What is air frying and why does it matter? Air frying is essentially a simple concept – with high velocity jets of air used to completely or partially cook products – but is one that offers significant health benefits to consumers as it uses a fraction of the oil required by conventional cooking. For processors, air fryers offer savings on oil usage and the benefit of being able to deliver foods that cater to demand for lower-fat meal options.
With consumer awareness of healthy eating seemingly ever growing and government regulations worldwide pushing for lower fat products, air frying offers a win-win: a concept that meets both consumer and regulatory demands for low-fat foods.
High-velocity results
Two such solutions that are leading the way in air frying are JBT’s Stein JSO Jet Stream Oven and the JBT Double D Revoband Continuous Protein Oven.
The JSO Jet Stream Oven is the industry’s most successful high velocity, vertical airflow, linear impingement style convection oven, which makes use of Patented Jet Stream impingement airflow to ensure unsurpassed cooking uniformity and excellent color development. Utilizing high velocity vertical jets of hot air to impinge the entirety of a product, the JSO’s high-speed cooking times means it can handle more pounds per hour than any other convection oven.
In a similar vein, the Double D Revoband Continuous Protein Oven uses precisely controlled vertical hot air directed at the product from above and below the belt for low-oil cooking. This combination of continuous automatic high volume processing with accurate temperature and airflow control helps achieve high product yields. Further, the Continuous Protein Oven features a unique combination of flexibility and control for excellent results on a wide range of products from bone-in poultry to steamed vegetables.
Healthier frying
“People are getting more and more familiar with the advantages of using air fryers,” says Bart Kivits, JBT Manager for Coating and Cooking Applications. “Using air frying, you can cook products, such as chicken nuggets at home using a lot less oil. JBT takes a product that you would air fry at home and treats in a similar way but on an industrial scale.”
By spraying a product with a reduced amount of oil and then subjecting it to high-velocity, high temperature air jets, Kivits says the systems provided by the Jetstream Oven and the Continuous Protein Oven offer a tastier and healthier way of frying and guarantee a healthier end product.
“If a product is deep fried in a factory and the customer uses air frying to finish it at home, it will still have the same amount of oil and fat,” explains Kivits. “In contrast, if you prepare a product at the processing stage using air frying it will already have a lot less fat, enabling consumers to heat a low-fat product using their air fryer at home.”
