JPH06296469A - Coating drum for cooking pasta - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] (Modified) [Objective] To provide a coating drum for a flexible strand food which gently stretches waves from a distillation apparatus so that the strands of the food are not broken. [Structure] A double-walled drum of coaxial cylinder having an end seal and a heat insulating material between the cylinders. The drum is open at both ends and rotates on a central axis that is inclined from horizontal so that the entrance is higher. A flexible strand of food enters through the inlet and exits through the outlet end. While the food strands are moving through the drum, the pins
The food strands are continuously lifted and separated to mix the liquid with the product and produce a uniform coating.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to coating flexible strand foods that are susceptible to spoilage by microorganisms, such as coatings for cooked pasta strands such as spaghetti, macaroni, noodles, or processed protein products. The present invention relates to drums and related methods, and more particularly to pasta that has been cooked and then coated with acid and oil before being packaged in airtight containers as one of the preparations for eating foods with long shelf life. The present invention relates to coating drums for products and related methods.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The parent case of this application, copending application Ser. No. 07/991/454, relates to packaged, fully cooked food products having a long shelf life. The food product comprises a fully cooked starch food product and an edible acid uniformly dispersed in the food product.

In the continuous device coating of cooked strand pasta according to the above invention, the strands ball up in the coater and the coating becomes non-uniform, and the waves in the coater caused by the blancher. It has been found that this affects the acidity as well as the uniformity of quality of the packaged product. Moreover, it has been difficult to keep the coater and downstream equipment, such as equipment for moving the product relative to the packaging equipment, at sufficiently high temperatures throughout.

Since it is not possible to maintain a high temperature from the blancher to the packaging equipment, or to isolate the pasta from contact with the atmosphere, after packaging it in an airtight container, the pasta is fired and pasteurized or sterilized.
n), or frozen to provide storage stability.

In addition to the time and labor required, coating on a batch basis has drawbacks. That is, if the cooked pasta is kept for more than about 2 minutes after draining, the cooked pasta becomes sticky and the temperature drop during batch coating is remarkable.

Continuous coating drums typically include vanes or baffles that tumble the product. However, this causes ball-up of the stranded cooked pasta, affecting the acid to which the pasta is exposed in the coater as well as the uniformity of other treatments. Moreover, continuous coaters as well as downstream equipment for packaging products are generally not insulated.

When continuously coating pasta strands,
Microorganisms can grow because the temperature is significantly reduced. In addition, structural defects in the coat to limit waves during delivery from the continuous blancher lead to poor coating homogeneity, which is a disadvantage in downstream equipment such as packaging equipment. The wave of food to the coat is especially increased in an automatic blancher, as the blancher has a screw drive to move the product through and out of the blancher.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a coating drum for flexible strand food that gently stretches the waves from the distillation apparatus so that the food strands are not destroyed.

Insulation, a plurality of pick-up elements for dispersing and tumbling the cooked pasta strands while coating the food, and means for uniformly moving the product from the inlet to the discharge end of the drum. It is another object of the invention to provide a coating drum having.

For example, sterilization of packaged food, pasteurization,
Or providing the coating drum described above with associated apparatus for packaging cooked strands of pasta products while maintaining high temperature and sterility so as not to require further processing to extend shelf life such as freezing. , Yet another object of the present invention.

It is a further aspect of the present invention to provide a method relating to the above coater and associated apparatus for continuously coating and packaging strands of cooked pasta susceptible to microbial spoilage, as well as strands of other flexible strand foods. Is the purpose.

