Insights, Inc.
New Robotic Cracker for the Macadamia Nut Industry.
STARCRACKER
The macadamia nut is the world's toughest nut to crack.
Insights has developed a revolutionary new cracker.
Our patented technology provides substantial improvements in
finished product quality and reduced manufacturing costs for our
customers.
Improved competitive advantage and profit margin for growers and
processors.
Conventional crackers crush the nut between rollers or blades. This
typically requires drying the nuts down to 1.5% moisture content
before cracking to reduce cracker damage to the kernel. The drying
process can take several weeks in large forced hot air dryers.
Insights patented technology exploits the resonant frequency of the
shell. We can crack at moisture contents of 10% to 20% which
preserves the natural flavor and does not require expensive pre-crack
drying.
Advantages of cracking at high moisture content:
Less damage to kernel – High moisture content kernel is much
less susceptible to mechanical damage from shell separation and
material handling equipment than dry kernel. This leads to fewer
chips and increased recovery.
Significantly reduced drying costs – Drying kernel takes much
less equipment and energy than drying wet-in-shell. For example,
it typically takes 14 days to dry WIS prior to cracking. Drying
high moisture content kernel only takes about 4 days – a savings
of over 70%. In addition, the drying volume (kernel vs. WIS) is
reduced by about 80%. This results in a drying cost savings of
over 90%!
Improved product quality – Cracking at high moisture content
removes the kernel from the shell while still fresh. Coupling this
with low temperature kernel drying preserves the nutrients and
great natural flavor of the macadamia. Drying in shell drives the
tannins from the shell into the kernel resulting in a ‘woody’
flavor.
We provide an opportunity for significant competitive advantage
to growers and processors in a market with tight margins.
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