Auburn Research Foundation

Peanut Research & Testing Labs., Inc.

Other

Peanut Research & Testing Laboratories, Inc.

Hubert Harris

Durward A Smith

A method for the rapid removal of the peelings or outer coverings from certain food products with minimal loss of or damage to the other portions thereof, by a thermal shock treatment comprising a brief exposure of said products simultaneously to high intensity radiant heat from a vessel and high temperature, low pressure superheated steam or other fluid or gaseous medium inside the vessel.

Method for thermally peeling produce continuousy at high temperatures

This disclosure embodies an apparatus and process for the rapid removal of outer coverings and other unedible portions from food products with minimal loss of or damage to edible portions. The process has proven to be effective in the peeling of fruit and vegetable crops, coring peppers, shelling of legume seed pods, shucking and silking corn, popping corn, skinning onions, shelling of nut crops, scaling and skinning of fish, and removal of shells from shellfish. These processes are accomplished with an apparatus which heats the surface of the product very rapidly in an atmosphere of superheated steam under elevated pressure, supplemented with radiant heat from a vessel wall, and then flashes to atmospheric pressure by instantaneous opening of the vessel cover. The result is an explosion which blows the product from the vessel and simultaneously blasts the covering from the product by violent action of highly energized moisture beneath the product covering. In the particular case of the pimiento and bell peppers, the unedible core is also blown free of the edible pod during the thermal blast treatment. Suitable means are provided for catching the product as it leaves the vessel.

Method for thermally blasting outer coverings from food products

Methods and apparatus for thermal blast feeling, skinning, or shelling

Crop foods such as peanuts, soybeans, peas, and the like, are ground and processed in a rapid, continuous, in-line production system. The food material is converted into a thermally processed slurry rapidly by mixing the ground food with hot water and steam and then quickly cooling the slurry, preferably in a vacuum chamber. The heat treatment stops the activity of enzymes which normally produce undesirable flavors and odors in mixtures of water and ground peanuts and other foods. The rapid cooling treatment prevents damage to protein content and simultaneously strips away any raw peanut flavor that may have developed. The continuous process produces a slurry of peanuts, or the like, without the characteristic raw peanut flavor, and the bland slurry can be further processed by drying to produce a useful food product such as flour, food extender, or the like. The apparatus includes a feed pump for extruding ground nuts onto a screen in a primary mixing chamber into which steam and water are fed selectively to form the slurry. A secondary mixing chamber connects to the primary chamber and includes a rotary pump that both blends the slurry and advances it towards a vacuum chamber where the slurry is rapidly cooled.

Method of producing a slurry from crop products

Method of producing a slurry from peanuts and crop foods

Method and apparatus for the continuous production of thermally

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Auburn, AL, United States of America

Hubert Harris