Montagu Dried Fruit and Nuts (Pty) Ltd, with an established reputation as the supplier of choice for premium quality dried fruit, nuts and seeds, now boasts a brand new, state-of-the-art frying system.  This impressive frying system, with top-of-the-range roasting and salting functionality, is already in full operation at the Montagu-based factory, where their top quality nuts are roasted and salted to perfection for nationwide distribution.

De Wet van Rooyen, Sales Director for Montagu Dried Fruit and Nuts, says that the biggest contributor to what gives nuts their flavour is the oil that they are fried in:

“Traditional nut fryers don’t handle the oil with as much care as our new Heat Wave fryer does. This, gentler process, gives the nuts a better taste, a longer shelf-life, and has certainly given Montagu products a competitive edge in the marketplace.”

Van Rooyen maintains that this new system has the potential to benefit the consumer in various areas:

• Health: Palm oil, the oil that Montagu uses in the fryer, is naturally cholesterol-free.
• Taste: Being a closed system, oxygen is displaced by steam, ensuring maximum oil quality and preventing oil oxidisation. This means that Montagu is able to deliver nut products of consistent quality and improved taste.
• Cost: As the fryer is energy efficient and maintains the integrity of the palm oil for longer, the cost of the roasting process is reduced by approximately 50%, resulting in better prices for the consumer.

“All roasted nuts currently sold from our factory in Montagu have been roasted in our new machine,” says Hannes van Rooyen, Operations Director at Montagu Dried Fruit and Nuts. “Taste and quality have vastly improved as a result of superior control over all aspects of the roasting process, thanks to the new system.” Some Montagu stores have already received the new high oleic peanuts roasted by this fryer, and new roasted and salted cashew, mixed nuts and almonds has been in stores since June.

According to the manufacturers of the Heat Wave fryer, using better quality oil means that it stays “cleaner” for longer without any fine bits of product debris that can easily burn. This, in turn, reduces the risk of carbonisation and prevents the transfer of a burnt taste from the oil to the product. 

De Wet Van Rooyen highlights many advantages to using the new indirect frying system:
• The indirect heating method used in our heat control fryer treats the oil as carefully as the product. Top quality oil delivers a top quality product.
• The fryer allows for precise temperature control.
• The Heat Wave fryer uses 50% less oil than traditional systems, as the product is never emerged in oil, but only moves through an oil curtain. This ensures rapid oil turnover and the freshest, most consistently fried nuts possible.
• Due to the system having the lowest oil volume per kilogram capacity in the industry, the system has a very high oil turnover rate. This prolongs the life of the oil. The complete oil volume of the system is passed through filtration systems in less than a minute, resulting in maintenance of a high oil quality, highly effective fines removal and fewer burnt particles in the oil.
• Due to the high oil turnover rate, oil quality improves. This means less oil needs to be dumped. There is a zero delta T over the fryer width and length as well as a minimal temperature difference (1-2 Deg C) through the bed depth. This leads to uniform cooking and no hot spots.
• The fryer takes up a very small footprint compared to similar capacity units, which saves on factory space. This is accomplished with the highest possible bed depth, which allows higher volume products per square meter of frying area.

“In addition to Montagu’s established reputation as the preferred supplier of premium quality dried fruit, nuts and seeds in South Africa, this new frying system has given the Montagu brand the kind of edge in the marketplace that has the potential to help us reach heights we’ve only dreamt of, “ says Hannes van Rooyen.

“We are very excited for Montagu’s future.”