Baking & Snack - May 2024 - 79

EQUIPMENT
Frying
live and let
Fryers now create higher quality products while reducing waste and controlling costs.
by Dan Malovany
T
The heat is on when it comes to donuts, which have ridden
a wave of popularity that has confounded healthand-wellness
enthusiasts for years. Moreover, while
snacks have stabilized at a high level after a terrific run
up during the stay-at-home era, some categories like
fried tortilla chips are still charging ahead with sales and
volume energized by widespread innovation.
Whether it's for pure fun or permissible indulgence,
fry day is every day for many snacking consumers.
" We've always held the belief that the donut is a product
that's never going to go away, " said David Moline,
president, Moline Machinery. " It's a time-tested product.
It's not just an American product anymore. The growth
internationally seems very strong, as well. Honestly, I
would say I'm a little bit surprised at how on-trend donuts
are at the moment. "
Keeping up with the demand for donuts, fruit pies or
salted snacks requires different processes and conveying
systems. Donuts typically float in the fryer while
many snacks are submerged either through all or part of
the process.
" This means that the conveying system can be fully
immersed in the fryer, have proper sections to push the
salty peanuts through the fryer, and most importantly,
prevent peanuts from sinking completely to the bottom
of it, which would create food residues, " explained Nicola
Menardo, president, TP Food Group North America.
Moline pointed out salty snack fryers often have ventilation
hoods that completely enclose the frying oil as
they travel through the fryer to capture vapors and control
the process. Talk about keeping a lid on it.
Meanwhile, an elevated hood enables operators to
monitor the donut process and check product color and
quality. Although most yeast and cake donuts float on
the surface as they fry, he said some items like donut
holes or sticks require some submerging while snack
pies are immersed during the entire process.
That gap between the hood and donut fryer, however,
enables fresh air to encounter the oil, potentially leading
to oxidation if not monitored, filtered and treated
properly, noted Reilly Rodriguez, design engineer,
Topos Mondial.
" You really need to see the products all of the time
when you're frying donuts to make sure they look appealing
and are frying correctly, " he said. " You want the
clean flip at the turner and a good 'fry line.' "
Borrowing a page from the snack-frying process,
Topos Mondial, which manufactures its own ceilinghung
hoods, narrows the gap to about 2 feet between the
bottom hood edge and top of the kettle.
" We want to extract all of that smoky air off of the frying
surface, so we want to keep the exhaust air velocity
across the frying surface at a proper level to remove the
frying smoke, " he explained.
In addition to reducing both oxidation and the development
of saturated fat in the oil, the narrowed gap betwww.bakingbusiness.com
/ May 2024 Baking & Snack 79
Various snacks
require different
frying processes,
depending on if the
products need to
float, be submerged
or both.
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Baking & Snack - May 2024

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