Contrasting Peanut Oil Production: Strong-Flavored and Regular Varieties

Peanut oil production using pressing technology involves multiple processing steps from raw materials to finished oil. These mainly include raw material pretreatment, pressing, refining, and finished oil filling. Together, these steps form a complete peanut oil production line.

Peanut oil sold on the market comes in various types. Based on processing technology, it can be categorized into pressed peanut oil and solvent-extracted peanut oil. Based on flavor, it can be divided into strong-flavored peanut oil and mild-flavored peanut oil. Based on oleic acid content, it can be classified as high-oleic peanut oil or low-oleic peanut oil, etc. Different types of peanut oil require different process flows, equipment types, and quantities during processing. Therefore, when selecting a peanut oil production line, it's essential to determine the necessary equipment and processing technology based on the oil mill's requirements and the desired product quality grade, flavor, and other specifications.

For peanut oil producers, regardless of the oil extraction method used, the raw material pretreatment process is an indispensable step. This is because the pretreatment process not only affects whether the entire peanut oil production flow can proceed smoothly but also significantly determines the oil yield and the quality of both the oil and the meal. Taking first-grade pressed peanut oil and strong-flavored peanut oil as examples, today we'll explore the differences in their raw material pretreatment processes.

Before pressing, peanuts typically undergo a series of pretreatment steps: shelling, cleaning, crushing, flaking, and conditioning (cooking). The main objectives of these steps are to screen out impurities in the peanut material, optimize its physical form, and adjust its temperature and moisture content to achieve an optimal state for pressing. This enhances the oil yield and the quality of the finished oil. However, strong-flavored peanut oil demands higher raw material quality, so its pretreatment involves more steps than ordinary peanut oil. In addition to the processes mentioned above, it also includes grading, color sorting, and red skin removal.

Strong-flavored peanut oil and regular peanut oil also differ significantly in refining. The refining of conventional peanut oil mainly includes degumming, deacidification, decolorization (bleaching), deodorization, and dewaxing. These processes effectively remove impurities and harmful substances from the peanut oil, resulting in a high-quality, healthy edible oil. However, the refining process can lead to losses in flavor and nutrients, making it unsuitable for strong-flavored peanut oil. Instead, strong-flavored peanut oil uses a low-temperature cold filtration process to remove insoluble impurities, preserving the oil's natural aroma and nutritional value. Due to the minimal refining steps, the quality requirements for the crude peanut oil are very high. Oil mills must ensure thorough selection of oilseeds beforehand to prevent moldy kernels from entering production and affecting oil safety. Strict control at every stage of production is also crucial to avoid operational errors compromising oil quality.

In summary, the production of strong-flavored peanut oil requires stricter control over raw materials and processing stages. It demands high-quality raw materials, necessitating processes like grading, color sorting, and red skin removal during pretreatment to eliminate unqualified kernels and remove the red skins. This lays the foundation for producing high-quality strong-flavored peanut oil.