6 Ways To Make Cooking Soups and Sauces More Efficient In Food Manufacturing

For food manufacturers, the cooking process is fundamental to producing high-quality finished soups, sauces and other liquid products. However, traditional processes and technologies mean that this can be lengthy, labour-intensive and highly inefficient in terms of energy consumption.

The good news is that this does not have to be the case. Over the past few years, more organisations have transitioned away from traditional steam jacketed kettles to utilising Steam Infusion technology; this is significantly reducing cooking time and cleaning in place (CIP) time while improving the quality of the cooked product. Plus reducing water consumption in the cleaning processes by up to 90%.

How much energy should I be using to cook?

To heat 1,000KG of a typical sauce from 20 to 85 Degrees C require c76 kWh of input energy. A similar amount of input energy is required to clean the vessel using hot water and cleaning solution. 

From studies with our partners at the University of Lincoln, real-world usage is considerably higher, with energy consumption varying from 500 kWh per 1,000KG of finished product to 1,200 kWh+.

In the Netherlands, combining Steam Infusion with OALs robotic chef, APRIL has achieved sub 250kWh per tonne of finished product. These technologies form part of a Carbon Trust project to improve efficiencies further as we move towards a net zero economy.

Here we take a closer look at how Steam Infusion cooking can make you more efficient:

What is Steam Infusion cooking?

Steam Infusion is a direct contact heating process whereby steam condenses on the surface of a liquid, gently yet rapidly cooking a range of food and beverages up to a temperature of 140oC. The patented Steam Infusion VactionTM Pump rapidly heats, mixes and pumps food ingredients and products, offering near perfect energy transfer. By varying the steam pressure and flow rate through the pump, the processing conditions change, from gentle cooking to intense mixing and pumping with a homogenising effect,

In simple terms, rather than heating the vessel that the product is in and utilising a secondary mixing process, steam infusion injects the heat directly into the product in-vessel or in-pipe.

Benefit 1: It tastes better

Slow cooking times can lead to loss of vibrant colours and flavours during the cooking process. With Steam Infusion this is not the case, as the rapid heating process ensures that vital nutrients and colour are not simply boiled away but retained. This not only ensures that your finished product tastes great but also enables you to reduce the quantities of ingredients used. For example, we have seen certain products(recipe dependent) achieving a 50% reduction in required spices to achieve the optimum taste.

Benefit 2: Reduced cooking time

Steam Infusion is a far quicker way to cook. For example, a 1,000kg batch of soup can be heated from 20 to 85 degrees C within 10 minutes. When combined with reduced cleaning time and robotic batch processing product through-put can be increased by 6x, driving far greater cooking capacity for manufacturers.

Benefit 3: Reduce Clean-In-Production time

As Steam Infusion is not heating the vessel, but heating its contents, this approach prevents burn-on, which is a major issue that lengthens CIP time. When this is combined with robotic automated pouring, rather than traditional pump and piping technology, the end-to-end cleaning process is simplified and shortened, with a CIP water reduction of greater than 90% not being uncommon.

Benefit 4: Removing Cross-Contamination

Following on from the fact that Steam Infusion prevents burn-on and also enables more effective cleaning, a significant benefit is removing cross-contamination. You eliminate the risk that vessels or pipes being used still have the remanence of your last batch, therefore avoiding compromise of taste and, more importantly, the health risk of cross-contamination of allergens or other ingredients.

Benefit 5: Reduce Energy Consumption

As the cost of energy continues to rise and food manufacturers are under growing pressure to be more sustainable, anything that can be done to reduce energy consumption is a significant benefit. OAL is part of the Souper Green project in partnership with Solina, supported by Marks and Spencer PLC, the Department for Energy Security, and Net Zero’s Industrial Energy Efficiency Accelerator (IEEA). By incorporating a lightweight cooking vessel, this programme provided a more efficient heating operation and easier cleaning, leading to an impressive 80% energy savings from production trials.

Benefit 6: Greater reliability

Any failure of your cooking technology results in a significant loss of production – cooking time is money after all. By removing the complexity of traditional processes and equipment, Steam Infusion is making the whole process more reliable. Less failures result in continuity of productivity, while greater accuracy of the cooking process reduces wastage both of failed batches and reduced quantities, as a result of burn-on.

Steam Infusion is generating some impressive results for food manufacturers across the globe, improving product differentiation factors while delivering tangible operational benefits. We would love to share more with you about the benefits OAL Steam Infusion technology can bring to your operation and to show you how this would work on your recipes in our test centre.

Simply reach out to the OAL team – contact us.