Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Processes – Preparation of product which is dry in final form
Patent
1992-12-03
1995-04-11
Yeung, George
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Processes
Preparation of product which is dry in final form
426458, 426557, A23L 100
Patent
active
054056349
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention is directed to a process for stabilizing the shape of pasta, wherein the product is pressure-molded from dough with an approximate water content of 28% to 35%, heated to higher temperatures, and dried to a moisture content of less than 13% for storing at room temperature.
Classic pasta drying is based on known thermal principles whereby heat is transmissible in three forms:
Concretely, the goal is an optimal drying process. Apart from management of the product and air temperatures, this is controlled chiefly by the relationship between the water content of the product and the relative humidity of the air. Assuming a difference in the equilibrium moisture between the product and the air, the drying process proceeds faster the higher the product temperature. This will be readily understood by the layman from experience in washing dishes in the kitchen; that is, drying should be effected at the highest possible temperature since moisture is transported fastest at higher temperatures. However, the pasta expert knows that only failure will result without controlling and adhering to proven conditions. Recent experience shows that very precise control over all drying conditions is necessary at temperatures above 70.degree. C., in particular above 80.degree. C. Extensive series of laboratory tests have even proven that there is a kind of "sound barrier" blocking a further intensifying of the drying process. When this is exceeded, e.g. a product of excellent value in terms of quality criteria which is placed on the table immediately after drying will break into many pieces without external forces. This breaking up sometimes takes minutes, sometimes hours or days.
The invention proceeds from the problem of designing the process in such a way that no "after-damage" occurs when employing high temperatures and short drying times and so that the best management of operations can nevertheless be applied vigorously and economically with respect to product quality.
The solution to this problem, according to the invention, is characterized in that the water content of the outer layer is increased in the final drying zone while the product is still warm, particularly by moistening the surface. In fact, there is no "after-damage" to the pasta products dried according to the invention, whether this is long pasta or short pasta, even under extreme climatic manipulation.
Products which were processed at the same time and with the same climatic conditions but without the addition of water according to the invention resulted in individual damage or total breakage depending on the test. This result can be traced back to great or extreme differences in tension within the product, particularly in the cooling phase at the end or near the end of the drying, since the surface is dried more intensively than the core of the pasta in traditional drying. Drying by evaporation proceeds so quickly in the final drying stage, particularly in the cooling zone, that there may be an insufficient amount of water flowing from the interior of the product to the outermost layers. The intensive action of the evaporating process when pure gasoline is applied to the hand is well known; the rapid evaporation draws warmth from the hand which gives the sensation of cooling. In the case of pasta, the evaporation heat is drawn off from the product. An excessive drying and brittleness of the boundary layer occurs. This results in a delayed shrinking process of the core of the product relative to the outer layers during cooling and accordingly in breaking tensions which can no longer be withstood by the outermost layer which has now become a crust.
This is counteracted by a deliberate increase in the water content in the outer layer which acts as a buffer allowing a more uniform reduction in the humidity and temperature inside and outside the product. The addition of water to the surface provides a compensation of tension particularly-in the cooling phase. At higher temperatures, the water penetrates very quickly into the surface and additionally
REFERENCES:
patent: 4775542 (1988-10-01), Manser et al.
patent: 4830866 (1989-05-01), Manser et al.
Patents Abstracts of Japan, C-243 of Sep. 19, 1984, vol. 8/No. 205.
Patents Abstracts of Japan, C-116 of Jul. 28k 1982, vol. 6/No. 139.
Egger Friedrich
Manser Josef
Seiler Werner
Buehler AG
Yeung George
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