Mustard - annual plant the cruciferous family, which grows in middle lane countries, mainly in the Volga region. Ripe seeds contain up to 47% mustard oil, which has a specific "mustard" taste.

Several different types of plants are grown under the name "mustard". In culture - four: Sarepta, white, black and Abyssinian. And the most common of them is Sarepta or gray mustard (Brassica Juncea). It is also called "Russian mustard".

Sarepta mustard has many varieties that are designed to produce high-oil seeds (VNIIMK 11, Donskaya 5, Zarya, Neosypashnaya 2, Rushena, Yuzhanka 15, etc.). The seeds of these varieties contain 34 - 47% of the excellent delicious butter, which is used not only for preparing salads, frying vegetables, baking bread, producing sweets and canned food, but also in the soap, textile and pharmaceutical industries. And from the ground cake - mustard powder - make seasoning (table mustard), mustard plasters.

And one more at least interesting information: mustard powder and whole seeds are preservative and are often added to canned vegetables not only as a hot spice, but also as a natural preservative.

Cooking technology

For cooking mustard in hot water add sugar and salt and bring to a boil. Cool the resulting solution to 60 degrees. Then pour it into mustard powder and stir thoroughly until smooth. The mass is placed for 12-15 hours in a warm place for “ripening”. Then add the flavored vinegar, vegetable oil and mix thoroughly.

In order for the mustard to be good quality, it is necessary to let it "ripen" - to withstand another day. Prepared mustard store in a cool place.

The richness of flavor shades of all varieties of mustard depends on the composition flavored vinegar, the amount of sugar, salt and vegetable oil. Flavored vinegar may contain allspice and bitter pepper, bay leaf and cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, cardamom and garlic. The preparation of flavored vinegar will not be difficult - spices according to your taste are added to 80% vinegar and infused for 24 hours. The approximate amount of spices per liter of vinegar is 10-12 grams. Now you can fantasize to your liking, and you will have mustard of your own invention. First, try to cook classic mustard “Russian”, original “English” and “Remoulade” mustard sauce (from Yugoslav cuisine):

"Russian"

Mustard powder - 280 g

Water - 550 ml

Sugar - 115 g

Salt - 25 g

Vegetable oil - 85 g

Vinegar 80% - 20 ml

Bitter pepper, bay leaf - 0.5 g each.

"English"

Mustard powder - 200g.

Sugar - 100g.

Light wine - 500g.

Strong grape vinegar - 50g.

Lemon zest.

Pour the sugar, grated with lemon zest, with wine, pour the solution into the powder, stirring occasionally.

We maintain the mass for two days. Then add the vinegar.

Remoulade sauce

Mayonnaise - 200g.

Lemon juice - 20g.

Pickled cucumbers - 100g.

Mustard powder - 5g.

Sugar - 5g.

Caviar - 10g.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Mayonnaise is mixed with mustard, lemon juice ( citric acid), salt, pepper, finely chopped pickled cucumbers, fish caviar (you can use pollock roe). When serving, slightly dilute with water.

Ready mustard is a homogeneous spreadable mass - yellow with a reddish-brown tint.

By physical and chemical indicators mustard complies with the following standards:

NAME OF INDICATORS NORM

Mass fraction of dry substances,% 40

Mass fraction of fat,% not less than 8.0

Mass fraction of sugar,% not less than 10-16.0

Titratable acidity in terms of acetic acid, % 1,5 - 1,7

Mustard cooking technology is not a secret, but, nevertheless, it is far from always possible to obtain a product with the necessary taste.

The history of such a popular product as mustard, is at least a couple of millennia old. Today it is one of the most popular spices used in the cuisines of many nations. In general mustard sauce is a mixture of whole or ground mustard seeds, water, vinegar and a variety of additives. Depending on which additives are used and the seeds of which plant (white, black, Abyssinian or Sarepta mustard) serve as the basis, the composition and, accordingly, the taste of the finished product change.

In Europe, the most popular is Dijon mustard with white wine, the production technology of which has been known since the XIV century. For its preparation, black mustard seeds are used. The most liquid mustard – "American"... She prepares with big amount sugar from white mustard seeds. For the manufacture of "Bavarian" mustard, coarse grains and caramel syrup are used.

