MXPA00004074A - Process for the production of frozen avocados - Google Patents

Abstract

An avocado is cut into several pieces and its seeds are removed. The pieces of the avocado are submerged in hot water and are heated up to the boiling state as it is. After a defined lapse in a heated state kept on the boil, the pieces of the avocado are taken out of the hot water when the pieces of the avocado sunk in the bottom of a boil container come floating to the surface of the hot water and are quenched down to an ultra low temperature. The pieces of the avocado are preferably dried in a static state after being subjected to the coil heating and to cooling treatment in a cold water. The frozen avocado subjected to the above steps doesn't loose its shape in being thawed and doesn't cause discoloration for a certain period of time. When baking powder, vinegar, salt, sugar or the like is added to the hot water, wore excellent result can be attained.

Description

PROCESS TO PRODUCE FROZEN AVOCADOS Field of the Invention This invention relates to. a process to produce frozen fruits, and more particularly with a process to produce frozen avocados that do not disintegrate or discolor easily during or after thawing. Background of the Invention Since it is difficult to maintain the quality of avocados over a long period, they must be consumed in a relatively short period after they have been harvested. This is one of the main reasons why avocados are so expensive in the market. In order to solve this problem, many methods have been proposed for avocado conservation, up to now. As a general method for the conservation of fruits and vegetables, rapid freezing at ultra low temperature is widely used. This method of preservation can be successfully applied to products such as broccoli, carrots and the like that are sold on the market as frozen foods. However, it is difficult to apply this method of rapid freezing at ultra low temperature to products with a high water content - like tomatoes, oranges or watermelons and the like because they disintegrate when thawing (defrosting). Avocados, although not as much as watermelons or tomatoes, contain a large amount of water relatively and are sensitive to external stimulation. Therefore, when driving a freeze at ultra low temperature in avocados, they disintegrate easily at the time of thawing. In addition, the surface of avocados - Frozen discolors at the time of thawing or thawing by oxidation of the surface of the avocados. Because of these problems, avocados are not widely used as frozen foods today. In order to solve these problems, it is proposed to dehydrate the avocados through heat drying before freezing. This dehydration can be conducted by heating elements or microwave treatment. These methods can be applied effectively to avocados in order to maintain the shape of the frozen avocados at the time of their removal. However, the use of this method requires other facilities and an additional expense for that purpose. In addition, due to water content and avocado size vary widely, it is difficult to uniformly dehydrate all avocados to a correct degree through these methods. With regard to this problem of discoloration during and after dehielarv an anti-colorant agent such as citric acid has been used. However, in order to avoid discoloration by this anti-color agent, a substantial amount of this agent must be used, resulting in a further increase in cost by producing frozen avocados. Additionally, in order to successfully produce frozen avocados, the taste of avocados should not be impaired by the freezing process. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a process for producing frozen avocados that do not disintegrate at the time of thawing in a simple and economical manner.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for producing frozen avocados that do not discolor during and after thawing. It is also another object of the present invention to provide a method for producing avocados that can preserve the original good taste. A further object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing frozen avocados with the ability to perform continuous processing for freezing including cutting, boiling, cooling, drying, rapid freezing at ultra low temperature in a successive and economical manner . The present invention is a process for producing frozen avocados that can achieve the above objectives effectively, which is comprised of the steps of: cutting the avocados into a plurality of pieces and removing the seed from the body of each of the pieces of avocado; Heat the pieces of avocado in hot water until the pieces of avocado rise to the surface of the hot water; remove the pieces of avocado from the hot water; and freeze the pieces of avocado through quick freezing at ultra low temperature. In a later aspect, instead of boiling the avocados in hot water, the heating process is performed by introducing steam into a steam container where the pieces of avocado are stored. Preferably, the pieces of avocado that are removed from the hot water or from the steam container are subsequently cooled in ice water and dried for a certain period before freezing at ultra low temperature. Preferably, a certain amount of baking powder is provided in the hot water or in the steam container in order to maintain the clear color of the avocado pieces before freezing. In addition, a certain amount of vinegar or salt is supplied to the hot water or to the steam container in order to avoid oxidation of the avocado pieces during or after thawing. Furthermore, a certain amount of sugar, Japanese serve or wine is supplied to the hot water or to the steam container in order to maintain the flavor of the avocado pieces, in good condition. According to the present invention, since the pieces of avocado are heated through hot water or steam in a large container, the content of the avocado pieces is uniformly dehydrated through the heating process in a very easy and economical way without using additional facilities for that purpose. In the present invention, since the pieces of avocado are uniformly dehydrated through the heating process and dried before freezing at ultra low temperature, the disintegration of the avocado pieces is avoided when they are thawed. In addition, since the pieces of avocado are cooled in ice water after heating but before freezing at ultra low temperature, discoloration of avocado pieces after thawing can be effectively avoided. Additionally, according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, since baking powder is added to the hot water to boil the pieces of avocado or the pieces of avocado in the steam container, the dehydration of the pieces is promoted. of avocado and the light color of the pieces of avocado is kept. In addition, in the present invention, since the. Antioxidant agent such as vinegar or salt to pieces of avocado through the heating process, the antioxidant agent, is effectively applied to the pieces of avocado so that you can effectively prevent the discoloration of the pieces of avocado after to thaw them without using any additional installation or independent process for that purpose. Additionally, according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, - since the wine, the Japanese serve or the sugar are added to the pieces of avocado, the bitter taste of the pieces of avocado can be eliminated after thawing using any facility or process for this purpose. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a flow diagram of frozen avocado production according to the present invention. Figure 2 is a schematic diagram showing the boiling process of avocado pieces according to the present invention. Figure 3 is a flow diagram of frozen avocado production according to the second aspect of the present invention. Figure 4 is a schematic diagram showing the heating process of the pieces of avocado according to the second aspect of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION With reference to the drawings, the process to produce the frozen avocado is explained in detail. Figure 1 is a flow chart for producing the frozen avocado according to the present invention. Figure 2 is an explanatory drawing showing the boiling process of the avocado pieces according to the present invention, especially the process in which the pieces of boiled avocado are raised towards the surface of the hot water. First, a plurality of avocados that are not fully mature are selected and cut into halves using a cutting knife (Figure 1, Step 1). If the selected avocados are fully ripe, the pieces of frozen avocado produced have to disintegrate when thawed. Avocados can be cut into three or more pieces while the size of the cut pieces is feasible for subsequent use. The seeds of the body are removed from the pieces of avocado cut into halves. If the seeds are not removed from the body, the pieces of avocado will not rise towards the surface of the hot water during the course of the boiling process due to the weight of the seeds. Afterwards, the pieces of avocado cut into halves are blanched in the hot water (Figure 1, Step 2). The temperature of the hot water should preferably be around the boiling point. If the temperature is above the boiling point, then the pieces of frozen avocado will tend to disintegrate at the time of thawing. If the temperature is below the boiling point, it will take more time to boil the pieces of avocado and dehydrate the - pieces of avocado will be insufficient.

