Innovation in cannon puffing technology for the homogenization of bulk treatment: Half‐popped purple corn, a new healthy snack

Abstract

A new innovative cannon puffing technology, called Vac-Can-Puff (VCP), consisting of a puffing gun connected to a vacuum pump, was conceived for the production of half-popped purple corn snacks. This newly designed system was used to achieve a homogenized expansion of corn kernels in bulk. After selecting the soaking, puffing, and roasting methods, response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the response variables: expansion ratio (ER) and general appreciation (GA) of kernels.It aimed at investigating the effects of puffing parameters: pressure of the steam injected (P), treatment time (T), and initial water content of the kernels (W). The central composite design resulted in an empirical model suggesting the following optima: P = 7.7 × 10 5 Pa, T = 14 s, and W = 32.8%, which are required to maximize desirability of the half-popped kernels. The response parameters obtained under optimal conditions were 2.18 and 4.2 for ER and GA, respectively. Practical ApplicationsEstablishing an initial vacuum prior to steam injection in a puffing cannon, allowed to bring a solution to a long-term issue related to the nonhomogeneous treatment in bulk. Whenever a thick layer of product is loaded in the cannon, a heterogeneous distribution of injected steam within the mass occurs, resulting in a dissimilarly expanded end product. Upon coupling the vacuum to the puffing cannon, the product then obtained is uniformly processed, with a well monitored expansion ratio.Half-popped corn kernels resulting from treatment with Vac-Can-Puff (VCP) exhibited high organoleptic qualities in terms of taste, expansion ratio and desirability, without the use of any additives. Moreover, such products have the potential to be shaped as cakes, bars, or even associated with other products or flavors. Vac-Can-Puff is a manageable process since it does not require high technicality, and easy to implement in developing countries due to its low-cost investment, operating and maintenance. | INTRODUCTIONZea mays L., known as corn or maize, was first cultivated in Mexico, to become throughout the years a reliable source of food (Ranum, Peña-Rosas, & Garcia-Casal, 2014;Serna-Saldivar, 2016a). Ever since, corn turned into a substantial staple food of people's daily intake.

Effects of mode of heat transfer on puffing quality of rice grain: A modeling and simulation analysis

“…Depending on the selected parameters of sand bed puffing, preconditioned rice grains transformed into any one of the forms with the progress of puffing process: uniformly semi‐puffed rice ( t < 10 s), or completely puffed rice ( t ≈ 15 s), or charred rice ( t > 15 s). During the sand bed puffing process, grain temperature, puffing time and rate of agitation of rice grain are important factors for the structural transformation of rice grain (Rajha et al, 2021; Swarnakar et al, 2020). The process of structural transformation of preconditioned rice grain during the conventional sand bed puffing of rice for about 15 s is depicted in Figure 4.…”

“…The ability of cereal grain to be puffed and the mechanism of grain puffing has been learnt from the traditional methods of puffing like hot sand bed, hot air and gun puffing which are used for bulk production of puffed grain (Dutta & Mahanta, 2014; Gulati & Datta, 2016; Rajha et al, 2021; Swarnakar et al, 2014). The quality of puffed grain depends upon the variety of cereal grain, preconditioning method, and puffing temperature and time (rate of heat transfer) (Dash & Das, 2019, 2021; Joshi et al, 2014; Swarnakar et al, 2022).…”