Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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PROCESSED GARLIC PIECES
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to food flavoring products and processes
and, in particular, to a garlic product and process for making same.
Garlic has been used to flavor and enhance the taste of food for
centuries and, relatively recently, science has shown what ancients
intuitively knew: garlic contains high concentrations of health-giving
ingredients.
Raw garlic, crushed garlic, cooked garlic, garlic salt, garlic powder,
freeze-dried garlic and powdered garlic in capsules are but a few of the many
forms in which garlic is commercially available.
Untreated raw garlic and certain forms of processed garlic have a
bitterness and garlic flavor so strong that they are unpalatable to all but a
relative few. For this reason, garlic is customarily cooked in some manner
before being used with food. The traditional process required for preparing
garlic for cooking and the cooking itself can be tedious and time-consuming.
DEFINITIONS
As used herein, the term "process-ready cloves" refers to washed and
skinned cloves of garlic.
As used herein, the term " garlic bits" or "bits" refers to the form of
garlic that results from cutting process-ready cloves into smaller pieces of
generally uniform thickness.
As used herein with reference to bitterness and strength of garlic
flavor in garlic bits, the term "reduced" means less than existed prior to
garlic bits having been subjected to a reducing process.
As used herein, "garlic pieces" and "pieces" refer to garlic bits of
reduced strength of garlic flavor and bitterness that have been fried.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides ready-to-use garlic in the form of
palatable, crispy, roasted-flavor pieces that can conveniently be stored and
dispensed from a shaker. The garlic pieces of the present invention can be
dispensed directly from a shaker onto food, either during or after its
preparation, to lend the savory flavor of garlic.
When introduced into mashed potatoes, for example, the mashed
potatoes are immediately imbued with the roasted flavor of toasted garlic
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with the added feature of lightly crunchy morsels. The same is true for
salads, meat, poultry, fish and any other food with which garlic flavoring is
desired.
In the present invention, garlic is processed into crispy pieces that not
only provide a source of roasted garlic flavor to any food to which they are
added, but also add nuggets of light crunchiness. During the process of the
present invention, the strength of the raw garlic flavor is reduced to make
the pieces more widely palatable. In addition, the bitterness, which is a
characteristic of raw garlic, is also reduced below the level at which it is
undesirable. In the present invention, both modifications to the palatability
of the raw garlic are carried out without the use of leaching chemicals or
unnatural additives. One end product of the present invention is garlic,
with no additives other than the oil in which it is fried, in the form of
crispy
pieces with a roasted flavor that is palatable to a wide audience and that
can be conveniently dispensed from a shaker. Another end product of the
invention is garlic bits having reduced strength of garlic flavor and
bitterness.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide widely
palatable, crispy pieces of roasted-flavor garlic ready for immediate use
without further processing.
It is another object of the present invention to provide crispy pieces of
garlic that have reduced bitterness andJor strength of garlic flavor.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a process
for making crispy pieces of garlic from which the natural bitterness of the
garlic has been reduced.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a process for
making crispy pieces of roasted-flavor garlic in which the strength of the
flavor of the raw garlic has been reduced.
Another object of the present invention is to provide bits of garlic with
reduced strength of garlic flavor and reduced bitterness.
The foregoing and other objectives, features and advantages of the
invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the
following detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the
accompanying drawings.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is a flow chart schematically illustrating preferred
embodiments of the process of the invention for making the products of the
invention.
Figure 2 is a flow chart schematically illustrating an alternative
embodiment of the process of the invention for making the products of the
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The basic steps in the process of one embodiment of the present
invention include: (1) cracking harvested garlic bulbs into individual cloves
that are then peeled and washed (process-ready cloves); (2) slicing and/or
dicing the peeled and washed cloves into garlic bits of generally similar
thickness; (3) reducing the bitterness and strength of the garlic flavor from
the bits; and (4) frying the reduced bits into garlic pieces.
