MXPA99003237A - Process for producing dehydrated whole lentils - Google Patents

Abstract

A process for producing reconstitutable, dehydrated, whole lentils which includes providing a quantity of uncooked, dried lentils, tempering the lentils by immersion in water (18), draining excess water from same, allowing the lentils to stand for a time sufficient to acquire a moisture content substantially equilibrated throughout the lentils, cooking said lentils in a steam environment for a period of time sufficient to soften them (20), and passing said lentils through a gap between two smooth rollers such that the pericarp outer covering is cracked without penetrating the cotyledon inner seeds (48). Depending on the chosen size of the gap, either no cotyledon inner seed is exposed or up to one millimeter of seed can be exposed. The resulting lentils are then dehydrated (50) and can be easily reconstituted as a ready-to-eat food product.

Description

PROCESS TO PRODUCE DEHYDRATED COMPLETE LENTILS FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to legume food products, and more particularly to a process for the production of dehydrated whole lentils, which are rapidly reconstitutable and have the qualities of conventional freshly cooked lentils.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Food plants that have a pod that opens along two seams or joints when the edible seeds are ripe are known as legumes. Peas, beans, peanuts, and lentils are the most popular legumes, although there are many other species. Legumes are an important food for humans around the world, and easily grow under varying climatic and land conditions. In particular, the lentil is small and lens-shaped, and green is never used but dried when fully ripe. In America, lentils REF .: 29856 are generally eaten in soup, although elsewhere they are a staple food that appears in stews, salads, and other standard dishes. There are two varieties of lentils: the French variety, grayish appearance, yellowish interior, and sold with coating or cover of the seed; and the Egyptian variety, roj izas-yellow, smaller and more round, without a seed coating. Lentils are nutritionally a good source of carbohydrates and incomplete protein, and also contain some B vitamins, iron, calcium, and Vitamin A. Traditionally, lentils are prepared by shaking them in a container containing water, adding more water and covering the container , bringing the water to a boil, and reduce the heat and gently cook the lentils for at least two hours. Although such a method has proven to be generally suitable for preparing fresh lentils to eat, the preparation consumption time completely diminishes the desire to serve lentils. In view of the time consumed for the preparation of green or fresh lentils, whole lentils or lentil soup are generally available either in cans packed in water, in a sealed steam bag that has intermediate moisture, or dehydrated (usually dried in a frozen state under high vacuum). Canned lentils are bulky, creating a storage and transportation problem. Canned and steam-bagged frozen lentils are perceived as a lower quality food product that does not have the color, appearance, texture, and consistency of conventionally prepared fresh lentils. Also, freeze dried lentils are not immediately reconstitutable, but typically require heat and agitation to achieve transformation to lentils spheres or lentil soup. And even in spite of the proper mixing of water and freeze-dried lentils, small clumps generally remain causing the resulting product to have a "mouth-like, sandy" perception As such, the prior art has recognized the problem of consumption time for Lentil preparation, although the proposed solns, to date, have not been effective in providing a satisfactory soln.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention is specifically directed to, and solves, the deficiencies mentioned above associated with the prior art. Generally, the present invention comprises a process for producing dehydrated whole lentils which are readily reconstitutable in a food product having the qualities of conventional cooked lentils. The process generally comprises the steps of: providing a quantity of dry uncooked lentils; temper the lentils; cook the lentils in steam; break the follicle or pericarp cover of the lentils; and dehydrate the lentils. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the tempering step includes the operations of: immersing the lentils in water causing significant absorption; drain excess water; and allow the lentils to stay in such a way that moisture is balanced throughout. Also in a preferred embodiment of the invention, the step of breaking the pericarp cover is performed by directing the lentils between a pair of opposed smooth rolls. If whole lentils are the desired final product, the cotyledon seed should not be exposed outside the pericarp cover. If the lentil soup is the desired resulting product, the pericarp cover should be broken in such a way that approximately one millimeter of the cotyledon seed is exposed. The breaking of the pericarp cover is preferably accomplished by crushing the lens-shaped lentils between the opposite sides. By using only smooth rolls, which oppose corrugated rolls that penetrate the cotyledon, the cotyledon substantially retains its natural structure, both initially and after processing- and reconstitution, thereby maintaining a more natural food product. The resulting food product is reconstituted in whole lentils or lentil soup during placement in hot water for about one minute, without requiring continuous mixing. Whole lentils or lentil soup has the color, appearance, texture and consistency of conventionally prepared lentils. These, as well as other advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description and drawings. It is understood