The changes of some physical properties of gelatin gels by adding gellan gum, together with calcium lactate or chitosan, were investigated.
The results obtained were as follows:
(1) The compressive strengh of gels and the amount of released water by svneresis varied with the amounts of gellan gum (0.1-0.5%), calcium lactate (0.03-0.15%) and chitosan (0.05-0.3%)added to gelatin (2%) solutions, respectively.
(2) The gels with gellan gum had similar breaking strength and viscoelastic modulus to the control gelatin gel. The breaking stress and viscoelastic modulus increased by the addition of calcium lactate to the gels with gellan gum, and the breaking strain value decreased to form hard brittle gels.
(3) The breaking stress and viscoelastic modulus also increased by the addition of 0.05-0.1%chitosan to gelatin gels with gellan gum. But, by the addition of 0.2-0.3% chitosan were obtained the desirable, not so hard, gelatin gels.
(4) With the addition of only gellan gum to gelatin gels little changed the degree of syneresis in water-absorbed gels. On the other hand, by the addition of calcium lactate or chitosan with gellan gum remarkably decreased the degree of syneresis at 40-70°C.
(5) The sensory evaluation generally showed a disfavour of gels with gellan gum and chitosan owing to their hardness compared to the control gelatin gel, but the taste of those gels was improved by changing the amounts of gellan gum, chitosan and sugar added.

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The soil used for planting Azuki beans in the Tokachi region of Hokkaido can be classified into four different types, namely brown volcanic, black volcanic, alluvial and peat. Since the soil types may affect the quality and cooking properties of beans, we investigated the influences of different soil types on the inorganic composition of Azuki beans, using c. v. Erimo-Shouzu in 1991. Results obtained can be summarized as follows;
1) Amounts of various available nutrients in the soil were found to vary between different soil types. Brown volcanic soil is characterized by low amounts of phosphorous, calcium and magnesium; alluvial soil by low nitrogen content; and peat soil by high nitrogen content.
2) Although the specific gravity of the beans did not vary regardless of soil types, alluvial soils produced the smallest beans.
3) The inorganic composition of the beans in this study was as follows: 3.26-3.45% total nitrogen; 0.495-0.509% phosphorus; 1.84-1.90% potassium; 0.033-0.0369% calcium; 1.05-1.10%magnesium; 81.1-94.0 ppm iron; 3.11-3.31 ppm manganese.
4) The soil types affected on the contents of total nitrogen, calcium and iron in beans. The beans produced from alluvial soils are characterized by low total nitrogen content and high iron content; brown volcanic soils produced the highest levels levels of calcium
5) From the above data, we conclude that the planting soil types play an important roll on the inorganic composition in Azuki beans.

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The quality of C-sugar sponge cake was investigated in relation to the whipping speed and stirring time of the egg whites and the sitting time of the batter. The results obtained from both the measurement of quality, i. e. texture property and color tone and the sensory test are as follows;
1. In the case of beating and mixing egg yolk and egg white separately (the Betsudate method), the specific gravity of batter stirred for 180 seconds at the highest speed was the lowest, and the cake volume was the largest. The significantly good result was obtained in the sensory test.
2. In the case of beating together (the Tomodate method), the stirring time was shorter by using C-sugar than by using sucrose.
3. Though C-sugar was developed for modifying the texture of sponge cake, the texture properties such as hardness, elasticity and pliability of the cake with C-sugar became worse by leaving the batter for 15 minutes.

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The purpose of this study is to elucidate the relationship between food histological structures and structural components in chicken meat of Nagoya-Cochin (Nagoya Breed). The results obtained were summarized as follows;
1) There were no difference in the content of water. crude protein and crude fat in raw dark meat between Nagoya-Cochin and broiler.
2) No significant differences could be admittea in breaking strength between two different kinds of raw dark meats: Nagoya-Cochin and broiler on both after the 3hrs. and also the 72 hrs. post-mortem storage at 4°C. On the other hand, there were signicant differences in breaking strength between two different kinds of raw dark meats: Nagoya-Cochin and broiler on both after the 24 hrs. (p<0.01) and the 48 hrs. (p<0.05) post-mortem storage at 4°C.
3) The content of hydroxyproline in raw dark meat of Nagoya-Cochin was about 2.6 times that ot broilers dark meat.
4) Z-line of the myofibril was more electron-lucent in the broiler dark meat than in the Nagoya-Cochin dark meat after 24 hrs. post-mortem storage at 4°C. The length of the Z-line of the myofibril in the broiler dark meat was sequentially shortened after prolonged post-mortem storage at 4°C, however, the length of Z-line of the myofibril in Nagoya-Cochin dark meat was not shortened after prolonged post-mortem storage at 4°C. One of the factors of hardness of chicken meat depends on the change of structures of Z-line of the myofibril in dark meat after prolonged post mortem storage at 4°C. These results support that the chicken meat of Nagoya-Cochin has better hardness to chew after more than 24hrs. post-mertem storage at 4°C than the broiler meat.

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Three Chinese vegetables; Taasai, Tingensai and stem of garlic, were either boiled, boiled with salt, pan-fried or microwave-heated. Then the level of content for nine minerals in both the raw and the cooked vegetables were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry.
When we examined the raw Taasai and Tingensai, the mineral contents of Mn, Zn, Cu and Fe in the leaves were 2.5-8.4 times greater than those in the stems. In the case of cooked Taasai, the loss of K in the leaves boiled and boiled with salt and the loss of Fe in stems boiled with salt were quite larger, with the residual rate of 33-47% compared to the raw sample. The mineral P showed the greatest loss among cooked Tingensai, with the residual rate of 55% for the pan-fried leaves. The mineral contents in a stem of garlic did not change remarkably after cooking, and each residual rate was more than 67%.
The loss of minerals in three Chinese vegetables with various cooking methods was smaller when compared with the reported data of other vegetables.

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