In the past, the appearance of snow rice cracker machinery was rather ordinary, and the overall structure was compact but not precise enough. Its main body was usually composed of a large metal fuselage, with a simple protective paint applied on the surface. As time went by, the paint layer was likely to become mottled. Its structure was not complex, mainly including several key parts such as raw material conveying, ripening and puffing, forming, and sugar spraying.
When producing snow rice crackers, the step is raw material conveying. Workers will pour the carefully selected rice into a specially made feeding hopper. The rice will slowly enter the next processing step relying on gravity or a simple screw propulsion device. Then comes the ripening and puffing stage. Traditional machinery generally adopts the hot pressing puffing technology. Inside a closed container under high temperature and pressure, the moisture in the rice rapidly vaporizes and expands, causing the rice to puff instantaneously, with a significant increase in volume and a crispy taste. The control of temperature and pressure in this step is of vital importance, which is completely realized by experienced workers manually adjusting the valves and observing the instruments.
After puffing, the rice enters the forming stage. The machinery uses specific molds and extrusion devices to shape the fluffy rice into circular or other common shapes of snow rice crackers. However, due to the slow update of the molds, the styles of snow rice crackers are rather monotonous. Finally, it comes to the sugar spraying stage. The traditional method is to use a simple spray head to evenly spray the prepared syrup onto the surface of the snow rice crackers, forming the iconic "snowflake" appearance. Nevertheless, it is difficult to achieve precise control with this sugar spraying method, often resulting in uneven distribution of sugar. Some snow rice crackers have too much sugar and are overly sweet and greasy, while others have insufficient sugar and lack flavor.
Among them, there has been a major breakthrough in the puffing technology of snow rice cracker machinery recently. A brand-new low-temperature vacuum puffing technology has emerged, subverting the traditional hot pressing puffing method. The principle of this new puffing technology is to make the moisture in the rice rapidly vaporize and expand in a low-temperature and vacuum environment, thus achieving the puffing effect. In a low-temperature environment, the nutrients in the rice can be better preserved. Compared with the traditional technology, the loss rate of nutrients such as vitamins is reduced by more than 30%. In addition, since the puffing is carried out in a vacuum environment, the participation of oxygen is avoided, and adverse reactions such as oil oxidation are reduced, making the snow rice crackers healthier.
In terms of taste and texture, the snow rice crackers made with the new puffing technology have a more crispy and light taste and melt in the mouth. The texture is also more uniform and fluffy, and each snow rice cracker is like a delicate work of art. The market feedback is also very positive. Consumers have expressed that the taste and quality of this new type of snow rice cracker have been significantly improved, and their willingness to purchase has been greatly enhanced. Many food enterprises have also stated that the new type of snow rice cracker has stronger competitiveness in the market, and the sales volume has increased by 20% to 30% compared with before.
The application of automation technology is an important manifestation of the innovation of snow rice cracker machinery. In the past, many links in the production process of snow rice crackers relied on manual operation, which was not only inefficient but also difficult to ensure the stability of product quality. Nowadays, automation technology makes raw material conveying more precise and efficient. Through the automated material conveying system, raw materials such as rice can enter each processing link stably according to the set proportion and speed, reducing the possible errors in manual feeding. In the ripening and puffing stage, the automated heating and pressure control system can monitor and adjust the parameters in real time, ensuring that each batch of rice can be puffed evenly and moderately, greatly improving the consistency of the products.
The integration of intelligent technology has brought a qualitative leap to the snow rice cracker machinery. The intelligent control system is like the "brain" of the machinery. It collects various data in the production process through sensors, such as temperature, pressure, and material flow rate, and analyzes and processes these data. Take the sugar spraying link as an example. The intelligent sugar spraying equipment can accurately control the amount of sugar sprayed according to the size, weight of the snow rice crackers, and the preset sugar amount standard, ensuring that the sugar amount on each snow rice cracker is uniform and the taste is consistent. At the same time, the intelligent machinery also has the functions of fault diagnosis and early warning. When there are potential problems with the equipment, the system can issue an alarm in a timely manner and prompt the maintenance personnel of the specific fault location and cause, greatly shortening the equipment downtime for maintenance and improving production efficiency.
