How Spices are Processed | Mechair Industries

 

Spices play an important role in enhancing the taste and flavor of the processed food. Today, Indian spices are the most sought after globally for their exquisite aroma, texture, taste and medicinal value.

India produces almost all the spices and is the largest exporter of this commodity. The export earnings from spices can be increased if exports are done in a processed form. This can offer more value in addition to the unit price of the whole spices. Spices are a mass consumption item used in culinary dishes or for seasoning food preparations. Its domestic demand is also increasing due to the improvement in the purchasing power of the people.

Spices are grown and harvested according to the climatic conditions. The initial phase of the procedure is cleaning and drying, during which they are filtered and dried. After this, the spices are sent to the crushing machine.

With the increasing demand, it is essential that the production must also keep growing. Hence to improve the plant production process, plant automation is used. Cleaning, grinding, blending, sieving, material handling, bulk storage and manufacturing all these automated processes are necessary for spice processing to provide clean and high-quality products.

Stages of Spice Processing

Procurement - Indian spices provide the finest flavour. When it comes to processing spices, drying is an important step. The result of the other processes is dependent on the drying process. Proper drying is the key to maintaining the right fragrance and flavour of the spice. The material is naturally dried in the sunlight but roasted if needed to ensure the optimum moisture content. All bulk seeds are dried before packing them in small bags. These bags help to preserve the quality during transportation.

Cleaning - A winnowing basket is used to remove the dust from the spices. After all the contaminants are removed, the herbs are cleaned with light alkali cleaning solutions. They are then passed through concentric zones where spray rinsing and drying are done. The material is then delivered to the grinding machine for further processing.

Grinding - In the grinding process, energy is used to break the large particles into smaller ones while maintaining the proper quality in terms of flavour and colour. Cryogenic methods are used to grind the spices. Cold air is used in the first situation, nitrogen in the second and heat is controlled within the safe limits of the grinding chamber. Spices are cut using horizontal and vertical hammer mills to decrease the size of the material to the desired size. All fine particles are pneumatically handled after grinding and sent to the mixing process, where all elements are blended.

Mixing - After grinding, spices are sent for mixing. The spice powders are compressed and mixed according to the customer’s requirements. The total process system is automated and does not require an operator to do things manually. After this, the finished work is put into a hopper and sent to the storage silo.

Post-Mixing - The finished spice powders are stored in bags. After final mixing, an automatic bagging machine helps in weighing and packing the bag. The bags are heat sealed or stitched and then sent for the final dispatch.

Mechair Industries provides a spice processing plant for spices like cardamom, black pepper, coriander and cumin. To get more details about our services, visit our website https://www.mechair.in/