We recently completed the installation of new grinding and granulation equipment at our processing facility. This has been in planning for over a year, and we’re now fully operational with the upgraded line. Here’s what changed, why it matters, and what it means for our wholesale partners.
What we installed
The new equipment covers two areas: precision granulation for our dried spice ingredients — primarily garlic and onion — and controlled-environment grinding for matcha and spice powders. Both systems operate at lower temperatures than the units they replaced, which was the primary reason we made the investment.
The granulation line processes dried spice ingredients into specific cut sizes with tighter uniformity. Mesh size consistency has always been important for our foodservice and food manufacturing customers — when a recipe specifies 40–80 mesh garlic granule, the particle distribution needs to actually hit that spec, not just approximate it. The new equipment gives us better control over that distribution across longer production runs.
The powder grinding upgrade reduces heat generation during the milling process. This matters most for matcha — chlorophyll and amino acids degrade at elevated temperatures, and our low-temperature milling has always been a core part of what makes our matcha perform well in cafe applications. The new equipment gives us more headroom on temperature control and allows longer continuous production runs without thermal creep.
What this means for product quality
For spice ingredients, the main improvement is cut consistency. You should see tighter mesh distribution on garlic granulated, onion minced, and similar formats — which translates to more even flavor release and better behavior in blending and seasoning applications.
For matcha, the temperature control improvement is the biggest gain. We already operated at low temperature relative to industry standard, but tighter control means less variability across large production runs. Color consistency across lots should improve further, and we expect less oxidation-related degradation in powder stored for longer periods before use.
Capacity and lead times
The installation increased our throughput capacity for spice granulation by approximately 30%. For our wholesale partners, this means we have more headroom to absorb volume increases without lead time extensions — something that matters in the current supply-constrained environment.
Lead times for standard wholesale orders remain approximately one week from confirmed order to shipment for U.S. partners. For larger volume runs or custom specifications, we now have more scheduling flexibility than before.
For new and existing partners
If you’ve been waiting on a volume that was previously at the edge of our capacity, now is a good time to revisit that conversation. And if you’re currently sourcing garlic, onion, chili, or wasabi from another supplier and want to compare specs, we’re happy to send samples from the upgraded line.
Email us at headoffice@yuminagafoods.com with your product interest and current spec requirements.