"English" mustard contains mustard powder from slightly crushed seeds, mixed with apple juice or cider. In Italy they like “Fruit” mustard with whole or in large pieces apples, oranges, pears, etc., added to a sauce of powdered mustard, white wine, honey and spices. And, finally, the spicy strong, familiar to us “Sarepta mustard”, the preparation technology of which will be considered as an example.

Mustard cooking technology in detail

Process mustard production consists of the following main stages: preparation of bulk components, preparation sugar syrup, preparation of the marinade and preparation of the actual mustard.

Loose ingredients (mustard powder, peanut flour, salt and sugar) are pre-sieved on sieves with a mesh size of about 1 mm, equipped with magnets to capture ferro-impurities. In the process of sifting, large lumps of mustard powder and peanut flour are additionally crushed, which further improves their “swelling”.

Sugar syrup prepared from sugar and water in a ratio of 9: 5, boiling it for about half an hour to prevent the development of mucous bacteria.
Brine in a ratio of salt to water 1: 1, brought to a boil and filtered.

For cooking marinade filling use a water or vinegar daily extract of spices (pepper, cloves, bay leaves, cardamom, etc.). If provided by the recipe, garlic extract is prepared separately (within 5 days).

When all the components are ready, they begin the process of preparing mustard, which includes two stages: the first is kneading and ripening of the main composition; the second is the addition of recipe components and the homogenization of the final product.

When mixing, water heated to 80 ° C is fed into a special mixing container, and then, with constant stirring, the volume of mustard powder provided by the recipe, the marinade and half of the required volume of vinegar are loaded. The mixture is continuously stirred for 25-30 minutes. Usually, paddle mixers are used for this, but the most effective mixing process occurs by repeated running of the processed mixture through a homogenizer or colloid mill.

The mass prepared in this way is left to “ripen” for several hours to ferment the mustard.

After the end of "ripening" in the resulting mustard paste, with continuous stirring, add vegetable oil, saline solution, sugar syrup and the rest of the vinegar. The mixing process lasts about half an hour, after which the mustard must be passed through a homogenizer (colloidal mill) to obtain a high-quality, uniform product.

Complete set of technological line for preparation of mustard

As a rule, the technological line for the production of mustard is completed directly according to the requirements of the customer. But specific set equipment is present in any version. This "basic" set includes:

1. Vibrating sieve for sifting mustard powder. The mesh size of the sieve should not exceed 1.5 mm, the optimum vibration amplitude is about 10 mm, and the vibration frequency is 500-600 per minute.
2. Cooking containers saline solution, sugar syrup and marinade. They are made of stainless steel and equipped with heaters that allow boiling solutions. The syrup and brine containers are equipped with low-speed stirrers.
3. Filters - are installed between the containers for solutions and the homogenizer that supplies solutions to the mustard preparation machine. Serve for capturing foreign and large particles.
4. Apparatus for preparing mustard. Usually, it is a vertical container with a steam-water heating circuit, equipped with a paddle or rake mixer.
5. Shredder-homogenizer. An integral part of technological line... As a rule, this is a rotary homogenizer or colloid mill (for example, companies GlobeCore ). The main task of a homogenizer (colloid mill) is to grind the mustard mass and bring it into a finely dispersed, homogeneous state. Simultaneously acts as a pumping pump.

Packaged mustard must be stored in dark, dry rooms at a temperature not exceeding + 100C. The shelf life ranges from 45 days in the hot period, up to 90 days in the cold.

The invention relates to food Industry... In the production of mustard powder, mustard seeds are cleaned, conditioned according to the moisture content and size of the seeds, they are brought down, and the shells are separated from the kernel. The kernels are crushed to the following fractional composition, wt%: halves of kernels not more than 15, passing through a one-millimeter sieve not less than 85, whole kernels are missing Moisture-thermal treatment is carried out with live steam to a moisture content of 10%, then dried to a moisture content of 4-5%, bringing the temperature of the pulp to 100-115 o C. Pressing, the cake is crushed, during grinding, 5-7% of white mustard seeds are additionally introduced, or 5-7 % yellow mustard, or 5-10% of a mixture of white and yellow mustard seeds in a 1: 1 ratio of the mass of the cake and sieved. This produces a mustard powder of controlled pungency. 1 tab.

