Abstract
In order to prepare food products suitable for aged and young persons, we added Okara (bean curd refuse) powder to rice-flour steamed sponge cake. Some portion of a basic composition (rice flour : sucrose : egg : water= 1 : 1 : 1.7 : 0.3) was replaced by Okara powder. Furthermore, sucrose and water were replaced by oligosaccharide and Sake, respectively. Physical properties, such as color and texture, preference and keeping qualities of the trial products thus prepared were examined. The results are as follows :
(1) The most suitable additional level of Okara powder was 20% in weight. Compared with a fine Okara powder, a coarse Okara powder showed a high expansion ratio and gave uniform pores, a soft texture, a good color tone and an excellent taste. The coarse Okara powder, which was rich in dietary fiber, protein and fat, was further desirable from a nutritional viewpoint.
(2) When the product contained 20% of Okara, it was the most suitable to replace 25% of sucrose by fructooligosaccharide. The obtained product scarcely differed from a product containing 100% of sucrose in preference.
(3) A product obtained by replacing 100% of water by Sake showed further improved expansion and a good taste. In addition, the replacement by Sake significantly kept the product from getting moldy.
