Apparatus and methods for making puffed food products are disclosed. In one implementation, an innovative process, apparatus, or system may employ at least one base mold with a defined pattern of one or more surface cavities carved therein in order to more evenly or uniformly distribute heat to raw ingredients or an intermediate food product during baking step(s).

Disclosed is a method for texturing food and/or nutraceutical products of the “sponge cake” or “solid foam” type including at least: (a). A transformation by controlled grinding of a preparation of at least one food, able to preserve the desired organoleptic properties, able to obtain a ground material, (b). Addition of a molecule with an inactive structure to the ground material to obtain a mixture, (c). Pressurization of the mixture obtained in step (b) by the incorporation of dissolved gas into the mixture, (d). Mechanical expansion obtained by reducing the pressure of the mixture obtained in step (b), (e). Activation of the structure molecule, wherein the mechanical expansion is achieved by reducing the pressure by at least 6 bar, preferably between 6 and 20 bar, preferably between 10 and 18 bar.

Disclosed is a method for texturing food and/or nutraceutical products of the “sponge cake” or “solid foam” type including at least: (a). A transformation by controlled grinding of a preparation of at least one food, able to preserve the desired organoleptic properties, able to obtain a ground material, (b). Addition of a molecule with an inactive structure to the ground material to obtain a mixture, (c). Pressurization of the mixture obtained in step (b) by the incorporation of dissolved gas into the mixture, (d). Mechanical expansion obtained by reducing the pressure of the mixture obtained in step (b), (e). Activation of the structure molecule, wherein the mechanical expansion is achieved by reducing the pressure by at least 6 bar, preferably between 6 and 20 bar, preferably between 10 and 18 bar.

A peeling method includes a first decompression step, a pressure-heating step, and a second decompression step. In the first decompression step, an object with a skin to be peeled is placed in a pressure chamber being sealed, and an inside of the pressure chamber is decompressed to a predetermined first negative pressure state. In the pressure-heating step, the inside of the pressure chamber is pressure-heated to a predetermined pressure-heating state after the first decompression step. In the second decompression step, the inside of the pressure chamber is decompressed to a predetermined second negative pressure state after the pressure-heating step.

A peeling method includes a first decompression step, a pressure-heating step, and a second decompression step. In the first decompression step, an object with a skin to be peeled is placed in a pressure chamber being sealed, and an inside of the pressure chamber is decompressed to a predetermined first negative pressure state. In the pressure-heating step, the inside of the pressure chamber is pressure-heated to a predetermined pressure-heating state after the first decompression step. In the second decompression step, the inside of the pressure chamber is decompressed to a predetermined second negative pressure state after the pressure-heating step.

The disclosure provides chips formed by slicing with an apple cell clean water jet scalpel and a processing technology. The processing technology comprises the following specific steps: harvesting fresh fruits, sorting, peeling, slicing, drying and packaging to obtain the apple crispy chip. According to the disclosure, the tangxin apple is peeled by adopting an ultrahigh pressure water jet flow cutting technology, cut into slices with a thickness of 5 mm and inoculated for 15 min in 30° C. and 30% Lactobacillus brevis fermentation broth. PPO is a terminal oxidase with Cu.sup.2+ as a prosthetic group, and Lactobacillus brevis and Lactobacillus plantarum are complexed with Cu.sup.2+, leading to rapid oxygen consumption to generate organic acid and CO.sub.2, quickly reduction of pH and creation of an approximate oxygen-free environment to effectively inhibit PPO activity while removing oxygen required in enzymatic browning, thereby effectively inhibiting browning.

The disclosure provides chips formed by slicing with an apple cell clean water jet scalpel and a processing technology. The processing technology comprises the following specific steps: harvesting fresh fruits, sorting, peeling, slicing, drying and packaging to obtain the apple crispy chip. According to the disclosure, the tangxin apple is peeled by adopting an ultrahigh pressure water jet flow cutting technology, cut into slices with a thickness of 5 mm and inoculated for 15 min in 30° C. and 30% Lactobacillus brevis fermentation broth. PPO is a terminal oxidase with Cu.sup.2+ as a prosthetic group, and Lactobacillus brevis and Lactobacillus plantarum are complexed with Cu.sup.2+, leading to rapid oxygen consumption to generate organic acid and CO.sub.2, quickly reduction of pH and creation of an approximate oxygen-free environment to effectively inhibit PPO activity while removing oxygen required in enzymatic browning, thereby effectively inhibiting browning.

The present specification provides fruit and vegetable products. Also described are methods for producing the fruit and vegetable products.

The present specification provides fruit and vegetable products. Also described are methods for producing the fruit and vegetable products.

Apparatus and methods for making puffed food products are disclosed. In one implementation, an innovative process may include improved configurations and control of hydraulic drive cylinder(s) to more swiftly and precisely apply pressures to heatable mold elements during production of puffed food products. According to one particular implementation, in order to drive a first hydraulic piston to move at least one movable mold element to a desired position, a second hydraulic piston may be first positioned to set up an adjustable hard-stop based on the desired position, such that the first hydraulic piston may rapidly drive the moveable mold element to stop at precisely the desired position.