It is boiled in hot water for about 4-5 minutes (Figure 1, Step 4), the pieces of boiled avocado begin to rise towards the surface of the hot water starting from the smallest to the heaviest successively (Figure 2). When rising to the surface of the hot water, the pieces of boiled avocado are removed from the hot water and blanched inside the chill water tank that is filled with ice water, whose temperature is maintained around 32 ° F (0 ° C) (Figure 1, Step 5). After chilling the avocado pieces for about 5 - 6 minutes, the pieces of avocado are taken from the chill water tank to remove the shell (Figure 1, Step 6). After going through the processes of boiling and after cooling, the surface of the pieces of avocado become soft. Therefore, the removal of the skin at this time is easier than before. Subsequently, after drying the remaining water on the surface of the pieces of avocado, the cooled pieces of avocado are placed in a quiet place at normal temperature for about 10 minutes for drying (Figure 1, Step 7). Through this drying process, the water contained near the surface of the pieces of avocado is properly dehydrated if you use any additional facility for that purpose. After going through the previous steps, the pieces of avocado are frozen using a quick freeze at ultra low temperature (Figure 1, Step 8). The temperature of preference for freezing the pieces of - avocado is from -10 ° F (-12 ° C) to -110 ° F (-43 ° C), and even more preferred from -70 ° F (-21 ° C) to -10Q ° F (-37 ° C) C). If the temperature is too low, the pieces of avocado will not be able to withstand this low temperature and can cause cracks or fissures. If the temperature is too high, it takes a long time for freezing, resulting in an operation that is not efficient. After freezing, the pieces of frozen avocado are sold to the processors of * foods. The food processors then thaw the frozen pieces of avocado to use them as the material of some foods like the California Rolls. Frozen avocados produced through conventional methods easily disintegrate and discolor quickly when thawed or are very expensive. Nevertheless; frozen pieces of avocado produced according to the present invention are not expensive and can preserve their integrity, shape and color for almost a week after thawing. Even more, the taste of the pieces of avocado produced in this way, remains in good condition. Example 1 A water tank 1 filled with a gallon of water is heated by a gas burner 2 and the temperature of the water rises to the boiling point. Then, six avocados, which are not fully ripe, are put together and cut into halves by removing the seeds from the body with a cutting knife. Then, they are scalded in the hot water (Figure 2). After boiling the pieces of avocado in the water tank for 4 - 5 minutes, the pieces of avocado begin to rise towards the surface of the water starting successively from the - smaller to the largest. It has been observed that an infinite number of small bubbles of air were generated from the surface of the pieces of avocado. According to the knowledge of the inventor of the present invention, it is assumed that, due to the boiling of the avocado pieces, the natural water contained inside the body of the pieces of avocado changes to steam and is discharged out of the body. through the outer shell of the avocado. After this, the pieces of avocado that float on the surface of the hot water are removed from the tank and transferred to the cooling water tank filled with ice water to cool them for about 5-6 minutes. During this time, it was observed that the color of the pieces of avocado changed momentarily to a light color. After finishing the cooling treatment of the pieces of avocado, the skin of the body was removed. After this, the pieces of avocado frozen through rapid freezing at ultra low temperature at -90 ° C (-32 ° C). After finishing the quick freeze, the pieces of avocado were taken from the freezer and transferred to a cold room where the temperature was maintained in the order of 40-45 ° F (4.4 - 7.2 ° C) and the subsequent change in temperature was observed. the pieces of frozen avocado. The result of the previous experiment was as follows: With respect to the shape of the pieces of avocado, it was observed that the original shape of each piece of avocado was preserved during and after thawing. With respect to color, no significant change was observed until seven days later. From this, the surface of the pieces of avocado gradually blackened due to oxidation. The taste of the defrosted avocado pieces was good enough to eat.

