雪室貯蔵が小麦粉の品質と製パン性に与える影響

抄録

Yukimuro means “snow room” in Japanese and has been used to preserve vegetables and other foods under low temperature by using natural energy. Here we investigated the effectiveness of snow utilization for the storage of wheat flour. Strong and whole grain flours were packed into paper bags and stored for three months under three different conditions: at room temperature, in a cold refrigerator, and in a moist cold snow room (i.e., yukimuro) and provided for analyses. As compared with the samples stored at room temperature, both cold storage in refrigerator and moist cold storage in snow room reduced lipid peroxidation and generation of free fatty acid. The wheat flours stored in yukimuro showed better bread-making properties than those stored at room temperature or in refrigerator. The brown bread made from the flours stored in yukimuro showed better sensory evaluation scores. These findings indicate that moist cold storage in snow room (yukimuro) suppresses lipid oxidation and improves bread-making properties of wheat flours.