AU2018208302B2

AU2018208302B2 - Forced-convection, steam-heating of nuts with preheating

Info

Publication number: AU2018208302B2
Application number: AU2018208302A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Joseph F. Kovacs; James M. LAPEYRE III; Michael V. Sclafini
Original assignee: Laitram LLC
Current assignee: Laitram LLC
Priority date: 2017-01-10
Filing date: 2018-01-05
Publication date: 2022-11-24
Anticipated expiration: 2038-01-05
Also published as: ZA201904189B; AU2018208302A1; CN110167363B; ES2724365B2; WO2018132307A1; ES2724365R1; AU2022100141A4; ES2724365A2; AU2022100141B4; CN110167363A

Abstract

Method for pasteurizing almonds and other nuts with steam at atmospheric pressure. The amount of condensation on and the consequent water uptake of nuts is limited by pasteurizing the nuts in a heating chamber with a gaseous atmosphere including a steam mixture and forming a forced-convection path through the nuts. The limited water uptake maintains the quality of the nuts. A forced-convection steam cooker conveying food products on a foraminous conveyor belt forces the steam mixture through the nuts. A preheater preheats the nuts so that they can be pasteurized in the steam cooker at a temperature of between 85°C and 99°C to reduce the dwell time and increase throughput.

Description

FORCED-CONVECTION, STEAM-HEATING OF NUTS WITH PREHEATING BACKGROUND

The invention relates generally to steam cooking and more particularly to methods

for steam-heating nuts with forced convection at temperatures below 100°C (212°F).

Nuts, such as almonds, are often pasteurized by immersion in hot water or an air

steam environment. Steam pasteurizers conventionally use the heat of condensation to heat

the outer surfaces of nuts to temperatures high enough to deactivate enough micro

organisms to meet acceptable pasteurization levels. The nuts enter the steam pasteurizer at a

temperature below the temperature of the steam. The steam condenses on the outer surface

of the nuts and raises their temperature. But the condensation can wrinkle and loosen the

outer skins of the nuts. In the case of almonds and other nuts to be sold in their skins, the

nuts'uptake of water should be limited. One approach to limiting condensation in almonds

is described in International Patent Publication No. WO 2013/171336. That document teaches

pre-heating low-moisture foods to a temperature above or slightly below the condensation

temperature of the water vapor in the heating chamber to limit condensation. Another

approach, described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0040030, steams nuts at

a pressure below atmospheric to limit water uptake. But pre-heating requires an additional

heater, and a vacuum system requires batch and not continuous handling.

Reference to any prior art in the specification is not an acknowledgement or

'0 suggestion that this prior art forms part of the common general knowledge in any

jurisdiction or that this prior art could reasonably be expected to be combined with any

other piece of prior art by a skilled person in the art.

By way of clarification and for avoidance of doubt, as used herein and except where

the context requires otherwise, the term "comprise" and variations of the term, such as "comprising", "comprises" and "comprised", are not intended to exclude further additions,

components, integers or steps.

SUMMARY

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for

pasteurizing nuts, comprising: conveying nuts along a conveying path through a preheating chamber; conveying the nuts preheated in the preheating chamber atop a foraminous conveyor belt advancing along the conveying path through a heating chamber; wherein the preheating chamber preheats the nuts to a surface temperature low enough below the condensation temperature in the heating chamber to ensure that condensation forms on the nuts in the heating chamber; forcing a substantially homogeneous gaseous atmosphere formed by mixing air or another gas with steam injected into the heating chamber along a downward forced-convection path through the nuts and the foraminous conveyor belt to heat outer skins of the nuts through condensation but to limit the amount of condensation enrobing the nuts to prevent the outer skins from blistering; maintaining atmospheric pressure in the heating chamber; regulating the injection of steam into the heating chamber to control the temperature of the gaseous atmosphere in the heating chamber to a heating temperature of greater than 85°C and less than 99°C to pasteurize the nuts.

