Potato flakes are dehydrated mashed potatoes, made by applying cooked, mashed potatoes to the surface of a drum dryer fitted with application rollers, drying the deposited layer of potato solids rapidly to the desired final moisture content, and breaking the sheet of dehydrated potato solids into a suatable size for packaging.
Alhough a considerable quantity of the dried cells are ruptured during the breaking of the dried sheet, the textire of the reconstituted product is acceptably mealy due to the precooking and cooling treatment to which the potatoes are subjected during the processing and the addition of monoglyceride emulsifier.
This process, used today around the world, was invented by American chemists Cording, Sullivan, Willard and Eskew in 1954-55 at the Eastern Regional Research Center (Philadelphia, USA) and was named after them “Philadelphia Cook”
Since the potato is dried in extremely fast one step, cells of the starch contained in the potato, retain their absorption capacity. Of all the forms of dried potato products, only flakes can be recovered with cold water, which was the reason for their widespread use as an ingredient for the food industry, as well as a fast food product.
Potato flakes are widely used in the following processes:
• chips and extruded snacks production;
• frozen semi-finished products (pancakes, dumplings, pies, pizza) production;
• confectionary industry, as additive to the flour;
• sausages production, as a moisture-holding agent;
• instant foods industry – dry mashed potatoes in cups, bags, etc. with the addition of freeze-dried meat, herbal supplements and spices;
• catering
Production line of potato flakes «MIVOK»