A Novel Treatment of Soybeans by an Exposure to Highhumidity Air Containing Water Microclusters

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether soybean as raw material for processed foods could be affected in texture by an exposure to high-humidity air containing ultrafine water particles. Soybean was kept to stand in a new type refrigerator named Shinki store-box, which could be supplied the high-humidity air containing water microclusters. This high-humidity air was generated by the separation in a cyclone of microscopic water drops which was formed by cracking and splitting water in air flow. The Shinki store-box humidified soybean much faster than other conventional ones of high-humidity being provided by evaporation-condensation system. And a scanning electron microscopic observation revealed a morphological change of the tissue of soybean. Storing in the Shinki stimulated soaked soybean in sucking water even at a lower temperature. Boiled soybean after an exposure to the high-humidity air was found to get softer than convention-ally treated soybean in terms of rheological factors. An application of the high humidity air to soybean processing was discussed.