Thailand Ginger Processing

1. Brief Introduction to Thailand Ginger Industry
Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe), called "Khing" in Thai, is an important spice in Thailand. Ginger is grown in the whole country and is widely used as an ingredient in the food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and other industries. In 2012, Thailand produced 150,000 MT of ginger, representing 7% of the world production and ranking fifth after India, China, Nepal and Nigeria. Thai ginger is noted for its outstanding quality, with the taste considered far superior to its Chinese counterpart. The Thailand season for fresh ginger runs from December until March, and young ginger harvest season is from September to November.

Thai people use ginger to reduce the fishes smell in many dishes. Chopped ginger is fried with meat as well as Yam Pla Tu(Thai Mackerel Salad) and Yam Pla Kra-pong(Sardine Salad). The skin is usually peeled off before using. The younger ginger can be sliced and eaten as a salad or added into stir fried dishes. The skin for young ginger can be left on for cooking. Pickled ginger, which is prepared from young ginger roots, accompanies many dishes in Thai cuisine from appetizer to main course. Ginger in Thailand is also in the form of candied ginger, ginger ale, ginger beer, ginger powder, etc.
2. Ginger Products in Thailand Market
2.1 Pickled sushi ginger

Pickled sushi ginger(Gari or Amazu shoga) is thin sweet ginger slices served alongside sushi or sashimi. It is eaten between sushi pieces as a palate cleanser, helping to clean your taste buds and enhance flavors. Pickled sushi ginger can also be eaten as a seasoning to rice. 
Sushi ginger is easy to make and here is an example.
1). Add vinegar, sugar and salt in a pot and let it boil. Turn off the fire and let the solution cool.
2). Peel the ginger and slice it very thin.
3). Pack the sliced ginger loosely in a jar and pour the cooled vinegar solution on it.
4). The ginger is ready to eat within a few hours.
2.2 Red pickled ginger
Red pickled ginger(Beni Shouga) is a deep red thin strips of ginger. It is similar to gari but is red in color and usually shredded. Red pickled ginger is served on many Japanese dishes such as okonomiyaki, takoyaki, yakisoba, oyakodon, etc.
2.3 Crystallized ginger

Crystallized, or candied ginger is a sweet treat with a warm spicy flavor and chewy texture. It is made by slicing the ginger rhizome, cooking in a sugar syrup and then coating in crystallized sugar.
Crystallized ginger makes a wonderful snack and also can be chopped and adds flavor to sweet sauces, stir fry dishes, fruit desserts, cakes, cookies, etc. You can also add one or two slices to a cup of tea.
2.4 Ginger Powder
Ginger powder can be used in a wide variety of dishes. It’s very healthy and useful for baking, marinades and sauces. 

3. Ginger Processing and Related Equipment
3.1 Ginger Washing 
Ginger has a rough and cracked surface which is prone to be heavy contaminated with soil that is difficult to remove. Ginger washing requires large amounts of washing water and therefore generated high volumes of waste water. 
Ginger spray washing machine is the special equipment for cleaning ginger and other vegetables and fruits which have rough surface with deep wrinkles, small holes and slits. Adopting high-pressure water flow for washing ginger, having high impurities reduction efficiency. Equipped with circulating water pump and filtered water tank, realizing cycle use to save cleaning water.
3.2 Ginger Peeling 
Ginger peeling is an important step in various ginger processes. Gingers are irregular in shape and not in a spherical geometry, so that hand peeling would be tedious, time-consuming and labor intensive. 
Brush type ginger washing and peeling machine adopts specially designed brush for processing gingers, having high efficiency. The motor drives the brush roller to roll the gingers to complete cleaning and peeling with the help of water spray.
3.3 Ginger Cutting

Manual cutting of ginger with blade or knife is time-consuming and complex. Using ginger slicing/shredding machine will reduce time and savor labor. Meanwhile it’s cleaner with high output. 
Ginger garlic slicing machine can be used independently or with production line to cut ginger into slices. Easy operation, high output, high efficiency, easy to maintain.
Ginger shredding machine is used for cutting ginger into strips. It employs Japanese technology and further improved. Ginger slices are put into the ginger shredder to get shredded ginger. The machine has high accuracy and large capacity.
3.4 Ginger Drying 
Ginger rhizomes contain about 82.6% moisture. Drying ginger can preserve the rhizomes and reduce the volume so that to lower the cost of packaging, storing and transportation. 
Hot air drying oven adopts circulated hot air in the oven to get materials dried. Equipped with adjustable air divider plate inside the oven, gingers can be dried evenly.
3.5 Ginger Powder Crushing
Dried sliced ginger can be ground by this machine to form ginger powder. The fineness can be adjusted by changing different sieves. 
3.6 Ginger Packing
Fresh ginger, dried ginger slice can be packed by vacuum packing machine. Ginger powder is suggested to be packed by automatic powder packing machine.

