"Tasting Areca": Technological upgrading makes areca delicious and healthy
■ Photographed by interns He Jiale
Expert introduction:
The book "Tasting Areca" has strong pertinence, guidance, practicality, and also has certain interest and readability. It not only describes the history and culture of betel nut, but also provides theoretical guidance for the production technology of betel nut. At the same time, it puts forward the strategic idea of industrial development, process improvement, new ideas and new methods for new product research and development, which can be called the "encyclopedia" of edible betel nut. It also fills a gap in the field of areca research, with obvious local characteristics and strong characteristics of the times. It also reflects the concept of people-oriented and scientific development, which will have certain practical and historical significance for the development of betel nut industry and the promotion of betel nut culture.
——Kong Lingzhi, former director of Hunan Provincial Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision
With the rapid development of areca industry and more and more people chewing, people are eager to further understand the history and culture of areca; Understand betel nut industry development, product research and development, food safety and other related knowledge; Understand the whole process of areca production and management and the relevant standards and requirements to ensure product quality and food safety. Hunan Areca Food Industry Association timely organized several large-scale areca production enterprises and professionals engaged in health and quality supervision for a long time to jointly compile this book. The book pays attention to the combination of theory and practice. It has both detailed theoretical knowledge and practical operating procedures. It has both literature review reports and test results. Focus on the comprehensive system of content, collect and integrate some sporadic and incomplete data and information. Focus on applying to people of different cultural levels and positions. Based on the principle of opening a book, readers can find the content they are interested in.
——Zhu Liming, President of Hunan Areca Food Industry Association and Editor in Chief of Exploring Areca
Core tips
"Tasting Areca", written by the Areca Food Industry Association of Hunan Province and published by Hunan People's Publishing House, has recently returned to the market and is now available in major bookstores. The book covers "general situation and historical culture of betel nut", "nutrition and chemical active substances of betel nut", "raw and auxiliary materials and requirements for edible betel nut production", "production technology and equipment for edible betel nut", "food safety supervision and control management of key links in production of betel nut", "formulation and implementation of standards for edible betel nut", "new process and new product development for edible betel nut" The nine chapters of "development strategy of edible areca industry" and "research on edible areca industry", with a total of 270000 words, provide a systematic and comprehensive introduction, analysis and perspective of the areca industry, which can be called the first "encyclopedia" of the areca industry.
For a long time, the attitude of the media and the public towards areca has always been "two-sided" or even "ambiguous". Some people think that areca is the first of the four major southern medicines, and carries a profound historical and cultural connotation, which is praiseworthy. Some people also say that chewing areca for a long time may induce oral cavity cancer, which is regarded as a scourge. What is betel nut? We will open the book "Tasting Areca" and give the answer at the beginning of this issue. Pan Haitao, Sanxiang Huasheng All media reporter
As we all know, Hainan is the main producing area of areca, but it only accounts for a small part of the big cake of the areca market. Hunan, which is not the source of raw materials, is the gathering place of areca production and processing enterprises. "Hainan areca, Hunan pricing" has become the common sense in the industry.
Recently, the relevant person in charge of Hainan Provincial Department of Agriculture has disclosed that in the next few years, the industry chain will be extended by introducing leading enterprises to promote the transformation and upgrading of Hainan's betel nut industry. In this regard, the relevant person in charge of Hunan Areca Food Industry Association said that the legitimate market competition from Hainan is conducive to stimulating the catfish effect within the industry, which is good for Hunan Areca industry.
The reporter learned from the book "Tasting Areca" that the process upgrade makes the areca delicious and healthy. At present, the areca industry in Hunan is trying to promote the new process of making areca. The future areca will appear in the field of jelly and beverage, and the areca industry will step up to a higher level.
Hainan, the source of areca raw materials, promotes industrial upgrading
"Tasting Areca" shows that in Hainan, areca is the second largest tropical cash crop after rubber. As the largest province for areca cultivation in China, Hainan's areca output accounts for 95% of the country's total. About 500000 farmers and nearly 2.3 million farmers grow areca for a living. Therefore, areca is also called "green gold" locally.
However, a report about "betel nut causes cancer" some time ago caused an uproar in the betel nut industry. Hainan Province, as a major province of raw materials for betel nut, naturally bears the brunt. The price of betel nut during the picking season plummeted by 80%, and millions of farmers suffered heavy losses. Hainan's betel nut industry, which is at the bottom of the industrial chain for the time being, has a poor ability to resist risks. In addition, the huge environmental pollution caused by the "smoke" produced by drying betel nuts by traditional local methods also worries local residents.
In view of this, Hainan Provincial Department of Agriculture has issued a prescription for "industrial upgrading". Wanning is the first city/county to adopt new technology "crab" in the transformation of betel nut primary processing industry. The reporter learned that in recent years, Wanning has continued to provide policy and financial support for the betel nut primary processing industry. At the same time, through the industrial technology innovation alliance, it has introduced professional and technical talents to make breakthroughs in deep processing. Lin Jueming, the director of the betel nut industry bureau of the city, said that the city will also establish two betel nut industry parks to research and develop the series of betel nut products, build a base integrating planting, production, learning, research and use, and expand and lengthen the betel nut industry chain.