In the accompanying drawings: FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a coating drum of the present invention having some of the support structures and a partial cross-sectional view showing the interior of the drum; FIG. 2 is the coating of FIG. FIG. 3 is a simplified longitudinal section view of a drum; FIG. 3 shows a continuous hot water blancher, for example for strand pasta, a chute for feeding cooking pasta to a coating drum, the cooked and coated pasta. FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a coating drum of the present invention having associated equipment such as a transfer chute for moving from a to a metering pump and a packaging machine.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS See drawings. As best seen in FIG. 2, the same reference numbers are used to indicate similar parts. The rotary coating drum 10 comprises an outer shell 12 and an inner shell 14 having a heat insulating material 16 therebetween. Axial end seals (not shown) are located at the two drum ends between the shells. The drum 10 rotates about a generally horizontal axis and is about 92 inches long. The drum has an outer diameter of 28 inches, except for the conical portion 22 which is about 6 inches long and which provides a restricted discharge opening 28. The inside of the drum has an inside diameter of 24 inches. The drum has an annular flange 24 that is approximately 2 inches long in the axial direction of the drum body and the discharge opening 28 is 16 inches in diameter. The outer circumference of the annular flange 24 provides close sealing tolerance for connecting downstream equipment.

At the drum inlet 26, the drum has an annular flange or dam 36. At the inlet, vanes or lifters 30 are attached to dam 36 and inner shell 14. A vane or lifter 34 at the discharge end is also attached to the inner shell. The lifters 30 and 34 have a pitch of about 30 degrees with respect to the outlet or discharge end 28.

The drum is inclined from the inlet to the discharge end with a slope of at least 1 degree, for example up to about 5 degrees,
The entrance is higher. Therefore, in addition to the movement of the vanes at the inlet and outlet ends, the product moves towards the outlet end due to the rotation of the drum. The drum rotates clockwise when viewed from the inlet to the discharge end.

Due to the annular drum 36, the inlet diameter is 16
Limited to inches, steam outflow from the drum and heat loss are minimized. The vanes at the inlet are 4 inches high and about 10 inches long. The vanes at the discharge end are about 4 inches high and about 13 inches long.

Pin 32, best shown in FIG.
A product pick-up means, such as, extends generally radially inward from the inner surface of the drum, and cooks the stranded pasta 48 in the drum 48 while the product is carried by the gradient toward the discharge end. Lift and tumble. The two movements allow the coating material to move from one surface of the pasta 48 to another, thus achieving dispersion of the coating.

The pin 32 is 3 inches long and is 3/8
Made of inch stainless steel rod. Inside the drum, there are eight columns of pins that are vertically spaced 4 inches between the pins, the columns being centered from the other columns. In order to retain heat, the baffli (baffli
ng) (not shown).

The inside of the drum may include pins from end to end. Preferably, the pins diverge from the inlet (including the area with the inlet lifter) to the exhaust lifter. There are no lifters in the area in the drum adjacent to the inlet and in the drum away from the area in the drum adjacent to the discharge end. Therefore, the inlet lifter occupies only about 5-20% of the drum length and the outlet lifter occupies about 5-25% of the drum length. The remaining or central section has pins but no lifters. The drum length with pins is at least twice the area with lifters, preferably 3-4 times the area with lifters.

For rotation of the drum, a trunnion ring 20 is mounted on the circumference of the drum and has metal flanges 18-18. The drum rotates at a speed of about 7-21 revolutions per minute.

As best shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a stainless steel horizontal intake tube 42 having a spray nozzle 44 projects above the drum inlet 26 to provide an acid spray 46 at the drum. The connection support and stop 50 seal and separate the tube 42 from the tube 52. Preferably, each of the tubes is separate and self-supporting without support and stops 50. Pipe 52
Carry lecithin in an oil mixture. The tube 52 has a spray nozzle 54 for generating an oil lecithin spray 56. The drum length exposed to acid spray is longer, preferably about twice the drum length exposed to oil spray.

As best seen in FIGS. 1 and 3, trunnion wheels such as 60, 62 are secured to a longitudinally extending shaft 64. The wheel supports and rotates the drum. The shaft 64 is
It is driven by a motor 65 via one or more connecting chains 66.

As shown in FIG. 1, the drum has one
The event drum 10 can be permanently fixed or moved in one position, and the event drum 10 is a means for rotating the assembly, such as a wheel or castor 74.
Are mounted on a suitable platform 100 mounted at the inlet end. The castors are mounted on a shaft 76 that fits into a tubular vertical support member 78 for adjusting the slope of the drum. The drum discharge opening is typically directed downward by stretching the shaft 76 of the wheel or castor 74. The drum and blancher 68 are preferably columns 112.
Mezz-zanine 110 as supported by
Placed on top.