4. Ginger, Great Galangal and Finger Root

Galangal(Alpinia galanga) is a member of the same family(Zingiberaceae) as ginger(Zingiber officinale). It is called "Kha" in Thai. Other names include greater galangal, khaa, Thai ginger, Siamese ginger, blue ginger, laos root, etc. Galangal is an essential ingredient in many Thai dishes. It is used in curry pastes and soups such as Tom Yum and Tom Kha Gai. Galangal appears similar to ginger. Both grow underground and the cooking method is the same too. Galangal also has many of the same medicinal properties as its cousin ginger. However, galangal and ginger are not the same. Galangal has a very distinct flavor and more peppery than ginger. Thai cooks would tell you not to substitute ginger for galangal. Galangal is lighter in color and much harder to cut and need to be cooked for a longer time to become tender. 
Finger Root(Boesenbergia rotunda) is also in the ginger family. It is also called Chinese keys, fingerroot, Chinese ginger in English, and gra-chai, krachai in Thai. Finger root is used to tame fishiness or meat odor. It also enhances the flavor of fish dishes. One of the dishes it’s added in is kaeng tai pla.

Source LINK: http://vegetable-machine.com/solution/Thailand-Ginger-Processing.html
Contact EMAIL: foodmachinemanufacturer@gmail.com for ginger processing solutions and machines, and we can supply quality ginger processing machines and equipment.

Analysis of Mexican Onion Processing

I. Advantages of Onion Processing in Mexico
1. Abundant Raw Materials for Onion Processing
Mexico is the leading producer in the world with more than 1.4 million tons of fresh onion every year. 95% of Mexican onion production is concentrated in Chihuahua, Tamaulipas, Michoacan, Baja California, Guanajuato, Zacatecas, Morelos, Puebla, San Luis Potosi, Jalisco and Sonora. And in seven states like Tamaulipas, Chihuahua, Zacatecas, Baja California, Michoacan and Guanajuato, 74% of the national production of onion is concentrated, accounting for 70% of the national area planted.
80% of area planted in Mexico is under the irrigation regime and 20% under rain-fed conditions, allowing the fresh supply of onions all year. Onions are seasonal in autumn-winter cycles and spring-summer. In March to June, 81% of the autumn-winter production is concentrated at 700,000 tons, while 91% of the spring-summer production is close to 600,000 tons, concentrated in August to January. In two months: February and July, the onion production is the lowest in one year. In large quantity of onions, 90% of onions are white onion, 7% purple, and 3% yellow.

2. Large Market Demand for Onion Processing
In Mexico, onion production targets 85% of the fresh produce for domestic consumption, 12% for processing like seasoning, drying and 3% left to develop oils. As one of the most versatile ingredients in Mexican cuisine, onions are generally processed into flavoring, juice, sauces and etc. in salad, soups, meats and other meals. A family of four in Mexico often uses at least one kilogram of onions a week.
In the world, onion is the fourth most important vegetable. Every year around 20% onions in the world are processed into various onion products like dried onion slice, onion granules, onion powder and other onion flavorings.

II. Characteristics of Onion Deep-processed Products
Onion powder and onion juice are both processed from fresh onions with high technology to maximize the preservation of the quality of onions, making them own the original onion taste and nutrition.
Onion powder and onion juice have the health benefits that onions possessed:
♦ Protection against allergens
♦ Help in proper digestion of foods,keeping the appropriate amount of good bacteria at optimal levels in order to maintain a healthy digestive system.
♦ A natural remedy to keep your cholesterol under control
♦ Help to maintain a healthy blood glucose level
♦ Promotes oral health
No people really would like to eat the whole onions daily to get benefits the above. So onion powder and onion juice are the great choice as food additives in the health diet.

Besides these above advantages, onion powder and onion juice also have their own spotlights: easy to use and convenient to transport, less loss of nutritional value, high technology employed. As the high-grade onion products, onion powder and onion juice are favored by the international market.