The invention relates to the oil and fat industry and relates to methods for the production of mustard powder. Known technological process the production of mustard powder includes the following operations: cleaning mustard seeds, conditioning seeds by moisture and size, dehulling them, separating the shell from the kernel, crushing it, moisture-heating treatment, pressing, crushing the cake and sifting to separate the powder (see the Manual on the technology of obtaining and processing vegetable oils and fats. L., 1960, vol. I, cc. 256, 265), taken as a prototype. However, the mustard powder obtained by this method quickly loses its qualities: characteristic pungent taste and pungency, necessary in the manufacture of ready-made food mustard and mustard plasters, tk. at high temperature pressing and squeezing out the oil, the myrosinase enzyme is inactivated, which promotes the hydrolysis of sinigrin and the formation of allyl isothiocyanate (AITC), which gives mustard powder its specific properties. The problem that was solved when creating the invention is to obtain mustard powder with desired properties. EFFECT: obtaining mustard powder of controlled pungency, i.e. with controlled content of allyl isothiocyanate. The specified technical result in the implementation of the invention is achieved by the fact that in known method for the production of mustard powder, the crushing of the kernel is carried out to a fractional composition, wt%:

Kernel halves - No more than 15

Pass through a 1-millimeter sieve - no more than 85

Whole Kernels - None

Moisture-thermal processing of the kernel is carried out with live steam to a moisture content of 10%, then it is dried to a moisture content of 4-5%, bringing the temperature of the pulp to 100-115 o C, and when grinding the cake, 5-7% of white mustard seeds, or 5-7% of seeds are additionally introduced yellow mustard, or 5-10% of a mixture of seeds of white and yellow mustard in a 1: 1 ratio of the mass of cake. Crushing the nucleus to the specified fractional composition allows achieving the most complete destruction of the cellular structure of the nucleus, which contributes to better oil extraction during pressing. Mustard seeds contain the thioglucoside sinigrin and the enzyme myrosinase, in the presence of water hydrolysis of sinigrin occurs and allyl mustard oil is formed, which determines the pungent taste of mustard. By treating the seed kernels with live steam and increasing the temperature to 100-115 o C, the yield is increased fatty oil by 2-3% due to a more complete opening of seed cells and a decrease in oil viscosity. But at the same time, the myrosinase enzyme is inactivated, and the hydrolysis of sinigrin with the release of allyl isothiocyanate does not proceed completely, as a result of which the mustard powder loses its characteristic properties: pungency and pungent taste. The addition of whole mustard seeds to the cake at the grinding stage in an amount of 5-10% of the cake mass, in which the myrosinase enzyme is retained in its native state, makes it possible to hydrolyze sinigrin more completely and obtain given amount AITC and, accordingly, control the degree of pungency of the final product, i.e. powder. In the claimed method, it is possible to obtain the content of AITC from 0.67 to 1.20% in terms of absolutely dry matter... The method is carried out as follows. Mustard seeds on separators are cleaned of foreign impurities and mineral debris, metal impurities are removed using magnets installed before and after the separators. The moisture content of seeds entering production should be 6.5 - 7.0%. After cleaning, the seeds are calibrated in size on sieves or on separators. Hulling of mustard seeds is carried out on roller machines, after which the kernel is separated from the husk on aspiration groats. For normal preparation for pressing, seed kernels are crushed on four-roller rollers to a fractional composition, wt%:

Halves of kernels - No more than 15

Whole Kernels - None

The crushed kernels are fed into the first vat of the roaster, where they are steamed with live steam to bring the moisture content to 10%. Partial hydrolysis of sinigrin is in progress. In 2 lower vats of the brazier, the pulp is dried to 4-5% humidity and heated to a temperature of 115 o C, the enzyme myrosinase is inactivated. After pressing, mustard cake with partially reacted sinigrin and partially inactivated myrosinase is fed for grinding on five-roll machines VS-5, followed by separation of the powder on sieves. Partial inactivation of the myrosinase enzyme is replenished by adding 5-7% of white or yellow mustard seeds to the cake at the grinding stage, or 5-10% of a mixture of white and yellow mustard seeds in a 1: 1 ratio of the cake mass. By varying the amount of fed whole seeds, the allyl isothiocyanate content in the powder is controlled. The research results are summarized in the table.

CLAIM

Halves of kernels - No more than 15

Passage through a one-millimeter sieve - Not less than 85

Whole Kernels - None

Moisture-heat treatment is carried out with live steam to a moisture content of 10%, then dried to a moisture content of 4 - 5%, bringing the temperature of the pulp to 100 - 115 o C, and when grinding the cake, 5 - 7% of white mustard seeds, or 5 - 7% of yellow mustard seeds are additionally introduced mustard, or 5 - 10% of a mixture of seeds of white and yellow mustard in a ratio of 1: 1 by weight of the cake.

