Instant refried bean powder and process for producing the same

Claim 1

A process for producing dried bean powder which is instantly reconstitutable with water to form a product having a characteristic flavor, texture and color of conventional refried beans, which comprises blanching raw beans in hot water in an amount of from 1.25 to 2 parts by weight of water per part by weight of beans for a period of time sufficient to increase the moisture content of the beans to a minimum of about 40%, introducing the beans and blanch water into a pressure cooker in which the beans are cooked in the blanch water at a pressure of between about 25 to 75 psi under time-temperature conditions sufficient to render the beans digestable and impart a cooked bean flavor and color to the beans, discharging the cooked beans and water from the pressure cooker into a container which is at ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure to provide an almost instantaneous release of pressure on the cooked beans whereby the beans are physically degraded to form a bean slurry having a solids content of about 25%-35% by weight and containing finely divided bean mash, whole bean pieces and bean skin particles, milling the bean slurry through a screen having a relatively coarse sieve opening, with minimal grinding action, so that the whole bean pieces in the slurry are reduced to a relatively small particle size while the bean skin particles are retained in the slurry, and drying the milled bean slurry to a maximum moisture content of about 6% to thereby provide a dried bean powder containing a major proportion of finely divided cooked bean particles and an appreciable quantity of bean skin particulate, which is substantially larger in size than said cooked bean particles, said powder being instantly reconstitutable with water to form a product containing particulate matter and having the flavor, texture and color characteristics of conventional refried beans.