III. Application of Onion Products
Onion powder and onion juice as the traditional flavorings are featured with higher nutritious value and health care value, long period storage, convenient to transport. Powdered onion is perfect as a seasoning, a condiment, in chili, salad dressings, dips, marinades, and as an addition to hamburgers. As the flavoring or food additive for various food, onion powder and onion juice are widely used for producing sauce, soup, prepared food, and other kinds of refined food.

IV. Onion Processing Procedure
1. Onion juice production
Choose fresh onions→onion peeling→onion washing→smashing→defibrination→homogeneity→ concentration→sterilization→filling→final product
♦peeled by onion peeling machine
♦washed by vegetable cleaning machine
♦smashed by crusher machine and grounded by fruit pulping machine
♦onion juice is processed under vacuum press by the vacuum evaporator
♦sterilization and package with the packing machine

2. Onion powder production
Onion juice→drying→grinding→screening→weighing→packing→final product
♦onion juice is dried by the drying machine to form onion powder.
♦the degree of grinding depends on the customer’s demands.

V. Onion Processing Factory Site
To start onion processing, the factory site should be taken into consideration. Depending on our experience, there are several factors affect factory site choosing for your reference.
1. Convenient traffic
The factory should be in the place with convenient transportation, which helps raw materials import and final products export. It would be better that the factory is near where abundant raw materials can be supplied, which can lower the transportation cost.
2. Geographical location 
The factory location should be flat with good engineering geological environment. Furthermore, the factory should not be far away from sufficient basic projects such as supplies of electricity and water.
3. Factory area
Take the onion production line of 143t/day for example including onion powder of 3t/day and onion juice of 6t/day. The factory area consists of as follows: the workshop is 1728㎡, the storeroom for final products occupies 450㎡, room for packaged materials also need 450㎡, the land for the storage of raw onions is 1800㎡, the land for sewage treatment system is 450㎡ and etc.. Please note that the factory area depends on the production scale, investment and so on.

VI. Wide Foreground Market of Onion Processing
Healthy benefits from onions are widely known by people all over the world, so onion processed products are increasingly popular in the market. Furthermore, with the development of fast food industry and convenience food, onion powder and juice as the necessary flavoring and additive are in great demand in the world market. Onion powder and onion juice are featured with many merits like easy to use, convenient to transport, higher nutritional value, wide application and so on. As the high grade onion products, onion powder and juice are popular with people all over the world.
Onion powder and onion juice as the new products are limited by raw materials, region, processing level and investment scale, so the supply of them is insufficient. In the world market, onion powder and juice are in short supply. However, onion powder and onion juice processing industry is the faster-growth business and the world market is growing rapidly. The demand of deep-processed onion product is on the rise, which contributes to big gap of supply and the demand of international onion product. Thus, onion processing industry owns good market prospect.

Source LINK: http://vegetable-machine.com/solution/Mexican-onion-processing-analysis.html
Contact EMAIL: foodmachinemanufacturer@gmail.com to get more info about onion deep processing solutions and machines.

Nigeria Ginger Processing

I. Ginger Production in Nigeria
Nigeria is one of the largest producers and exporters of ginger in the world, especially the split-dried ginger. Nigeria produced 156,000 MT of ginger in 2012, accounting for 7% in the world and ranking 4th globally. Ginger cultivation in Nigeria started in 1927 in the then southern Zaria (now Southern Kaduna) especially within the then Jemm’a federated districts and neighboring parts of the Plateau. 
Two main varieties of ginger are grown in Nigeria, namely yellow ginger “Tafin Giwa” and black ginger “Yatsun Biri”. Kaduna State is the largest ginger producer while other states include Gombe, Benue, Nassarawa, etc. The crop is locally called Chianti in Hausa language, Oso-ala or Oso-Chikwu in Igbo and Ata’le in Yoruba.

Averagely it takes about nine months from ginger planting to mature. If fresh ginger is required, it is harvested six months after planting. If mature ginger is required, it is harvested nine months after planting. The rhizomes can also be left in the ground for two years for propagation. Ginger harvesting starts from October until May, manually by hand or with machines.

II. Challenges in Ginger Production in Nigeria
1. Poorly developed markets marked by lack of marketing infrastructure like storage facilities, quality testing, packaging and transportation constraints.
2. Insufficient market for produce leading to highly fluctuating prices. 
3. Lack of adequate financial support.
4. High production cost (land preparation, fertilizer procurement, agrochemicals, tractors and labor)
5. Poor quality of processed products arising from poor processing culture.