1A

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These features and aspects of the invention, as well as its advantages, are described

in more detail in the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings,

in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a portion of a steam cooker, with its facing sidewall removed

for clarity, embodying features of the invention; and

FIG. 2 is an axial cross sectional view of the steam cooker of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side-elevation cross sectional view of the steam cooker of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a steam cooker as in FIG. 1 with a preheating zone.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A steam cooker that operates according to and embodies features of the invention is

shown in FIG. 1 with its facing side wall removed to better illustrate its components. The

cooker 14, which is open to the atmosphere, has an enclosure 16 that is supported on legs 17

and extends from an entrance end 18 to an exit end 19. A foraminous conveyor belt 20 is

trained around drive and idle sprockets 22, 23 at opposite ends of an upper carryway 24 that

traverses the cooker. Diverting rollers or drums 26 guide the endless belt loop along a

returnway 28 below the cooker. A network of steam pipes 30 injects steam supplied by a

boiler or other steam source into the cooker through the bottom of the enclosure. The

injection of steam is regulated by valves 31 (in FIG. 2) in the steam network.

The cooker shown is modular with at least two identical heating modules 32, 32'.

More modules may be connected in series to lengthen the total low-temperature heating

region. A single module could be used for food products that require only a brief heating

time. Each module is individually controlled with its own steam valves. A feedback signal

from a temperature-sensing probe 34 in each heating module is used by a controller, such as

a programmable logic controller, to control the opening of the steam-injector valve to

maintain a predetermined heating temperature in each module. The probe, the controller,

and the valve provide a means for maintaining a pre-selected temperature in each module.

Air circulators, such as fans 36 or blowers, draw air 37 into the cooker through one of the

side walls 38, as also shown in FIG. 2. The fan also draws steam 40 injected into the cooker

through openings in a plenum 42, in which the air and steam are mixed. The fan blows the

air-steam mixture through openings in the top of the plenum. The air-steam mixture then circulates along a convection path, indicated by arrows 44, that intersects nuts 46 being conveyed atop the conveyor belt 20 along the carryway. The belt is foraminous to allow the air-steam mixture to pass through and also to allow any condensation to drain. Other features of such a forced-convection cooker as described thus far are given in U.S. Patent

No. 6,274,188, "Method for Steam-Cooking Shrimp at Reduced Temperatures to Decrease

Yield Loss," August 14, 2001, incorporated herein by reference. One example of such a

cooker is the CoolSteam© cooker manufactured and sold by Laitram Machinery, Inc., of

Harahan, Louisiana, U.S.A. Because of the thoroughness of the forced-convection heat

treatment described, heat-treating at temperatures of less than 100°C (212°F) at atmospheric

pressure is possible. In fact, temperatures in the heating region below 85°C (185°F) and

preferably in the range from 62°C (144°F) to 79°C (175°F) are effective in blanching or

pasteurizing almonds without blistering or loosening their skins because the low

temperatures minimize the uptake of moisture by the almonds.

In operation, nuts, such as peanuts or almonds and other tree nuts, are conveyed into

the steam cooker 14 by the conveyor belt 20 along a conveying path 56. The nuts are heated

in a low-temperature cooking region 58 that may include one or more identical forced

convection heating modules 32, 32'. Air is drawn into the modules and mixed with steam to

form a substantially homogeneous gaseous atmosphere of air (or other gas, such as nitrogen)

and steam or water vapor. This steam mixture is circulated by an air circulator, such as a fan, in a convection path that intersects the food product. In this example the convection path is

perpendicular to the conveying path 56, but it could intersect or cross the conveying path

from other directions. Along with the low-temperature heat treatment, the forced

convection flow through the nuts shears condensation enrobing the nuts and inhibits the

uptake of moisture. The duration of the heating -the dwell time -is set by one or more of:

(a) the length of the low-temperature heating region 58, (b) the speed of the conveyor belt 20,

(c) the temperature of the heating region, (d) the size and kind of nut, and (e) the thickness

of the mat of nuts on the conveyor belt. For almonds, the dwell time may range from 4 to 9

minutes in order to achieve sufficient lethality, e.g., a 6 log reduction in a target organism,

such as salmonella. The temperature of the heating region is measured by a temperature

probe and controlled by the amount of steam introduced into the cooker in each module.