The invention relates to the food industry. In the production of mustard powder, mustard seeds are cleaned, conditioned according to the moisture content and size of the seeds, they are brought down, and the shells are separated from the kernel. The kernels are crushed to the following fractional composition, wt%: halves of kernels not more than 15, passing through a one-millimeter sieve not less than 85, whole kernels are missing Moisture-thermal treatment is carried out with live steam to a moisture content of 10%, then dried to a moisture content of 4-5%, bringing the temperature of the pulp to 100-115 o C. Pressing, the cake is crushed, during grinding, 5-7% of white mustard seeds are additionally introduced, or 5-7 % yellow mustard, or 5-10% of a mixture of white and yellow mustard seeds in a 1: 1 ratio of the mass of the cake and sieved. This produces a mustard powder of controlled pungency. 1 tab.

The invention relates to the oil and fat industry and relates to methods for the production of mustard powder. The well-known technological process for the production of mustard powder includes the following operations: cleaning mustard seeds, conditioning the seeds by moisture and size, dehulling them, separating the shell from the kernel, crushing it, moisture-heating treatment, pressing, crushing the cake and sifting to separate the powder (see Technology Guide obtaining and processing vegetable oils and fats. L., 1960, vol. I, pp. 256, 265), taken as a prototype. However, the mustard powder obtained by this method quickly loses its qualities: the characteristic pungent taste and pungency, which are necessary in the manufacture of ready-made mustard mustard and mustard plasters. at a high temperature of pressing and squeezing oil, the myrosinase enzyme is inactivated, which promotes the hydrolysis of sinigrin and the formation of allyl isothiocyanate (AITC), which gives mustard powder its specific properties. The problem that was solved when creating the invention is to obtain mustard powder with desired properties. EFFECT: obtaining mustard powder of controlled pungency, i.e. with controlled content of allyl isothiocyanate. The specified technical result in the implementation of the invention is achieved by the fact that in the known method for the production of mustard powder, the core is ground to a fractional composition, wt%: Kernel halves - Not more than 15 Passage through a one-millimeter sieve - Not more than 85 Whole kernels - Absent Moisture-thermal processing of the kernel is carried out sharp steam to a moisture content of 10%, then dried to a moisture content of 4-5%, bringing the temperature of the pulp to 100-115 o C, and when grinding the cake, 5-7% of white mustard seeds, or 5-7% of yellow mustard seeds, or 5 -10% of a mixture of seeds of white and yellow mustard in a 1: 1 ratio of the mass of cake. Crushing the nucleus to the specified fractional composition allows achieving the most complete destruction of the cellular structure of the nucleus, which contributes to better oil extraction during pressing. Mustard seeds contain the thioglucoside sinigrin and the enzyme myrosinase; in the presence of water, hydrolysis of sinigrin occurs and allyl mustard oil is formed, which determines the pungent taste of mustard. By treating the seed kernels with live steam and increasing the temperature to 100-115 o C, the yield of fatty oil is increased by 2-3% due to a more complete opening of the seed cells and a decrease in the viscosity of the oil. But at the same time, the myrosinase enzyme is inactivated, and the hydrolysis of sinigrin with the release of allyl isothiocyanate does not proceed completely, as a result of which the mustard powder loses its characteristic properties: pungency and pungent taste. The addition of whole mustard seeds to the cake at the grinding stage in an amount of 5-10% of the cake mass, in which the myrosinase enzyme is retained in its native state, makes it possible to hydrolyze sinigrin more completely and obtain a given amount of AITC and, accordingly, control the degree of pungency of the final product, i.e. ... powder. In the claimed method, it is possible to obtain the content of AITC from 0.67 to 1.20% in terms of absolutely dry matter. The method is carried out as follows. Mustard seeds on separators are cleaned of foreign impurities and mineral debris, metal impurities are removed using magnets installed before and after the separators. The moisture content of seeds entering production should be 6.5 - 7.0%. After cleaning, the seeds are calibrated in size on sieves or on separators. Hilling of mustard seeds is carried out on roller machines, after which the kernel is separated from the husk on aspiration groats. For normal preparation for pressing, seed kernels are crushed on four-roller rollers to a fractional composition, wt.%: Halves of kernels - Not more than 15 Pass through a 1-millimeter sieve - Not less than 85 Whole kernels - None The crushed kernels are fed into the first vat of the roaster, where they are steamed with hot steam with bringing the humidity up to 10%. Partial hydrolysis of sinigrin is in progress. In 2 lower vats of the brazier, the pulp is dried to 4-5% humidity and heated to a temperature of 115 o C, the enzyme myrosinase is inactivated. After pressing, mustard cake with partially reacted sinigrin and partially inactivated myrosinase is fed for grinding on five-roll machines VS-5, followed by separation of the powder on sieves. Partial inactivation of the enzyme myrosinase is replenished by adding 5-7% of white or yellow mustard seeds to the cake at the grinding stage, or 5-10% of a mixture of white and yellow mustard seeds in a 1: 1 ratio of the cake mass. By varying the amount of fed whole seeds, the allyl isothiocyanate content in the powder is controlled. The research results are summarized in the table.

