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US 12,708,126 B2Granted
Liquid oil-based fat system composition for microwave popcorn
AssigneeConAgra Foods RDM, Inc.
InventorsSteven Kaiser, Indarpal Singh, Andrew Wassinger
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A liquid-oil based fat system for use in microwave popcorn products is described to prevent wicking and leaking of oil from microwave popcorn packaging. In an aspect, a microwave popcorn product includes a charge of popcorn and a slurry including a liquid-based oil, a structuring ingredient, and a seasoning for introduction to a microwave popcorn package that expands during the popping process in a microwave.
Claims11
A method of producing a microwave popcorn product, comprising:
- introducing a liquid-based oil, a fat-based structuring ingredient, and a seasoning to a temperature-controlled mixing tank;
- blending the liquid-based oil, the fat-based structuring ingredient, and the seasoning to form a slurry, wherein the fat-based structuring ingredient includes a blend of mono- and diglycerides in an amount from about 18% to about 26% by weight of the slurry, and wherein the slurry includes the liquid-based oil in an amount from about 54.8% to about 67.0% by weight of the slurry and includes no palm oil;
- controlling a temperature of the mixing tank to maintain the temperature of the slurry from about 148° F. to about 160° F. to provide a blended slurry;
- and
- transferring a charge of popcorn and the blended slurry to an interior volume of a microwave popcorn package, the interior volume of the microwave popcorn package configured to expand during a microwave heating process of the microwave popcorn product,
- wherein the blended slurry forms an organogel subsequent to contact with the charge of popcorn in the microwave popcorn package to maintain the liquid-based oil within the organogel at room temperature storage conditions of the microwave popcorn product.
3 more elements
A method of producing a microwave popcorn product, comprising:
- introducing a liquid-based oil, a fat-based structuring ingredient, and a seasoning to a temperature-controlled mixing tank;
- blending the liquid-based oil, the fat-based structuring ingredient, and the seasoning to form a slurry, wherein the liquid-based oil is present in an amount from about 54.8% to about 67.0% by weight of the slurry and includes at least one of avocado oil, olive oil, and sunflower oil, wherein the fat-based structuring ingredient includes a blend of mono- and diglycerides in an amount from about 18% to about 26% by weight of the slurry, and wherein the slurry includes no palm oil;
- controlling a temperature of the mixing tank to maintain the temperature of the slurry from about 148° F. to about 160° F. to provide a blended slurry;
- and
- transferring a charge of popcorn and the blended slurry to an interior volume of a microwave popcorn package, the interior volume of the microwave popcorn package configured to expand during a microwave heating process of the microwave popcorn product,
- wherein the blended slurry forms an organogel subsequent to contact with the charge of popcorn in the microwave popcorn package to maintain the liquid-based oil within the organogel at room temperature storage conditions of the microwave popcorn product.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.