As best shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a flexible strand of food product 48, such as cooked spaghetti, is fed from the intake chute 80 to the drum and from the blancher 68 the food product is sequenced. Come to. The coated product is discharged from the drum into a discharge transfer chute 82. The intake of the discharge transfer chute fits snugly on the drum annular discharge flange 24. The chute 82 has a portion located below and is provided with a drain 84 to remove excess water from the food product. The lower end of the chute is preferably bifurcated so that the food product can go down into the first leg 86 or the second leg 88 of the discharge chute. The operator manages the choice of chute legs. The chute leg 86 leads into a metering pump and filler 93 and the chute leg 88 leads into a metering pump and filler 95. The filling machine 93 includes a plastic roll 114.
The plastic packaging material 118 is supplied from the filling machine 9
5, the plastic material 120 is supplied from the plastic roll 116. Seals or baffles (not shown) are provided at the connection between the chute legs and the metering pump and filler to store heat. Fillers are form fill machines that package products in a sealed manner in plastic.
The doorway 96 allows the packaged product 98 to be placed on the transfer belt 100 for optional further processing.

The packaging used is that of a sealed container that prevents food from coming into contact with the atmosphere. The sealed container is
It contains a material with a perfect barrier. Such materials include metals, glass, and various synthetic resins such as nylon or low density polyethylene.

The term "flexible strand food" has a length that is much longer than it is wide, for example a strand is about 140 inches long and has a thickness, for example a diameter or width of about 0.01. To about 1 inch, and preferably about 0.05 inch thick to about 120 inch long, such as cooked spaghetti, macaroni, strands, fibers, filaments,
It is used to mean a flexible food that is shaped into a ribbon or tape. Examples of such food products include various dietary strand cooked pasta and filamentary processed proteins. Stranded cooked pasta can include spaghetti, macaroni, and noodles.

Among the food-based pasta, the pasta obtained from substantially sticky flour is suitable in the present invention. Examples of suitable sticky flours are semolina flour, durum flour, corn flour, buckwheat flour, farina,
And whole wheat flour. Fully cooked food pasta generally has a moisture content of about 65-85% by weight.

The method of the present invention includes continuously producing the product. That is, the blancher cooks the pasta in a strand shape, and then the cooked pasta is continuously transferred by a screw drive to a chute that sequentially arranges the pasta at the entrance of the coating drum. The inlet lifter pushes the product into the drum towards the discharge end and the lifter at the discharge end pushes the product out of the drum. The pasta strands are separated and tumbled by pins while being coated with edible acid. The acid is absorbed by the pasta. The first spray applied is acid. The acid spray covers about 2/3 of the length of the drum. Pasta is also exposed to oil spray. The spray is adjacent the discharge end and covers about 1/3 of the drum length. Reverse the order of applying acid and oil spray (reversal
of the sequence), an irregular pH and an unnatural emulsion are formed on the pasta. The pH of the pasta is about 3.5-4.6, preferably 4.0-4.6, to maintain a low microbial content product. The pasta discharged from the drum is then directed to a propo-rtioning machine or weighing machine, which can be part of the packaging machine. With a wrapping machine, the pasta is placed in an airtight wrap, preferably in a sealed plastic pouch.

Pasta is continuously blanched and coated on a raised platform, such as a mezzanine floor. The coated pasta is gravity fed to a proportioner or weigher. A proportional amount of pasta is delivered to the packaging machine by a proportional distributor or pump.

Examples of edible acids that can be used in the present invention include: lactic acid; acetic acid; fumaric acid; citric acid; tartaric acid; sorbic acid; benzoic acid; and mixtures thereof. The amount of edible acid added to the pasta is preferably sufficient to provide a pH of about 3.5-4.6. Edible acids slow the growth of fungi, bacteria, and yeast that spoil foods. The acid is generally diluted with water and dispersed. The acid preferably penetrates into the surface of the pasta.

