preservation method is the same as in Example 1. The results are shown in Table 3. Items with no discoloration were rated -, and items with discoloration were rated 10.

Table 2 Table 3 The concentration of kojic acid used alone required 0.3 capsules or more, but adding citric acid increased the discoloration prevention effect.
Discoloration could be suppressed by changing the concentration of 2, kojic acid O, and OS.

Example 3 Cut lettuce into pieces that are usually eaten in a salad.
One group was 100F, and three groups were prepared. One group was placed in a plastic bag as an untreated group, and the remaining two groups were treated as (A).

After draining), put it in a plastic bag and store it at 5°C in both the untreated and treated areas.
It was stored for 4 days. The appearance of discoloration was observed over time (by the naked eye), and the results are shown in Table 511C, with 0 indicating no color change and 10 indicating discoloration.

Table-5 Table-6 In treatment group (A) where kojic acid was used alone, the lettuce cut turned brown after 4 days of storage, whereas in treatment group (B) with citric acid added, the lettuce remained green. .

Example 4 Eggplants were cut diagonally and three groups were prepared, each group consisting of one eggplant. Group 1 is an untreated area and is treated with plasti.

Put it on a tray and cover it with pu. In the treatment section, eggplants were immersed in solutions (A) and (B) shown in Table 6 for 30 seconds, respectively. After draining, they were placed on plasti, cutrays, covered with plastic, and stored at 5°C for 2 days in both untreated and treated areas. The appearance of discoloration over time was visually observed. The results are shown in Table-7.

In particular, the discoloration of the woodcutter's parts was observed, and those with no discoloration were given a score of -, and those with discoloration were given a score of 0.

Table 7: After 6 hours of storage, the untreated area had already turned brown. No browning of the seeds was observed in treated plots (A) and (E)/fi up to 24 hours. In the treated area (B), browning was prevented even after 48 hours.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, discoloration of cut vegetables can be prevented by using kojic acid, and further, by using an enhancer, the discoloration of cut vegetables can be suppressed, thereby contributing to quality maintenance and distribution of cut vegetables. .

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method for preventing discoloration of cut vegetables, characterized by using kojic acid. 2. Method for preventing discoloration of cut vegetables using kojic acid and an enhancer. 3. The method for preventing discoloration of cut vegetables according to claim 2, wherein the enhancer is at least one selected from organic acids that can be used in foods.