Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Processes – Heating above ambient temperature
Patent
1997-07-25
1999-08-03
Yeung, George
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Processes
Heating above ambient temperature
426615, A23L 300
Patent
active
059322667
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention concerns a procedure for reducing the loss of weight of vegetables following a blanching and/or cooking and/or sterilization operation.
Such blanching/cooking/sterilization operations are employed on both a small and an industrial scale in order to preserve foods for later consumption. The preservation methods may vary widely, including deep-freezing, pasteurization, sterilization, pickling, etc.
The preservation of vegetables using one of the methods just mentioned is known to require various preliminary steps.
First, the vegetables should be cleaned and put in edible form, thereby requiring that they be peeled and possibly cut into pieces, and/or that unhealthy or poorly shaped parts be removed. For example, asparagus must be peeled and the cut at the base of the stalks trimmed a second time. As for mushrooms, the base is cut to the desired height.
Following these operations, vegetables in the so-called "trimmed" state are produced. They are ready to undergo the steps allowing preservation, for example blanching and/or cooking. It will be recalled that blanching consists in heat-treating trimmed vegetables for a short period, i.e., for a few minutes, in order mainly to destroy the enzymes which are present in the vegetable tissues and, in consequence, to block certain adverse chemical reactions. Blanching may be carried out, in particular, by immersion in boiling water or at a temperature approximating the boiling point, or, alternatively, by treating them with steam, for example at a temperature of about 100.degree. C.
One major problem affecting the vegetable-preservation industry lies in the loss of weight which occurs following the blanching and/or cooking and/or sterilization procedures. This weight loss results from a loss of water and of various other substances which, in general, contribute to the nutritional value and/or the taste of the vegetables processed in this way. Furthermore, this weight loss has a pronounced effect on the cost price of preserved vegetables, which, in practice, are sold by weight of the drained vegetables. The term "preserved vegetable" as used herein designates any vegetable that has undergone processing for preservation purposes, e.g., deep-freezing, sterilization, pickling, etc.
To avoid these problems, various preliminary processing procedures involving impregnation with water that may contain dissolved nutritive substances have been proposed. Impregnation is normally carried out in a vacuum, in order to expel the air found in the pores of the vegetable tissues and, accordingly, to promote the infiltration of water. In this regard, see, for example, Certificate of Addition No. FR-2.214.414, European Patent No. 0.140.667, and the documents of prior art cited in the description of this European patent. Nevertheless, weight losses after blanching and/or cooking and/or sterilization remain significant.
To reduce weight loss, proposals have also been made to effect impregnation using various food additive thickeners or heat-coagulable additives (see, for example, WO-85/01420 and EP-0.140.767). The use of such substances for this purpose is, however, forbidden in many countries.
Discovery has recently been made of a preliminary processing procedure making it possible to restrict weight loss after blanching, cooking, or sterilization to levels never before achieved, without using additives.
Accordingly, the present invention concerns a vegetable-processing procedure comprising at least one preservation operation, such as blanching and/or cooking and/or sterilization, this procedure being characterized by the fact that, to restrict the loss of weight of the drained vegetables after said operation, the raw, washed, and trimmed vegetables undergo, at the outset, preliminary processing, one step of which consists in letting them stand at a temperature of 0.degree. to 25.degree. C. in a gas containing oxygen at a partial pressure greater than the partial pressure of atmospheric oxygen at said temperature.
The invention procedure may be carried out on various vegeta
REFERENCES:
patent: 4735813 (1988-04-01), Spinoglio
patent: 4844933 (1989-07-01), Hsieh et al.
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