Fried Snacks and
Caramelized Peanuts

The word “snacks” includes diverse types of foods. There are three types of snacks: sweet, salty and special flavors. Each one of these in it’s own way can be fried, cooked, caramelized etc. In this site we will look into the elaboration of some fried snacks and caramelized peanuts, since they are simple and easy to make and it can be turned into an alternative rentable and productive business.

Fried snacks can be obtained after frying the prime material and adding salt or sugar to it as well as flavoring and colorants. This process is used more and more for industrial preparations of food because of two reasons: first, because it is a very quick method, and second, because it gives the ingredients a special flavor. However it is necessary to control the conditions of the frying, since the oil goes through certain things that diminish its quality and modify its structure, which can have toxic effects.

Frying is a process of cooking by which the cornstarch of the cells is dehydrated and a great part of the water is replaced by the oil. Amongst the most obvious changes is the golden color it obtains, due to the caramelizing of the sugars, and the crunchy texture, due to the quick evaporation of the water. As far as the nutritional value goes, the loss of nutrients in fried foods is similar to what occurs when other methods of cooking are done.

Besides this, frying allows the food to stay conserved for a longer amount of time because it destroys the microorganisms and enzymes within it. However, you do need to take into account that the duration of some fried snacks depends on the content of water they have: donuts for example, have a shorter life span than snacks that are elaborated based on potato corn, that can hold up for up to a year.

Before explaining the process of elaboration of fried snacks and caramelized peanuts, it is necessary to keep certain aspects in mind that could affect the quality of the final product: