We attempted a new application of nano-bubbling to culinary science, producing stable nano-bubble water endowed with food flavors, by introducing aromas present in ripe Japanese pepper (sansho) into the bubbling air. The pericarp of ripe sansho was roughly powdered and packed in a column. Purified N₂ gas was passed through the column and introduced in to the nanobubble generator to produce nanobubbles in water within 40 min. The diameter of the bubbles was approximately 100 nm and the bubble density was 1×10⁷ bubbles/mL. The resulting nano-bubble water was endowed with flavors arising from sansho. The introduction of sansho flavor by this novel nano-bubble generation method was more effective than that achieved by the regular method, which utilizes an instrument for the aeration of the water tank. The water flavored by nano-bubbling did not include the compound, hydroxy-α-sanshool, present in sansho, which averaged 0.61 ppm during direct water extraction; this compound sometimes causes unnecessary pungency and numbness when cooking with sansho. After four weeks of preservation as canned water, the strong flavor of sansho in water was found to be well maintained by the human panels. Overall, this new technique could be used effectively for the endowment of the flavors of various spices to water, without the development of other undesirable flavors during the cooking process.

We studied the effect of the traditional ingredient in Japanese cuisine, thin fried tofu, on enhancing the comprehensive palatability of a dish when added during preparation. The simmered radish strips with thin fried tofu showed a significantly higher VAS score for palatability compared to the dishes cooked without thin fried tofu. Questions to describe the feeling, such as "Does the taste compel you to pick up the food?" and "Is the taste used to eating?," showed high evaluation level. Interruption of olfactory senses by a nose clip confirmed that not only olfactory but also other senses contributed to the palatability. When thin fried tofu was replaced with fresh rapeseed oil, the latter improved the bitterness, sharp taste, and unpleasant smell peculiar to a radish. It enhanced the evaluation for the taste such as "taste has depth," "taste has thickness," and "the fragrance includes nice smell," indicating that it raised comprehensive palatability of radish strips. Hot rapeseed oil, which possesses an aroma similar to thin fried tofu, enhanced the evaluation to be similar to a congenial and friendly taste that we are accustomed to while eating.

The stability and physical properties of oil-in-water emulsions are affected by the types of dispersed liquid fat. In this paper we report the effect of the dispersed liquid fat types, especially edible vegetable oils, on 85% high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) gel viscoelastic properties. To investigate the factors which affect 85% HIPE gel, the fatty acid composition, viscoelasticity and crystallization of each liquid fat were evaluated. High correlation between the viscoelastic properties of HIPE gels and those of the dispersed liquid fat itself was not observed. However, the fatty acid composition and the crystallization onset temperature (T_o) of each liquid fat were highly correlated with the viscoelasticity of the 85% HIPE gel, this phenomenon may be due to intermolecular motion suppression attributed by the liquid to solid transition of dispersed oil at the oil/water interface. Our findings will contribute to applications of HIPE gels in industries such as the food and pharmaceutical fields.

In this study, we evaluated the scavenging abilities of three reactive oxygen species (hydroxyl radical (・OH), superoxide radical (O₂^-), and singlet oxygen (¹O₂)) using the ESR spin trap method for 15 types of miso with different lightness. The positive values of the scavenging abilities of all the reactive oxygen species (・OH, O₂^-, and ¹O₂) examined indicated that they exhibited good scavenging abilities, among which the scavenging ability of ・OH (4001 to 9074 mmol mannitol eq./g) was higher. The scavenging abilities of ・OH (R=-0.81) and O₂^- (R=-0.91) were negatively correlated with the brightness of miso, whereas the scavenging ability of ¹O₂ (R=0.81) was positively correlated with the same parameter. Miso samples with the lower brightness exhibited high ・OH and O₂^- scavenging abilities, and those with the higher brightness showed low ¹O₂ scavenging ability.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of heat treatment on the properties of wheat starch. We heated wheat starch samples with five different emulsifier solutions: three different varieties of monoacylglyceroles (glycerin monostearate (MS), glycerin monooleate (MO), and glycerin monolinolate (ML)), and two varieties of monoacyldiglyceroles (DS and DO). The samples were heated at 150 °C for 0.5 h, 200 °C for 0.5 h, or 200 °C for 1.0 h, respectively. The heated starch samples in emulsifier solutions were thoroughly washed with chloroform and completely dried. Little change in the shapes of starch granules in all the samples were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of all starch samples, except for the sample heated in DS, displayed A-type patterns. However, there was disappearance of crystalline pattern in the starch samples heated in DS solution. The starches heated in an emulsifier showed less enthalpy change (endothermic peak 1) than the raw wheat starches, by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Starch samples heated in MS and DO showed more enthalpy changes (endothermic peak 2) than the raw wheat starch samples as measured by DSC. The samples heated in emulsifiers showed lower λ_max values and lower blue value than the raw wheat starch samples by iodine color reaction. Moreover, the samples heated in emulsifier solutions showed smaller high molecular peak in size exclusion chromatography (SEC) profiles than the raw wheat starch. However, the extents of changes in peak intensities widely varied among different emulsifier species. These results suggested that amylopectin present in starch samples was decomposed during the heat treatment, and the degree of the decomposition differed based on the emulsifier species used. The susceptibility of starch samples to glucoamylases was higher among emulsifier-heated samples than raw wheat starch samples. However, the extent of decomposition of starch samples heated in monoacylglycerols is not similar to that of the starch samples heated in monoacyldiglycerols. These results suggest that the decomposition of starch samples heated in emulsifiers was not only affected by the heat treatment condition, but that other factors, such as the emulsifier hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB), and the degree of unsaturation of the constituent fatty acids, also play a key role.

In this study, we developed a picture book based on the current status of local specialty provisions during lunch in the nursery schools and kindergartens in Yamaguchi Prefecture. The picture book was tested and evaluated by nursery school and kindergarten teachers in order to confirm its usefulness. As a result of its evaluation from various aspects, the picture book received the highest score (4.4 out of 5.0) for the "design of the end of the book" and the lowest (3.8 out of 5.0) for the "layout of the letters". As 88.4% of all children subsequently described it as "interesting", reading and showing picture books presenting local specialties might be effective for the development of an interest in food culture in children, from the age of 5-6 years. Furthermore, children, who looked at the picture book while the teachers read it, have enthusiastically said "I want to eat «kencho»" and "I want to cook it". This suggests that the children's motivation for eating and cooking could be increased by incorporating eating and cooking scenes in these books. Therefore, we could assume that the development of a picture book based on the current status of local specialty provisions would not only raise the willingness of childcare workers to read, but also create opportunities for children to become interested in other local specialties and specialty products.