Claim

A method for the production of mustard powder, including cleaning mustard seeds, conditioning according to the moisture content and size of seeds, crushing them, separating the shell from the kernel, crushing it, moisture-heat treatment, pressing, crushing the cake and sifting, characterized in that the crushing of the kernel is carried out to a fractional composition, wt .%:
Halves of kernels - No more than 15
Passage through a one-millimeter sieve - Not less than 85
Whole Kernels - None
moisture-heat treatment is carried out with live steam to a moisture content of 10%, then dried to a moisture content of 4 - 5%, bringing the temperature of the pulp to 100 - 115 o C, and when grinding the cake, 5 - 7% of white mustard seeds, or 5 - 7% of yellow mustard seeds are additionally introduced mustard, or 5 - 10% of a mixture of seeds of white and yellow mustard in a ratio of 1: 1 by weight of the cake.

The documentary filmmaker Elizaveta Fedoseyeva began mixing spices in the kitchen, and in 2016 she sold spices for 20 million rubles. Her new projects are export " amber honey»To China, and mustard to India

Founder of the Sphere spice production company Elizaveta Fedoseeva

In the company of Elizaveta Fedoseeva "Sphere" her whole family works. Elizabeth's father plays the role of a technologist, a medical mother advises on the effects of spices on the body, and her husband is responsible for packaging design and product promotion. In the village of Staroye Poddubye in the Gatchinsky District of the Leningrad Region, Elizabeth created a full-cycle spice production - from growing herbs to packaging. A dozen and a half work at the spice plantation local residents... Part of the raw materials Elizabeth buys directly from foreign suppliers, but, for example, mustard, on the contrary, she is going to export to India. Large-scale deliveries to China of products with the addition of amber extract are also being prepared.

Spice market

According to the latest data from the Step by Step marketing agency, the volume of the spice market in Russia in 2014 amounted to 159 billion rubles, during the year it grew by 1% in monetary terms. Today, there are about 150 manufacturers working on the domestic market. Most of them deal only with the packaging of imported raw materials. According to Euroresearch & Consulting, Russia annually imports over 100 thousand tons of herbs and spices. The main suppliers are China, India and Uzbekistan. The market is not consolidated. According to the marketing specialists of Aidigo, three companies are in the lead: the Russian Proxima with the Pripravych trademark, the American McCormick & Company (Kamis brand) and the Austrian Kotányi, each of them accounting for 10%. Aidigo estimates its share at 5%.

Production and distribution

Elizaveta Fedoseyeva is a director by education, in the mid-2000s she worked in a documentary film studio. At the same time, she was seriously fond of cooking. Loved to mix different spicesto get new tastes: Elizabeth claims that this passion was inherited from her French ancestors who moved to Russia in ancient times. She procured some of the seasonings herself: she collected herbs in the forests and bought them in the markets, dried them and grinded them. The guests liked the dishes; along with the recipes, they often took with them bags of spices mixed by Elizabeth.

Unexpectedly, word of mouth started to work, acquaintances of acquaintances - the owners of small St. Petersburg cafes and restaurants - began to turn for spices. “After some time, complete strangers began to call, asking for our spices in kilograms. And we realized that this could be a real business, ”recalls Fedoseyeva.

This is how the Sphere company appeared in 2006. The business model was simple: the entrepreneur bought spices from wholesalers, mixed them according to her recipe for own kitchen and resold. Production volumes reached 50 kg per week and monthly brought about 120 thousand rubles. profit with a margin of 15-30%.

