New Formulated Seasoning Production and Application

Author: Song Gang
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-09-01
Features: Soy sauce is a representative fermented seasoning, a basic seasoning made through microbial fermentation, and holds a very important position. Like China, East Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea also produce soy sauce, especially Japan, which has been leading in soy sauce production and research compared to China. China is one of the countries with the longest history of fermented food production and was also the earliest to invent soy sauce and bean paste. The term "soy sauce" first appeared in the Yilin Ben Jieyong Ji in 1597 in Japan, while China had similar fermented seasonings like soy sauce and bean paste as early as the Zhou Dynasty, making it over 2,000 years ahead of Japan. The earliest soy sauce in Japan was called "Kansensiji Sauce," it was brought back to Japan in 1250 by Zen monk Kokushin from the Kansai region, who had learned the technique of making sauce at the Kansai Temple in China. After several hundred years of development, modern Japanese soy sauce has evolved into a variety of types, primarily rice-based, along with soy sauce and ready-to-eat sauces with vegetables. Production techniques have also become modernized. Despite over a thousand years of development, research on soy sauce by scientists and technicians has reached considerable depth since the mid-20th century, with significant advancements in fermentation mechanisms, microbial screening and purification, enzyme utilization, raw material analysis and utilization, improvement of sauce composition, and enhancement of production efficiency. Due to the recent widespread adoption and application of high-precision analytical equipment, many studies that were previously inconclusive have made significant progress, playing a crucial role in further improving soy sauce. Among the nitrogen compounds in soy sauce, peptides are the second most abundant after amino acids. Regarding the umami properties of peptides, it is generally believed that they do not impart flavor themselves but are related to subtle aspects of taste, such as thickness, smoothness, and persistence, and have the effect of enhancing the umami of food. Unsweetened dipeptides, leucine-terminal peptides have a bitter taste, and glutamate- and aspartate-containing dipeptides have an acidic taste. Tripeptides with glutamate at the N-terminal and hydrophilic amino acids at the C-terminal have a savory taste. In the nitrogen components of soy sauce, peptides account for 15%-18%. As shown in Table 1-1-18, after hydrolysis, the total amount of amino acids increases by about 30%, including aspartic acid, glutamic acid, glycine, leucine, and lysine. Using Dowex50 to fractionate the nitrogen components in soy sauce, low-molecular-weight peptides composed of several amino acids account for 60%, high-molecular-weight peptides with 10 or more amino acids account for 30%, and intermediate peptides account for 10%, making up 9.5%, 4.4%, and 1.2% of the total nitrogen, respectively. 70%-80% of lysine, alanine, glycine, leucine, and isoleucine are in a free form, while 20%-0% are in a peptide form. 65% of glutamic acid is free, 7% is in a peptide form, and 28% is in a pyroglutamic acid form. Soy sauce does not contain glutamine. Some believe that soy sauce contains more than 10 types of peptides. Others have analyzed the types of peptides in soy sauce, identifying 8 neutral peptides, 3 neutral dipeptides bound to sugar, 4 acidic peptides, 11 acidic dipeptides bound to sugar, and several acidic tripeptides. Table 1-1-19 shows the remaining peptides in soy sauce. Some reports suggest that these components do not have a direct relationship with the aroma components of soy sauce. (5) Inoculate steamed beans with molds to form a paste, hang them under the eaves, or make them into a paste in a mold room. The size of the paste balls varies, and the larger they are, the easier it is to create an anaerobic environment inside, promoting lactic acid fermentation (mainly Enterococcus faecalis). Once the pH drops, it can prevent the growth of spoilage bacteria. At this stage, the surface of the paste ball becomes slightly drier, facilitating mold growth until the entire surface is covered. Next is the mixing of ingredients and fermentation in tanks (pools). When mixing, it is crucial to ensure that salt is evenly mixed with other ingredients, and the salt concentration must be consistent, otherwise, abnormal fermentation may occur. The ingredient ratio for thick soy sauce is generally 55% protein ingredients (soybeans or defatted soybeans) and 45% starch ingredients (wheat, bran), plus 12% saturated saltwater (water). For example, if the dry ingredients are 10 tons (kL), add 12 tons (kL) of saturated saltwater. Adding too much saltwater increases the salt concentration, inhibiting fermentation and slowing down the rate of protein decomposition; adding too little saltwater results in a low salt concentration in the soy sauce mash, accelerating fermentation and decomposition, but also increasing the risk of spoilage. Currently, a saltwater concentration of 11.5 (water) is more commonly used, resulting in a higher solid content in the final soy sauce product. To prevent contamination by spoilage bacteria, a certain amount of cooled to 5°C saturated saltwater can be added to the finished mold, mixed, and then inoculated with Halophilus at a concentration of 10^6 per mL for lactic acid fermentation. After further stirring, this helps promote yeast fermentation and the development of soy sauce aroma. The management of soy sauce mash includes stirring, measuring the temperature and pH of the mash. It is essential to ensure that salt fully penetrates the mold, which requires stirring but should not be overdone, as excessive stirring can turn the mash into a viscous slurry, creating an anaerobic environment inside, not only reducing the utilization of nitrogen but also hindering yeast fermentation and degrading aroma. Initially, stirring is done once a week, with the mash temperature maintained at about 20°C for 7-10 days. After the pH drops, yeast (Zymomonas mobilis and Candida versatilis, with an addition rate of 10^5 per mL for the former and 10^6 per mL for the latter) is added. To promote yeast fermentation, the mash temperature is raised to 25°C, and the frequency of air-stirring is increased. During the peak of yeast fermentation, stirring is done every 2-3 days in summer and every 8-10 days in winter. If the raw material is soybean meal, which is prone to breaking, the stirring frequency should be slightly