Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Direct application of electrical or wave energy to food... – Heating by electromagnetic wave
Patent
1983-05-11
1985-12-10
Yeung, George
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Direct application of electrical or wave energy to food...
Heating by electromagnetic wave
426281, 426302, 426615, A23B 706, A23B 7148
Patent
active
045579377
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a method for blanching mushrooms and other vegetables while improving the characteristics of quality and quantity of the resulting product, particularly for subsequent deep-freezing or preserving.
The food products which can be treated according to the invention are for example cultivated mushrooms, woodland mushrooms such as chanterelles, ceps or morels, other cultivated mushrooms such as pleurotus and eudelis, as well as other vegetables such as asparagus, artichokes, salsify, carrots, green beans, dry beans, peas, celery, chicories, and various cabbages.
The products should, advantageously be cooled, between 0.degree. and 2.degree. C. and should not be allowed to warm up while being cleaned. Advantageously, washing will be effected in iced water. Said washing will be advantageously effected so as to reduce washing water absorption to a minimum for example: by spraying under pressure after dry-cleaning on a vibratory table with ventilation, the object of this being to reduce washing time.
After cleaning, trimming and in some cases grading and sorting according to quality, the products are subjected to an additional cooling to a temperature just above their freezing temperature. The product is thereafter introduced into an enclosure where a high vacuum is created, around 1 to 5 mm.Hg, while preserving the previous temperature, i.e. freezing temperature limit.
Then the product is impregnated with an impregnation liquid which is itself cooled to the adequate temperature (so that there is no evaporation at the considered pressure). Said impregnation is obtained by immersion into said liquid and by breaking the vacuum, this last operation causing the impregnation proper. Both these operations are described hereinafter in detail.
The food product is immersed under vacuum in the cooled impregnation liquid containing a coagulant product. Advantageously, said coagulant product may be egg white. The coagulant product concentration is between about 4 and 25% by weight of dry material with respect to the impregnation liquid, preferably between 6 and 12%.
After said immersion, it is possible to proceed to either a single impregnation, to a partial impregnation, or to multiple impregnations.
Single impregnation is obtained by raising the pressure once to the atmospheric pressure or to a higher pressure (2-10 bars), this aiding and increasing the impregnation rate especially for vegetables such as carrots and salsify.
Partial or multiple impregnations can also be advantageously conducted.
Such are achieved by maintaining the high vacuum inside the enclosure containing the food product and conducting the immersion in a first treatment liquid with a high concentration of coagulant, for example between 10 and 25% by weight of dry material. The coagulant may be egg white.
The pressure is then raised to an intermediate value, for example 500 mbars, causing a first impregnation by the liquid with the high concentration of coagulant. The treatment liquid is removed under this intermediate pressure, towards a receiving enclosure which is also at the same pressure. Therefore, what is left in the said first enclosure is the semi-impregnated food product, which is not surrounded with treatment liquid and which is still at the intermediate pressure, for example 500 mbars. Raising to the atmospheric pressure or to a higher pressure gives a partial impregnation, but as an alternative, a second impregnation liquid may be admitted, the coagulant concentration of which is between 0 and 4% by weight of dry material. This can be either water or a solution with a very low concentration of coagulant; it can in effect come from the residual from the first impregnation liquid adhering to the vegetables.
The pressure is then raised to the atmospheric pressure or to a higher pressure, which results in the second impregnation.
In the different stages of these multiple operations, it is possible to use either the same coagulant, or two different ones. In the first stage, the coagulant will be for example egg whit
REFERENCES:
patent: 3476078 (1969-11-01), King
patent: 3843810 (1974-10-01), Fehmerling
patent: 4143167 (1979-03-01), Blanchaud et al.
Spinoglio M. Mario
Yeung George
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