The heat is on when it comes to donuts, which have ridden a wave of popularity that has confounded health-and-wellness enthusiasts for years.

Moreover, while snacks have stabilized at a high level after a terrific run up during the stay-at-home era, some categories like fried tortilla chips are still charging ahead with sales and volume energized by widespread innovation.

Whether it’s for pure fun or permissible indulgence, fry day is every day for many snacking consumers.

“We’ve always held the belief that the donut is a product that’s never going to go away,” said David Moline, president, Moline Machinery. “It’s a time-tested product. It’s not just an American product anymore. The growth internationally seems very strong, as well. Honestly, I would say I’m a little bit surprised at how on-trend donuts are at the moment.”

Keeping up with the demand for donuts, fruit pies or salted snacks requires different processes and conveying systems. Donuts typically float in the fryer while many snacks are submerged either through all or part of the process.

“This means that the conveying system can be fully immersed in the fryer, have proper sections to push the salty peanuts through the fryer, and most importantly, prevent peanuts from sinking completely to the bottom of it, which would create food residues,” explained Nicola Menardo, president, TP Food Group North America.

Moline pointed out salty snack fryers often have ventilation hoods that completely enclose the frying oil as they travel through the fryer to capture vapors and control the process. Talk about keeping a lid on it.

Meanwhile, an elevated hood enables operators to monitor the donut process and check product color and quality. Although most yeast and cake donuts float on the surface as they fry, he said some items like donut holes or sticks require some submerging while snack pies are immersed during the entire process.

That gap between the hood and donut fryer, however, enables fresh air to encounter the oil, potentially leading to oxidation if not monitored, filtered and treated properly, noted Reilly Rodriguez, design engineer, Topos Mondial.

“You really need to see the products all of the time when you’re frying donuts to make sure they look appealing and are frying correctly,” he said. “You want the clean flip at the turner and a good ‘fry line.’ ”

Borrowing a page from the snack-frying process, Topos Mondial, which manufactures its own ceiling-hung hoods, narrows the gap to about 2 feet between the bottom hood edge and top of the kettle.

“We want to extract all of that smoky air off of the frying surface, so we want to keep the exhaust air velocity across the frying surface at a proper level to remove the frying smoke,” he explained.

In addition to reducing both oxidation and the development of saturated fat in the oil, the narrowed gap better captures the vaporized oil from developing a film on nearby equipment and floors, reducing sanitation and safety concerns.

For donut and salted snack makers, the latest in automation enables them to meet the sustained demand for their products.

As far as consumers are concerned, nobody needs permission to indulge. If you fry it, they’ll try it.

This article is an excerpt from the May 2024 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on Frying, click here.