Beneficiado semi-mecanizado de vainilla.

In this study a semi-mechanized processing or curing of vanilla was carried out. An electric oven was used to provide the heat required for the diverse treatments, as traditional vanilla curing requires 120 consecutive days, increasing by as much as 20%, due to the increase of cloudiness and rainfall which concur during the months of vanilla processing. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to carry out vanilla curing, using an oven as calorific source and to reduce the time of traditional processing. Green Ordinary Category II vanilla was used in the study. The methodology established by the NMXFF-074-SCFI-2009 was employed to determine the quality of the green and processed fruits, which included the determination of the moisture content of the fruits and vanillin content. According to the results obtained, the vanilla curing process can be semi-mechanized to reduce the traditional time by as much as 25% with a quality which is similar to that obtained with the traditional method. However, the vanillin content varies with respect to the exposure time of the fruit > 50 °C, in the curing process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]