The pasteurized food composition is provided by maintaining the fully cooked strand pasta at a temperature above about 165 ° F. (74 ° C.) until packaged. In addition to holding the cooked pasta under pasteurized conditions until packaged, the contents of the container can be further sterilized or pasteurized after sealing by any conventional means. For example, pasteurization can be accomplished by heating the sealed and filled container to a temperature above about 180 ° F (82 ° C), for example by treatment with steam or boiling water. To sterilize, heat the contents to a temperature above about 212 ° F (100 ° C).

The edible acid coating used in the present invention preferably has a melting point of less than about 95 ° F. (35 ° C.) to prevent the cooked strand pasta from sticking and forming a solid mass. Provide the function. Preferably, the edible acid is used at less than about 15% by weight, based on the total weight of the package contents. The preferred amount of edible acid is generally about 1-8% by weight, based on the total weight of the package contents. Suitable edible oils include corn oil, unsaturated safflower oil, palm oil, olive oil, peanut oil, coconut oil, sunflower oil and the like.

The packaged pasta of the present invention has a long shelf life. As used herein, the term "long shelf life" suggests that pasta is stabilized against spoilage by microbiological growth at room temperature for a week or more. Preferably, the food is stored for 6 months or more against microbiological spoilage.

The present invention has at least three major novel features. That is, the first feature is the use of an insulating material in the drum along with a sealed discharge chute to maintain the temperature of the product. Ring dam 3 at the drum entrance
6. A baffling around the chute, and any other conduit, and a baffling at the inlet help maintain product temperature. The second feature is to use a pick-up means such as a pin to prevent the product from clumping and improve the flow of pasta to downstream equipment.
That is. The third feature is the use of gradient drainage,
Maintaining the residence time and removing the pasta wave from the blancher.

The present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to examples and tests. In the following examples and tests, as well as the specification and claims, all temperatures are in degrees Fahrenheit and each value is accompanied by an approximate value in degrees Celsius. All pH values for pasta are fresh distilled water
Measured on a sample containing 50 g of finely chopped pasta in a Waring blender with 50 g for about 1 minute. Further, all parts and percentages are by weight unless otherwise noted.

Examples and Tests Test 1. Coating of cooked spaghetti with conventional coating drums with flat bars was not satisfactory. In conventional coating drums, the spaghetti tends to ripple on the flat bar, which causes the spaghetti to become entangled with each other, resulting in non-uniform pH and large weight fluctuation in the downstream device. Became.
Even if some of the flat bars were replaced with pins, the above condition continued more or less. Prior to replacing all flat bars, product flow and acidification were not acceptable, whereas when all bars were replaced with pins, product flow and acidification were completely acceptable. It was

Test 2. Subagetti was cooked in batches. The first batch was blanched, drained and transferred to a ribbon blender. The temperature of the pasta dropped during transfer and the pasta became sticky. The ribbon blender chopped the spaghetti into short strands. The product produced was unacceptable.

Test 3. In a small batch kettle, another test was performed on Subaghetti. At the end of the cooking cycle, the cooking water was drained and the acid and oil applied in the batch kettle. The coated Subaghetti,
At 185 ° F (85 ° C), a Raque piston filler fed into a Hayssen vertical foam filler and sealer. The product was chopped into short strands by a piston filling machine. Back pressure on the Hayssen plane shreds Subagetti.

Test 4. The coated spaghetti was transferred from the coating drum to the packaging machine by a belt conveyor with cleats. The belt was open to the atmosphere. Excessive temperature drop and exposure to open air contributed to product contamination.

Test 5. The cooked pasta was conveyed across the vibratory conveyor to the coating drum. Acid was applied at the inlet of the coating drum and oil at the discharge end. The coating drum was not fitted with back mixing or product lifters to mix the spaghetti and coating. The coating application was not uniform.

Inventive Example Length 1 with 0.065-0.069 inch Diameter
Use a thin belt (weight b)
elt) continuously feed into the screw conveyor and blancher. The water temperature at the inlet of the blancher was set to 212 ° F (100 ° C) and the residence time of the spaghetti in the blancher was 10 minutes. Feed fresh hot water at about 210 ° F (99 ° C) into the outlet end of the blancher. Cooked spaghetti is discharged from the blancher and enters the coating drum. The acid solution is an 8 wt% solution of lactic acid in water. About 366 pounds of acid solution is used for about 9,900 pounds of cooked spaghetti. About 422 pounds of corn oil about 2
A mixture of corn oil and lecithin is prepared by heating to 00 ° F (93 ° C) and then slowly adding 1 pound 3 ounces of lecithin to the corn oil with constant stirring. About 423 pounds of the oil and lecithin mixture is sufficient to spray 15,000 pounds of cooked spaghetti.