When orders from restaurateurs reached more than 500 kg per month, it became clear that it was necessary to expand. But finding suitable premises was not easy. As soon as the family rented the premises and made repairs, the property owners asked to move out without giving any reason. After three moves, Elizabeth decided that she needed to buy a room. The family supported the idea, in 2007 they sold for 14 million rubles. a four-room apartment in the center of St. Petersburg and moved to the village of Staroye Poddubye in the Gatchinsky district of the Leningrad region - 73 km from St. Petersburg. There was enough money to buy a house, 2 hectares of land and industrial premises a former mushroom farm with an area of \u200b\u200b1000 sq. m.

The production premises required repair, there was no equipment either, so the family had to take consumer loans at 20-25% per annum. In total, it took about 5 million rubles to organize the production, which the family borrowed from banks. The next two years, the entrepreneur spent all the profits on paying off debts. Finding money was time consuming and distracting from production. According to Elizabeth, this was the most difficult time in the history of her company. “What do women dream about? About a fur coat, for example. And I kept dreaming about automated lines. It was such happiness, I was so happy about our first filling machine, ”recalls Fedoseyeva.

An entrepreneur usually develops a recipe for a new mixture in about three months. (Photo: Ekaterina Kuzmina / RBC)

The entrepreneur understood that one cannot create a large-scale business on cooperation only with restaurateurs, she was looking for opportunities to go out into retail. In 2008, the government of the Leningrad region arranged a meeting of local entrepreneurs with buyers of retail chains. According to Fedoseyeva, all manufacturers were given only one badge, without which they were not allowed to attend the meeting. Farmers cursed and lined up for the right to spend 5-10 minutes in a company with buyers. When the pass fell into the hands of Elizabeth, she literally ran into the hall, handed out all her business cards and product samples.

The entrepreneur's impulse was appreciated by representatives of the Spar retail network. For almost half a year, they tested spices, agreed on an agreement on the production of spices under their trademark, and approved labels. As a result, Fedoseyeva's company began to produce eight seasonings for the retail chain: sea \u200b\u200bsalt, salad dressings, chicken, etc.

Only after this contract, Elizabeth left her job.

Spicy farm

The production of spices is not as easy as it might seem at first glance. According to Fedoseeva, it is impossible to quickly come up with a new mixture - some spices are hot, others are spicy, you need to understand tasteand also take into account the time of harvest. An entrepreneur usually develops a recipe for a new mixture in about three months.

Sphere spices are based on Russian herbs. On 2 hectares of land, the company grows about 40% of the required raw materials. These are oregano, parsley, dill, cilantro, marjoram, basil and other plants. The herbs are harvested by hand, then dried and ground. The company buys the remaining raw materials from russian manufacturers and foreign suppliers. Russian herbs are supplied by 25 farmers. About 30% of raw materials, for example different types pepper, purchased abroad. At first, Fedoseyeva cooperated with resellers, but when the demand for raw materials increased to containers of 20 tons, she agreed on direct deliveries from India, China and Vietnam. According to the entrepreneur, this helps to reduce costs and monitor the quality of raw materials.

But export is also possible - Indian partners, according to Fedoseeva, plan to buy mustard and coriander from her. She recently received an application for the supply of 20 tons of products per month. “At the last BRICS exhibition, which took place in India, its stand was incredibly popular,” says Maria Shcherbatkina, co-chair of the Opora Rossii committee for the development of women’s entrepreneurship. “This is very unusual and funny, because it would seem that India is the main supplier of spices for the whole world. But the Indians themselves consume spices that they do not grow, ”explains Fedoseyeva.

Elizabeth's new projects - export of "amber honey" to China, and mustard - to India (Photo: Ekaterina Kuzmina / RBC)

10-15 fellow villagers and residents of neighboring villages constantly work in the production. The harvest is harvested by hand, but some of the processes are automated: seven machines help to pack spices and apply labels. About 40 types of spice packages are produced, as well as fresh herbs for sale. Production volume - 10-25 thousand packs per month.

Brand recipe

The sale of spices in 2016 brought Fedoseeva 20 million rubles. revenue, net profit amounted to 6 million rubles. A third of the revenue comes from an agreement with Spar, a third from retail sales and a third from restaurants. “Spar is good at guaranteeing bulk orders, but they also dictate their prices. It is 15-20% more profitable to produce under your own brand, ”says the entrepreneur.

