BOILED RICE FREEZING IN LOOSENED GRAINS AND APPARATUS THEREFOR

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and an apparatus for producing a frozen product of boiled rice in being loosened into individual separated grains to a moderate grade without damage to the rice grains in no need of any complicated or special mechanical structure. SOLUTION: Boiled rice is placed on the endless conveyer belt having air permeability and cooled down by the cooled air from the air-blasting fan arranged on the back face of the conveying face of the endless belt 1 to form blocks of the primary frozen rice grains in which each grain is not yet frozen to its core. The blocks of the primary frozen rice grains are loosened by a compressed air trough the compressed air intermittent feeding pipe 3 from the conveying face set near the end side to the conveying direction of the endless belt 1 toward the conveying face. Further, the blocks of frozen boiled rice grains are loosed into more smaller blocks by a rotary rice grain loosing device that is set to the position to which the rice grains fall down from the first endless conveyer between the end edge of the first endless belt conveyer 1 and the starting edge of the second air-permeable endless belt conveyer 2 that is arranged to one step lower than the first conveyer 1. Then, the cold air is blasted from the fan 5 from the back side of the conveying face of the second endless conveyer belt to completely freeze the rice grains into their cores.