The acid solution is sprayed onto the spaghetti at the front end of the coating drum at a rate sufficient to maintain the pH at about 3.5-4.6. The oil and lecithin are sprayed onto the acid-coated spaghetti near the discharge end of the coating drum at a rate sufficient to prevent sticking and provide lubrication to the spaghetti strands. The coating drum is about 10
Set to the speed of rotation / minute. This rate is adjusted according to the pH of the finished pouched product. The optimum residence time in the coating drum is 1.
5 minutes. The acid and oil coated Subagetti is discharged from the coating drum, fed through a covered chute and fed into a proportional pump and packaging machine for packaging. The minimum core temperature of the spaghetti in the pouch, about 175 ° F (79 ° C), is maintained during packaging.

Optionally, the packaged product is sent to a heat retaining tunnel with a minimum core temperature of 175 ° F (79 ° C) of 4
Hold for minutes. The product can then be sent to a spiral chiller to cool to 45 ° F.

Product of this example, diameter 0.065-
Manufactured from 0.069 inch 10 inch Subaghetti, acidified with food grade lactic acid to pH 4.0-4.6, coated with corn oil and lecithin, and
Fully cooked pasta product hot packed in a flexible pouch at temperatures of 175 ° F (79 ° C) or above. The finished product contains 2-5% fat, at least 60% of the spaghetti is 9 inches or greater, and the diameter of the spaghetti per 10 strands is 7 / 8-11 / 8 inches. is there. Water content is 2
67% or less when measured by the vacuum oven method at 12 ° F (100 ° C) for 5 hours.

CONCLUSION Although the present invention has been disclosed by describing the details of the preferred embodiments, this disclosure is meant to be exemplary rather than limiting, and the spirit and scope of the invention It will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art that modifications are possible within the scope of the following claims. The present invention includes many aspects not described in the details provided by the examples above. The lack of detail in all aspects does not exclude many other aspects from those claimed herein. The above examples can be repeated for other soft strand foods that are susceptible to spoilage by microorganisms, other edible acids, and other edible oils or lubricants with similar results.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a coating drum of the present invention having some of the support structures and a partial cross-sectional view showing the interior of the drum.

FIG. 2 is a simplified vertical sectional view of the coating drum of FIG.

FIG. 3: Continuous hot water blancher, eg for strand pasta, chute for feeding cooking pasta to a coating drum, to move cooked and coated pasta from the drum to a metering pump and packaging machine FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a coating drum of the present invention having an associated device such as a transfer chute of

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Yanien Lee, Timberlock Circle, Manlyus, New York, USA 8260 (72) Inventor Steven Russell Gilmore, Maple Avenue 2500 (72), Kato, New York, USA Inventor Nancy Elizabeth Darmody Fireside Lane 104, Camillus, NY, USA

Claims (33)

