What are the crystals in Folgers Crystals?!
What are the crystals in Folgers Crystals?
Answers:
They are the result of freeze drying. The complete process is as follows:
1. Agglomerated wet coffee granules are frozen. For instant coffee this is a very important stage. Freezing too fast leads to large ice crystals and a very porous product and can also affect the colour of the coffee granules.
2. Frozen coffee is placed in the drying chamber, often on metal trays.
3. A vacuum is created within the chamber. The strength of the vacuum is critical in the speed of the drying and therefore the quality of the product. Care must be taken to produce a vacuum of suitable strength.
4. The drying chamber is warmed, most commonly by radiation but conduction is used some plants and convection has been proposed in some small pilot plants. A possible problem with convection is uneven drying rates within the chamber, which would give an inferior product.
5. Condensation - the previously frozen water in the coffee granules expands to 10? its volume, the removal of this water vapour from the chamber is vitally important, making the condenser the most critical and expensive components in a freeze drying plant.
6. The freeze dried granules are removed from the chamber and packaged.
I have no clue. =]
Freeze-dried coffee crystals
During the freeze-drying process, and that is to remove ALL moisture from the coffee...what is left behind by the moisture content of the coffee has now crystalized.