Effects of eggshell mixed with “Nukadoko” (NaCl rice bran paste for pickling) on the ripening of pickles were investigated.
As preliminary experiments, eggshell was soaked in vinegar or NaCl-vinegar solution and cucumber was dipped into the resulting solution. In vinegar, eggshell was easily dissolved and Ca content of the solution increased and pH value was elevated.
Cucumber soaked in this eggshell dissolved vinegar could maintain green color and keep its hardness longer. However, the hardness of pickles soaked in the eggshell-NaCl-vinegar solution was almost the same to this soaked in eggshell-vinegar only.
In the case of ripened “Nukadoko”, by the action of lactic acid in this, Ca in eggshell was dissolved and migrated into “Nukadoko”, then pH of this paste was increased. When cucumber pickles were prepared with this “Nukadoko”, characteristics of pickles resembled to those obtained by the preliminary vinegar experiments.
It was found that more than 80% of Ca dissolved to “Nukadoko” from eggshell and rice bran were in the ionic phase.
Sensory tests revealed that pickles prepared with eggshell containing vinegar or “Nukadoko” kept vivid green color than contrast pickles, and those were favored than constrast ones.

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Karukan is a typical traditional rice cake. To clarify the effects of the combinations of materials, cooking conditions, and particle sizes of rice flour on the qualities of Karukan, sensory evaluation, rheological measurement and microscopic observation were undertaken. The results were summarized as follows.
It was found that the best ratio of materials (raw yam; water; sugar; rice flour) was 1; 1; 2; 1.3 and in the case of dry yam, this ratio changed to 1; 4; 2; 1.3.
The particle size of rice flour also affects the quality of the cake and Karukan made from 60 mesh rice flour was the most favored, judging from the sensory evaluation, and if the particles of less than 60 mesh were employed as the material, the tenderness of the cake resembled to that of sponge cake.
The presence of needle crystals of calcium oxalate, originated from yam and of ungelatinized starch granules in the cake was recognized by microscopic observation.

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Effect of edible oils applied to five types of cooking on the astringent taste of eggplant was stuin relation to the contents of total polyphenols and chlorogenic acid in the cooked foods.
The boiled eggplant cooked with oil was less astringent than the boiled one without oil.
The astringency of cooked eggplants was strongest in the steamed one and weakest in the fried ones, either in shallow or deep frying.
The contents of total polyphenol and chlorogenic acid had no relation with the astringency in the cooked eggplant with and without application of edible oil. The chlorogenic acid content was higher in the steamed and deep-fried eggplants than in the other cooked ones.
The caffeic acid solution to which 5 % of an edible oil was added showed weaker astringency by a sensory test than the same solution without oil.
It was concluded that the edible oil does not decrease the astringent ingredients in food materials,, but suppresses their astringency by coating the ingredients and thus weakening their stimulus to taste buds, with the result of improving taste of cooked foods.

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Home cake-making has become popular in Japan, and increasing number of people come to enjoy varieties of cake-making by using wines, spirits and liquors (W. S. L). We have examined the preference by way of making bavarois containing varieties of W. S. L.
In selecting W. S. L and spices to use, popularity, availability and frequency of appearance of these in cooking books were considered as the standard.
Eleven W. S. L namely, red wine, white wine, rum, kirsch wasser, peppermint, orange curacao, cherry brandy, maraschino, cointreau, grand marnier, moka, and five spices, namely, allspice, mace, clove, cinnamon, vanilla were chosen.
Gelatine concentration in bavarois was kept at 1.4% and sugar content was controlled by adding sucrose to maintain approximately Bx 11.0. W. S. L were added to the gelatine in sufficient amounts to make final alcohol concentration about 0.5%.
Sensory testing was done using samples of about 50g at 10°C and evaluated by seven grades system.
In cases of W. S. L only, bavarois with cointreau, grand marnier and maraschino were preferred, and those with red wine was not preferred.
When both spices and W. S. L were added to bavarois, vanilla and cinnamon were preferred, and clove was not preferred. Whether cinnamon was preferred or not, depended on the combination of cinnamon with the kinds of W. S. L. The preference went to combination of cinnamon with orange curacao, white wine, red wine rather than this with grand marnier and cherry brandy.
As to effects of spices to bavarois, red wine, peppermint and white wine enhanced the preference, even though bavarois with W. S. L was not preferred. In reverse, cointreau, grand marnier, maraschino and moka diminished the preferrence, ever bavarois with W. S. L only was preferred.

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The antibacterial effect of glycine and NaCl was examined with Bacillus strains (B. cereus IAM 1729, B. subtilis IAM 12118, B. megaterium IAM 1166, B. licheniformis IAM 11054, B. Brevis ATCC 8185, B. akalophylus)
The examination was carried out with trypto soy broth media (pH 7.0), at 35°C for 48 hrs. Glycine (1,3,5%) and NaCl (2,4,6,8,10,12%) were alone or both added in media. The results were as follows:
1) By the addition of 3 - 5 % glycine to media, the growth of Bacillus strains was inhibited and this inhibition was also recognized by the addition of 4-12% NaCl.
2) The synergistic effect for the growth inhibition was also recognized with these two compounds, and the effective concentration of these two was 1-3 % for glycine and 2-6 % for NaCl, respectively.

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In the special restaurants, Katsuobushi soup stock which is used as dip for Buckwheat noodles is prepared in a different manner from the ordinary way. The sizes and thicknesses of shaved Katsuobushi, the boiling periods, and the concentrations of Katsuobushi are all different.
In this study, we prepared the soup stock out of thick-shaved Katsuobushi with the long period boiling of 120 min.
Changes in the content soluble solid, total-N, Formol-N,5'-IMP and 5'-AMP were determined in the soup stock at the specific intervals during boiling. Total acidity and viscosity of the soup stock were also determined.
These experiments suggest that (a) water-extractable components contained in thick shaved Katsuobushi have been extracted during boiling for as long as 60 or 90 min, and that (b) boiling longer than 60 or 90 min does not extract but concentrates extractable components due to evaporation during cooking.

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As brown rice have been interested in its rich nutrients and in high content of dietary fiber, histochemical studies of brown rice cooked with a pressure cooker and milled rice cooked ordinary were done with the scanning electron microscope and with the optical microscope. Through these observations and by the sensory evaluation, states of polysacharides, protein and fat and oil in tissue and their tastes were compared between them. The following were the found results.
In cooked brown rice, carp consisits of four layers. Aleuron layer consists of one to two layers and its cell is filled with aleuron grains and lipid particles. Endosperm cell contains randomly many of starch granulum and of protein bodies. Protein and fat and oil coexist in embryo, and structural differences between embryo and endosperm are clearly observed. From the above mentioned observations, it seems possible to consider that the differences of form and nutrient contents between cooked brown rice and milled rice depend on the existence of carp, aleuron layer and of embryo in brown rice. The sensory evaluation indicates that cooked milled rice is significantly preferred to cooked brown rice.

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