[Claims] 1. Openings at the ends of a double-walled cylindrical drum having insulation between the cylinders, one of the openings being the inlet and the other the discharge end; with respect to the central axis of the drum Means for rotating the drum; the discharge opening having a beveled limiting diameter; lifters at the inlet and discharge ends for pushing product from the inlet toward the discharge end and out of the discharge end; and A device that includes a pin that is oriented along the drum length between the inlet and the discharge lifter, toward the central axis of the drum, and is mounted at a right angle to the inner wall of the cylinder. 2. The drum of claim 1 wherein the drum is a coaxial cylinder having means for providing a spray into the drum to coat the product. 3. The cylinder is divided into three longitudinal zones, the first zone at the inlet lifter, the third zone at the discharge lifter and the second zone at the first zone. 3. The drum of claim 2 having a restricted opening at the inlet between the third zone and longer than the total length of the first and third zones, and with no lifter attached but containing pins. 4. A. An elongated insulating drum having an inlet at one end and a discharge end at the other end; B. Means for rotating the drum about an axis; C. Discharge end with reduced diameter; D. A lifter located inside the entrance of the drum for pushing the product into the drum; E. A lifter located at the discharge end for extruding product from the drum; and F. While the product is moving towards the discharge end, it lifts and separates the product deposited on the bottom of the drum, transports the product to the top of the drum and lowers the product towards the bottom while the drum is rotating. For picking up a plurality of pick-up elements extending generally radially inward from the inner surface of the drum, the pick-up elements being present in the longitudinal direction between the inlet lifter and the discharge lifter. 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the drum inlet has a restricted opening. 6. The drum is inclined from its axis,
The device according to claim 4, wherein the discharge end is the lower end. 7. The apparatus of claim 5 including fluid spray means in the drum. 8. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein means are provided for spraying the first liquid near the drum inlet and the second liquid near the discharge end. 9. The device of claim 8, wherein the pickup element is a pin. 10. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the lifter extends less than half the drum length. 11. A double-walled drum of coaxial cylinders having an inlet at one end and a discharge end at the other; insulating material between the cylinders; around the central axis of the drum in a generally horizontal plane. Means for rotating the;
An annular dam at the inlet to reduce the diameter of the inlet; a lifter at the inlet mounted inside the dam at the drum to further push material into the drum during drum rotation; towards the central axis of the drum A pin mounted at right angles to the inner wall of the cylinder; a drum discharge end having a cone with a reduced diameter opening and a lifter for pushing material out of the drum in the cone portion; The apparatus including the length along the drum axis between the inlet lifter and the discharge lifter that exceeds 2/3 of the total drum length. 12. The distance between the inlet lifter and the discharge lifter is at least 3/4 of the total drum length, and the pins are spread along the inner surface of the drum from the vicinity of the inlet lifter to the discharge lifter; the drum is horizontal. 12. The drum of claim 11 including means for inclining the drum at least one degree from the upper end to the inlet. 13. A. Placing a flexible, strand-like food product susceptible to spoilage by microorganisms at the inlet of elongated insulated rotating drum openings at the inlet and outlet ends, and with a limited outlet diameter; Further pushing food into the drum by a lifter inside the inlet; C. Lifting and separating the food items around the drum by means of radially arranged pins; D. While the food is moving in the direction of the discharge end, the food and the edible acid are brought into contact with each other, and the pin is used to continuously separate and mix the edible acid and the product, thereby to Producing a uniform coating of liquid; E. Interlocking a food product with a discharge lifter attached to the drum for discharge from the drum; and F. A method of coating a flexible, strand food product that is susceptible to spoilage by microorganisms, comprising the step of maintaining the food product in a drum at a temperature of at least 165 ° F. 14. The method of claim 13 wherein the food product is cooked pasta, the liquid is sprayed and the drum is tilted so that the upper end is the inlet. 15. Applying first and second coatings,
15. The method of claim 14, wherein the first coating is an aqueous solution of edible acid and the second coating is oil. 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the food product is maintained at a temperature of at least 170 ° F. 17. About 3.5 for foods with acid.
-The method of claim 16, wherein a pH of 4.6 is applied. 18. The food is placed in a drum until it is placed in an airtight container at least 170 °.