But some pieces of avocado that are not ripe enough had a slightly bitter taste. Example 2 The same experiment was conducted under the same conditions as those of Example 1, except that 0.5 oz of baking powder and two ounces of vinegar and one ounce of salt were added to the hot water and stirred. The result was almost the same as in Example 1, except that the color of the pieces of avocado was kept to be lighter than the color of the avocado pieces of Example 1. Additionally, with respect to discoloration after thawing, some pieces of avocado kept their color for one or two days longer than the pieces of avocado of Example 1. Example 3 The same experiment was conducted under the same conditions except that one ounce of Japanese serve and one ounce of sugar were added to the water hot. The result was the same as in Example 2, except that the bitter taste of some pieces of avocado disappeared. Comparative Example 1 Six pieces of avocado of the same type were prepared, cut in halves and immediately frozen through rapid freezing at ultra low temperature at -90 ° F. { -32 ° C), From this they were placed in a cold room at a temperature of 40-45 ° F (4.4 - 7.2 ° C) and the change in shape and color was observed. The result was that when the pieces of avocado were thawed, there was a great disintegration of the pieces of avocado to such an extent that the original shape of the pieces of avocado was not preserved. Also, when thawing the pieces of avocado, in a few hours, the discoloration of the pieces of avocado appeared and quickly blackened. In the second aspect of the present invention, the dehydration process noted above was performed by applying steam to the pieces of avocado instead of boiling water. The advantage of this method is that you can use a large container such as a steam tank to receive a large amount of pieces of avocado and the dehydration effect is achieved by sending a relatively small amount of steam to the steam container, improving from this It forms the overall productivity when producing frozen avocados. Figure 3 is a flow diagram of frozen avocado production employed in the steam heating process according to the second aspect of the present invention, and Figure 4 schematically shows an example of the facilities used, in the process of steam heating of Figure 3. In the flow diagram of Figure 3, only steps 3 and 4 are different from the process of Figure 1. In step 3, of Figure 3, the avocado is stored in the Steam tank which is a large container to receive steam through a steam pipe. In step 4, the steam is applied to the avocados in the steam tank. The steam tank can have much more capacity than the boiling water tank in Figure -2. Thus, a large quantity of pieces of avocado can be processed at the same time, thus increasing the efficiency of dehydration. As shown in Figure 4, the pieces of avocado are provided in a steam tank 11, where steam is introduced from a boiler 12 through a steam pipe. Because the steam reaches any piece of avocado equally and quickly, the dehydration process can end in a short lasso. * For example, in the experiment, a sufficient dehydration effect was obtained by applying steam to the steam tank 11 for a period of about 4 minutes, which is even shorter than the boiling process of Figure 1. Preferably, in In the steam heating process, when the pieces of avocado are stored in the steam tank 11, baking powders are also added to the pieces of avocado before or during the introduction of the steam into the steam tank. As a result of this application of baking powder, the dehydration of the pieces of avocado is promoted and the light color of the pieces of avocado is maintained. Similar to the first aspect of the present invention noted above, antioxidant agents such as vinegar and salt are preferably added to the pieces of avocado through the heating process to minimize discoloration of the avocado pieces after thawing. In addition to the above, before or during the application of steam, you can add wine or Japanese serve or sugar to the pieces of avocado to eliminate the bitter taste of the pieces of avocado after thawing.

