Las Cruces, New Mexico
October 13, 2008
New
Mexico State University engineers are resolving one of the
last issues of mechanized chile harvesting – destemming the
chile pod.
During traditional hand-harvesting, as the pod is removed from
the plant a twist of the wrist leaves the stem’s uneatable
pedicle and calyx on the plant. As the traditional labor force
decreases, chile farmers are turning to mechanized harvesting,
however the important step of removing the stem is not
accomplished by the machinery in the field.
“Automatic harvesting and destemming are critical improvements
for the chile industry since workers are very scarce and labor
costs are much higher in the U.S. than foreign countries from
which more and more chile is coming. If New Mexico wants to keep
its chile industry and retain our status of chile capital of the
world, our industry must automate. Chile is the heart and soul
of New Mexico and NMSU is key to ensuring that we keep our
chile,” said Gene Baca, vice president of Bueno Foods in
Albuquerque.
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NMSU Manufacturing, Technology and Engineering
Center engineers, from left, Eduardo Gamillo, Ryan
Herbon and Dale Cillessen test their newly develop
mechanized destemmer to determine if it is efficient
without out damaging the chile pods.(NMSU photo by
Jane Moorman) |
“Once chile is harvested
automatically, the labor needs will shift to processing plants
to remove the stems. This isn’t acceptable since cost will
increase for processors,” Baca said. “We would have a difficult
time finding workers to do that since, who wants to spend all
day taking stems off chile? Plus a mechanized system will be
much more cost effective.”
Through the NMSU College of Engineering’s Manufacturing,
Technology and Engineering Center (M-TEC) engineers are working
with the New Mexico Chile Association, through funding from the
New Mexico State Legislature, to develop a machine that will
remove the stem. After three prototypes, Ryan Herbon, primary
engineer on the project, says they have a process that is 80
percent accurate with green chile and 95 percent with red
cayenne peppers.
“We started building this prototype at Christmas. We are
gathering data on green chile from tests at Bueno Foods and on
red cayenne pepper at the Cervantes Enterprises processing plant
in La Mesa. So far this system appears to be simple and a cost
efficient way to destem chile,” Herbon said. “We have a two
month window to gather data so we can fine tune the machine to
be as efficient as possible without damaging the chile pods.”
The NMSU engineers have developed a system that pulls the stems
off of the pods. The process begins with the chiles being spread
and aligned on a shaking table and troughs that move the pods
perpendicular into the destemming rollers. There, the chile is
compress between rollers that incrementally increase in speed
which causes the rollers to pull the stem off of the pod.
“The other system had a lot of promise, but was much more
complex and expensive to purchase and operate. This system seems
to be highly effective,” Baca said.
The mechanized system will be installed at the processing plants
to eliminate the need for additional labor during the harvest
season.
“I see the destemming process being placed in our production
line between the washing and roasting stage,” said Baca. “This
system will not add much time to our present process. It takes
about 20 minutes for a chile to be washed, roasted, peeled,
inspected, chilled, pack and into the freezer. That’s what keeps
the flavor fresh.”
This is just one of many projects NMSU M-TEC engineers are
working on. M-TEC supports economic development in New Mexico by
providing technical assistance, outreach and training and
engineering extension services throughout the state. |
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