CA1238812A - Food product with opposite phase-shifted corrugations of the same frequency and amplitude and method and apparatus of manufacture - Google Patents

Food product with opposite phase-shifted corrugations of the same frequency and amplitude and method and apparatus of manufacture

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Publication number
CA1238812A
CA1238812A CA000471067A CA471067A CA1238812A CA 1238812 A CA1238812 A CA 1238812A CA 000471067 A CA000471067 A CA 000471067A CA 471067 A CA471067 A CA 471067A CA 1238812 A CA1238812 A CA 1238812A
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
inch
corrugations
food product
amplitude
range
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
CA000471067A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Margaret Fitzwater
Lewis C. Keller
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Frito Lay Inc
Original Assignee
Frito Lay Inc
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Frito Lay Inc filed Critical Frito Lay Inc
Priority to CA000471067A priority Critical patent/CA1238812A/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA1238812A publication Critical patent/CA1238812A/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
Food product pieces are formed with corrugations on opposite sides thereof, wherein the corrugations are substantially parallel and of substantially equal frequency and amplitude, and wherein the corrugations on one side are phase-shifted with respect to the corrugations on the opposite side by about 1/4 of the pitch distance of the corrugations. As a result, a food product piece with unique texture, flavor and appearance is produced after later cooking processes.

Description

~23~38~2 .
.

GG:570SHIFTED CORRUGATIONS OF THE SAME
FREQUENCY AND AMPLITUDE AND METHOD AND
APPARATUS OF MANUFACTURE

BACKGROUND OF T~E INVENTION

Field of the Invention .
The present invention relates to sliced food products which have corrugations on opposite surfaces and methods and apparatus of manufacturing such sliced products.
Description of the Background Art Potato chips, such as described in U.S. Patent No.
2,769,715 and having a wavy or corrugated configuration, are commercially manufactured and sold. The corrugated potato product which has met with substantial commercial success has parallel corrugations on the opposite surfaces thereof which are "in-phase", i.e., the ridges on one side directly overlie valleys on the opposite side so that the thickness of the chip is substantially uniform throughout the entire chip. Patent 2,769,715 also discloses a sliced corrugated potato product wherein the corrugation on opposite sides are "out-of-phase", i.e., the ridges on one side directly overlie the ridges on the other side, and a sliced corrugated potato product wherein the corrugations on one side are crisscrossed r~lative to the corrugations on the opposite side. Such out-of-phase and crisscrossed corrugated potato products have periodically varying thicknesses throughout which when subjected to a cooking process, such as frying, cook at different rates producing unique texture and flavor different from the products of uniform thickness. The out-of-phase corrugated product has substantial weaknesses at the mating opposing valleys of the product
3~ which results in undue breaking and fragmentation of .

2 123~81~

the product during manufacture, packaging and handling.
The crisscross corrugated product has substantially greater strength; however, existing processes and apparatus for manu-facturing such crisscross corrugated product have one or more deficiencies, such as requiring excessive maintenance, being substantially more costly, having higher scrap losses, and restricted to only a small range of potato size, when compared to non-corrugated and in-phase corrugated potato products.
Thus, commercialization of the out-of-phase and crisscross corrugated potato product has been limited.
There thus remains a need in the art for an inexpensively produced corrugated food product with varying thicknesses which possesses unique flavor and texture character-istics after cooking.

SUrqMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is summarized in the formation of parallel corrugations of equal frequency and amplitude on opposite surfaces of a food product wherein the corrugations on one surface are phase-shifted relative to the corrugations on the opposite surface by about 1/4 the pitch distance of the corrugations. The food product may be formed by cuts made by cutting slices from the body using offset alter-nate blades with flutes ,l ",,~, ,, 3 1238~31;~ -of equal frequency and amplitude or by other means, such as extrusion, sheeting, etc.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a potato slice formed in accordance with the invention.
FIG. 2 is a cross-section of a broken away portion of the potato slice of FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a horizontal section view of an apparatus for manufacturing potato slices in accordance with the invention.
FI~. 4 is a side view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 3.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a cutting blade removed from the apparatus of FIG. 3 or FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE P~EFERRED E~BODI~FNTS
As illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, a food product, such as a potato slice indicated generally at 10, manufactured in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention includes corrugations 12 on the upper side thereof and corrugations 14 on the lower side thereof. The corrugations 12 and 14 are substantially parallel to each other, have substantially the same frequency and amplitude, and are offset and phase-shifted relative to each other by about one-fourth 16 the pitch distance 18 (distances indicated by arrowed lines). The potato slices 10 have elongated areas 20 of substantially greater thickness interspersed with elongated areas 22 of lesser thickness~ When sliced potato products 10 are cooked or fried in a conventional frier, they have a texture and flavor substantially similar to prior art cross-cut corrugated potato products.
In preferred embodiments for the manufacture of potato slices 10, and with reference to Fig. 3, washed whole potatoes 24, which may be peeled or unpeeled, 38~%
,~

