Had a fantastic day at SOSA with a warm welcome from owner Quico & Sosa`s executive chef Jordi.
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| Collected from the Airport by Quico SOSA. |
Quico SOSA, Whom many know by SOSA and his work as researcher and producer of ingredients for the restoration.
First a quick tour of the factory....
Not all of you may realise SOSA was set up as a family business & all there products still to this day are Created, produced & packaged on site. Its such a grand impressive operation run like clock work, in suck a small warehouse. With majority of the work still done by hand. The Warehouse is separated into different areas with its own nut room. All the nuts are roasted, Ground, Pressed & caramelised & packaged in this room. There was an amazing aroma coming from this room reminding me of my trip to New York for new years.
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| Nut Grinder |
Next the Freeze drying operation....
There is a fundamental difference between freeze drying and conventional drying.
With freeze drying the moisture is removed by utilizing freezing in
conjunction with pressure whereas conventional drying removes moisture by the application of
heat, in essence cooking the moisture out and thus altering the chemical and physical attributes
of the product. Due to this key difference freeze dried products retain all of the original flavour,
colour, antioxidants and essential oils.
By freeze drying common everyday ingredients and changing their form we give chefs the
opportunity to experiment with texture and intense flavour thereby giving them the tools required
to create sensational dishes that push the boundaries.
How it all works...
Freeze drying uses a process known as lyophilization to lower the temperature of the product
to below freezing and then a high pressure vacuum is applied to extract the water in the form
of a vapour. In this way the water inside the ingredient changes straight from a solid to a gas
in a process known as sublimation.
All SOSA freeze dried products are 100% natural with no additives or preservatives. The only exception
to this is the addition of maltodextrin to some of the liquids to aid in the drying. The quality
of freeze dried products is inextricably linked to the quality of the raw ingredients.
Freeze dried products have an extensive array of applications due to their intense flavour,
colour and texture.
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| The Freeze drying Machine in operation. |
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| What a Dry Stores.... |
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| Demonstration kitchen from a distance. |
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| Close up it has just about everything you could wish for in terms of Ingredients & equipment. Probably the only thing missing was a Pacco jet. |
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| The Library area & yes more sosa ingredients. |
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| Machine to produce the purée & compounds. Evaporating off the water at low temperatures with pressure keeping maximum flavour and Colour oft the natural product. |
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| Flavour room. The Essential oils being decanted in to bottles by hand.. |
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| Each bottle being individually filled, weighed by hand. |
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| SOSA Demo in Action in the Test kitchen. After been Pastry Chef for the last 17 yeas. Using SOSA products for the last 9 years, Trained in Both London & Barcelona on the Latest products. I am now Chef consultant for the Home Chocolate Factory (UK SOSA Importer), Woods food services & T & J Fine Foods. Where you will receive my full information support. There will be a selection of SOSA recipes making an appearance on this blog, Along with up to date information on products and demonstrations featured on our SOSA Facebook Page http://www.facebook.com/pages/SOSA-Ingredients-for-Modern-Gastronomy-UK/267952115242 For Further information on SOSA products: On Line Catalogue http://www.sosa.cat/ UK SOSA Importer & Supplier.: http://www.homechocolatefactory.com/ Other UK Dry stores companies that now stock SOSA products: http://www.tandjfinefoods.com/ http://www.woodsfoodservice.co.uk/ |
