Frito-Lay North America, Inc.

Vamshidhar Puppala

Ashish Anand

Adam Broski

Chad Woelfle

V N Mohan Rao

Joseph William Kelly

Phillip Stuart Frazier

Vn Mohan Rao

Dimitris Lykomitros

Brian Peter Jacoby

Christopher John Cornwell

Michael Adams

Varadharajan Radhamani Basker

Richard Lai

William Cartwright Weller

Terry Moros

Paula A Wege

Dimitrios Lykomitros

Snack food product

The present invention discloses formulations for vacuum baked fruit and vegetable snack pieces that have a crispy, crunchy texture similar to potato chip, corn based wafers, and other popular snack items. A fruit or vegetable base is combined with other ingredients and water to make a slurry, which is sheeted and dried in a vacuum belt dryer, and separated into snack sized pieces. In one embodiment, substantial amounts of solid inclusions are combined with the slurry before drying.

Fruit and vegetable snacks

A method for thawing and infusing partially frozen fruits or vegetables. Individually quick frozen fruits or vegetables are introduced into a mixing kettle. An infusion solution is circulated from a solution tank, through a bed of fruits or vegetables, and back to a solution tank. The infusion solution is maintained at a temperature of about 45&#xb0; to about 50&#xb0; F. and at a Brix of about 40&#xb0; to about 50&#xb0;. The infusion solution is pumped and circulated at a high rate which reduces thaw time but does not result in product degradation. After thawing, the pumping and re-circulating rate is decreased to allow for increased infusion efficiency. Pressure pulses are applied to the product in the mixing tank which decreases the infusion time. Thus, thawed and infused fruit and vegetables are produced quickly and with minimal product degradation.

Processing technique to thaw partially frozen fruits and vegetables and incorporating solids

A multi-grain chip having buckwheat hull inclusion of a specific particle size. The buckwheat hull component of the chip provides a visual indication of the multi-grain characteristics of the chip. The particle size of the buckwheat hulls is specified in order to compliment production of the chip on existing corn chip lines and to enhance product visual attributes.

Snack chip containing buckwheat hulls

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McKinney, TX, United States of America

Vamshidhar Puppala