Types of Food Grinding 101

When it comes to food grinding, there are dozens of different methods to choose from, and dozens of food grinding machines to do it on. Whether you’re grinding material for food production or preparing ingredients, these types of food grinding are most popular:

Juice Processing

Apple, Kiwi and Orange fruit and Fruit Juices in Glasses

Juice processing is one of the most common applications in fruit and vegetables industries. While many people imagine that juice production involves the juicing of whole food items, that’s not always the case. In fact, many whole food products must be ground or crushed before they can be juiced. This, of course, requires the assistance of food grinding machines, specifically crushers and angle disintegrators, even for large, difficult-to-move items like apples or pineapples.

Food Powder Production

Dehydrated powdered material is a major product for the food industry. Food powders are used as baking additives, drink additives, supplements, nutraceutical supplements (any food supplement that doesn’t require FDA approval), whey powder, potato starch, and more. Food powders and dehydrated ingredients are also popular in certain military and survival applications. Powdered and dehydrated foods are common in Meals Ready to Eat (MREs), which are widespread throughout the military and backpacking communities. Because the food powders are so diverse, the methods of producing them are equally diverse. The machines used to create these items include roller mills, pin mills, and hammer mills for milling powders and flour. It all comes down to product characteristics and demands of the system.

Flour Milling

Flour is a critical ingredient in baking, cooking, and more throughout the U.S. and the world. When it comes to ready made baking mixes, deglomeration of ingredients is an important consideration. Deglomeration refers to the process of breaking up oil chunks in things like baking mixes that include oil sometimes called “prills”. Deglomeration breaks up the combination of oil and flour and makes for a consistent mixture.

Food Preparation

Aside from juice production, grinding is also used to prepare ingredients to be made into a paste, to produce products like canned baby food, and to process certain food additives and ingredients. Finally, grinding is an important part of oil production. Before they can be made into oil, olives, avocado flesh, and seeds must be crushed to release and extract the natural oils within the casing of the ingredient. This second process is sometimes called “expelling”.

Additional Types of Food Grinding

Granulated Sugar into Powdered Sugar
Chickpeas for Hummus
Soybeans for Tofu (This is a pureeing process but remains very common)
Guacamole, which is a grinding process
Sauces – cooked salsa, horseradish sauce, ginger puree, etc.

Choosing the Right Kind of Food Grinding Machine

Choosing the right type of food grinding machine depends substantially on your budget, process, and production needs. No two applications are created quite the same, and no two setups should be, either. Here are a few tips for finding the right fit for you:

Think about output. What do you need in terms of production? Organizations that need larger output quantities will benefit from choosing a machine that can keep up with performance requirements. Smaller operations, meanwhile, may benefit from smaller equipment that doesn’t provide the same level of capacity. Since this equipment is also likely to be less expensive, it’s more affordable for small companies.
Consider your budget. Budget is, of course, a significant consideration when it comes to finding an excellent grinding machine. While you can find a wide selection of food grinding machines, they’ll come at prices ranging from a few hundred to thousands of dollars. Make sure you’re shopping machines that work for both your application and your pocketbook.
Grind needs. Do you need to grind your items once or take two passes at the material? If you need to make two passes, you’ll need to find a machine that can suit this. Generally, it’s possible to make two passes through most devices, although you may need to change out screens to do so.

Finding Your Ideal Food Grinding Machine

Once You know what type of food grinding you’ll be doing, you can invest in a food grinding machine that will support it. By shopping with a reputable manufacturer, you can secure high-quality equipment that will serve your company and your needs for many years to come. Need some additional assistance finding the food processing machine of your dreams? Contact Corenco today. If you’ve ever thought about food processing, you’ve probably considered food size reduction equipment. While it doesn’t get nearly as much recognition as it deserves, food size reduction equipment plays a critical role in food processing of all kinds. By grinding, pulverizing, and modifying food and other materials, size reduction equipment makes it possible for companies to process food and produce finished products. Here’s what you need to know:

What is Food Size Reduction Equipment?

Size reduction equipment comes in all shapes and sizes. There are choppers, grinders, screw-fed mills, and disintegrators all designed to suit different needs and objectives. Here are a few of the most common types of size reduction equipment:

Gravity-Fed Mills. Gravity-fed mills, also known as angel disintegrators, are mounted on a 30-degree angle base. They have large inlets designed to accept oddly-shaped whole materials like carrots, apples, meats, and more.
Screw-Fed Mills. Screw-fed disintegrators are ideal for ingredients that are too difficult to feed into gravity-fed mills. They’re great for bulky products like dried fruit, paper, leafy greens, and more.
Pump-Fed Mills. Pump-fed disintegrators reduce agglomerates and oversized material in pump-able liquids. They’re common for processing tomato paste, water, and other agglomerates.
Crushers. Designed initially to crush whole melons, these machines use gravity to feed heavy items through a milling chute, wherever they’re prepared for further reduction.
Shredders. Shredders are mostly used in milling cheese for pizza toppings. These machines are capable of processing 5-gallon pails of material and more.

Each type of machine serves a different purpose and processes particular kinds of whole foods more effectively than others. Common in commercial kitchens, production facilities, hospitals, and more, size reduction equipment plays a variety of roles many of us have never considered.

The Role of Size Reduction Equipment in Nutrient Absorption

One thing many people don’t think of when it comes to food size reduction equipment is how making food smaller improves nutrient absorption of food. When you consume food, you aren’t technically absorbing the nutrients until they’re taken into your GI tract. This means that the way we deliver food to our GI tracts matters. If you’ve ever heard that you should chew each bite of food 32 times before you swallow it, you’ll have some background in this. While chewing 32 times might seem excessive, it serves an essential purpose: for your stomach to absorb your food correctly, the food must be thoroughly disintegrated by your teeth and steeped in saliva. Sound appetizing? That combination makes nutrients more readily available for your body. If you’re not interested in excessive mastication, there’s another way: food size reduction. When food is reduced in size before it passes your lips, it’s much easier for your body to enact the processes it needs to undertake in order to digest the food. Small particles of fruits and veggies, for example, are easier to break down than huge chunks. Meanwhile, certain types of food, like wheatgrass and barley, are virtually impossible to digest until their tough cellulose outer layers have been broken down by size reduction equipment – either through grinding or juicing.

From Whole Foods to Finished Products

Whole foods are a great way to ship and put things on grocery shelves. Unfortunately, they’re not a great way to support people making recipes. For that, you need processed foods. Smoothies are a great example. Smoothies take whole foods (whole fruits, vegetables, and grains, for example), reduce them to different forms, combine them into another way, and make them something people want to consume. Baby food and soup are two additional examples. Food processing makes food easier to consume, easier to absorb on a nutritional level, and easier to prepare. Hospitals, meanwhile, use food reduction to equipment to grind up materials to feed people through feeding tubes.

Processed Food is Becoming Less Processed

Today, people want to particulate in their food and food production. While the U.S. as a whole is consuming more processed foods, consumers are also looking for processed foods that feel decidedly less processed. Take particulates in juice, for example. Unheard of eleven twenty years ago, sediment-filled extracts indicate quality and health today. While the goal of food production used to be a homogeneous product, that objective has since shifted. Today, people want high-quality products that look and feel homemade. It’s food processing differently, and it’s changing the way manufacturers approach food size reduction. To access efficient, effective food size reduction, having the right equipment is critical. Here at Corenco, we specialize in producing high-quality, reliable food size reduction equipment you can count on. To find your perfect match today, contact our team or browse our selection.