Abstract: Liquid smoke, useful for imparting flavor to a food product, is produced by condensing the products of combustion of dry sawdust which is maintained as an undisturbed thin layer in a combination zone while a sweeping air stream passes through the combustion zone. Much higher yields are obtained at much lower char levels than are possible using prior art procedures.

Abstract: A food supplement concentrate of an ingestible agent such as a seasoning, flavoring, oleoresin, essential oil, vitamin, mineral, and mixtures thereof encapsulated, enveloped or otherwise encased as a dispersed microphase within but recoverable from a matrix of encapsulating medium such as a starch, protein, flour, modified starch, gum, and mixtures thereof. The concentrate is prepared by mixing the edible agent and the encapsulating medium with a limited quantity of water adequate to permit conversion of the mixture, under applied extrusion pressure and controlled heat, to provide a dense, essentially unexpanded glassy extrudate with said ingestible agent dispersed therethrough in microform.

Abstract: A method for effectively encasing an active agent such as a chemical compound, a seasoning, a flavoring, or a nutrient such as vitamins and minerals, including liquids, as a time-stable but releasable dispersion in a homogeneous polymeric encapsulating matrix of a modified starch, a gum or a protein material such as gelatin and casein to provide a concentrate of the active agent. The method is characterized in that the agent to be encased is mixed with the encapsulating material under conditions of rigorous and intimate mechanical working with applied high shearing stress but without phase-separating mechanical compression and compaction forces and in the presence of a limited quantity of water and sufficient heat to ensure the formation of a viscous, semi-solid, homogeneous paste constituting a mobile mass or plastic melt.

Abstract: A process for preparing a soy protein product having a high concentration of both solubilized carbohydrates and soluble protein, and being characterized by substantial freedom from bacterial activity, absence of objectionable beany flavor, light color, suitability for use in food preparations for human consumption, and enhanced palatability, wherein soybean material in the form of an aqueous slurry is first adjusted to an acid pH in the isoelectric range for the protein content of the material treated, or from about pH 3.5 to about pH 5.5, then subjected to steam injection to bring the temperature of the treated mass to the range of from about 225.degree. to about 400.degree. F, maintaining such temperature for a short time period, preferably from about 3 to about 30 seconds, to destroy viable bacteria and to solubilize carbohydrates. Residual steam is flashed, together with volatile constituents including objectionable flavor elements present in the soybean material.

Abstract: Process of preparing a puffed, proteinaceous food product by subjecting moist, hydrophilic proteinaceous or protein material having a controlled amount of moisture to elevated mechanical pressure, recovering the product and puffing the recovered product.

Abstract: Preparation of a puffed textured, proteinaceous food product involving subjecting water-moistened proteinaceous material to pressure and heat sufficient to cause the mix to convert to a hot, moist, plastic, extrudable, translucent to glassy mass and extruding the mass through and from a length of an elongated die under non-puffing conditions to provide a moisture-containing, translucent to glassy extrudate, and, as a separate and distinct operation, thereafter puffing the translucent to glassy product in a moist state by subjecting it to water-boiling puffing conditions.

Abstract: Process for preparing hydratable, proteinaceous food products involving: subjecting moist (e.g., crumbly to free-flowing), hydratable, proteinaceous food material having suitable moisture to elevated mechanical pressure and suitable temperature and pH conditions to convert the protein material under non-puffing conditions to a dense, substantially homogeneous, translucent to glassy, coherent, bonded, proteinaceous product of desired size and shape. The material is thereby bonded together so as to be capable of withstanding the disruptive deterioration and loss of structural identity caused by subjecting the proteinaceous material to retorting conditions such as used in food processing. The translucent to glassy, proteinaceous product yields hydrated food products having structural integrity and desired textural characteristics.