IDM ¦ Technology/IT
cooked batch, an annual saving of £2828 per year. A conventional
cooking process using a steam jacketed kettle will typically require
60-90 min to cook 400 kg of soup and sauce food material and
will hold at 90 °C.
Quality benefits
The research also showed that the reduced thermal process time
and minimal exposure of a product to hot surfaces in the Steam
Infusion cooked batches results in improved retention and generation
of flavour and aroma volatiles. The Steam Infusion cooking
process has been shown to provide advantages in milk processing,
where results show milder flavour profiles with more volatiles
coming from the ingredients. The research extends the potential
of Steam Infusion flavour retention, being applied to recipes with
herbs, spices, fruits and chocolate.
This research demonstrates the potential for Steam Infusion to
reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of production. This is an important
intervention if the food and beverage industry is to follow
current route maps for carbon-zero production that are not only
reliant on off-setting greenhouse gas emissions using mechanisms
external to the business enterprise and manufacturer. This is proving
transformative for an industry that must build in carbon saving
to product development and one that is experiencing increased
energy costs with a requirement to deliver greater carbon disclosure
for food products.
Figure 2
Steam Infusion Vaction Pump data for heating 400 kg of chocolate custard. The temperature in the Steam Infusion heated
kettle starts at 9 °C and finishes at 85 °C during cooking time of 6.5 min.
40 · January/February 2022 ¦ international-dairy.com
/international-dairy.com
