Detailed Guide to Processing Technology for a Series of Potato Snack Foods

Potatoes have rich nutritional value. They contain protein, phosphorus, iron, inorganic salts, vitamins B1 and B2, and carotene, and their protein quality is relatively good, closest to animal protein, and easy for the human body to absorb. According to determination with an amino acid analyzer, potatoes contain 18 kinds of amino acids required by the human body and various trace elements. Potatoes can also supply the human body with a large amount of mucoprotein. Mucoprotein is a mixture of polysaccharides and proteins, can prevent fat deposition in the cardiovascular system, maintain the elasticity of arterial blood vessels, prevent premature occurrence of atherosclerosis, and can prevent atrophy of connective tissue in the liver and kidneys, maintain lubrication of the respiratory tract and digestive tract, with obvious effects. Therefore, convenient, highly nutritious snack foods made from potatoes as a processing raw material are deeply favored by consumers. Potato resources are abundant, the price is low, the production cycle is short, the process is simple and easy to master, the investment cost is small, and the economic benefit is high. Both family workshops and large and small factories can organize production, and it is an important way to speed up economic development in impoverished areas, especially potato-producing areas.

1. Potato Crispy Sugar Slices

(1) Selecting potatoes and slicing. Select fresh potatoes of 50-100 g without pests or diseases, wash the soil off the skin, then put them into a 20% edible alkaline water solution and stir continuously with a wooden stick to peel them. After all the skin has come off, take them out, rinse them clean, and drain them for later use. For slicing, cut them as needed into diamond-shaped or triangular thin slices about 2 mm thick, and after cutting, soak them in clean water to prevent the starch on the surface from discoloring.

(2) Boiling and sun-drying. When boiling, the heat must be well controlled to keep the potato slices cooked but not mushy. Then dry them in the sun; on sunny days they can be placed in sunlight, and on rainy days they can be dried by machine (temperature controlled at 30-40°C). The standard for sun-drying or machine-drying is that they are suitable when they break as soon as pressed.

(3) Deep-frying and coating with sugar. Put the dried potato slices into heated boiling sesame oil or peanut oil for deep-frying; the amount added each time can be determined by the amount of oil. During frying, stir gently with a ladle to make them heat evenly and puff uniformly. When they are fried to golden yellow, quickly take them out and drain the excess oil, then pour them into melted sugar liquid (when melting the sugar, add as little water as possible; it is enough once the sugar melts) and stir continuously, using low heat to completely evaporate the water in the sugar liquid. A transparent sugar film then forms on the surface of the potato slices. After complete cooling, they can be packed into small bags, and the bag openings sealed to make the finished product.

2. Potato Jam

(1) Processing ingredients. Mashed potato 50 kg, white granulated sugar 40 kg, water 17 kg, an appropriate amount of edible pigment, about 100 mg edible flavoring, about 160 g powdered citric acid, and an appropriate amount of nutritional agent.

(2) Operating steps. Wash the potatoes, remove the rotten and sprouted parts, then peel them, place them in a steamer and steam them cooked, then take them out and spread them to cool. Then rub them through a sieve into uniform mashed potato for later use. Put the white granulated sugar and water into a pot and boil to 110°C, then pour the mashed potato into the pot and use an iron shovel to turn it continuously until the mashed potato is completely broken up, while preventing it from burning on the bottom of the pot. Continue heating to 115°C, add the citric acid and pigment, and control the pH value at 3-3.2. At this time, because the temperature is too high, turn and stir frequently to prevent scorching. Lower the temperature with low heat, and when the material in the pot reaches 100°C, add the fruit edible flavoring and nutritional additive into the pot, stir evenly with a wooden board, and then it can be filled into cans (empty cans must be washed and sterilized before use). If the filled cans are not sterilized, the cans can be inverted for 20 minutes, then labeled to make the finished product.

3. Potato Maltose. Soak six-row barley in clean water for 1-2 hours (keeping the water temperature at 20-25°C), and when its moisture content reaches about 45%, pour off the water. Then place the swollen barley indoors at 25°C to let it germinate, and use a watering can to spray water twice a day. After 4 days, when the malt has grown to more than 2 cm, set it aside for use. At the same time, prepare the potato residue material: after grinding the potato residue fine and filtering it, add 25% rice husk, then sprinkle about 80% clean water onto the prepared raw materials, mix thoroughly and let stand for 1 hour, then put them into the steamer in 3 batches. For the first batch, add 40% of the material; after steam comes up, add 30% of the material; when steam comes up again, add the final 30%; when steam comes up once more, time it for 2 hours, steam the material thoroughly cooked, and then saccharify it. Put the steamed material into a wooden barrel, add an appropriate amount of water that has soaked the malt, and stir thoroughly. When the temperature drops to 60°C, add the prepared malt (about 10%), then stir evenly from top to bottom, then pour in the malt water, and when the temperature drops to 54°C, keep it warm for 4 hours. After the temperature drops, add 100 kg of warm water at 65°C. Continue to keep it warm, and after full saccharification, filter out the sugar syrup, place the sugar liquid in a pot and heat it, and after boiling down, when the concentration reaches 40 degrees Baume, it can become potato maltose.

4. Potato Crispy Fragrant Chips

(1) Raw material handling. Select potato tubers of uniform size and free from pests and diseases, wash them clean with clean water and drain them, then remove the skin, cut the potato tubers into thin slices 1-2 mm thick, and then put them into clean water to soak, so as to wash away the starch on the surface of the potato chips and avoid spoilage and mold.

(2) Blanching. In boiling water, blanch the potato chips until they are semi-transparent and cooked but not soft, then take them out and put them into cold water to cool, drain the surface moisture, and set aside for use.

(3) Marinating. Put seasonings such as star anise, Sichuan pepper, cassia bark, and fennel into a cloth bag and boil in water for 30-40 minutes; after it has cooled, add an appropriate amount of edible sugar and salt, put the potato chips in and soak them for about 2 hours, then take them out and dry them in the sun.

(4) Deep-frying. First bring edible vegetable oil to a boil in a pot, then add the dried potato chips, turning them while frying; when the potato chips have puffed up and turned slightly yellow, they can be taken out of the pot, and after cooling they can be packaged.

5. Potato Spicy Hot Slices

(1) Preparing ingredients. Potato flour 72% (after passing through a 60-mesh sieve, stir-fry in a pot until fragrant, then take out for later use), chili powder 12% (after passing through a 60-mesh sieve, set aside for later use), sesame powder 10% and pepper powder 2% (after stir-frying in a pot until fragrant, set aside for later use), salt 3%, edible sugar 1%.

(2) Mixing ingredients. Add an appropriate amount of high-quality soy sauce to the above ingredients to make a spicy wet mixture, then place it in a forming mold and press it into wet slices of various shapes, and dry the surface moisture.

(3) Deep-frying. Put the spicy hot slices into a boiling oil pot for frying; when their surface turns slightly yellow, take them out of the pot, and after cooling, package them for sale.