NL
At the end of 2022, Werner van Mullekom came into contact with the company "Le Diamant du Terroir". Based in Antibes - southern France and specializes in the trade and preservation of truffles.
A truffle is a fungus that grows underground, on the roots of various tree species. The truffle is precious, processed mainly in higher gastronomy and considered a delicacy. Truffles are distinguished by location, shape, aroma, skin and interior. The price of a kilo of truffles varies on average from 100 Euro to 1000 Euro per kilo. However, there are also species that can fetch thousands of euros per kilo. All in all, an expensive product that you can only keep temporarily. The truffles are found in Italy, Spain and France, among others, and are bought by them. After cleaning and selection, they are stored in ULO (Ultra Low Oxygen) storage cells. The very low oxygen content extends the shelf life.
The owner of the company was looking for ways to keep truffles fresh longer and spoke to the supplier of ULO cells about this. They were familiar with ozone preservation and put the customer in contact with Agrozone. After this contact, a visit by Werner followed and a quotation was provided. A few months later the order followed and Agrozone was allowed to supply a MultiSplit system for 9 storage cells. Despite the long consideration period, the customer wanted the system as soon as possible so that they could start using ozone.
Because a MultiSplit system is normally used for large flower bulb storage cells, the system had to be a lot smaller in terms of capacity. And because we normally make ozone from 94% oxygen, the percentage of oxygen in the ULO cell would increase. So the ozone and the ULO system would work against each other. After some research and some testing, the solution was found in using the nitrogen generator of the ULO system. The nitrogen generator would feed the ozone generator. The residual oxygen of 3% to 5% would be converted into ozone. This solved both the excess capacity problem and the increase in oxygen.
After the installation was produced and tested in Loenen, Hubert Wassink and Raymond de Vries left on Monday, July 10. A long drive of 1,350 km through France brought them to Antibes. Because the system including installation work had been sold, all kinds of things had to be taken with them. All in all, quite a job for a customer who actually had no idea exactly what he had bought. This became clearer every day and he got more and more of an idea of how his new system worked.
The smell of truffles was immediately apparent to us upon arrival. Everywhere you looked there was a distinct smell of truffles. At the end of thesecond day the first storage cells were tested and it was checked whether everything worked in practice as planned. Everything went as planned and on Thursday a short training session was held to explain to the users how everything works and how it should be used. On Friday we returned home and were able to look back on a great week and a nicely completed project.
By now we are two months down the road and continuously testing and searching for the best results for preserving the precious truffle. Where necessary, we provide support and help online to optimize the settings to help the customer proceed to satisfaction.
At the end of 2022, Werner van Mullekom came into contact with the company "Le Diamant du Terroir". Based in Antibes - southern France and specializes in the trade and preservation of truffles.
A truffle is a fungus that grows underground, on the roots of various tree species. The truffle is precious, processed mainly in higher gastronomy and considered a delicacy. Truffles are distinguished by location, shape, aroma, skin and interior. The price of a kilo of truffles varies on average from 100 Euro to 1000 Euro per kilo. However, there are also species that can fetch thousands of euros per kilo. All in all, an expensive product that you can only keep temporarily. The truffles are found in Italy, Spain and France, among others, and are bought by them. After cleaning and selection, they are stored in ULO (Ultra Low Oxygen) storage cells. The very low oxygen content extends the shelf life.
The owner of the company was looking for ways to keep truffles fresh longer and spoke to the supplier of ULO cells about this. They were familiar with ozone preservation and put the customer in contact with Agrozone. After this contact, a visit by Werner followed and a quotation was provided. A few months later the order followed and Agrozone was allowed to supply a MultiSplit system for 9 storage cells. Despite the long consideration period, the customer wanted the system as soon as possible so that they could start using ozone.
Because a MultiSplit system is normally used for large flower bulb storage cells, the system had to be a lot smaller in terms of capacity. And because we normally make ozone from 94% oxygen, the percentage of oxygen in the ULO cell would increase. So the ozone and the ULO system would work against each other. After some research and some testing, the solution was found in using the nitrogen generator of the ULO system. The nitrogen generator would feed the ozone generator. The residual oxygen of 3% to 5% would be converted into ozone. This solved both the excess capacity problem and the increase in oxygen.
After the installation was produced and tested in Loenen, Hubert Wassink and Raymond de Vries left on Monday, July 10. A long drive of 1,350 km through France brought them to Antibes. Because the system including installation work had been sold, all kinds of things had to be taken with them. All in all, quite a job for a customer who actually had no idea exactly what he had bought. This became clearer every day and he got more and more of an idea of how his new system worked.
The smell of truffles was immediately apparent to us upon arrival. Everywhere you looked there was a distinct smell of truffles. At the end of thesecond day the first storage cells were tested and it was checked whether everything worked in practice as planned. Everything went as planned and on Thursday a short training session was held to explain to the users how everything works and how it should be used. On Friday we returned home and were able to look back on a great week and a nicely completed project.
By now we are two months down the road and continuously testing and searching for the best results for preserving the precious truffle. Where necessary, we provide support and help online to optimize the settings to help the customer proceed to satisfaction.
What to do before 2023 & 2027?
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