Patent ID: 8795758

Claim:
A process for preparing a dried vegetable product comprising: a) optionally, washing and peeling of a vegetable; b) optionally, comminuting a vegetable; c) subjecting a vegetable to a hypertonic heat shock by contacting the vegetable with a hypertonic heat shock solution comprising about 5 wt % to about 35 wt % of at least one edible salt, said hypertonic heat shock solution having an osmolality of from 1250 to 10,000 mOsmol/kg; at a temperature of 101 to 112 degrees C., for about 3 seconds to about 225 seconds; d) coating the hypertonicaliy heat shocked vegetable with an aqueous coating mix; wherein said coating mix comprises: i) about 0.03 to about 33 wt % at least one film forming compound selected from the group consisting of starch, dextrin, trehalose, soluble fibers, gums, agar agar, gelatine and mixtures thereof in an amount sufficient to form a film after drying the vegetable; and ii) from 0.1 to 25 wt % of an edible chloride salt composition selected from the group consisting of NaCl, KCl, MgCl 2 , CaCl 2 and mixtures thereof; all wt % by weight of the total coating mix; and e) drying the coated hypertonically heat shocked vegetable to an Aw of from 0.1 to 0.45; and wherein said process to prepare said dried vegetable product is substantially free from polyols selected from the group consisting of glycerol, sorbitol, and mixtures thereof.