LOW TEMPERATURE EXTRUSION PROCESS FOR QUICK COOKING PASTA PRODUCTS

摘要

Quick cooking pasta products are extruded in a low temperature process by advancing a partially pre-cooked mixture of pasta flour and water prepared in a preconditioner (15) along the length of a screw extruder (12) through a cooking zone (20-30), then through a venting zone (32) and a forming zone (34,36), and finally through an extrusion die (18) to yield an extruded product. The mixture has a maximum temperature of 215 DEG F. in the cooking zone in order to substantially eliminate the formation of darkened specks in the final extruded product which would otherwise represent portions of the mixture that are burned during cooking. Limiting the maximum temperature of the mixture in the extruder also greatly enhances the extruded pasta quality by increasing product resistance to overcooking and improving the retention characteristics of the original product intergrity. Venting of the gaseous products from the mixture during the time that the latter passes between the cooking zone and the forming zones removes significant amounts of moisture to enable less shear to be imposed on the mixture during the cooking process and to decrease the time required for rehydration of the extruded products. A venting device has a rotatable screw (60) for enabling gaseous materials to be discharged from the mixture while substantially preventing the escape of the mixture from the extruder barrel (32).