Reducing oil content of Fried potatoes with difluorodichloromethane (1974) | Hacker News Reader

Reducing oil content of Fried potatoes with difluorodichloromethane (1974)

patents.google.com

19 pointsuserbinator22 comments

"Aside from its immense environmental impacts, R12, like most chlorofluoroalkanes, forms phosgene gas when exposed to a naked flame."

"Phosgene is extremely poisonous and was used as a chemical weapon during World War I, where it was responsible for 85,000 deaths."

Sounds cool.

In general, the more inert a chemical is under ordinary conditions, the more reactive it becomes when it's eventually forced to react.

For a very long time, a "halide torch" was the commonly used method of detecting refrigerant leaks, based on the change of colour of a flame. The amount of phosgene produced must've been tiny, or that method would've quickly fallen out of use.

Hehe, that reminds me of the Olestra potato chips copypasta...

"Don't eat fat free pringles. They'll grease your ass."

https://i.reddit.com/r/copypasta/comments/5ghti0/do_not_eat_...

Or this classic madtv sketch. https://youtu.be/Tx9LSEjgQxY

Ben Krasnow (Applied Science on Youtube) actually did this with Fluorinert and tries eating the resulting potato chips. He claims it tastes and feels just like regular potato chips (on the way in at least).

https://youtu.be/a4gYv2BK-HQ

This might be the biggest breakthrough since leaded gasoline!

Note that the title may be misleading. It is not talking about fried potatoes. Rather, these are the so-called "potatoes" of raw starch produced by the Fried condensation process, originally developed in the 1920s by American chemist Hamlin H. Fried.

I hope this clears things up.

They used to use dichloromethane to decaffeinate coffee beans. Now it's super critical CO2.

Just like Grandma used to make!

Soak 'em in paint thinner, wash that off, half way cook 'em in the frier, then rinse them down with paint thinner a second time before frying them the rest of the way. Mmmmm-MM! Crunchy!

Honestly, you never know what you're buying these days. Or even in those days. This should serve as a cautionary tale for why it's worthwhile to befriend your local farmers and learn to cook.

Probably it’s gotten a lot better over time. One of the first preservatives added to milk was formaldehyde. Reportedly, it made it last longer and sweeter tasting.

Why would one want to reduce the oil content of fried potatoes?

Health reasons?

They should have bought an air fryer.

In 1974?

That's the (terrible) joke.

In 1974 it would have been called a toaster oven.

But those aren't as windy.

Why can't they do the same thing with something else? Would supercritical Co2 work?

Or are the results just not worth it in the age of air frying?

Cool patent. did this contribute to redheads needing sunscreen?

It's very unlikely it was ever used - among other reasons it would be way too expensive for something as simple as fries (chips).

And because the last step is to freeze them, making them no longer appetizing.

I just wonder how one may come across such a patent

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