Industrial Processing Methods for Giant Squid Flowers

The industrial processing of Giant squid flowers/carvings follows different standards and practices in various scenarios. The following introduces the industrial processing steps for two squid flower products: diagonal-cut (spring-cut) giant squid strips and frozen diagonal-cut giant squid flowers.

Processing Steps for Diagonal-Cut (Spring-Cut) Squid Strips

Process Flow

Giant squid raw material processing → Semi-finished tube grading → Soaking → Slitting → Diagonal cutting → Individual freezing → squid Strip cutting → Inspection → Packaging → Storage

Operation Steps

1.     Semi-finished Product Grading: Grade the processed Argentine semi-finished tubes with edge tips according to size specifications, and remove damaged, contaminated, discolored, or odoriferous semi-finished tubes

2.     Soaking: After soaking, change the ice water to rinse off the medicinal liquid, and clean the semi-finished tubes after water change

3.     Slitting: Slit the tubular squid along the central spine line.

4.     Machine Diagonal Cutting: The blade angle of the diagonal cutting machine is 52°, adjust the cutting depth to about 1mm. The suitability of the cutting depth can be judged by the curling degree after blanching.

5.     Individual Freezing of Slices: Individually freeze the slit and diagonally cut squid slices.

6.     Strip Cutting: Cut into squid strips as required, and remove strips that are damaged, incorrectly oriented, non-compliant in specification, contaminated, with impurities or fish skin, discolored, or odoriferous.

7.     Inspection: Conduct inspection according to quality requirements.

8.     Re-Individual Freezing: Freeze again.

9.     Packaging: Stick a label on the upper left corner of the box side, indicating the raw material batch, production date, processing workshop, raw material name, and net weight per box. Products must pass metal detector inspection.

10.   Storage: Store after completing packaging.

Processing Steps for Frozen Diagonal-Cut Squid Flowers

Process Flow

Raw material pretreatment → Fine processing of raw material tubes → Soaking in food-grade additives → Gentle water washing and inspection → Gentle water washing and slitting → Diagonal cutting by cutting machine → Machine strip cutting → Blanching and cooling → Manual strip cutting → Sorting → Individual freezing → Packaging → Metal detector inspection → Cold storage warehousing.

Operation Steps

1.     Fine Processing of Raw Material Tubes: Remove the outer skin with a peeling machine and manually wash off residual skin; extract the central spine, turn the tube inside out to clean internal organs and impurities, and wash the tail tip skin and sand; remove the inner membrane with a demembraning machine, then rinse with clean water; rework tubes with residual fish skin, inner membrane, sand, etc., turn the tube inside out to remove edges and tips; grade squid by size and weigh for drug soaking.

2.     Soaking in Food-Grade Additives: Soak with REX (Powder A) and SOLIQ / 2 (Powder B) at the specified ratio and requirements for 36 hours. This step directly affects product quality and yield, requiring strict adherence to operation procedures and regulations.

3.     Gentle Water Washing and Inspection

o    Water change steps: Drain the medicinal liquid in the tank → Add clean water, stir for 5 minutes, and drain → Add clean water again, wash, and drain → Add clean water and sufficient crushed ice to cool down.

o    The water temperature must reach below 5°C within one hour after water change.

o    Wash with running water at least twice and remove external impurities.

4.     Gentle Water Washing and Slitting: After washing, slit the tube straight along the central spine line, remove hard meat on the slice, and trim the lip edge where hard meat is outward.

5.     Diagonal Cutting by Cutting Machine

o    Use a diagonal cutting machine with a 5mm blade spacing to cut the slit squid slices. Adjust the blade depth to 60–80% of the slice thickness (checked with a ruler), reaching 80% at the thickest part and 60% at the thinnest part. The cutting surface is the inner side of the squid tube. For the first cut, the lip edge line of the slice forms a 45° angle with the conveyor belt direction; the second cut is perpendicular to the first indentation, with diagonal cuts of 5 × 5mm. Ensure the slice does not curl.

o    Remove squid slices with abnormal hardness or severe contamination, and use them as domestic products.

o    Do not stack the cut slices. If stacked, place the cutting surface upward and cover with clean crushed ice.

6.     Machine Strip Cutting: Cut embossed slices into strips with a ring cutting machine at a 5–5–6mm blade spacing; clean squid scraps from the gaps of plastic rollers every two hours; disinfect the conveyor belt and blades of the ring cutting machine thoroughly every hour.

7.     Blanching and Cooling: Blanch the cut strips in water at 90–95°C, 2–3kg per basket, for 4–6 seconds; immediately cool in ice water at 0–2°C for 5–8 seconds, remove and tap the basket 5 times gently, then place on a draining rack for 2 minutes.

8.     Manual Strip Cutting: Manually cut strips to 4–7cm in length and 12–20g in weight, with an average weight close to 16g and no diagonal cuts; remove contaminated, yellowed, or reddened squid strips, which will be frozen in blocks for domestic sales.

9.     Sorting: Ensure the curled edges close after blanching. Allow cases where the seam distance is less than 5mm and the connection length is less than 1/2 of the total length, but such cases should not exceed 5% of the quantity per bag.

10.   Individual Freezing: Place qualified squid flowers with the cutting surface upward on the conveyor belt of an individual freezer for quick freezing. Slightly thaw to trim the openings, then refreeze to ensure closure.

11.   Packaging: Remove defective, broken, or impurity-contaminated squid flowers; use an electronic scale with 0.2g accuracy to remove those with non-standard weights; 1000g per bag, with an overhang of 8–10g, no ice coating, 1KG × 5/box (net weight); print the date and shelf life on the box cover, ensuring the box is clean, undamaged, frost-free, and neatly folded.

12.   Metal Detector Inspection: Pass each bag of finished products through a metal detector.

13.   Cold Storage Warehousing: Store at a warehouse temperature of -18°C or below.

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