Advantages Of Hydrocooling equipment
Pre-hydrocooling allows:
- To achieve slower growth or ripening of the fruits;
- To reduce the speed of biochemical, microbiological and physical processes;
- To prevent loss of weight;
- To prevent the development of phytopathogenic bacteria, mould fungi, and yeasts
- To preserve the nutritional and biological value of the product;
- To retain its taste and marketable appearance;
- To increase the storage period of products (depending on species and variety) by up to several months;
- To prepare crops for the blast chilling process, while reducing the time required for subsequent processing;
- To minimize losses associated with the transportation, storage and sale of products.
The hydrocooler allows the cooling chamber to be filled with different crops at the same time or in batches; the process is characterized by a high heat removal rate and maintaining a stable temperature regime. The choice of mode is based on the speed of ripening and ageing of the fruit and vegetable crops after their harvesting.
Hydrocooling reduces the accumulation of inorganic phosphorus and slows down the reduction of protopectin, colouring substances and organic acids, which delays the aging of tissues. The process of retarding ageing (ripening) and stabilising resistance to pathogenic microorganisms is important for the processing of both long-storable and low-storable products. It allows us to preserve the consumer properties of refrigerated products.
The quality of the cooled products is significantly affected by the time lag between harvesting the fruits and vegetables and loading them into the pre-cooling system. For most crops, the optimum start time for processing is from 1 to 4 hours, but a longer time gap can lead to significant weight loss of the product, reduced vitamin and micronutrient content and the growth of pathogenic organisms.
A hydrocooler for intensive cooling of fruits and vegetables increases resistance to pathogenic microorganisms and weight loss. Antiseptics can be added to the water. Ice water spraying is used to restore the required amount of moisture, and mobile pre-cooling systems are also used.