Soy sauce production equipment and process

Abstract

This abstract refers to an invention patent, for soy sauce production equipment and process, belonging to the field of the food product production media, such equipment comprised of: first set (100) comprised of: device (1), (2) to feed soybean and corn grains in their natural conditions and blended; cold-press extruder (3), receiving the soybean and corn grain blend in their natural conditions and obtaining homogeneous soy-corn agglomerate (5); size adjustment unit (6), adjusting the homogeneous soy-corn agglomerate 5 size and/or particle size; moisture adjustment unit (7); microorganism inoculation unit (8); and automated stove (9) responsible for the first fermentation for 40.00 to 72.00 hours of the crushed soy-corn mass, with adjusted moisture and inoculated with microorganism, after such fermentation the basic ingredient (koji) is obtained, which is then transferred to the second set (200), with usual construction, which processes the koji until finally obtaining the soy sauce.

Claims

1. A soy sauce production process comprising a first stage of fermentation that produces koji, and a second stage of fermentation, the second stage of fermentation comprising the following steps: blending the koji with brine at 18-23.00% that produces moromi; fermenting the moromi for 4 to 6 months; pressing of the fermented moromi to obtain cake byproduct and raw soy sauce; pasteurizing of the raw soy sauce; and bottling of the raw soy sauce, wherein the first fermentation stage comprises the following steps: a.) forming a natural soybean and corn grain blend from soybean in a natural condition and corn grain in natural condition, or forming a natural soybean and cereal grain blend from soybean in a natural condition and a cereal grain other than corn grain in a natural condition, wherein the soybean, the corn grain and the cereal grain in the natural condition are whole soybean, whole corn grain and whole cereal grain, respectively, and are not degreased; b.) introducing the natural soybean and corn grain blend or the natural soybean and cereal grain blend into a cold-press extruder to: compress the natural soybean and corn grain blend or the natural soybean and cereal grain blend to break and extract oil from the natural soybean and corn grain blend or the natural soybean and cereal grain blend; heat the natural soybean and corn grain blend or the natural soybean and cereal grain blend to denature soy proteins of the soybean and gelatinize the corn grain or the cereal grain; and mix and homogenize the natural soybean and corn grain blend or the natural soybean and cereal grain blend; and aggregate the natural soybean and corn grain blend or the natural soybean and cereal grain blend to obtain an oil byproduct and a homogeneous soybean and corn grain blend agglomerate using the natural soybean and corn grain blend, or to obtain an oil byproduct and a homogeneous soybean and cereal grain blend agglomerate using the natural soybean and cereal grain blend; c.) adjusting a particle size of the homogeneous soybean and corn grain blend agglomerate or the homogeneous soybean and cereal grain blend agglomerate; d.) adjusting a moisture of the homogeneous soybean and corn grain blend agglomerate of step c.) or the homogeneous soybean and cereal grain blend agglomerate from step c.); e.) adding microorganism Aspergillus oryzae or sojae to the soybean and corn grain blend agglomerate of step d.) having the adjusted moisture or to the soybean and cereal grain blend agglomerate of step d.) having the adjusted moisture; and f.) fermenting in the first stage of fermentation of the soybean and corn grain blend agglomerate of step e.) for 40.00 to 72.00 hours or fermenting in the first stage of fermentation the soybean and cereal grain blend agglomerate of step e.) for 40.00 to 72.00 hours, after which the koji is obtained which is fed to the second stage of fermentation.

Description

ILLUSTRATIVE INVENTION DRAWINGS

(1) The attached drawings refer to the improvements to soy sauce production equipment and process, under this patent, whereby:

(2) FIG. 1 displays a layout for the first subset responsible for the first fermentation, built according to this invention, from which the primary ingredient (koji) is obtained, and operating jointly with the second usual subset which receives the basic ingredient and conducts the second fermentation (moromi) until the soy sauce is obtained; such first and second subsets composing the soy sauce production equipment.

(3) FIG. 2 displays a schematic view of a cold-press extruder-type press model used in the first subset responsible for the first fermentation, (koji), as mentioned above;

(4) FIG. 3 displays a soy sauce production process flowchart about this invention;

(5) FIG. 4 displays a general layout for the equipment conducting the conventional process;

(6) FIG. 5 displays a conventional soy sauce production process flowchart;

(7) FIG. 6 displays a soy degreasing process flowchart, which could comprise the conventional sauce and soy production processes.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION BASED ON FIGURES

(8) As depicted by the aforementioned figures, the equipment and process, object of the present patent, are intended to soy sauce production; such equipment comprised, usually and significantly (FIG. 4) of: First set of equipment 100 (koji) receiving soy and corn or any other cereal, hot-processing them, mixing them, inoculating microorganisms and conducting the first fermentation until the primary ingredient is obtained (koji); and Second set of equipment 200 (moromi) receiving the koji, adding brine, conducting the second fermentation, pressing and obtaining two products: a byproduct, cake, useful as animal food; and the process interest product comprised of raw soy sauce; such second set 200 still conducts pasteurizing of the raw sauce and bottling.