FIG. 3 shows the steam cooker 14 with two heating modules 32, 32'. In the first

module 32, the convection path through the foraminous conveyor belt 20 and the conveyed nuts 46 is downward. In the second module 32', the convection path is upward through the nuts. Subjecting the nuts or other food products to both upward and downward convection flows results in a more uniform heat treatment.

Low-temperature pasteurization as described is effective in minimizing the

deleterious uptake of water by the nuts. But pasteurizing nuts at lower temperatures

requires a longer dwell time in the cooker to achieve the desired kill of pathogens. And

longer dwell times lower product throughput.

Preheating nuts in a low-humidity, dry-air preheating chamber 60, or preheater,

before they are conveyed into a pasteurizing region 62, as shown in FIG. 4, reduces the

uptake of moisture during subsequent pasteurization at higher temperatures, such as

temperatures between 90°C (194°F) and 99°C (210°F) instead of below 85°C (185°F). For example, instead of pasteurizing room-temperature nuts in the low-temperature

pasteurizing region for 4 min at 79°C (175°F), nuts preheated to a surface temperature of

about 54°C (130°F) at a relative humidity of between 1% and about 60% can be pasteurized

at 95°C (203°F) in just 1.75 min. The preheater heats the surfaces of the nuts to a temperature

below the dew point, or condensation temperature, to ensure that condensation forms on the

nuts' outer surfaces during pasteurization. Testing has shown that by preheating nuts in the

preheater 60 for between about 1 min and about 6 min at a temperature of between about

57C (135°F) and about 85°C (185°F) to raise the surface temperature of the nuts to between

about 38°C (100°F) and about 70°C (158°F), nuts can be pasteurized in the forced-convection

steam pasteurizing region 62 of the cooker at a temperature of between 85°C (185°F) and

99°C (210°F) for a dwell time of between about 1 min and about 6 min. This reduced

pasteurization time improves throughput. Pasteurization can also be performed down to a

temperature of 74°C (165°F) with longer dwell times.

Although the preheating chamber 60 has been described as a low-humidity, dry-heat

heater, in other versions, the preheating chamber 60 can be a separate forced-convection

steam cooker, an additional forced-convection heating module preceding the two

modules 32, 32' of FIG. 1, or the first module 32 of FIG. 1.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. A method for pasteurizing nuts, comprising:

conveying nuts along a conveying path through a preheating chamber;

conveying the nuts preheated in the preheating chamber atop a foraminous conveyor

belt advancing along the conveying path through a heating chamber;

wherein the preheating chamber preheats the nuts to a surface temperature low enough

below the condensation temperature in the heating chamber to ensure that

condensation forms on the nuts in the heating chamber;

forcing a substantially homogeneous gaseous atmosphere formed by mixing air or

another gas with steam injected into the heating chamber along a downward forced

convection path through the nuts and the foraminous conveyor belt to heat outer

skins of the nuts through condensation but to limit the amount of condensation

enrobing the nuts to prevent the outer skins from blistering;

maintaining atmospheric pressure in the heating chamber;

regulating the injection of steam into the heating chamber to control the temperature of

the gaseous atmosphere in the heating chamber to a heating temperature of greater

than 85°C and less than 99°C to pasteurize the nuts.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the temperature of the preheating chamber is between

about 57°C and about 85°C.

'0
3. The method of claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the dwell time of the nuts in the preheating

chamber is between about 1 min and about 6 min.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the preheating chamber preheats the nuts to a surface

temperature of between about 38°C and about 85°C.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein the preheating chamber preheats the nuts to a surface temperature below about 70°C.
6. The method of claim any one of the preceding claims wherein the dwell time of the nuts

in the heating chamber is between about 1 min and about 6 min.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein the dwell time of the nuts in the heating chamber is 4

min or less.
8. The method of any one of the preceding claims wherein the preheating chamber is a

low-humidity, dry-air preheater maintaining a relative humidity of between 1% and

60%.
9. The method of any one of claims 1 to 7 wherein the preheating chamber is a forced

convection steam cooker.
10.The method of any one of the preceding claims wherein the nuts are almonds having

outer skins.