摘要 |
1,206,033. Drying food. W. R. GRACE & CO. 18 Jan., 1968 [24 Jan., 1967 (2)], No. 2680/68. Heading A2D. In processing a fluent foodstuff, such as ice cream, ground meat, gelatine food products, custards or pie fillings, the fluent foodstuff is filled into cavities in a onepiece tray made of material which is permeable to water vapour, e.g. a synthetic thermoplastic resin, the tray and its contents are cooled to freeze the food in each cavity into a solid, frozen monolith, and then subjected to freeze drying under subatmospheric pressure and, if desired, with local application of heat, to reduce the moisture content of each monolith to less than 4% by weight. Each tray containing free-dried monoliths may be wrapped in a moisture proof wrapping. Alternatively, each freeze-dried monolith may be removed from the tray and given a continuous coating of an edible substance such as candy, then put back in the tray and the whole wrapped. The tray may be coated, at least in its cavities, with a silicone-type release agent. |