Dehydrated Vegetable Jerky Texture via Controlled Thermal Processing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current snack options, particularly jerky, often rely on expensive animal products with unhealthy additives, while vegetables lack the desired texture and taste for a jerky-like experience, and have short shelf-life when not refrigerated.
Innovation Solution
A dehydrated vegetable food product is created by cooking and dehydrating vegetable pieces at successive lower temperatures, with flavoring applied between dehydration steps, achieving a jerky-like texture requiring at least 30 Newtons to shear until 95% strain, mimicking the texture and taste of beef jerky.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If animal products are used to make jerky, then the desired tough and chewy texture is achieved, but the cost increases and unhealthy additives are required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by controlling dehydration temperature and time to transform vegetable tissue structure. By dehydrating at specific temperatures (e.g., 100-150°C) for extended periods, the vegetable cells undergo structural changes that create a tough, chewy texture similar to jerky, without requiring animal products or unhealthy additives
Solution Approach 2:
The patent substitutes expensive animal products with inexpensive vegetables as the base material. By using vegetables like potatoes, carrots, or bell peppers and applying proper dehydration treatment, the invention creates a jerky-like product from cheap, healthy plant-based ingredients, eliminating the need for costly meat while achieving similar textural properties
2Object-affected harmful factors
If vegetables are used as snack alternatives, then nutritional value and healthiness improve, but the texture and taste lack the desired jerky-like experience
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms soft vegetable tissue into jerky-like texture by controlling dehydration parameters. The process involves dehydrating vegetables at specific temperatures and durations that cause cellular structure changes, creating a tough, chewy consistency while preserving the health benefits and nutritional value of the vegetable base
3Duration of action of stationary object
If vegetables are dehydrated for shelf-stability, then shelf-life extends, but the texture becomes too hard or brittle
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs dynamic dehydration by using multiple temperature stages and adjusting dehydration conditions throughout the process. This dynamic approach prevents excessive hardness by controlling moisture removal rates, maintaining a chewy texture while achieving sufficient shelf-stability. The process may involve initial high-temperature dehydration followed by lower-temperature finishing stages
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary blanching or pre-treatment to vegetables before dehydration. This preliminary action modifies the vegetable cell structure in advance, making them more resistant to becoming too hard or brittle during the dehydration process, while still achieving shelf-stable conditions and maintaining desirable chewy texture
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The method produces a shelf-stable, healthy vegetable snack with a jerky-like texture and taste, overcoming the limitations of animal-based snacks in terms of cost, nutritional value, and shelf-life, while avoiding unhealthy additives.
Implementation Method 1
the cooked vegetable food product has been dehydrated in a series of successive dehydration steps, wherein each of the successive dehydration steps has a temperature lower than a previous step
Implementation Method 2
the vegetable food product has been cooked for approximately 5-10 minutes at a temperature of approximately 212° F.
Data Source
AI summary
A vegetable food product and a method of making a dehydrated vegetable food product are provided. A quantity of vegetables is cut to a predetermined size. The quantity of cut vegetables is cooked. The quantity of cut vegetables has surface moisture removed. A flavoring material is imparted into the quantity of vegetables. The quantity of cut vegetables is substantially dehydrated, wherein each of the cut vegetables has a jerky-like texture, wherein shearing through the jerky-like texture requires a force of at least 30 N until a 95% strain is achieved utilizing a TA-HD Plus Texture Analyzer Device. The quantity of vegetable may include a quantity of potatoes.