Muffler Milk Chip Latest New Health Food

Muffler Milk Chip Latest New Health Food FARM HOME Food 12-3-34 "You can't eat just one. They're so good they're almost addictive," says Harold Thomas, Barneveld, Wis., about the new milk chip health food snack that he and his son Doug say is the latest new competition for potato chips, pretzels, popcorn and other snack foods. The difference between their milk chips and other snack foods is that they're made from 100% natural dairy ingredients so they're good for you. Harold's brother Walter invented the new snack food but died about a year ago before his invention had received its patent. It has now attracted the attention of a major national food company, which is testing the product for market. The idea is to mix low-fat cottage cheese with water, dry the mixture into hard chips and then "puff' them up using hot air. The first part was relatively easy. They used a blender to combine cottage cheese and water, and then spread the mixture out on a cookie sheet in a 1/8-in. layer to dry. They then broke the hardened cheese mix into chips and fried them in oil. The chips almost instantly swelled up into crispy chips about 3 times their original size. They tasted and looked great, says Harold, but using oil added too much fat to the food. They had to find another way to cook them. They tried fans, heater-blowers, vacuum pumps and a variety of other methods but nothing worked. Finally Walter got a crazy idea. He cut out the top and bottom of a 1-lb. coffee can, covered either end with wire mesh and put the chips inside. Then he held the can over the warmed-up exhaust pipe of his 1950 Allis Chalmers WD45 tractor. It worked perfectly, puffing the chips up without adding a single calorie. "They stay crisp a long time. They could be flavored many different ways and you can add salt or not. They're good both ways," says Harold, noting that the exhaust of other tractors didn't seem to work. The WD45 had just the right amount of air flow and heat to almost instantly puff the chip. Harold and Doug says the food company looking at the chip is experimenting with other ways of making the chip, including microwaves. He says it's likely the company will invent a machine that'll duplicate the air flow and heat of the tractor's exhaust to produce the commercial product. "We think they taste great and so does everyone else who's tried them. This product could provide a wonderful boost to the dairy industry," Harold told FARM SHOW. Contact FARM SHOW Followup, Harold Thomas, Rt.1, Box 123, Barneveld, Wis. 53507 (ph 608 924-5474).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.