that changes can be made to the process described within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a flow chart illustrating the sequence of operations preformed in the practice of the preferred process of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a front elevation view of a rotating steam oven or stove, which can be used in the practice of the process of the present invention; Figure 3 is a partial cross-sectional view of a continuous steamer steamer which can be used in the practice of the process of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED MODALITY The detailed disclosure described below in relation to the accompanying drawings is proposed as a description of the currently preferred process of the invention, and is not intended to represent the form only, in which the present invention may be carried out. The description describes the functions and sequence of the steps for practicing the invention, in relation to the preferred process. This is to understand, however, that the same functions or equivalents and sequences can be performed by different processes that are proposed to be included within the spirit and scope of the invention. The process for producing dehydrated whole lentils is generally illustrated in Figure 1 which demonstrates the presently preferred process of the invention. The preferred process generally comprises the steps of inspecting and cleaning, washing, tempering, steaming, drumming or rolling, and dehydrating the lentils. The lentil product produced by the present process forms an instantaneously reconstitutable food product having the color, appearance, texture, aroma, and consistency of the lentil soup or fresh whole lentils conventionally prepared. The resulting dehydrated lentil product will have a moisture content of about 2% to 10%, with the preferred moisture content being about 5%. The present process is put into practice until the lentils of the French variety are sold with the coating or husk of the seed. The individual steps of the present process will now be presented to facilitate the understanding of the subject invention. The operation of initial inspection, removing stones, and cleaning 10 of the lentils to remove undesirable materials is done manually or automatically according to known methods of the prior art. Lentils are typically received in loading bags or hoppers, and undesirable or otherwise substandard lentils are discarded 12. After inspection and cleaning 10, the lentils are washed 14 in room temperature water, or any acceptable liquid capable of Remove foreign material such as dirt or pesticides. Following washing, the lentils are drained 16 and the excess water is discarded. After they have been washed, the lentils are tempered 18, preferably by immersing them in water at room temperature until the lentils (initially approximately 10% by weight of water) reach 30% to 60% by weight of water ( usually for one to six hours), but preferably 46% by weight of water (approximately three hours). The water temperature should not exceed approximately 29.4 ° C (85 ° F), because very high temperatures can lead to spoilage, due to rapid bacterial growth and / or loss of natural flavors. Continuing the tempering operation, the water is then drained, and the lentils are set aside and allowed to stand for approximately three hours at room temperature. This conditioning allows moisture to balance itself on all lentils to provide uniform softening. During the completion of tempering 18, the lentils are steamed 20 with intense steam injected directly into an ambient or low pressure steam conditions at about -26.84. kg / cm2 gauge (15 psi). The cooking time depends on the exact pressure, and the desired texture, but approximately 10 to 20 minutes. The lentils are preferably placed in a rotating substantially closed steam vessel, to ensure the continuous contact of the lentils with the steam at the low cooking pressure. The rotating steamer or steam vessel rotates the lentils so that they are continuously being stirred and equally exposed to steam to facilitate cooking of the lentils equally. As those skilled in the art would recognize, cooking could also be done by boiling the lentils in water or exposing the lentils to infrared heat sources, microwaves, etc. The cooking of the lentils is preferably done through the use of a continuous screw steam oven or stove 22 as shown in Figure 3. The continuous screw steam oven or stove 22 is adapted to provide a stable outlet or determined, and is used by placing the lentils in a hopper or trough 24 from which they are carried by a screw 26 through a housing 28 to an outlet 30. The vapor is applied to the housing 28 through tubes 32 and contained in these by doors 34. The volumes of steam supplied through the tubes 32 can be varied along the length of the stove or steam oven 22. As an alternative to the continuous screw steam cooker 22, the lentils can be bake in a rotary steam cooker 36 as shown in Figure 2. The rotary steam cooker 36 typically has a capacity of approximately 426 cubic centimeters (14 cubic feet) and rotates the lentils contained in it to ensure equal and complete cooking. Steam is provided via an absorption line 38 from which they travel through a coupling nut 40 and tube 42 in a housing 44. A lid 46 provides a means for placing the lentils inside and removing the lentils from the stove. rotating steam 36. The steam cooker 36 is typically supplied in an alternative manner with steam and then rotates. The injection of the steam into the housing 44 when the rotating steam oven or stove is in an upright position (with the top cover 46) ensures equal distribution of steam by all the lentils within the housing 44. The subsequent rotation of the cooker Rotating steam 36 mixes the lentils to further ensure even heat distribution.

