Process to enhance flavor of roasted nuts and products with modified texture

摘要

Process for making crunchy flavorful nut products comprising contacting raw nuts with a water source effective to moisten the nuts without immersing the nuts in the water source, and roasting the moistened nuts. The nut products are crunchy and retain nut flavor when processed in this manner.

主权项

1. A process for making nut products, comprising:
contacting unroasted raw nuts with water, the unroasted raw nuts selected from the group consisting of—tree nuts, legume nuts, and seeds, and the unroasted raw nuts having a density and an amount of flavor-forming compounds including oils, the water effective to moisten the raw nuts without immersing the raw nuts in the water, the raw nuts and water in a weight ratio of water to raw nuts ranging from about 1:10 to about 2:10 effective to swell the raw nuts to an increased volume while retaining the amount of flavor-forming compounds including oils from the unroasted raw nuts, wherein the contacting includes applying the water in metered amounts to the raw nuts effective to moisten but not immerse the raw nuts while tumbling; holding the moistened nuts for about 15 to about 60 minutes, the holding effective to equilibrate moisture within the moistened nuts while maintaining an elevated moisture level and the increased volume; and roasting the moistened nuts with the elevated moisture level effective to maintain the increased volume to provide a less dense nut.