Abstract: Because ordinary brown sugar contains more reducing sugar and water, it is easy to agglomerate during storage and production, has poor fluidity, and has a bad appearance. It cannot realize automated production and is used as food raw materials. It is not easy to mix perfectly with other materials. Therefore, how to make brown sugar into dry powder has become an urgent problem that the industry needs to solve. Next, I will introduce dry pink sugar and its production process. Let’s take a look at the difference between brown sugar powder and brown sugar cubes. 1. What is the difference between brown sugar powder and brown sugar cubes
Brown sugar is a very common food. There are brown sugar cubes and brown sugar powder. In fact, there is not much difference between brown sugar powder and brown sugar cubes, but the production process is different. , both are made from juice pressed from sugar cane. Brown sugar cubes are made by mixing and pressing, and are in the shape of lumps; brown sugar powder is made by mixing and refining, and are in the shape of powder.
2. Dry pink sugar and its production process
In order to meet market demand, the following categories of dry pink sugar are currently on the market:
1. Rock brown sugar Powder
About twenty years ago, rock sugar manufacturers in Shandong, Hebei, Guangdong and other places used rock sugar mother liquor (the liquid molasses left after the production of rock sugar) as raw materials, by adding white sugar, raw sugar or a small amount of Brown sugar is boiled at high temperature, crystallized with sand, and dried to obtain a dry powdery brown sugar product, which is called rock brown sugar in the industry.
Because this product has good fluidity and appearance, it is easy to realize automatic measurement and packaging during production. It is widely used in the production of independent bags (portable bags) of brown sugar and some solid beverage ingredients. However, because this type of product does not contain brown sugar itself, it lacks the flavor and health benefits that brown sugar should have. It only looks like an aqueous solution and brown sugar, with only a sweet taste and a small amount of burnt flavor.
In order to quickly dry and dehydrate rock brown sugar during simultaneous production, a certain amount of baking soda is often added as a production auxiliary during reverse sand crystallization (carbon dioxide is generated by the reaction between baking soda and the acidic substances contained in rock brown sugar). The principle of gas and taking away a lot of water, and the weak alkalinity also helps the anti-sand crystallization of sucrose molecules), the finished product will have a little odor. When producing brown sugar as a raw material, other auxiliary materials are generally added, and the smell of the auxiliary materials is used to cover up this defect.
At the same time, in order to reduce costs, some manufacturers will also add lower-priced glucose, modified starch, etc. during the production process, further reducing product quality. Rock brown sugar is widely used in the market because it has the advantages of good appearance, good fluidity, easy automatic measurement and packaging, easy mixing with auxiliary materials, and moderate price. Most of the individual bags of brown sugar currently on the market use rock brown sugar as raw material.
The main production process of rock brown sugar powder is: rock molasses + white sugar (in actual production, the selection of raw materials includes one or more kinds of raw sugar, white sugar, rock molasses, brown sugar trimmings, Brown sugar trimmings, etc., select the raw material ratio according to the required finished product quality. Generally speaking, the higher the sucrose content, the better the dryness and fluidity of the product) + water (select the amount of water added according to the raw material ratio) → 130℃ Boil at high temperatures until the sugar liquid is mature (determined by measuring the boiling temperature or the experience of the sugar boiler. The judgment standard is that the sugar liquid drops into cold water and condenses into hard lumps. If it becomes soft, it needs to continue cooking) → stir and stir ( In traditional production, the fire is stopped directly in the pot and then manually stirred; at present, most of the methods are to pour the sugar liquid into an automatic mixer to stir and turn out the sand; in this process, it is often necessary to add baking soda according to the ratio of the sugar liquid to assist in crystallization and dehydration; some manufacturers use Add cheap glucose or modified starch to reduce costs) → sieve (dry).
2. Semi-dry brown sugar powder
This type of product is mainly produced in Zhejiang and Yunnan. During the process of brown sugar processing, local workshops in order to improve the sensory and dryness of brown sugar, During anti-sand crystallization, instead of allowing the brown sugar to crystallize naturally, the brown sugar is quickly dehydrated and crystallized by artificially adding a large amount of soda ash. Although this type of product is also classified as brown sugar, due to the addition of more soda ash, the quality of the finished product is greatly reduced, and it is also potentially unsafe to the human body. Since this product has not been dried, although it has a certain degree of fluidity, the cost is higher than rock brown sugar. It has not entered the field of industrial production in large quantities. Instead, it is sold in the name of handmade brown sugar, local specialties, local specialty brown sugar products, etc. Sold at a high price in the market.
