Patent ID: 8067051

Claim:
A process for milling cocoa shells, comprising: introducing compressed air into an upper enclosure of a vortex processing apparatus having a lower enclosure with a lower discharge end and an upper exhaust outlet, the compressed air having an air temperature of between about 0° C. to about 150° C. and the compressed air introduced at a pressure between about 0.7 kg/cm 2 to about 7 kg/cm 2 and volumetric introduction rate at from about 850 m 3 /hr to about 17,000 m 3 /hr; introducing cocoa shells into the upper enclosure of the vortex processing apparatus at a feed rate of about 0.45 to about 136 kg/min, wherein the cocoa shells are entrained in the introduced air and travel to the lower discharge end of the enclosure, wherein at least a portion of the cocoa shells are ground before reaching the lower discharge end and the shells travel in the air within the vortex processing apparatus without contacting a moving mechanical part; discharging an edible granular cocoa shell product from the lower discharge end of the enclosure; and selecting the feed rate of the cocoa shells and the pressure, temperature, and volumetric introduction rate of the compressed air so that the granular cocoa shell product is discharged from the lower discharge end within about 15 seconds and to avoid heat-induced degradation of nutrients in the shells, the edible granular cocoa shell product having an average particle size of less than about 60 μm.