Apparatus for cooking fruit and the like products

Abstract

Abstract An apparatus for cooking fruit and the like products includes a tank or cooking chamber disposed for receiving a quantity of such products and a quantity of water sufficient to cover the products therein and sufficient enough to create the necessary back pressure for a hydraulic head and sufficient enough to provide an adequate medium for agitation. Steam is supplied to the lower portion of the tank to raise the temperature of the water to a cooking temperature of the products submerged therein, which temperature may be the boiling point of water. Steam or moisture laden vapor which escapes to an upper surface of the body of water is recirculated under pressure to a lower portion of the tank, such that it will be redirected into the cooking area. Such recirculation is performed by a conduit and a blower or pump mounted in the path of the conduit. The conduit has an inlet above the level of the water in the tank and an outlet below the level of the water adjacent a bottom wall of the tank. The pump effectively increases the pressure of the steam and thereby increases its temperature. A method of cooking fruit and the like products includes submerging such products in a body of water, passing steam through the body of water until it is heated to the cooking temperature of the products, and recirculating under pressure the steam or moisture laden vapor which escapes from an upper surface of the body of water to a lower level thereof.

Inventors

• 👤 Phillip L. Hannah

Bibliographic Details