TRADITIONAL GRINDING PROCESS OF SPICES

We consume spices to obtain their flavors, colors, aroma, and spiciness in our food. But, during the traditional Grinding process of spices, a lot of heat is produced. This results in the evaporation of essential oils from the spices. Also, the heat-sensitive fats are melted due to excessive temperature.

The answer to this limitation is Cryogenic Grinding of Spices.

WHAT IS CRYOGENIC GRINDING?

Cryogenic Technology grinds spices and herbs at a sub-zero temperature. i.e., from 0 degree to -196 degrees. It uses liquid nitrogen and carbon dioxide. This helps to prevent the rising of temperature during the grinding process.

The Cryogenic Grinding of powders gives you finer, better quality products with higher throughput. As this involves low temperature, the heat sensitive materials can also be well grounded.

Products with a high oil or fat content, such as nutmeg and oil-seed, can cause blockages in the grinding tools and chamber. Cooling with cryogenic gases keeps the product free-flowing so that it leaves the mill without clogging it.

So, this cold grinding technology results in low production cost and high product quality.

Satvam Nutrifoods adopted Cryogenic Grinding Technology to conserve their purity and quality of the spices. This technology preserves all the natural components and aroma of spices which is not possible in the traditional grinding process and adds value to your life. Being pioneers in this Cryogenic Grinding Technology, let us understand more about “Problems with the conventional grinding of spices”.

PROBLEMS WITH CONVENTIONAL GRINDING OF SPICES

Conventional Grinding of Spices comes with many drawbacks, some of which are:

Loss of Essential Oils

The flavors and pungent properties of spices are a result of volatile oils and oleoresins present in them. These are very sensitive to the high temperatures generated during the traditional grinding process.

So, the cryogenic grinding technology preserves the significant amount of these delicate compounds.

Clogging of Mill

Spices like nutmeg, cloves, etc. contain high amounts of fat while chili and capsicum contain a high level of moisture. Both of these causes clogging and gumming of the mill and affect the throughput and quality of the ground product.

Oxidation

Due to the intimate cyclone effect of the air in the vicinity of the grinding zone, aromatic substances in materials oxidize and become rancid. Also, the formation of fresh and exposed surfaces accelerates the process of oxidation.

FINE GRINDING USING CRYOGENIC GRINDING TECHNOLOGY

Higher temperatures during the grinding process lead to loss of flavors, oils, and aroma. Because of its cooling effect, materials with low melting points can be well ground through the cryogenic grinding process.

The cryogenic grinding system consists of two units, Pre-cooling Unit, and Grinding Unit.

These units introduce liquid nitrogen into the barrel and remove the heat from the material before it enters into the grinder.

By the use of low temperature, the raw materials become brittle, which causes the fibers to shatter.

CRYOGENIC TECHNOLOGY OVER STANDARD GRINDING SYSTEMS

There are various advantages that cryogenic grinding process holds over the traditional grinding systems.

1. The temperature remains below 0 degree inside the grinding mill in the cryogenic grinding system while it remains same inside the grinding mill in the traditional grinding system.

2. In standard grinding, the heat leads to evaporation of the essential oil and also results in melting of heat sensitive fats. While there is a negligible loss of volatile component in the cryogenic process.

3. Also, there is no control on the particle size in the standard grinding system.

4. High capacity motors are required to grind the material for standard grinding but, cryogenic grinding demands no such thing.

5. Almost all the spices, such as turmeric, coriander, black pepper go through a loss of essential oils during the standard grinding process. While the oil content remains almost same in case of Cryogenic Process.

Satvam Nutrifoods is the spices manufacturers and exporters in India that uses the Cryogenic Grinding technology in all their spices.

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