Vacuum-Baked Fruit Vegetable Snack Texture
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing snack foods made from fruits and vegetables lack the crispy, crunchy texture desired by consumers and often fail to provide nutritional benefits different from traditional potato chips and corn-based snack wafers.
Innovation Solution
The development of vacuum-baked snack pieces using fruit or vegetable puree concentrates and powders, combined with ingredients like yogurt, whey protein, and whole grain flours, to create a crispy and nutritious snack with high fruit or vegetable content, achieving a desirable texture and retaining health benefits.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If dehydrated slices of whole fruits or vegetables are used to make snack foods, then the nutritional benefits of fruits and vegetables are retained, but the texture becomes chewy and tough instead of crispy
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical and chemical parameters of fruit/vegetable materials by converting them into puree concentrates and powders, then reformulating into a dough-like mixture with specific viscosity and composition. This transformation allows the material to be processed into thin sheets that achieve crispy texture while retaining nutritional benefits through controlled drying and baking parameters.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite material system combining fruit/vegetable puree concentrates with binding agents, flours, and other ingredients to form a dough-like mixture. This composite approach allows optimization of both nutritional content and textural properties, achieving crispy snack pieces that incorporate high levels of fruit/vegetable solids.
2Ease of manufacture
If traditional dehydration methods are used on fruit and vegetable slices, then the processing is simple, but the resulting product lacks the crispy, crunchy texture desired by consumers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-processing fruits and vegetables into puree concentrates and powders before final product formation. This pre-processing step enables better control over the final product's texture and structure, allowing the formation of thin, crispy snack pieces rather than simply dehydrating whole slices.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes phase transitions during the vacuum baking process, where moisture is removed from the dough-like mixture through controlled heating and vacuum conditions. This phase change from liquid to vapor results in the formation of a crispy, crunchy texture in the final snack piece.
3Quantity of substance
If fruit and vegetable based snack pieces are created with high fruit or vegetable solids content, then nutritional benefits are enhanced, but achieving the desired crispy texture becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameters of fruit/vegetable materials by converting them into puree concentrates and powders with controlled solids content, then reformulating into a dough-like mixture with specific viscosity and composition. This transformation allows the material to be processed into thin sheets that achieve crispy texture while retaining nutritional benefits through controlled drying and baking parameters.
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 resulting snack pieces have a high content of fruit or vegetable solids, providing a crispy texture and meeting nutritional goals such as low fat, saturated fat, and sodium levels, while offering varied nutritional benefits.
Implementation Method 1
vacuum baked snack pieces
Implementation Method 2
vacuum baked snack pieces
Implementation Method 3
low temperatures used during cooking
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention discloses formulations for vacuum baked fruit and vegetable snack pieces that have a crispy, crunchy texture similar to potato chip, corn based wafers, and other popular snack items. A fruit or vegetable base is combined with other ingredients and water to make a slurry, which is sheeted and dried in a vacuum belt dryer, and separated into snack sized pieces. In one embodiment, substantial amounts of solid inclusions are combined with the slurry before drying.