Blancher and method of operation

A blancher for heating food product using a non-liquid heat transfer medium comprising:

• a) a tank having a pair of spaced apart sidewalls and a pair of spaced apart endwalls;
• b) a lid having a pair of spaced apart sidewalls overlying and in contact with the tank sidewalls and a pair of spaced apart endwalls overlying and in contact with the tank endwalls;
• c) a seal disposed between 1) the tank sidewalls and the lid sidewalls and 2) the tank endwalls and the lid endwalls;
• d) wherein the tank and lid define a food product receiving chamber therebetween having 1) a food product inlet in communication with atmosphere exteriorly of the food product receiving chamber and 2) a food product outlet in communication with atmosphere exteriorly of the food product receiving chamber;
• e) a food product transport mechanism received in the food product receiving chamber that urges food product in the food product receiving chamber toward the food product outlet;
• f) an inlet for introducing the gas or vapor heat transfer medium into the chamber that heats the food product received in the chamber, a vent in communication with the upper portion of the food product receiving chamber to vent atmosphere in the food product receiving chamber exteriorly of the food product receiving chamber.

A blancher for heating food product using solely a vapor or gas heat transfer medium comprising:

• a) a tank having a pair of spaced apart sidewalls and a pair of spaced apart endwalls wherein each of the endwalls have an arcuate portion;
• b) a lid having a pair of spaced apart sidewalls overlying and in contact with the tank sidewalls and a pair of spaced apart endwalls overlying and in contact with the tank endwalls wherein each of the endwalls have an arcuate portion;
• c) a seal disposed between 1) the tank sidewalls and the lid sidewalls and 2) the tank endwalls and the lid endwalls;
• d) wherein the tank and lid define a food product receiving chamber therewithin 1) with one of the arcuate portions of one of the tank endwalls and one of the arcuate portions of one of the lid endwalls forming a food product inlet and 2) the other of the arcuate portions of the other of the tank endwalls and the other of the arcuate portions of the other of the lid endwalls forming a food product outlet;
• e) a generally cylindrical perforate drum received in the food product receiving chamber having a generally cylindrical journal at one end in communication with the food product inlet and a generally cylindrical journal at another end in communication with the food product outlet;
• f) a first upper journal seal disposed between one of the tank endwalls and one of the journals and a first lower journal seal disposed between one of the lid endwalls and the one of the journals;
• g) a second upper journal seal disposed between the other of the tank endwalls and the other of the journals and a second lower journal seal disposed between the other of the lid endwalls and the other of the journals;
• h) a rotary auger received in the drum for urging food product toward the food product outlet;
• and
• i) an inlet for introducing the non-liquid heat transfer medium into the chamber that heats food product received in the chamber, a vent from an upper portion of said chamber for venting atmosphere from said blancher.

A method of heating a food product with a rotary blancher comprising:

• a) a rotary blancher including a food product receiving chamber that is sealed and which has a food product inlet and a food product outlet in communication with an atmosphere exterior of the chamber, a food product transport mechanism received in the food product receiving chamber for urging the food product toward the food product outlet, an inlet for introducing a non-liquid heat transfer medium into the food product receiving chamber;
• b) introducing food product into the food product receiving chamber;
• c) introducing a non-liquid heat transfer medium into the food product receiving chamber;
• d) venting a portion of an atmosphere from within the food product receiving chamber to the atmosphere exterior of the food product receiving chamber creating a negative pressure differential within the food product receiving chamber relative to the atmosphere exterior of the food product receiving chamber for preventing flow of atmosphere within the food product receiving chamber out the food product inlet or the food product outlet;
• e) heating the food product in the food product receiving chamber;
• f) urging the food product in the food product receiving chamber toward the outlet;
• and
• g) removing the food product from the food product receiving chamber.

A method of heating a food product with a rotary blancher comprising:

• a) a rotary blancher including a food product receiving chamber that is sealed and which has a food product inlet and a food product outlet in communication with an atmosphere exterior of the chamber, a food product transport mechanism received in the food product receiving chamber for urging the food product toward the food product outlet, an inlet for introducing a non-liquid heat transfer medium into the food product receiving chamber;
• b) introducing food product into the food product receiving chamber:
• c) urging the food product in the food product receiving chamber toward the food product outlet;
• d) venting a portion of an atmosphere from within the food product receiving chamber to the atmosphere exterior of the food product receiving chamber creating a negative pressure differential within the food product receiving chamber relative to the atmosphere exterior of the food product receiving chamber for preventing flow of atmosphere within the food product receiving chamber out the food product inlet or the food product outlet;
• d) operating in one of 1) a first mode wherein solely a non-liquid heat transfer medium is introduced into the food product receiving chamber heating the food product, 2) a second mode wherein solely a liquid heat transfer medium is introduced into the food product receiving chamber heating the food product, and 3) a third mode wherein a combination of i) a liquid heat transfer medium and ii) a non-liquid heat transfer medium is introduced into the food product receiving chamber heating the food product;
• and
• e) removing the food product from the food product receiving chamber.