Processing steps of melon seeds
Process flow for melon seeds: Selected melon seeds → soaking in lime liquid → cleaning → fragrant cooking → mixing with spices → baking → drying
1.Wet melon seeds treatment: Wash the wet melon seedsand use clean water to rinse the impurities from melon seeds, and then drain the water for use.
2.Lime liquid soaking: Prepare clear lime liquid, and pour the screened melon seeds into the lime liquid to soak. After soaking for 24 hours, take out the seeds and rinse them with drinking water to remove impurities and defective seeds.
3.Spice preparation: you should chosecumin, star anise, Chinese prickly ash, cinnamon and other spices in proportion, and then seal theses spices in a two-layer gauze bag.
4.Precooking melon seeds: Pour the soaked and cleaned melon seeds into the jacketed pot, the quantityof melon seeds is about 50 kg. The drinking water for precooking is four times that of the melon seeds. You should unscrew the steam valve of the jacketed pot and boil for 1 hour, and then take them out from iron sieve and clean up.
5.Fragrant cooking: put 70 liters of drinking water in a jacketed pot, and then add 10% salt, 1 pieceof spices pack, and 40 kg of melon seeds into the jacketed pot as well. Afterwards, unscrew the steam valve of the jacketed pot and boil for 2 hours. At this time, it is necessary to add water frequently to make sure the water volume keep up with the original volume. 1 piece of spice pack used for cooking melon seeds could be used for cooking twice.
Melon seeds Drying Process
1.Drying the melon seeds: Mix 100 kg of boiled melon seeds with 5 kg of salt and 2 kg of sugar while then melon seeds are still hot. Take a clean bamboo grate and lay a plastic woven net on it, and then evenly sprinkle the melon seeds on it. Each grate could load 1 kg of melon seeds. Afterwards, send the bamboo grates with the melon seeds into the oven and arrange them on the grill.
You should pay attention to the drying temperature and drying time: the drying temperature of the drying room is generally about 75 ℃, and the drying time is about 4 hours. During the drying process, the exhaust machine is often activated to remove moisture, and it should be discharged for 1 to 2 minutes once every 30 minutes. You can also use the Shuntec heat pump drying and dehumidification machine to automatically dehumidify during the drying process.
2.Spread out for drying: The melon seeds should be mixed with vegetable oil, and theoilamount is equal to 1% of the raw material. When mixing with vegetable oil, use an oil brush to stir well, and let it dry until the surface of the melon seeds becomes slightly dried.