The main production process of semi-dry brown sugar powder is: sugar cane juice extraction → filtration and cleaning → boiling, dehydration and concentration (general workshops use continuous stove production) → adding soda ash → dehydration and reverse sand crystallization →Sifter.
3. Granulated brown sugar
About ten years ago, another new type of dry brown sugar product appeared on the market, namely granulated brown sugar (similar to the shape of chicken essence). This type of product uses glucose, white sugar powder or modified starch as the main raw materials, and is made by adding a small amount of brown sugar (generally added 5-20%), auxiliary materials (ginger, dates, donkey-hide gelatin, etc.), flavors, pigments, sweeteners, etc. The granulator makes it into granules. After drying (usually using drying equipment such as a vulcanized bed), the finished product is measured and packaged. Since granulation and drying technologies are extremely mature production processes in the food industry, and product costs can be easily controlled based on different formulas, granulated brown sugar has been heavily imitated by the market as soon as it appeared.
The main production process of granulated brown sugar is: mixing of raw materials (mixing according to production cost and quality requirements) → stirring (adding a small amount of water, stirring evenly, generally requires hand kneading into a ball) → granulation ( Made into a chicken essence-like shape through a granulator) → Drying (different drying methods, the most commonly used is vulcanized bed drying, static drying, etc.) → Cooling packaging.
4. Pure dried brown sugar powder
With consumers’ requirements for higher product quality and technological innovation, in recent years, pure brown sugar has appeared on the market by directly drying it as raw material. Pure brown sugar powder products. This type of product is made by drying 100% pure brown sugar. It has good appearance, good fluidity and excellent quality. It has attracted market attention as soon as it was launched. In particular, some customers with higher quality requirements have shown strong interest in such products.
The first is the selection of brown sugar raw materials. National standards divide brown sugar into three grades: superior, first-grade, and second-grade. Among them, superior brown sugar has higher purity, lower original water content, and fewer impurities, so it has become the first choice raw material for pure drying brown sugar.
The second step is the pretreatment of brown sugar. Since brown sugar itself contains a certain amount of moisture and reducing sugar and is easy to agglomerate, the brown sugar needs to be screened and physically broken before drying.
The third is the choice of drying method. Since brown sugar itself is viscous and becomes more viscous when the temperature first rises, dynamic drying cannot be used and static drying can only be used. There are currently two relatively mature brown sugar drying methods. One is the normal pressure and constant temperature brown sugar drying method used by COFCO's sugar factory. Its advantage is that it can process a larger amount of raw materials in the drying room at one time, and can dry 5-10 tons each time; it can save energy and reduce waste. . The disadvantage is that the drying time is long and it takes several days to dry the brown sugar; the long drying time causes a greater loss of brown sugar flavor and affects the taste of the final product; during the brown sugar cooling and packaging process, if the brown sugar is not completely cooled, post-packaging problems will occur. The problem of caking affects product quality and customer experience. The other is to use the vacuum low-temperature drying method. Its advantages are that the drying time is short (it only takes a few hours) and low-temperature drying allows the brown sugar flavor to be better retained. Its disadvantages are small drying quantity per time (only a few hundred kilograms can be processed), high labor intensity (brown sugar screening, loading and unloading shelves, etc.), and high energy usage (maintenance of pipeline temperature, maintenance of vacuum, etc.). At present, some pure dried brown sugar powder and extended functional products have been put on the market.
It is believed that with the development of technology and the continuous expansion of the high-quality dried brown sugar market, the production cost will gradually decrease after the production process and technology of the product are further improved. After all, higher quality of life and better quality food are part of mankind's constant pursuit of a better life.
The main production process of pure dry brown sugar powder is: pretreatment of high-grade brown sugar (sieving and material crushing) → loading into plates and shelves → entering the drying room (or vacuum drying oven) → drying (normal Pressure constant temperature drying or vacuum low temperature drying) → cooling → packaging.