Glutinous rice flour dough for rice-flour dumplings and yuwanshao tends to be too crumbly or flowing unless the water content is exactly right. The most appropriate texture of dough for this purpose results from kneading together two types of dough, one being boiled and the other unboiled. A rheological investigation of dough samples with various mixing ratios and a sensory evaluation of the final products were carried out. The dough with a 5% boiled content was evaluated as best for both manipulation and for final rice-flour dumplings and yuwanshao. The compression stress and adhesiveness of the dough from a texture profile analysis decreased with increasing boiled content. The fracture load in an extension test on the dough samples decreased with increasing boiled content, and the maximum fracture deformation occurred with the dough sample with a 2.5% boiled content. The load-deformation curves from the extension test became less steep with increasing boiled content indicating that the dough samples became more extendable. The optimum boiled content of the dough was thus determined to be 5% from these experimental results.

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Cream from milk fat or vegetable fat was added to custard pudding as a substitute for a similar amount of egg or milk, and the properties of the pudding samples were investigated.. The softness of the pudding with 10~30% of milk substituted by cream from milk fat increased with increasing amount of cream. Cream from vegetable fat increased the softness when substituting up to 10% of milk, before decreasing to the softness level without cream when substituting 20~30%of the milk. When egg was substituted, the softness of the pudding with each kind of cream similarly increased with increasing amount of cream. Microscopic observation of the structure of these pudding samples suggested that the relatively large particles of milk fat interfered with the correlation between protein molecules to form a soft gel, while the smaller particles of vegetable fat were coagulated by heating to form a hard gel.

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Super-fine rice-flour has recently been developed in Japan aiming to increase rice consumption. The characteristics of rice-flour-bread made with weakly electrolyzed water (anode and cathode water)obtained by the electrolysis of tap water were investigated. When anode and cathode water was used, the specific volume of rice-flour-bread was significantly greater than from plain tap water. The texture of breadcrumbs made with anode and cathode water was softer and more elastic than that of breadcrumbs made with plain tap water, these improvements being supported by panelists'responses in a sensory test. We next made rice-flour-bread with sugar reduced to 20% of the usual level. The specific volume of rice-flour-bread made with anode and cathode water was similarly increased. The breadcrumbs made with anode and cathode water were softer, and the crust was browner than those of rice-flour-bread made with plain tap water. The results from a model test lead us to presume that the use of anode water promoted solubility of the protein which participated in the formation of a gluten-matrix, resulting in improved loaf volume. On the other hand, cathode wat er seemed to improve the gelatinization of starch, again resulting in an improved loaf volume.

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A series of measurements was conducted to clarify the mechanism for the sol-gel transition of gelatin in the presence of alcohol (about 1%,3%,5%,10% or 20%) added to the gelatin solution. We examined the rheological and microstructural characteristics, measured the viscosity by a non-destructive method, the optical rotation, dynamic viscoelasticity, rupture characteristics and 17O-NMR data, and observed the microstructure of the gelatin gel samples by scanning electron microscopy. The gelation time, specific rotation, dynamic elasticity and dynamic viscosity of the gelatin solution were each reduced with increasing amount of alcohol. The gel samples of the gelatin solution containing 10% and 20% of alcohol both showed strong ductility. The latter sample with 20% of alcohol contained many vacancies and formed a coarse network structure.

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In our continuing study on cooking ground beef patties to prevent food poisoning caused by E. coli O157: H7, we investigated the effect on internal temperature of using a lid on the frying pan. We used a fluorine resin-treated frying pan provided with a lid and heated on a gas ring. The effect of using the frying pan lid or not, on the time to reach 75°C, the remaining heat, the ability to maintain 75°C, the air temperature within the frying pan, the heating surface temperature in the pan, the surface temperature of the patty, and the final color of the patty were each evaluated. In order to fulfill the hygiene requirements of heating the patty at 75°C for 1 minute or more, it is necessary to put a lid on the pan, the longer the lid is applied while heating, the more effective it is.

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We investigated the effect of mirin on sweet-cooked azuki beans. Raw azuki beans were cooked in one the following solutions: water-mirin, nikiri-mirin, sugared water and ethanol. They were then all further cooked in sugared water. The surface gloss of the azuk i beans after cooking was measured by a gloss analysis system, and the numbers of soft, hard and collapsed azuki beans were counted. The surface gloss of the azuki beans cooked with mirin was the strongest, and these beans best maintained their shape. It is considered that the shape of the sweet-cooked azuki beans was maintained by the effect of ethanol and glucose in the mirin.

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A questionnaire survey was conducted on 1771 students in the age range of 15-23 years to investigate their fruit preference. The response to each question on fruit preference was rated on a scale of nine. The questionnaire also included the question on the ease of eating of 13 kinds of fruit, and the water content and content ratio of sugar and organic acids were also examined. Pear was most preferred, followed by peach and strawberry, while persimmon was most disliked, followed by summer-orange and grapefruit. Female students preferred pear, peach, strawberry and orange, while male students preferred grape, persimmon, melon and banana. A significant correlation was recognized between the ease of eating and the fruit preference. However, pear and peach were liked, although they are not easy to eat. The water content was lowest in persimmon, and highest in strawberry, pear and peach. The content ratio of sugar to organic acids was lowest in summer-orange and grapefruit, and highest in persimmon. The water content and content ratio of sugar to organic acids are therefore considered to affect the fruit preference.

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A survey by questionnaire and interview was conducted on dishes using pulses and potatoes in two areas of Yamaguchi Prefecture: Ato, a rural town in the mountainous region, and Sanyo, a residential town in the seaside region. An average of 6.4 kind s of pulses and potatoes were grown in kitchen gardens in Ato, while the equivalent figure was 2.8 kinds in Sanyo. Secondary processed food like kinako, tofu and konnyaku were also made in Ato. A wider range of dishes using home-grown pulses and potatoes was seen in Ato than in Sanyo. However, the variety of dishes using pulses and potatoes seen in Sanyo was still wide, especially dishes using potatoes and tofu. More dishes related to annual events were eaten in Ato than in Sanyo. The ingredients and recipes of local dishes using the pulses, Kencho and Itoko-ni,, were different between these two regions.

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[in Japanese]

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