are fed onto 2 horizontal base 26 of a rotating impeller in a commercially availabie potato slicer. The impeller includes vertical vanes 28 which direct the potatoes 24 radially outward and against an interior cylindrical vertical surface formed by eight spaced slicing castings (shoes) 30 and 32. As shown in Figure 4, the castings 30 and 32 are supported in a circular configuration by support ring 34. The cutting blades 36 are mounted by knife holders 38 and knife clamps 40 on leading vertical edges of corresponding alternate castings 30 and 32.
Gate inserts 42 spaced from the cutting blades define therewith vertical slots through which the slices 10 are discharged as they are being cut.
As shown in Fig. 5, the cutting blades 36 are fluted. The flutes of all cutting blades 36 all have the same frequency and amplitude. The holders 38 and clamps 40 have corresponding grooves and ridges (not shown) for supporting the blade 36, with the sharpened cutting edges 44 of the blades 36 extending a selected distance into the interior of the slicing bowl for cutting slices from the potatoes 24 as the potatoes are moved by the impeller vanes 28 along the interior cylindrical surface.
As shown in Fig. 4, shims 46 offset every other casting 30 relative to the alternate castings 32 by a 2S distance corresponding to 1/4 of the flute pitch distance 48. Conveniently, the potato slicer is a conventional potato slicer, such as Model CC manufactured by Urschel Laboratories, Inc. of Valparaiso, Indiana, modified by the insertion of shims 46 to vertically offset alternate castings 30 and 32 by an amount corresponding to 1/4 of the flute pitch distance 48 of the cutting blades 36.
The potato slices 10 are then subjected to conventional processing, including frying in a deep fat frier to form the potato chips.
Preferably, the corrugations 12 and 14 formed in the potato slices 10, prior to cooking, have an amplitude ~Z388 or a peak-to-valley dimension as illustrated by the arrowed line 50 in Fig. 2 within the range of from about 0.07 inch to about 0.1 inch, with about 0.09 inch being particularly preferred. The pitch distance 18 is preferably within the range of from about 0.12 inch to about 0.20 inch, with a pitch distance 18 of about 0.175 inch being particularly preferred. The thickness of the web portion 23, defined as the minimum thickness measured vertically between valleys, is preferably within the range of from about 0.01 inch to about 0.03 inch.
The potato slices 10 which have corrugations 12 on one surface which are phase shifted by about 1/4 of the pitch distance 18, relative to parallel corrugations 14 on the opposite surface of the slice, are readily formed in conventional slicing apparatus wherein only every other casting 30 has been offset by shims 46. Other means besides shims can be employed, e.g., milling depressions in the support ring, or manufacturing "A" and "B" shoes which are of the same height but the corrugations are cast such that A and B peaks are offset one-fourth the pitch distance when mounted adjacent to each other on the support ring 34. This type of apparatus has demonstrated substantially greater reliability and higher through-put without requiring any prior sizing of the potatoes compared to prior art apparatus, including mechanisms for rotating the potatoes during successive cuts to produce crisscross corrugated potato slices.
While the above-described embodiment is particularly described with respect to slices of raw potatoes, the present invention is also applicable to other sliced products, including slices of other vegetables, such as carrots, slices of fruit, such as apples, or slices of other food materials, such as doughs, meat, etc. Additionally, the phase-shifted 6 l 2 3 ~ 8 l~

corrugations can be formed by techniques other than by slicing, for example, by extruding or impressing doughs, meat patties, etc. ~nique texture and flavor properties are imparted by differential cooking times and the periodically varying thicknesses of the food product piece.
In a method of forming a food product from a dough material, the dough material is formed into ribbon or sheet which has corrugations on its upper and lower surfaces which are phase-shifted as described above. The dough is formed in a conventional manner from cereals, vegetables, and other materials. The corrugations are formed either by extruding the dough through a slot-like orifice having opposite fluted edges which are offset by 1/4 of the distance of the flute pitch or by impressing the corrugations on a dough sheet formed from the dough, such as by passing the dough through a pair of sheeter rolls having offset corrugations and being spaced to produce the corrugated sheet or ribbon. The corrugated sheet or ribbon can be cooked, such as by frying, prior to being divided into product pieces, or the corrugated sheet or ribbon can be first divided into pieces which are then cooked or fried.
Since many modifications, variations and changes in detail may be made to the described embodiment, it is intended that all matter in the foregoing description and shown in the accompanying drawings be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Claims (18)

