Many of the snacks we eat every day, such as yam chips, puffed Prawn cracker chips, corn chips, are formulated with zero fat, but they taste fluffy, crisp and melt in the mouth. Many people wonder why traditional puffed snacks rely on deep frying and high-temperature baking to form and foam. Why can snack blanks made from pure starch be processed into crispy puffed snacks without adding a drop of oil? This is because the physical properties of starch and the characteristics of microwave processing are utilized.
The raw materials for various puffed snacks are refined starch such as rice, corn, wheat, etc. After proportioning, kneading, and pressing, a large amount of bound water and tiny sealed pores will remain inside the raw materials, which is the key basis for oil-free puffing. Starch itself has the characteristics of water absorption, swelling, and high-temperature gelatinization. Unprocessed raw materials have a tight and soft texture that cannot be directly consumed, and require the use of heat energy to change the internal structure.
Traditional frying and puffing rely on rapid heating of high-temperature oil, utilizing the temperature difference between oil and water to instantly vaporize and expand the moisture in the raw material, while the oil infiltrates and locks in the crispy texture. Microwave processing does not require grease assistance, as it can penetrate the entire material and synchronize and rapidly heat the water molecules inside the billet. The rapid vaporization of water forms high-pressure water vapor, which continuously expands in the closed microporous structure of starch, evenly spreading the starch network inside the billet.
Under continuous microwave irradiation, starch is completely gelatinized and solidified, the expanded pore structure is retained, and excess moisture inside the material is quickly removed. The entire process does not have the problem of surface hardening caused by high-temperature open flame baking, and the heating inside and outside is uniform, so the billet will not have external coking or internal growth.
This oil-free processing method relies entirely on the moisture and starch structure of the ingredients themselves to complete puffing, retaining the fluffy and crispy taste of snacks while avoiding the greasy feeling caused by oil. It meets the current demand for healthy and light food, and is also a popular technique for food factories to produce low-fat, zero oil puffing snacks.
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