Referring to Figure 1, process 11 is initiated by step 12 which
transforms harvested bulbs of garlic into skinned and washed garlic cloves.
In ways known to those skilled in the art, the harvested garlic bulbs are
cracked into individual cloves and the bulb's outer skins and root crowns
removed. An air process can be used to remove the skins from the
individual cloves, leaving skinned cloves which are then washed. Cloves
with obvious defects are discarded.
In step 13a, the process-ready cloves are cut into bits of a desired
thickness as by a slicer. While the thickness can vary depending on the
desired shape and size of the final product, pieces cut to a thickness of
between approximately one-sixteenth and three-sixteenths of an inch have
been found to produce excellent results. Regardless of the thickness
selected, the best results are achieved when the bits have a generally
uniform thickness so that later processing of the bits has a uniform effect.
It will be understood by those skilled in the art that "generally uniform
thickness," as used with reference to sliced garlic cloves, can include
variations within a range that still produces generally uniform results.
By step 13b, the garlic is diced. Process-ready cloves from step 12 or
sliced bits from step 13a can be fed to a dicer where they are chopped into
smaller size bits. Thus, in one embodiment of the invention, bits are formed
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by step 13a alone. In yet another embodiment, process step 13b follows
process step 13a. In yet another embodiment, process step 13b follows step
12 and step 13a is not employed. In all of the embodiments, however, garlic
bits of generally uniform thickness result.
Slicing and dicing garlic cloves is known to those skilled in the art, as
is the equipment for doing so and, thus, need not be described in further
detail herein.
The garlic bits produced by step 13a and/or step 13b are then
processed by step 14 in which the strength of the garlic flavor and the
bitterness of the raw garlic bits are reduced. Because the bits have a
generally uniform thickness, the reducing step will have a uniform effect on
all of the bits.
In one embodiment of the invention, process step 14 is performed by
blanching the garlic bits with heated water. The garlic bits can be blanched
by immersion in a vat of heated water or by being carried on a conveyor
where heated water is applied to the garlic bits. When immersed in a vat of
heated water, the bits are retained in water at a temperature from
approximately 170 to 195 degrees F. for 30 to 120 seconds. In some
instances, boiling water can be used. Because garlic can vary in flavor
strength and bitterness, depending on a number of factors including the
season when they are harvested, the time between harvesting and processing
and the variety of garlic, the optimal time and temperature will vary.
When blanching by applying heated water to garlic bits on a conveyor,
the several variables mentioned above will dictate how long the bits are
exposed to the heated water. In most cases, 30 to 120 seconds will suffice.
In another embodiment of the invention, step 14 is carried out by
applying steam to the bits for 10 to 120 seconds. As used herein, "heated
water" includes steam.
Before being fried by step 16, it is advantageous for the blanched
garlic bits to be dried to remove any water remaining from the blanching
process. This can be accomplished by exposure to ambient conditions for a
few minutes, the use of warm air applied to the blanched garlic bits, shaking
the garlic bits or any other method effective to remove moisture remaining
from the reducing step 14.
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In another embodiment of the invention, step 14 reducing the
bitterness and strength of the garlic flavor of the raw garlic bits is
performed
by baking rather than blanching. In this embodiment, garlic bits are placed
on a conveyor that travels through an oven where the garlic bits are exposed
5 to heat in the range of 200 to 600 degrees F. for a time period of 10 to 180
seconds. The particular temperature and time will depend on the factors
mentioned above,.as well as the desired characteristics of the finished
product. For most applications, the baking process will not remove all of
the moisture from the bits.
