| 摘要 |
526,474. Preserving and preparing potatoes; mashing and peeling. POTATO CORPORATION OF IDAHO. Feb. 14, 1939, No. 4877. Convention date, Feb. 15, 1938. Drawings to Specification. [Classes 28 (ii) and 49] After removal of the skins, potatoes are cut into slices, preferably about three-eighths of an inch thick, placed in water at room temperature and brought gradually to the boil. When the pieces are cooked they are separated quickly from the water and allowed to cool, and are then formed into small strips which are dried at a temperature, sufficiently low to avoid surface hardening of the strips and damage to the starch cells by swelling to the bursting point. The potatoes are placed in a basket and are skinned by dipping them in a lye solution, the skins and the solution being removed by cold water sprays. The potatoes, after slicing, are placed in a basket which is placed in a vat containing cold water rendered slightly alkaline by milk of lime or sodium carbonate, and steam is injected into the water to bring it to the boil in about 10 minutes. Cooking is continued for about 14 minutes, the water then being drained from the vat. The potatoes are allowed to stand for about 1 minute to equalize the moisture content and to ensure that the potatoes are cooked uniformly throughout. They are then dumped upon a perforated conveyer on which they cool, some evaporation taking place during the cooling. The potatoes are, or may be, cut into smaller pieces at the discharge end of the conveyer by spaced knives, and are delivered into a perforated horizontal drum having an internal roller which forces the potatoes through the perforations in the form of thin strings or strips which fall on to a conveyer passing through a drying-chamber. A counter-current of air at a temperature of about 70‹C., dries the strings which are removed from the conveyer by a rotary brush. The product is easily made into a mashed potato mass, by mixing with. an equal quantity of boiling water or milk and cooking for about five minutes. Specification 526,292, [Group V], is referred to. |