lower than that for soybean materials. Some factories add yeast immediately after adding materials, but it is better to wait until the pH drops to around 5.3 before adding Candida versatilis. The best results are achieved when the added Candida strain is cultivated in the soy sauce mash containing soybean decomposition products. Sometimes, even under conditions highly suitable for Zymomonas mobilis yeast growth, the yeast does not reproduce or ferment. The reason is that there are yeast (Killer yeast) in the mash that can kill yeast. This killer yeast is also salt-tolerant, and its activity is often enhanced with increasing salt concentration, inhibiting the growth of Zymomonas mobilis yeast. Several types of yeast that can inhibit the growth of Zymomonas mobilis yeast have been isolated from soy sauce mash and soy sauce, including Hansenula anomala (from soy sauce mash), Pichia farinosa (from soybean meal), and Kluyveromyces thermotolerans. They all exhibit strong salt tolerance and killer activity. Among them, Kluyveromyces species such as K. vanudenii and K. lactis show killer activity regardless of the presence of salt. Next, endopeptidase (a protease that sequentially cuts peptide chains from one end) is used to decompose the above reaction solution. First, the temperature of the reaction solution that has undergone sterilization is lowered to around 60°C, and endopeptidase is added while stirring gently. The selected endopeptidase should have high activity, and the reaction speed should be as fast as possible. This is because the decomposition by endopeptidase has already taken a long time, and to prevent contamination and spoilage by spoilage bacteria, the reaction time using endopeptidase should be minimized. Decomposition by endopeptidase produces certain hydrophobic amino acids in the reaction solution, giving it a slightly bitter taste. To reduce and eliminate the bitterness while generating a large amount of umami components, endopeptidase is used. Endopeptidase can break down incomplete peptide chains, generating a large amount of free amino acids. The reaction time for decomposition using endopeptidase varies depending on the enzyme activity and reaction conditions but generally requires more than 15 hours. Next, the reaction solution treated with endopeptidase is heated to 90°C for sterilization, filtered, and then concentrated using general methods such as vacuum concentration to obtain a concentrate similar to general animal extracts. It can also be made into a powdered seasoning. Additionally, it can be used as raw material for producing other food products. (III) Similarities and Differences with Animal and Plant Protein Hydrolysates (HAP and HVP) The difference lies in that animal and plant protein hydrolysates (such as soy protein and wheat gluten hydrolysates, or protein hydrolysates from fish meal or animal gelatin) are obtained through hydrochloric acid or enzyme hydrolysis. Generally, products obtained by hydrochloric acid hydrolysis have a higher free amino acid content (80%-90%), stronger umami, but a slight off-flavor; while enzyme hydrolysis products have a lower free amino acid content, contain many incomplete peptides, slightly weaker umami, but stronger thickening ability. In terms of product form, they can be either liquid or powdered. These products differ in umami expression due to their amino acid composition. Generally, glutamic acid is the most abundant, along with aspartic acid, glycine, arginine, and valine, among many other amino acids. Components other than amino acids are minimal, such as sugars, fibers, and ash. In contrast, flavor enhancers (thickeners) not only have completely different production methods (as mentioned above, they are formulated) but also exhibit significant differences in umami expression. Flavor enhancers not only provide umami but can also have an acidic taste (containing organic acids), a sweet taste (glycine and sugars), a salty taste (salt), and a thickening effect (not only long peptide chains but also pyrazines and other components). They can also be customized to create specific flavors for target foods. In terms of raw material usage, animal and plant protein hydrolysates are often used as one of the raw materials for flavor enhancers. For example, many flavor enhancers specify the inclusion of animal or plant protein hydrolysates. Their similarities are that they can all express umami, especially enzyme-hydrolyzed animal and plant protein hydrolysates, which, due to their high peptide content, have a similar effect to thickeners in enhancing thickening. (IV) Similarities and Differences with Yeast Extract Yeast extract is also a newly developed type of seasoning, produced through self-digestion, enzymatic hydrolysis, hot water extraction, and acid hydrolysis of yeast (such as baker's yeast, brewer's yeast, and seafood yeast), followed by purification (removal of mold bodies), filtration, concentration, adjustment, and spray drying. The main components of yeast extract are nucleic acid components in the yeast cell nucleus (such as inosinate and guanylate), as well as amino acids, peptides, etc., with a relatively high content of nucleic acid substances. It is generally believed that the basic functions of yeast extract as a seasoning include the following four points: ① Increasing the breadth and depth of flavor, enhancing the richness of the taste. This can be considered the greatest benefit of using yeast extract, with the main components being incomplete nucleic acid components and peptide chains, which are largely tasteless or slightly bitter; ② Aging or maturing the taste, allowing newly formed flavors to quickly reach balance or or weaken certain deficiencies in the taste; ③ Providing a lingering aftertaste, which is the taste that remains in the mouth after swallowing the food, increasing satisfaction with the flavor; ④ Adding some off-flavors, which is the opposite of function ②, making bland flavors more distinct and creating subtle effects. It can be seen that the above functions of yeast extract are similar to those of flavor enhancers, as both can increase thickening and aftertaste. Moreover, due to their nucleic acid content, both can enhance the umami of MSG. Yeast extract can be used alone or as one of the raw materials for flavor enhancers. However, like other single products, yeast extract does not bring significant changes in function and flavor expression. Additionally, its price is generally higher, limiting its usage range compared to flavor enhancers. Of course, it also offers far fewer flavor variations, especially in terms of umami, where the effect of yeast extract is limited.