The market guidance is the ultimate power. The person in charge of the relevant department of Hainan Provincial Department of Agriculture revealed that while transforming the primary processing technology, Hainan also actively introduced leading enterprises to promote the transformation and upgrading of Hainan's areca industry. In June 2013, Hainan Provincial Department of Agriculture organized a delegation to Hunan to attract investment and investigate the betel nut deep processing industry. The delegation went to Changsha Youwen Food Co., Ltd., Yiyang Huangye Food Co., Ltd., Yiyang Flavor Wang Betel Nut Co., Ltd., Xiangtan Binzhilang Food Co., Ltd. and other leading enterprises in betel nut deep processing, and held a face-to-face investment forum.
Hunan Areca Enterprise Launches the Revolution of Technological Reform
Hainan, the main source of betel nut raw materials, is unwilling to be left behind. With policy support, the establishment of bases, and the introduction of enterprises, the combination of fists is emerging in endlessly. It intends to catch up with and surpass others through industrial upgrading. In the face of challenges, Hunan betel nut industry took the lead in the process reform revolution, aiming to break through the red sea of industry competition and open up a broader market blue sea with new technology.
The success of an enterprise lies in creating a new way of life. For food enterprises, the connotation of this concept is to change consumers' long-standing consumption habits and create a new consumption concept. In this regard, Hunan areca enterprises turn the fresh fruit of areca into a processed product and promote it to the whole country, which can be described as a typical representative of the above concept practice.
"Tasting Areca" introduced in the section of "Overview of the Development of Areca Industry in Hunan" that the earliest production place of Hunan Areca was in Xiangtan. It was simply boiled with lime and maltose to make a brine, and painted on the surface of the cut Areca to make a simple "lime areca". Later, "improved areca" appeared, that is, spices such as cinnamon oil and peppermint oil had been added to the brine. Today, the areca processing enterprises in the whole Hunan region use selected dried areca nuts as the main raw materials, together with special bittern, caramel, food flavors and spices and other ingredients. A variety of fashionable areca nuts have emerged in the market, meeting the taste needs of different people.
Industry competition boosts the transformation and upgrading of the industry. Hainan and Hunan have a monopoly on the raw material market of betel nut in mainland China and the food processing market in China. By taking advantage of Hainan's natural planting resources and Hunan's processing technology, they can not only complement each other's advantages, improve the overall competitiveness of China's betel nut processing products, but also avoid malicious competition and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.
Extended Reading
Production process flow and process description of edible areca
1. Acceptance and storage of raw materials. The acceptance of raw materials can refer to the quality standard of "dried areca nut" formulated by the Ministry of Agriculture. Special attention should be paid to the content of "fluorine" in the original areca nut, which must meet the content specified in the local food safety standards for edible areca nut.
2. Pick. Although the raw materials of betel nut are selected and graded before entering the factory, they still need to be selected and graded according to the production requirements of the factory during actual production.
3. Clean. Because the raw materials of areca nuts are processed with different fuels, equipment baking and other reasons, there is a lot of dust on their surfaces, so they must be properly cleaned. Different manufacturers use different cleaning methods, generally including boiling, cold soaking and steaming.
4. Soak hair seeds. Soaking hair seeds is a process of soaking areca nuts with a solution composed of protein sugar, cyclamate, liquorice water extract, vanillin, edible essence, edible preservative, etc., so that the areca nut shell can fully absorb various flavor substances in the soaking solution.
5. Air dry. After seeding, the soaking solution has been completely absorbed by the areca nut shell. If conditions permit, it can continue to be sealed for 1-2 days, and then dry the water on the outer surface of the areca nut in a clean environment to apply the glue solution.
6. Glue. Modern areca food should be coated with a layer of glue liquid on the outer surface of the areca fruit, which not only makes the appearance of the areca product bright and smooth, but also improves the flavor of the product. The glue liquid is generally prepared with edible gelatin, sweetener, edible essence and flavor, preservatives, etc.
7. Sealing glue. After applying the glue solution, in order to make the fragrant substances evenly distributed in the whole batch of products, they are often kept in a clean and disinfected closed container for about a day. This process is called "sealing glue".
8. Slice. Slice the selected seeds of areca nuts and pick out the seeds in the nuts as required, and then divide them into "split seeds" and "three split seeds" according to the shape and size of the areca nuts.
9. Brine production. Areca bittern is a brown paste obtained by thermal reaction of calcium hydroxide (formerly calcined and digested from limestone or oyster shell containing limestone, but now used edible calcium hydroxide) and maltose. Sweeteners and various food flavors and fragrances need to be added to this paste.
10. Spot brine. Bittern is to add the prepared brine to the cut areca nut chip core, which is now mainly done by hand.
11. Packaging. The modernization of areca packaging is one of the key driving forces for the development of areca from traditional folk food to modern leisure food. So far, there are many kinds of packaging, which can be roughly divided into bags and single piece packaging.
12. Product storage. The betel nut products after acceptance measurement shall be stored in a well ventilated, cool and dry warehouse.
(Original title: "Tasting Areca": Technological upgrading makes areca delicious and healthy)
