U.S. patent application number 13/178785 was filed with the patent office on 2011-10-27 for hydration process for a refried bean product.
This patent application is currently assigned to Faribault Foods, Inc.. Invention is credited to James S. Nelson, Judene Smahel.
Application Number | 20110262617 13/178785 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 39617988 |
Filed Date | 2011-10-27 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110262617 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Nelson; James S. ; et
al. |
October 27, 2011 |
HYDRATION PROCESS FOR A REFRIED BEAN PRODUCT
Abstract
This application provides a process for producing a refried bean
product. The refried bean product contains both homogenized cooked
bean particles and larger sized cooked bean particles and provides
a texture typical of refried beans. The present process includes
hydrating dried beans in water a period of time sufficient to
increase the moisture content of the beans, cooking the hydrated
beans in water, coarse grinding the cooked beans to provide a bean
slurry, dividing the bean slurry into first and second portions,
milling the first bean portion to provide a milled bean portion,
homogenizing the milled bean portion with water to provide an
homogenized bean portion, combining the homogenized portion and the
second coarse ground bean portion with water, spices and lard to
provide a combined bean mixture, and mixing the combined bean
mixture to provide a refried bean product.
Inventors: |
Nelson; James S.; (Cokato,
MN) ; Smahel; Judene; (Hutchinson, MN) |
Assignee: |
Faribault Foods, Inc.
Minneapolis
MN
|
Family ID: |
39617988 |
Appl. No.: |
13/178785 |
Filed: |
July 8, 2011 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
11623971 |
Jan 17, 2007 |
8003154 |
|
|
13178785 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
426/629 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A23L 11/05 20160801;
A23B 7/06 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
426/629 |
International
Class: |
A23L 1/36 20060101
A23L001/36 |
Claims
1. A refried bean product comprising a portion of homogenized
cooked bean particles and a portion of coarse ground bean
particles, wherein the product has a moisture content of more than
about 80%.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser.
No. 11/623,971, filed Jan. 17, 2007, which is incorporated herein
by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND
[0002] This invention relates to the production of a refried bean
product having excellent and uniform quality. More particularly the
invention relates to a hydration process for producing a refried
bean product having the characteristic flavor, texture and color of
conventional refried beans.
[0003] Canned refried beans are enjoying increasing popularity as
adjuncts to Mexican-style foods, particularly as a replacement to
"homemade" refried beans. Canned refried are easier and faster to
prepare compared to refried beans that are made from scratch.
[0004] It is difficult, however, to maintain the consistency of
desirable characteristics of a canned refried bean product from day
to day. Moreover, the characteristics of a refried bean product
prepared from one lot of beans may vary considerably from those of
a refried bean product prepared from another lot of beans. Such
lack of uniformity of a canned product characteristics is
particularly disadvantageous because the consumer expects the
canned product to be consistent from one can to another. In order
to compensate for these types of problems, manufactures have had to
err on the side of increasing dry matter in the canned product
which is very detrimental to overall cost of the product.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] The present invention provides a process in which dried
beans are processed into a refried bean product having the
characteristic flavor, texture and color of conventional refried
beans, including the presence of particulate bean material. In an
embodiment of this invention, hydrated uncooked beans are cooked,
in the presence of water, for a period of time sufficient to make
them digestible and impart a desired cooked bean flavor and color
characteristics to the cooked beans. After being cooked, the beans
are coarsely ground to form a bean slurry containing finely divided
bean mash, whole bean pieces, and bean skin particles. The bean
slurry is then divided into two portions, a first and a second
coarse ground bean portion. Water is added to the first coarse
ground bean portion which is milled and then homogenized to provide
a homogenized bean portion. This homogenized bean portion and the
second coarse ground bean portion are combined with water, spices
and lard and then finally mixed to give the refried bean product.
The use of this process allows an increase in the moisture content
and provides a more consistent refried bean product compared to
conventional processes. Moisture contents of the refried bean
products prepared by the present process may be more than 80%.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0006] In accordance with the present invention, raw dried beans,
either whole or split, are first cleaned and washed by any suitable
means to remove impurities. Beans that may be used in this
invention include beans such as pinto, pink, red, black and the
like. The raw dried beans, which may typically have a moisture
content of between 5-15%, are hydrated to a significantly higher
moisture content prior to cooking in order to reduce the period of
time required to cook the beans. Accordingly, the moisture content
of the raw dried beans is increased, before cooking, by rehydrating
the beans in any suitable manner in water. In one embodiment, the
dried beans are contacted with sufficient water to increase their
moisture content to about 55%.
[0007] After hydration, the beans, together with a sufficient
amount of water, are introduced into a cooker in which the beans
are cooked under appropriate time and temperature conditions
sufficient to make the beans digestible and impart a cooked bean
flavor and color to the mixture. In one embodiment of the
invention, a mixture of hydrated beans and water are cooked at a
temperature of about 200.degree. F. for about 15 minutes.
[0008] The beans may be cooked in a batch wise process or in a
continuous process. In a typical batch system, the beans and water
are added to a steam jacketed scrape surface kettle. The beans and
water are generally heated to a minimum of 200.degree. F. and then
held at this temperature for about 15 minutes. A typical mixture
would be made up of about 60% hydrated beans and about 40%
water.
