Patent ID: RE40232

Claim:
A method of heating a food product comprising: a) providing a blancher including a perforate food product-receiving chamber disposed in a housing that has a food product inlet and a food product outlet, a rotary food product transport mechanism disposed in the food product receiving chamber for urging the food product toward the food product outlet, and at least one orifice bank comprised of a plurality of pairs of orifices each for introducing a fluid liquid into a tank disposed inside the housing in which the food product- receiving chamber is received with the orifices spaced apart in a lengthwise direction relative to the tank substantially the length of the tank ; b) introducing food product into the food product- receiving chamber into a liquid heat transfer medium within the housing of the blancher tank through the inlet; c) turbulently discharging a fluid liquid through at least each one of the plurality of pairs of orifices into the liquid heat transfer medium in the tank ; d) heating the food product in the food product-receiving chamber using the liquid heat transfer medium in the tank with the liquid heat transfer medium having a temperature of at least 120 Fahrenheit ; e) urging the food product in the food product-receiving chamber toward the outlet; and f) removing the food product from the food product-receiving chamber through the outlet ; wherein in step c ) the liquid that is discharged through orifices at a flow rate of at least 20 gallons per minute per foot of tank length; and wherein the orifices in the orifice bank are oriented to direct the discharged liquid into liquid heat transfer medium in an exiting quadrant of the tank generally toward an axis of rotation of the rotary food product transport medium .