Chillcuring is a

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...

ventilating process, especially for fresh-harvested shelled

corn Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...

Process

As described in inventions of Sylvester L. Steffen,; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and chillcuring is an electrical ventilating process that facilitates the after-ripening of bulk stored

seeds In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds are the ...

. The ventilation process is controlled by monitoring the

wet-bulb temperature The wet-bulb temperature is the lowest temperature that can be reached under current ambient conditions by the evaporation of water only. It is defined as the temperature of a parcel of air cooled to saturation (100% relative humidity) by the ...

of air around the grain (as measured by

evaporative cooling An evaporative cooler (also known as evaporative air conditioner, swamp cooler, swamp box, desert cooler and wet air cooler) is a device that cools air through the evaporation of water. Evaporative cooling differs from other air conditioning sy ...

), by which the grain is brought to equilibrium moisture and temperature with atmospheric air.

Seed dormancy Seed dormancy is an evolutionary adaptation that prevents seeds from germinating during unsuitable ecological conditions that would typically lead to a low probability of seedling survival. Dormant seeds do not germinate in a specified period of ...

is better maintained at cooler (chill) atmospheric temperatures, and grain weight and seed vigor are better preserved. The after-ripening of seeds is a biochemical process of

carbohydrate A carbohydrate () is a biomolecule composed of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) atoms. The typical hydrogen-to-oxygen atomic ratio is 2:1, analogous to that of water, and is represented by the empirical formula (where ''m'' and ''n'' ...

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

stabilization associated with the release of water from the seeds. Water, as well as carbon dioxide, is a good absorber of

infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...

light. The process uses " grainlamps" which produce infrared, which is readily absorbed by

water vapor Water vapor, water vapour, or aqueous vapor is the gaseous phase of Properties of water, water. It is one Phase (matter), state of water within the hydrosphere. Water vapor can be produced from the evaporation or boiling of liquid water or from th ...

in the air under high humidity conditions.

History

The Steffen Patents were at issue in federal lawsuits in Minnesota, Indiana and Iowa. The validity of the Steffen Process Patents was upheld. The chillcuring process was marketed from the 1960s into the late 1990s by Harvestall Industries, Inc., an

agribusiness Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit ...

of the former and now deceased Speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives, Vincent B. Steffen.

Notes

References

* {{Agri-stub Agriculture