Fruit-Containing Snack Foods and Manufacture Thereof

摘要

A method of manufacturing a fruit-containing snack food comprises providing a fruit material comprising whole fruit solids; providing a binder material, the binder material being selected from the group comprising cereal material, starch material, nuts seeds, egg, soy, pulses and dairy material; mixing together the fruit material and the binder material to form a mixture having a weight ratio of whole fruit solids: binder material solids of from 0.6:1 to less than 4:1, the whole fruit solids and binder material solids each being on a dry basis, and a moisture content of from 49 to 75 wt % based on the weight of the mixture; forming the mixture such that it has a thickness of between 1 and 4 millimetres; and cooking the mixture in a vacuum-controlled atmosphere having a pressure of less than 1 bar absolute.

主权项

1. A method of manufacturing a fruit-containing snack food, the method comprising the steps of:
a. providing at least one fruit material comprising whole fruit solids; b. providing at least one binder material, the at least one binder material being selected from the group comprising cereal material, starch material, nuts seeds, egg, soy, pulses and dairy material; c. mixing together the at least one fruit material and the at least one binder material to form a mixture having a weight ratio of whole fruit solids: binder material solids of from 0.6:1 to less than 4:1, the fruit solids and binder material solids each being on a dry basis, and a moisture content of from 49 to 75 wt % based on the weight of the mixture; d. forming the mixture such that it has a thickness of from 1 to 4 mm; e. microwave cooking the mixture in a vacuum-controlled atmosphere having a pressure of less than 1 bar absolute wherein after the microwave cooking step e the resultant cooked product has a moisture content of from 5 to 15 wt % based on the weight of the cooked product; and f. dehydrating the resultant cooked product to reduce the moisture content of the resultant cooked product to from 0.5 to 3 wt % based on the weight of the dehydrated cooked product;
wherein the cooking conditions are controlled so that during the cooking step e, the following sub-steps occur:
i. bubbles of steam form in the mixture which is initially fluid to allow bubble formation under the effect of the vacuum-controlled atmosphere;ii. at least some of the bubbles coalesce to form elongate bubbles extending substantially in the plane of the sheet; andiii. the mixture rigidifies as a result of the cooking process to form a cellular structure of voids within a rigid matrix.