| 摘要 |
An apparatus and method for making uniformly shaped snack food chips which c an be stacked for packaging, e.g., in a cylindrical canister or a canister whic h conforms to the contour or perimeter of the snack food chips. The apparatus features two-part mold cavities in which chip preforms are restrained and transported through hot oil to be cooked. Preferably, the mold cavities are defined between a pair of rotating belts, one lower belt and one upper belt, which together "encase" or "sandwich" and thereby restrain the chips. According to the method, a continuous sheet of dough is toasted and then proofed before being cut into individual chip preforms. The preforms are the n placed into the mold cavities and transported through hot oil to be cooked. Vacuum transfer rollers are used to facilitate placement of the chip preform s into the mold cavities and extraction of the cooked chips from the mold cavities. |