Because the bits have been formed to have a generally uniform
thickness, the reducing step 14, whether by blanching or baking, will
operate generally uniformly on all of the bits to produce bits having
substantially the same strength of garlic flavor and reduced bitterness. If,
by contrast, the blanching process is applied to whole, process-ready cloves
before they are formed into bits of generally uniform thickness, two adverse
effects have been observed. Cloves, even from the same bulb, vary so much
in size that blanching or baking them for the same time and temperature
results in widely varying degrees of effectiveness in reducing the bitterness
and the strength of garlic flavor. Also, in order to penetrate to the center
of
the cloves, the process would have to be carried out for so long and/or at
such an elevated temperature that the outer portions of the cloves would be
structurally broken down into a pulpy mass that could not be readily sliced
and/or diced.
After step 14, the garlic bits can be processed by step 16 in which they
are fried. Frying the garlic bits transforms them into crispy, roasted-flavor
pieces of garlic that are ready to use.
The following are two methods for carrying out step 16. In one
embodiment of the invention, garlic bits are placed in cooking oil at between
300 and 400 degrees F. The bits are left in the oil for 30 seconds to two and
one-half minutes, depending on the size of the bits, the temperature of the
oil, the degree of crispiness desired and the amount of roasted-flavor
desired. In one embodiment, the bits are fried in oil at approximately 340
degrees F. for about one minute.
The oil used can be any oil typically used to fry foods. Safflower oil
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has the advantages of economy, a near neutral flavor and low absorption.
Olive oil can add a more complex flavor. Other vegetable oils used for frying
foods can also be used.
In another embodiment, step 16 is performed by applying frying oil to
garlic bits while they are transported on a conveyor. The time that the
frying oil is applied to the garlic bits will depend on such variables as the
temperature of the oil, the size of the garlic bits, the degree of crispiness
desired and the strength of roasted-flavor desired. In one embodiment, the
garlic bits are exposed to the frying oil at between 300 and 400 degrees F.
for
30 to 180 seconds, and preferably 340 degrees F. for 60 seconds.
In step 17, any excess oil on the garlic bits is drained away and the
bits cooled to room temperature. This step can be carried out by
transporting the bits from the fryer on a three-layered belt chamber where
the bits pass back and forth, removing excess oil and drying. The bits can
then be conveyed into a cooling tunnel where ambient temperature air is
blown on the bits to further cool and dry them.
In step 18, the fried garlic bits can be sized by passing them through a
screen of a selected size.
In an alternative embodiment, step 13a is performed to create garlic
bits that are slices of process-ready cloves of a selected thickness (e.g.,
one-
eighth of an inch). These slices are processed by steps 14, 16 and 17, as
described above, to create fried, crispy, roasted-flavor garlic pieces. Before
these garlic pieces are sized by step 18, however, step 19 is performed in
which the fried garlic slices (pieces) are chopped into smaller random-size
garlic pieces.
Referring to Figure 2, the process 1 la is the same as process 11
previously described through step 14. In process 11a, the garlic bits are
fried
at a lower temperature, between 250 degrees F. and 300 degrees F., and
preferably 280 to 285 degrees. By frying at the lower temperatures, the risk
of burning some of the bits (especially any that are smaller than the rest) is
essentially eliminated. The garlic pieces from the frying step 16a are then
baked in step 21 at between 200 degrees F. and 250 degrees F., and
preferably at between 220 degrees F. and 230 degrees F.
In the preferred embodiment, the baking step 21 is advantageously
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carried out by placing the garlic pieces onto a tiered conveyor in an oven so
they make a plurality of passes through the oven before they are removed, as
is well known in the art. Other known baking procedures that produce the
desired results are within the scope of the invention.
By frying the garlic bits at a lower temperature, the number of bits
that are burnt is greatly reduced, if not eliminated altogether. By baking
the garlic pieces after the frying step, essentially all of the pieces become
crisp and crunchy (fully cooked) without being burnt. In addition, the
bitterness and the strong garlic flavor that might survive the reducing step
14 and the frying step 16a are reduced even further by the baking step 21.
Of course, various changes, modifications and alterations in the
teachings of the present invention may be contemplated by those skilled in
the art without departing from the intended spirit and scope thereof. As
such, it is intended that the present invention only be limited by the terms
of the appended claims.