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:
1. A food product comprising a food piece having substantially parallel corrugations on opposite surfaces thereof, said corrugations having substantially the same frequency and amplitude, wherein the corrugations on one surface are phase shifted with respect to the corrugations on the opposite surface by about 1/4 of the pitch distance.
2. The food product of claim 1, wherein the food piece is a fried food piece.
3. The food product of claim 2, wherein the food piece is a potato slice.
4. The food product of claim 3, wherein the corrugations have a pitch within the range of from about 0.12 inch to about 0.20 inch.
5. The food product of claim 4, wherein the corrugations have an amplitude within a range of from about 0.07 inch to about 0.1 inch.
6. The food product of claim 5, wherein the web portion of the slice is within the range of from about 0.01 inch to about 0.03 inch in thickness.
7. The food product of claim 6, wherein, prior to frying, the corrugations have an amplitude of about 0.09 inch, a pitch of about 0.175 inch.
8. A method of preparing a food product comprising: slicing a food material to form slices of food material, said slicing including the cutting of the food product with first and second fluted cutting blades having substantially parallel flutes of substantially equal frequency and amplitude, wherein the flutes of said first cutting blade are offset relative to flutes of said second cutting blade by a distance substantially equal to 1/4 the pitch distance of said flutes, to form a slice having opposite surfaces with corrugations which are phase-shifted by about 1/4 the pitch distance; and cooking the slices to form a food product.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the slicing is performed by successively passing the food material over the first and second cutting blades.
10. The method of claim 8, wherein the slicing is performed by passing the food product over alternating first and second types of fluted cutting blades having a flute amplitude within the range of from about 0.07 inch to about 0.1 inch and a flute pitch of from about 0.12 inch to about 0.20 inch, said slicing being performed to form slices having web thickness within the range of from about 0.01 inch to about 0.03 inch.
11. A method of forming a potato chip comprising:
slicing a raw potato in a rotary slicer by successively passing the potato across first and second types of fluted cutting blades having substantially parallel flutes of substantially identical frequency and amplitude, wherein the flutes of said first type of catting blade are offset relative to the flutes of said second type of cutting blade by a distance substantially equal to 1/4 the pitch distance of said flutes, said flutes having a pitch within the range of from about 0.12 inch to about 0.20 inch and an amplitude within the range of from about 0.07 inch to about 0.1 inch; said slicing being performed to form slices having a web thickness within the range of from about 0.01 inch to about 0.03 inch; and frying the slices in a vat of hot oil to form potato chips with unique texture, flavor and appearance.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein said flutes have a pitch of about 0.175 inch and an amplitude of about 0.09 inch.
13. A method of forming a food product comprising the steps of:
(a) forming an extrudable dough;
(b) extruding the dough through a slot-like orifice having opposite fluted edges of substantially identical frequency and amplitude, wherein the flutes of one fluted edge are offset relative to the flutes of the opposite fluted edge by a distance substantially equal to 1/4 the pitch distance of said flutes;
(c) dividing the dough ribbon into pieces;
and (d) cooking the dough after the extruding step and either before or after the dividing step to form a food product with desired texture and flavor.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the extruding forms substantially parallel corrugations on both sides of the dough ribbon, said corrugations having an amplitude within the range of from about 0.07 inch to about 0.1 inch, and a pitch within the range of from about 0.12 inch to about 0.20 inch, and said ribbon having a web thickness within the range of from about 0.01 inch to about 0.03 inch.
15. A method of forming food product comprising the steps of:
(a) forming a dough sheet;
(b) impressing substantially parallel corrugations on opposite surfaces of the dough sheet, said corrugations having substantially identical frequency and amplitude, wherein the corrugations on one surface of said dough sheet are phase shifted with respect to the corrugations on the opposite surface by about 1/4 of the pitch distance of said corrugations;
(c) dividing the dough sheet into pieces;
and (d) cooking the dough after the impressing step and either before or after the dividing step to form a food product with unique texture, flavor and appearance.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein said corrugations have an amplitude within the range of from about 0.07 inch to about 0.1 inch, and a pitch within the range of from about 0.12 inch to about 0.20 inch, and said ribbon having a web thickness after the impressing within the range of from about 0.01 inch to about 0.03 inch.
17. The method of claim 15, wherein the forming and impressing are performed by passing the dough through a pair of sheeter rolls.
18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the forming and impressing are performed by passing the dough through a pair of sheeter rolls.
CA000471067A 1984-12-27 1984-12-27 Food product with opposite phase-shifted corrugations of the same frequency and amplitude and method and apparatus of manufacture Expired CA1238812A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA000471067A CA1238812A (en) 1984-12-27 1984-12-27 Food product with opposite phase-shifted corrugations of the same frequency and amplitude and method and apparatus of manufacture

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA000471067A CA1238812A (en) 1984-12-27 1984-12-27 Food product with opposite phase-shifted corrugations of the same frequency and amplitude and method and apparatus of manufacture

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA1238812A true CA1238812A (en) 1988-07-05

Family

ID=4129463

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA000471067A Expired CA1238812A (en) 1984-12-27 1984-12-27 Food product with opposite phase-shifted corrugations of the same frequency and amplitude and method and apparatus of manufacture

Country Status (1)

Country Link
CA (1) CA1238812A (en)

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Effective date: 20050705