III. Ginger Processing Technologies in Nigeria

Nigerian ginger, particularly the type A farmed in Kaduna, is the best and in demand throughout the world. In Nigeria, ginger is found in almost all the local markets across the country. Ginger is used as flavoring for recipes such as ginger bread, ginger biscuits, ginger sweets, and ginger tea, ginger ale and ginger beer. It is used as a spice in many local cuisine, and also acts a constituent of herbal medicines. However, despite its many uses in food and beverage, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries, little processing is done locally. Meanwhile the mechanism to package the product to meet international standard is lacking. Common processes are as follows:
1. Ginger Washing
Fresh rhizomes should be washed, and cleaned from debris, shoots and roots. After washing, the ginger is lightly dried in the sun before being marketed in this form.
Tips: Ginger spray washing machine is suggested which adopts high-pressure water flow for washing ginger, having high impurities reduction efficiency.
2. Ginger Peeling
Fresh ginger in young form has a pale, thin skin that does not require peeling. Fresh mature ginger is tough, which requires peeling to get to the fibrous flesh. Fresh ginger is either chopped or grated before use. 
Dried gingers are sold with the skin left on or peeled off, while peeling or scraping can reduce drying time. 
Tips: To peel gingers efficiently, brush type ginger washing and peeling machine is suggested, which can clean independently or clean and peel at the same time. 
3. Ginger Splitting
Nigerian ginger is mostly cultivated by peasant farmers and processed by them as whole dry or split dry ginger. Splitting facilitates the drying process. Farmers traditionally use manual method of splitting ginger using a knife, which is slow and labor-intensive, not suitable for large-scale production. Splitting machine is scarce and slicing machine is not attractive. 
Tips: Ginger garlic slicing machine can slice ginger with a capacity of 200 kg/h or 500 kg/h, and the machine is cost-effective.

4. Ginger Bleaching
The peeled/scraped rhizomes may be bleached to improve appearance. Fresh ginger is dipped in a slurry of slaked lime followed by sun drying. When the water dries off, the rhizomes are again dipped in the slurry. This process is repeated until the rhizomes are uniformly white in color. Dry ginger can also be bleached this way. Liming can also protect ginger against pests during storage and shipping.
5. Ginger Drying
Drying should be done to 8-10% moisture, and should not exceed 12%. In most growing areas, the traditional method of drying ginger by sun drying is used. The peeled split/sliced ginger are placed on clean bamboo mats or on a concrete floor and sun-dry for 7 to 14 days. In places where unfavorable seasonal conditions prevail, modern methods using mechanical or solar dryers are also used. 
Tips: Hot air circulation drying oven adopts circulated hot air to dry the ginger, having high efficiency. Equipped with adjustable air divider plate inside the oven, materials can be dried evenly. Different capacities are offered for production of different scales.

6. Ginger Powder Crushing 
Dried ginger can be grinded to produce powder ginger with 50 to 60 mesh size. Pulverization is generally a limiting unit operation in ginger processing. 
Tips: Ginger powder crushing machine gets ginger crushed by the impact & grind function of the relative motion between active and fixed fluted discs, and impact between the materials. Easy operation, adjustable fineness.
7. Ginger Oil and Oleoresin
Ginger oil is obtained by steam distillation of the ground dry ginger, while ginger oleoresin is obtained from the powder by solvent extraction. 
8. Ginger Packing
Bulk ginger rhizomes may be packed in jute sacks, wooden boxes or lined corrugated cardboard boxes for shipping. Dried ginger slices or powder are packaged in kraft multi-wall laminated bags. 
Tips: Vacuum packing machine can pack fresh ginger, whole dry ginger and ginger splits. Various machines are available for packing ginger powder, one of them is automatic powder packing machine.

IV. Favorable Policies for Ginger Industry

A report on Dec 9, 2015 said that the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) was to partner with the National Ginger Association of Nigeria to attract investment into Agro-business through packaging of the product for export.
The Commission would support the Association in processing and packaging to meet the international standard.
Apart from attracting Foreign Direct Investment, the Commission has to promote Local Direct Investment, maintaining that the Country stands to increase its Gross Domestic Product through marketing of Ginger product. 
The Commission welcomes the promotion of Ginger products into the international market, as more revenue could be generated into the nation’s treasury.

Source LINK: http://vegetable-machine.com/solution/Nigeria-ginger-processing.html
Contact EMAIL: foodmachinemanufacturer@gmail.com