After being cooked, the lentils are sent to the roller mills. In the operation of passing through rolls 48, the lentils are gently broken between a pair of opposed smooth rolls. The rolling operation crushes the lentils in the form of lenses so as to crush the lentils between the opposite sides, causing a break in a pericarp cover. The pair of smooth rolls have a set of roller openings adjustable from about 0.1778 to about 0.2794 cm (0.070 to about 0.110 inches) to crush the lentils between their opposite sides and perform the pericarp break. The lens-shaped lentils are oriented in such a way that they are pressurized between their opposite sides, the orientation realized by the feeding of individual lentils near the top of the roller so that the lentils are placed parallel with the surface that the they travel through space. If, alternatively, the desired product is dehydrated lentils for use in the production of lentil soup rather than dehydrated whole lentils, the roll space is decreased to approximately 0.127 to approximately 0.1778 cm (0.050 to approximately 0.070 inch). ) so that the greater pressure is applied to the lentils, so that approximately one millimeter of the cotyledon is expressed outside the pericarp. The cotyledon outside the shell provides thickness and body to the resulting soup when the dried lentils are reconstituted with water. If a very thick soup is desired, a larger crush or oppression may be imposed on the lentils to cause a larger portion of the cotyledon to be expressed outside the pericarp. After suffering the operation of the roller 48, the lentils are then dehydrated 50. The drying of the lentils is done by passing the lentils in an atmospheric dryer, preferably a compartmentalized oven having independent section controls for temperature and humidity. Care must be taken not to overheat the lentils to "toast" the resulting product. As indicated above, in the dosage from the air drying operation, the lentils have a moisture content of preferably 4? up to 6? . Once the lentils have been subjected to the aforementioned dehydration process 50, they have been preferably sized so that they have a substantially uniform shape and size for more uniform and aesthetic packing densities. In the sizing process 52, the lentils can be passed through power screens where the larger lentils are reduced in size. Also, alternatively, the sieve may be used to provide a portion of the ground lentils for use in soup or casseroles. Afterwards, the lentils are packed for storage and / or shipment. The dehydrated lentil product formed according to the aforementioned process is reconstituted simply by adding water thereto. In particular, the lentil product is reconstituted in hot water within four minutes, and reconstituted in cold water in about twenty minutes. Importantly, reconstitution of the lentil product occurs without constant agitation. Despite not being constantly stirred, the lentil product does not float on the upper surface of the water during reconstitution. The air dried lentil product is economical to produce, and has a shelf life of at least one year. It is understood that the process described herein as shown in the drawings represents only one presently preferred practice of the invention. Indeed, various modifications and additions are made here to the preferred process without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. These and other modifications and additions may be obvious to those skilled in the art and may be implemented to adapt the present invention for use in a variety of different applications.

