As a country, Spain is well known for its cuisine, with iconic dishes such as paella, patatas bravas, tortilla, Serrano ham and churros, all recognized and enjoyed around the world.

Another famous dish, particularly associated with the southern region of Andalusia, is the cold tomato soup gazpacho. Although less familiar overseas than some of Spain’s other culinary exports, it is hugely popular in its home country.

As demand has grown, so has commercial production, with large scale modern production beginning in Murcia in the 1990s.

Since then, more food and drink producers have added gazpacho to their product range. In addition to large suppliers (often supplying heavily pasteurized product in large quantities), smaller companies have begun to bring premium gazpacho and salmorejo products to market. Salmorejo, which has become popular recently, is similar to gazpacho but thickened with bread, meaning it is eaten from a bowl using a spoon, while gazpacho is usually drunk as a cold soup. Most manufacturers of gazpacho now also produce salmorejo.

These gazpacho and salmorejo products are made using fresh vegetables, with a minimum amount of processing, and are often sold as “unprocessed” products, with a short shelf life and higher price, often in smaller plastic bottles that allow consumers to see the product on the shelf. Although 1-litre waxed card and PET bottles remain the most common packaging, larger formats for families, and smaller portions for people living alone or couples without children, are also widely available.

HRS Heat Exchangers has been providing pasteurization solutions for gazpacho for almost 30 years, supplying its first unit in 1996. The company also offers heat exchange solutions to help cool vegetables during the early stages of manufacturing.

Because of their thick, viscous nature gazpacho and salmorejo require tubular heat exchangers – rather than plate heat exchangers (PHEs). Depending on the recipe, they may contain content such as grains, bread or vegetable fibers, particularly products designed to be “authentic” or “homemade.” Most lines are now used to produce both gazpacho and salmorejo, so equipment needs to be flexible and able to handle the thicker products. In practice, this means food grade HRS MI Series multi-tube heat exchanges, designed to maintain product freshness according to the required production capacity.

As a cold soup, keeping the distinctive freshness is a challenge, so any pasteurization process must be as gentle as possible. That means making it as fast as possible, with the lowest possible temperature lift, followed by immediate cooling. Pressure is typically maintained between 16 and 25 bar, although higher pressures may be required for salmorejo. This small temperature gap is required to avoid overcooking the product, and the corrugated tube design of the HRS MI Series allows it to operate within these parameters.

The market for salmorejo and gazpacho continues to grow, and HRS continues to work with key players in the market, including replacing older equipment that is not suitable for salmorejo with more flexible alternatives.