The first spices were sold under the name Smaki. However, due to the consonance with the Smak brand (it was invented and registered by the singer Andrei Makarevich, who hosted a TV program with that name) trade mark registration failed. However, the first buyers were mainly restaurants, they practically did not pay attention to the brand.

In 2014, Fedoseeva decided to enter the b2c market. Due to the jump in the dollar, retail chains have become more attentive to the proposals of Russian manufacturers, and import substitution has begun. Fedoseeva also changed the line: for example, she released "Peppers Lux", where one of the types of foreign pepper was replaced by domestic mustard. In appearance and taste, the mixture practically did not change, while the cost of the product decreased.

To understand marketing and branding, Elizaveta entered the business acceleration program from the government of the Leningrad Region: for six months, the entrepreneur attended lectures and master classes by invited experts. “Elizabeth is such a charming person that, looking at her, I want to go and open my own business. These are the people we need, ”recalls Olga Shakhova, head of department at the Leningrad Regional Center for Entrepreneurship Support.

In 2015 Fedoseeva registered a new trademark - Divia. The name and logo were invented together with her husband. “When a person in a supermarket comes to a shelf with spices, he doesn't understand what's what. Therefore, he grabs an understandable black pepper and leaves. We thought for a long time how to explain that spices have a gradation, that they can be varied, create new interesting tastes", - says Fedoseeva. As a result, we came up with a new line of spices. Usually the spices are sold either separately - rosemary, basil, parsley, etc., or for individual dishes - pilaf, meat, fish, etc. Fedoseyeva proposed her own "scale of taste" - a gradation of nine sets of spices with increasing pungency from "Tender" to "Spicy". Salt with Divia spices costs 120 rubles, peppers - 200 rubles. Prices are slightly higher than the market average.

The decision is controversial. The "scale of taste" can work on the Internet in a very narrow segment of Ayurvedic specialists, where the sale of an idea is more going on than a product. In retail, success is unlikely, since the line does not fit into the logic of the store shelf, "says Aleksey Izmailov, Development Director of Iva, a wholesale supplier of spices and spices.

Indeed, Divia is now sold mainly in farm stores. “The products are very unusual - salt is combined with spices, and people are interested in it, sales are growing. I myself use it with pleasure. I think we will work together for a long time, ”says Lada Akulinina, head of the purchasing department of the Fruktovaya Lavka chain of five stores.

For restaurants Fedoseeva has developed the Divia Grand line. According to Ksenia Vasilevich, purchasing manager of one of the largest suppliers of East-West restaurants, Ksenia Vasilevich, premium establishments such as Pushkin, Turandot, Graf Orlov and others also buy Divia products.

Amber additive

Once Elizabeth remembered that she was filming a documentary about amber. Its extract contains succinic acid and trace elements that help the body cope with stress and stress. “Amber is mainly used in the treatment of thyroid disorders. It also has antiseptic properties, ”says Yulia Doronina, a specialist at the Amberhall amber factory.

Fedoseeva decided to try to release products with amber extract. IN pure form because of the specific coniferous taste, it is difficult to use. Experience with spices suggested that the extract could be mixed with other products. As a result, she created amber water and cream honey with amber extract.

Products with amber have another advantage: the Chinese consider amber to be an "imperial stone" and attribute mystical properties to it. About 50 tons of amber worth about $ 100 million are officially imported to the PRC annually, the main supplier is Russia. And besides, more and more Chinese as tourists travel to our country, and in particular to St. Petersburg.

The entrepreneur took part in an exhibition in St. Petersburg at the Russian-Chinese center. The trial batch was literally swept off the shelves. “How surprised we were when the Chinese surrounded us from all sides, immediately ate all our honey, drank all the water,” recalls Fedoseyeva. “I knew about the interest in amber, but I didn’t expect it to be so trendy”.

After this incident, the specialists of the Russian Export Center invited the entrepreneur to take part in the first food exhibition russian products in China. At it, visitors demanded to sell even those exhibits that were not intended for sale, and buyers lined up. Now all the forces of the company are directed to the production of amber products.

Fedoseyeva believes that this will help Sphere to reach a new level of sales. She prepares documents for deliveries to China. Agreeing contracts and final prices will take another three months, and it is planned to ship the first 60 tons of amber products to Chinese wholesalers.

Ivan Sidorok, founder of the Mabius Culinary Startup Center, believes in the success of amber products: “There is only one criterion - a product is needed enough people, and they are willing to pay money. "