It is noted that in relation to this date, the best method known by the applicant to carry out the aforementioned invention, is that which is clear from the present description of the invention. Having described the invention as above, the content of the following is claimed as property

Claims (19)

1. A process for producing whole, dehydrated, reconstitutable lentils, the process is characterized in that it comprises the steps of: a) providing a quantity of dried, uncooked lentils having an internal cotyledon seed and an outer pericarp cover of a generally lens with a pair of opposite sides; b) tempering the lentils by immersion in water for a period of time sufficient for the lentils to absorb water to reach approximately 125% to approximately. 225 * of the original weight, drain the excess water remaining from the lentils, and allow the lentils to remain for a sufficient time to acquire a substantially balanced moisture content in all the lentils; c) cook the lentils in a steam environment for a period of time sufficient to soften the lentils; d) breaking the outer pericarp cover of the cooked lentils by passing the lentils between two opposed smooth rolls having a gap therebetween sufficient to break the cover without exposure of the cotyledon internal seed; and e) dehydrating the cooked lentils having the outer pericarp cover broken.

2. A process according to claim 1, characterized in that the substantially balanced moisture content in all the lentils is about 30% to approximately 60% by volume of the lentils.

3. A process according to claim 2, characterized in that the environment or vapor condition is at a pressure of approximately 17.89 kg / cm gauge (10 pounds / in2 gauge) to approximately 35 kg / cm "gauge" (20 pounds / in2 gauge).

4. A process according to claim 3, characterized in that the steam environment is a continuous screw or steamer stove or steamer.

5. A process according to claim 3, characterized in that the steam environment is a rotating steam oven or stove.

6. A process according to claim 3, characterized in that the space between the rolls is approximately 0.1778 cm (0.070 in.) And approximately 0.2794 cm (0.110 in.)

7. A process according to claim 3, characterized in that the cooked lentils are dehydrated to a moisture content of approximately 2% to approximately 10% by volume.

8. A process according to claim 1, characterized in that the space between the rollers is from approximately 0.1778 cm (0.070 in) and approximately 0.2794 cm (0.110 in).

9. A process according to claim 1, characterized in that the cooked lentils are dehydrated at a moisture content of approximately 2 * a in approximately 10% by volume.

10. A process for producing whole, dehydrated, reconstitutable lentils, the process is characterized in that it comprises the steps of: a) providing a quantity of uncooked dry lentils having an internal cotyledon seed and an outer pericarp cover of a generally lens form with a pair of opposite sides; b) temper the lentils by immersion in water for a period of time sufficient for the lentils to absorb water to reach from approximately 125% to approximately 225% of the original weight, drain excess excess water from the lentils, and allowing the lentils to remain for a sufficient time to acquire a substantially balanced moisture content in all the lentils; c) cook the lentils in a steam environment for a period of time sufficient to soften the lentils; d) breaking the outer pericarp cover of the cooked lentils by passing the lentils between two opposite smooth rolls having a gap therebetween sufficient to break the cover and expose approximately one millimeter of the internal seed of the cotyledon; and e) dehydrating the lentils having the outer pericarp cover broken.

11. A process according to claim 10, characterized in that the substantially balanced moisture content in all the lentils is from about 30% to about 60% by volume of the lentils.

12. A process according to claim 11, characterized in that the vapor environment is at a pressure of approximately 17.89 kg / cm2 gauge (10 pounds / in2 gauge) at approximately 35 kg / cm? manometric (20 pounds / in2 gauge).

13. A process according to claim 12, characterized in that the steam environment is a continuous screw steam furnace.

14. A process according to claim 12, characterized in that the steam environment is a rotating steam cooker.

15. A process according to claim 12, characterized in that the space between the rolls is from about 0.127 cm (0.050 in) and approximately 0.1778 cm (0.070 in).

16. A process according to claim 10, characterized in that the space or cavity between the rollers is from about 0.127 cm (0.050 in) and approximately 0.1778 cm (0.070 in).

17. A process according to claim 12, characterized in that the cooked lentils are dehydrated to a moisture content of about 2% to about 10% by volume.

18. A process according to claim 10, characterized in that the cooked lentils are dehydrated to a moisture content of approximately 2% to approximately 10% by volume.

19. A process according to claim 10, characterized in that the space between the rollers is from approximately 0.127 cm (0.050 in) and approximately 0.1778 cm (0.070 in).