(9) In this improvement, and since it is the primary goal to be protected in this patent, instead of the first set 100 (FIG. 1) of equipment being comprised of the subset of soy processing 110 (FIG. 4) and subset of corn or any other cereal processing 130 (FIG. 4) following the conventional equipment construction; such first set 100, in this invention (FIG. 1) is essentially comprised of: device 1 for soybean grain feed (or any other protein source grains) in their natural condition and device 2 for corn (or any other starch source cereal) grain feed in their natural condition which form a grain blend in their natural conditions; cold-press extruder 3 primary inclusion into the equipment under the invention which receives the grain blend in their natural conditions, processes them resulting into two products being obtained: oil byproduct (e.g.: soy+corn) 4 whose destination and use could differ for the pharmaceutical, food segments, and in the new-generation fuel generation (biodiesel), such that the oil destination to other industry sectors results into a soy sauce production system virtually waste-free; and product of interest to the soy sauce production process comprised of a homogeneous soy and corn agglomerate (blend) 5 with desired molecular characteristics, such as protein denaturing and starch gelatinization; physical, such as porosity of the obtained agglomerate, enabling enhanced development of the filamentous fungus at the koji stage, and nutritional, since thermal treatment results into reduced antinutritional factors present in the crude soy, such as the trypsin inhibitors.

(10) Such first set 100 of equipment, under the invention, is still comprised (FIG. 1) of: size adjustment unit 6 adjusting the size and/or particle size of the homogeneous soy-corn agglomerate 5; moisture adjustment unit 7, adjusting the moisture in the soy-corn agglomerate 5 with adjusted size and/or particle size obtained; microorganism inoculation unit 8 adding the microorganism Aspergillus oryzae or sojae to the raw material with adjusted moisture; and automated stove 9 responsible for the first fermentation for 40.00 to 72.00 hours of the soy and corn mass, with size and moisture adjusted and inoculated with microorganism, by the end of such fermentation the primary ingredient, koji, is obtained and then transferred to the second set of equipment 200 (moromi), with usual construction, processing the koji until finally obtaining the soy sauce (description of the second set of equipment 200 above referring to FIG. 4).

(11) In details, the cold-press extruder 3 is a type essentially comprised of (FIG. 2): extended compartment 10 one edge of which features natural condition soy and corn feed hopper 11 and its opposite, homogeneous soy-corn agglomerate 5 outlet nozzle 12; oil (soy+corn) outflow drain 13 derived from the compartment 10; such cold-press extruder 3 also comprised of an appropriate layout of inner helicoidal 14 to the extended compartment 10 and moved by drive set 15; such compartment 10 and the helicoidal screw 14 laid-out, both constructively and functionally, to provide, along the soy and corn or any other cereal progress: 1) compression for oil extraction and breaking of the soybean and corn grains; 2) attrition-activated heating to result into denaturing of the soy proteins and corn gelatinization; 3) soy and corn blending and homogenization; 4) soy and corn adding to form the homogeneous soy-corn agglomerate 5 dispensed to the nozzle 12.

(12) Presses like these may be seen, for example, in Patent MU 8402851-3; in documents: PI 0007400-4; PI 0212302-9; PI 9608146-5. The cold-press extruder 3 of this invention is a layout based on such systems and suitable to meet the peculiarities of soy sauce production processes.

(13) The above-named equipment conducts an improved soy sauce production process comprised of: First 100 (koji) and Second 200 (moromi) fermentation stages (FIG. 3).

(14) The first fermentation stage 100, which instead of having the soy and corn initially processed separately, the soy passing through: washing; moistening, decoction, cooling and the corn, roasting and crushing, following conventional processes (FIG. 5); such first fermentation stage 100, in this invention (FIG. 3), comprises the following stages:

(15) 1, 2 feeding and blending of soybean and corn or any other cereal grains in their natural conditions (whole grains, free from degreasing process using other methods, such as: chemical solvent extraction);

(16) 3—Processing in cold-press extruder of the soy-corn blend, obtaining two products: 4) oil byproduct with high usage potential; 5) homogeneous soy and corn agglomerate (blend);

(17) 6—Homogeneous soy-corn agglomerate 5 size and/or particle size adjustment;

(18) 7—Homogeneous soy-corn agglomerate (5) moisture adjustment with adjusted size and/or particle size obtained;

(19) 8—Inoculation of microorganism Aspergillus oryzae or sojae to the soy and corn mass with adjusted size and moisture;

(20) 9—First fermentation for 40.00 to 72.00 hours, after which 10) the primary ingredient koji is obtained which is fed to the second conventional fermentation stage 200 (moromi), (as described above based on FIG. 5).

(21) Stage 3)—Pressing in cold-press extruder conducts the following processing stages at the natural soybean and corn grain blend: compression for oil extraction and breaking of soybean and corn grains; attrition-enabled heating for soy decoction and corn roasting; soy and corn blending and homogenization; soy and corn aggregation to form the homogeneous soy-corn agglomerate.

(22) The compressive and heating strengths are selected for extracting the oil out of soy and corn; soy decoction; corn roasting, depending on the raw material conditions.

(23) Within the aforementioned basic construction, we hereby apply for the equipment and process, under this patent, to receive changes related to constructive properties, sizing, material, functional and ornamental settings, stages and process parameters not leaving their focus on the applied protection scope.