We investigated the usefulness of a method for evaluation of food hardness using a plastic bottle （PB method） in home cooking, which does not require special equipment or techniques. UDF foods and six commercially prepared foods were used for the measurements. A PET bottle filled with water with a total weight of 400 g （equivalent to 200 kPa） was fitted with a special cap with a 5 mm diameter convex part. The bottle was turned upside down and pushed under its own weight to see if the convex part of the cap penetrated the sample. If it penetrated, the sample was evaluated as crushable by the gums. The hardness was also measured to check if it corresponded to Category 2 （crushable by gums） of the UDF food. The results of both tests were combined to evaluate the hardness （crushable with gums） of the samples. In the case of UDF foods, the PB method and physical property measurement evaluations were the same. In commercially prepared foods, it was found that foods easily crushed by the PB method tended to be soft, and that the PB method was evaluated to be safer than the physical property measurement. In conclusion, it was found that not only visual and empirical judgments, but also the PB method to check the hardness of food is useful for safe eating.

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We examined the seasoning methods, pot sizes, tasting methods, tasting frequency, and comparison of seasoning between parents and children when cooking stewed dishes, based on a questionnaire survey and the amount of seasoning used. The results suggested that choosing a pot in which ingredients do not overlap helps to thoroughly cook and determine the amount of water and seasoning according to the ingredients. It was also confirmed that 80–90% of the overall taste is determined by the first seasoning added. Furthermore, the sugar and salt concentrations may be reduced by lightly seasoning at first, and add seasoning by tasting. In the questionnaire survey of parents, more than half answered that “the frequency of tastings decreased with age”; however, as sensitivity to saltiness decreases with age, the tasting frequency may be necessary to prevent hypertension.

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Therefore, a survey was conducted with the aim of clarifying the influencing factors on the health habits of parents at certified childcare centers using the Seven Health Habits of Bresslow.　As a result, the following two points were obtained: (1) Awareness of breakfast was reflected in the breakfast content. (2) Parents who went to bed between 10:00 and 11:00 had better health habits than those who went to bed after 12:00. From the above, it has become clear that regulating daily rhythms positively affects health habits. It is also inferred that parents' awareness of food and the establishment of health habits will lead to the establishment of childcare awareness of food and health habits.

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Japanese wheat varieties tend to retain the bran during milling process. The wheat flour that is rich in bran is commonly not preferred and either discarded or used as animal feed. In order to effectively utilize this bran-rich flour for cooking purposes, we tested if it can be used in improving the eating quality of baguettes, a type of French bread. To this end, we substituted part of the bread flour with the bran-rich flour in different proportions during baguette making and tested the physical properties of the baguettes. Our results showed that the measured physical stress of both the crumb and crust of the baguette increased with the increase in proportion of bran-rich flour. The crumbs of the baguette made with the bran-rich flour addition were chewy and the crust had a stronger crunchy texture, which are considered as desirable properties for French bread. Furthermore, the addition of bran also resulted in a darker brown color and stronger flavor unique to baguettes, proportional to the increase in the amount of bran used. Our results suggest that it is possible to produce distinctive baguettes by using the bran-rich flour and we hope that our results will lead to more effective use of this flour in baguette making.

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[in Japanese]

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