18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the temperature of F is maintained and the food discharged from the drum is packed in an airtight container. 19. An annular dam having a small inlet diameter and removing the waves produced when feeding the drum by the accumulation of pasta in the drum between the dam and the restricted discharge end. 18. The method according to 18. 20. The method of claim 19 wherein the pH is maintained at about 4.0-4.6 and the temperature at 170-212 ° F. 21. A. Placing the food in an elongated insulated drum that can be rotated about an axis that is inclined from horizontal and has a high inlet and a discharge end that has a limiting opening; B. Strands in the drum at least 165 °
Maintaining the temperature of F; C. Further pushing the strands into the drum by a lifter inside the drum inlet; D. Interlocking the strands with a plurality of pickup elements extending radially inward from the inner surface of the drum; E. While moving the strand towards the discharge end,
And lifting and separating the strands by a pick-up element during rotation of the drum; F. Applying an edible acid coating on the strands while they are being lifted and separated,
Giving the food a pH of about 3.5-4.6; and G. A method of treating a strand of soft food that is susceptible to spoilage by microorganisms, comprising the step of extruding the strand out of the discharge end by means of a lifter arranged inside the discharge end. 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the coating of edible acid is applied to the food product in an amount sufficient to suppress the stickiness of the strands. 23. The method of claim 21, wherein the coating is two of edible acid and edible oil. 24. The acid is about 4.0-for foods.
24. The method of claim 23, wherein a pH of 4.6 is applied. 25. The method of claim 23, wherein the food product is first coated with acid and then oil. 26. The method of claim 21, wherein the food product is maintained at a temperature of at least 175 ° F. 27. The food product is cooked pasta having a length of about 5-12 inches and the temperature is at least 170 °.
26. The method of claim 25, which is F. 28. The method of claim 25, wherein the acid and oil are applied by spraying. 29. The coated strands are held at at least 170 ° F. between drum loading and packaging, and the strands are packaged in an airtight container.
The method described. 30. A. Cooking pasta in a blancher having screw means for discharging the cooked pasta; B. It has a restricted inlet opening at one end and a beveled restricted discharge end at the other end, and can rotate about an axis, and is tilted from the horizontal to make the entrance higher. Placing cooking pasta at the entrance of an elongated insulating drum; C. Further pushing the pasta into the drum by a lifter inside the drum inlet; D. Interlocking the pasta with a plurality of pickup elements extending radially inward from the inner surface of the drum; E. While moving the strand towards the discharge end,
And lifting and separating the strands by a pick-up element during rotation of the drum; F. While the pasta was being lifted and separated in the drum, edible acid was sprayed onto the pasta to impart a pH of about 3.5-4.6 to the pasta and subsequently lifted. And spraying edible oil on the pasta while it is separated; G. Extruding the sprayed pasta by a lifter out from the discharge end; Moving pasta to a packaging device for packaging pasta in an airtight container; I. A method of inhibiting microbial attack on a cooked strand pasta product comprising maintaining the temperature of the cooked pasta at a temperature below at least 165 ° F until packaged from the blancher. 31. The method of claim 30, wherein the edible oil has a melting point below 95 ° F. 32. The method of claim 31, wherein the pickup element is a pin and the pH of the pasta at the discharge end is about 4.0-4.6. 33. A. Cooking pasta in a blancher having a screw conveyor for moving the pasta therein; B. Discharging cooking pasta into the inlet of a rotatable elongated insulating drum having an inlet opening at one end and a discharge opening at the other end, in which case the drum has a horizontal axis About 1-5 degrees from the top, the inlet is higher, and the pasta provides a limiting inlet opening to help retain heat in the drum. Is discharged into C; Extruding the pasta towards the discharge end by means of a lifter mounted on the drum inside the dam, said lifter accounting for less than about 20% of the drum length; D. Interlocking the radially arranged pins inside the drum perimeter with the pasta while the pasta is moving towards the discharge end and while the pasta is being lifted and tumbled by the pin; E. Spraying the pasta with an edible acid and coating the pasta with the acid while the pasta is being lifted and tumbled; F. Spraying edible oil onto pasta, spraying edible acid for a longer period of time than spraying edible oil; G. Moving the pasta towards the discharge end, the drum is conical and has a limiting discharge opening for depositing the pasta in the drum to remove waves from the blancher; The process of interlocking the pasta with the lifter arranged in the drum near the discharge end to push the pasta out of the drum, the lifter occupying about 20% or less of the drum length; I. Depending on the acidity of the spray, the process of applying a pH of about 3.5-4.6 to the pasta discharged from the drum, the amount of oil sprayed on the pasta depends on the stickiness of the pasta discharged from the drum. Sufficient to suppress sex; and J. A method for continuously preparing a preserved food product of strand-shaped cooked pasta, which comprises continuously packaging the pasta in an airtight container, and maintaining the temperature of the pasta at a temperature of 170 ° F. or higher after being cooked until being packaged.