[0009] Upon completion of cooking, the cooked beans are coarsely
ground to produce a bean slurry. The coarse grinding may be
accomplished in the same kettle as cooking using a suitable high
shear mixer such as, for example, an ADMIX ROTO-STAT mixer. The
time of the high shear agitation may be adjusted to provide the
desired consistency of the coarse ground material. In general, the
high shear agitation time should be long enough to provide enough
starch release to allow particulates to stay in suspension. The
resulting bean slurry contains finely divided bean mash, larger
whole bean pieces and particles of bean skin. The bean slurry is
then separated into two portions, a first and a second portion.
[0010] In accordance with the present invention, the first portion
of the bean slurry is milled. A number of different mills may be
used to finely grind the coarse ground bean mixture. For example,
an Urschel COMITROL mill with a 0.030 inch head may be used to
finely grind or mill the coarse ground material.
[0011] After being milled, water is added and mixed with the milled
material. This water addition and mixing can be done in a steam
jacketed scrape surface kettle. A typical mixture includes about
75% milled material or slurry and about 25% water. The temperature
of the mixture is generally maintained at approximately 190.degree.
F. This mixture is typically then "stuffed" pumped into a
homogenizer. A typical homogenizer pressure setting would be about
3,000 psi with either a single stage or two stage homogenizer being
used. Some variations are acceptable in order to adjust or optimize
the pressure setting but pressure settings of less then 2,000 psi
seem to be ineffective. Typically the homogenized mixture or puree
is stored in a "make-up" kettle, to be used as needed, at a
temperature maintained at about 190.degree. F.-200.degree. F.
[0012] Next, the homogenized bean portion together with the coarse
ground bean portion are combined with water, flavoring, seasonings
or spices. In general, the homogenized portion and the coarse
ground portion are metered or weighed into a mixing vessel. A
typical mixture would be 40% homogenized bean portion, 40% coarse
ground bean portion, 18% water and 2% flavorings/particulate
flavoring materials/seasonings/spices/lard/etc. One form of mixing
vessel, for example, is a dual motion scrape surface steam jacketed
kettle. Sufficient mixing should be allowed to insure a uniform
mixture and the mixture is then heated to approximately 195.degree.
F. before filling.
[0013] Flavorings such as animal or vegetable fat or oil, including
tallow, lard, beef fat, soybean oil and the like; seasonings
including salt, onion powder, particulate materials including
chopped or diced chilis, jalopena peppers and the like; or a
variety of other spices and flavorings may be incorporated, if
desired, to give the product a desired flavor may also be added to
this kettle. According to various embodiments, animal or vegetable
fat or oil, in an amount of about 0.2-0.5% by weight, seasoning, in
an amount of about 1-2% by weight, and particulate flavoring by
materials in an amount of about 3-8% by weight are added, with
mixing, to the homogenized and coarse ground bean portions.
[0014] The refried bean product produced by the present process
contains a major proportion of finely divided cooked bean particles
together with an appreciable quantity of cooked bean skin
particulate, with the bean skin particulate being substantially
larger in size than the bean particles. The presence of such bean
skin particulate provides the product with a texture characteristic
of conventional refried beans.
[0015] The present invention is further illustrated by the
following example.
EXAMPLE 1
[0016] A refried bean product was produced by the following
procedure.
[0017] Dry beans were hydro pumped and dewatered into a continuous
hot water rotary screw blancher. Beans were blanched for 45 minutes
at 180.degree. F. to provide re-hydrated beans with a moisture
content of 55%. The re-hydrated beans were then flumed across a
de-stoner and hydro pumped to steam jacketed scrape surface slurry
batch tanks. In these batch tanks 2,400 lbs of 190.degree. F. water
was first added and then 3,400 lbs of re-hydrated beans were added.
As soon as the beans were starting to be added to the batch tanks,
the steam on the kettle was turned on to begin heating and the
scrape surface agitator was turned on. After the beans were added
the heating continued until a temperature of 200.degree. F. was
reached. Once this temperature is achieved, the mixture was heated
for 15 minutes. After the hold time, a ADMIX ROTO-STAT mixer was
turned on for 1 minute and 45 seconds. Following the mixing step,
one-half of the mixture was pumped to a coarse ground storage tank
to be used in batching while the other half was pumped through an
Urschel COMITROL mill with a 0.030'' head that milled the mixture
which was then placed into a puree storage kettle. The total amount
of the mixture added to the puree storage kettle was 2,900 lbs
which was then combined with 1,000 lbs of 190.degree. F. water.
This mixture was then mixed in the kettle for 5 minutes using the
scrape surface agitator. This material was then pumped at a rate of
10 gpm and 40 psi into a two stage Gaulin homogenizer. The second
stage of the homogenizer was set at 600 psi with the first stage
being set at 3,000 psi. After passing through the homogenizer,
1,400 lbs of this material was pumped into a dual motion scrape
surface steam jacketed mix kettle. In addition to the homogenized
puree, 1,400 of coarse ground slurry, 635 lbs of water, 15 lbs of
lard and 50 lbs of seasoning were also added to the kettle. The
combined materials were mixed and heated to 200.degree. F., which
took approximately 2 minutes. This combined product was then sent
to a storage kettle where it was pumped to a filler, filled in cans
and thermally processed. The resultant product had the desired
consistency, flavor and particulate attributes expected from canned
refried beans.
[0018] A sample of the combined product, before filling, was taken,
finely ground and measured in a microwave moisture analyzer. The
resultant moisture content was found to be 80.5%.
[0019] The foregoing embodiments of the invention have been given
for illustrative purposes only and no unnecessary limitations
should be understood therefrom, for various modifications will be
apparent to those familiar with this art. The scope of this
invention is defined in the appended claims.
* * * * *