Although only a preferred embodiment is illustrated and specifically described herein, it will be appreciated that any modification and variation of the present invention are possible in light of the foregoing teachings and in the scope of the appended claims without departing from projected spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (11)

1. CLAIMS 1. A process for producing frozen avocados comprising the steps of: chopping avocados in a plurality of pieces and removing seeds from the bodies of these pieces; Heat the pieces of avocado in hot water until the pieces of avocado rise to the surface of the hot water; remove the pieces of avocado from the hot water; and freeze the avocado pieces through quick freezing at an ultra low temperature.
2. 2. A process for producing frozen avocados as defined in Claim 1, wherein the heating process is performed by introducing steam into a steam container where a large quantity of avocado pieces are stored.
3. 3. A process for producing frozen avocados as defined in Claim 2, which further comprises the steps of: cooling the avocado pieces in ice water after steam heating; and subsequently dry the pieces of avocado at normal temperature before freezing.
4. 4. A process for producing frozen avocados as defined in Claim 2 further comprises the step of removing the shell from the pieces of avocado after cooling the avocado pieces.
5. 5. A process for producing frozen avocados as defined in Claim 2, - where the freezing is conducted at a temperature of -70 ° F (-21 ° C) to -100 ° F (-37 ° C).
6. 6 A process for producing frozen avocados as described in Claim 1, wherein a predetermined amount of baking powder is added to the hot water.
7. 7. A process for producing frozen avocados as described in Claim 2, wherein a predetermined amount of baking powder is added to the pieces of avocado when - store the pieces of avocado in the steam tank.
8. 8. A process for producing frozen avocados as described in Claim 1, wherein a predetermined amount of anti-color agent comprising vinegar and salt is added to the hot water.
9. A process for producing frozen avocados as described in Claim 2, wherein a predetermined amount of anti-color agent comprising vinegar and salt is added to the pieces of avocado when the pieces of avocado are stored in the steam tank.
10. 10. A process for producing frozen avocados as described in Claim 1, wherein a predetermined amount of Japanese serve, sugar or wine is added to the hot water.
11. 11. A process for producing frozen avocados as described in Claim 1, wherein a predetermined amount of Japanese serve, sugar or vine is added to the pieces of avocado when the pieces of avocado are stored in the steam tank.