Processing Equipment for Herbs and Spices
Process herbs and spices with powder process technology adapted to product properties such as fibre content, oil content, heat sensitivity and the required particle size distribution. Relevant unit operations include size reduction, fine grinding, cryogenic milling, mixing and steam sterilisation.
Hosokawa Micron supplies individual process equipment and integrated powder processing systems, including classifying, dosing, weighing, pneumatic conveying and storage. These unit operations can be combined into batch or continuous processes based on product behaviour, required capacity and final product specifications.
Hosokawa Technologies for Spice Processing
The production of spices—here using chili as an example—is a high-tech process comprising different steps for which high-performance machines and systems are needed. The feed material is derived from the chili pepper plant and varies from source to source.
Steam sterilisation
The Conical Paddle Dryer offers a flexible, economical and environmentally safe batch process for sterilising spices and herbs. It ensures optimal removal of all pathogenic organisms and germs, with minimum risk of product distortion. After sterilisation, the product moisture content can be brought to the desired level by vacuum drying. Fully automated, recipe-driven system.
Mixing and blending
When selecting mixing equipment, it is important to match the amount of shear introduced during the mixing operation to the properties of your spice powder – such as fragility, cohesiveness and the fat/oil/fibre content. This will enable you to achieve optimal homogeneity without damaging the product. We generally recommend one of the following two batch mixers for spices:
- Nauta® conical screw mixer: Low-shear mixing operation offering a high mixing accuracy for a variety of spices, even the most delicate ones;
- Vitomix ribbon screw mixer: Twin-screw, low-to-medium shear offers a fast mixing operation in which the mixing intensity can be adjusted to different types of spices. The Vitomix is often used for the homogeneous introduction of liquid oils/flavours into spice mixtures.
Additional processing equipment
Within the Hosokawa Micron Group, we can offer additional process components for processing spice and herbs:
- Cleaning: The MZM Multi-Plex zigzag classifier removes both light (e.g. hair, foils) and heavy (e.g. stones, metal) contaminants, ensuring cleaner feed material for further processing.
- Crushing and cutting: Rotoplex granulators deliver clean, dust-minimised granulation of spices, herbs and teas, ideal for pre-crushing large materials before fine grinding.
- Fine grinding: The UPZ fine impact mill offers flexible spice grinding with adjustable fineness, while the Contraplex CW II pin mill enables longer runs with sticky or high-oil spices thanks to its counter-rotating design.
- Cryogenic grinding: Using liquid nitrogen, cryogenic grinding preserves essential oils, boosts throughput, and prevents product smearing—ideal for oily, heat-sensitive spices.
- Puree grinding: The Angle Disintegrator Unit by Hosokawa Micron Ltd. efficiently reduces both wet and dry spice pastes or sauces to particle sizes as fine as 300 μm.
- Bulk solids handling: For conveying, storage, dosing and weighing, Hosokawa Solids offers integrated solutions tailored to the demands of spice and herb processing.
Test before you invest
Run trials with your own materials on lab and production-scale equipment at our 2,000 m² Test Centre in the Netherlands. Our experienced process specialists work with you to determine the right process, equipment or system configuration for your application. Each trial is supported by a detailed technical report, helping you select the right solution with confidence.
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Talk to our experts
Contact us to explore future-ready process technologies for processing spices and herbs — optimised for efficiency and performance.
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Sustainable process technologies
Hosokawa Micron B.V. is committed to sustainable and responsible process technology. Our environmental management system is certified to ISO 14001, while our EcoVadis Silver Medal places us among the top 3% of rated companies in the special-purpose machinery industry.
