Fried potato particles, frequently identified as potato chips or French fries, are prepared having an acceptable color, one from Color 4 through 7 of the Color Reference Standard of the International Potato Chip Institute by a method comprising freezing raw sliced potatoes followed immediately thereafter by thawing said slices in warm water and frying the thus treated slices.
The invention enables the production of fried potato products of greatly improved texture, flavor, and color from raw stock that exhibits excessive browning tendencies and which would normally yield fried products of excessively dark color. Typically, pieces of raw potato are pre-fried in edible oil for a short period, then leached with water. The leached pieces may be further processed in various ways, e.g., finish-fried, or par-fried and then refrigerated for distribution to the consumer or food service operator.
A dual-stage process for preparing potato chips having a centralized first stage continuous process for preparing potato slices for indefinite storage and a second stage continuous process for preparing potato chips for consumer use.
