Machine Production of Spring Rolls: Wrappers, Rolling, and Frozen Lines

Spring rolls are eaten two ways in Taiwan: as runbing (潤餅) rolls at Qingming and year-end banquets, and as crispy fried spring rolls. Fried spring rolls are the type commonly found in the frozen food market, and also the most mature category for mechanization. Mechanizing spring rolls can be broken down into two tasks: the wrappers and the rolling.

How Are Spring Roll Wrappers Made?

Traditional spring roll wrappers are made with a very wet, highly elastic dough that is quickly swiped across a hot griddle, where a thin layer of dough cooks instantly and is then peeled off. This motion takes an experienced cook's feel.

When machines make spring roll wrappers, the common principle is to feed batter or wet dough continuously onto the surface of a heated drum or griddle to form a thin film, which is cooked to set, peeled off, and cut into square or round sheets. Another method is to sheet the dough thin and then heat it.

Key points for spring roll wrapper machines:

• Consistency and elasticity of the batter or dough: These determine whether the wrapper can be thin and peeled off without tearing.
• Heating temperature and time: Too hot and it burns and becomes brittle; undercooked and it is sticky.
• Peeling and stacking: Freshly made wrappers stick together easily, so they must be kept from sticking and kept moist when stacked.

Wrappers and Rolling: Separate or Integrated?

Both approaches exist:

• Separate: Buy wrappers from a specialized spring roll wrapper maker and do only the rolling yourself. This is most common for small-scale businesses, with low equipment investment, but wrapper inventory and quality must be managed.
• Integrated: The spring roll wrapper machine connects directly in front of the rolling machine, so wrappers go into rolling as soon as they are made. This eliminates refrigerating and handling wrappers, and the wrappers are as fresh as possible, but the whole line is longer and the investment larger, and if one section stops, the entire line has to wait.

Which to choose depends mainly on output and space. When volumes are not large, mechanizing the rolling first and buying wrappers is the more common way to start.

How a Spring Roll Rolling Machine Works

An automatic rolling machine mimics the steps of rolling spring rolls by hand:

1. Place the wrapper: A square wrapper is placed on the conveyor with one corner pointing forward.
2. Deposit the filling: A measured amount of filling is deposited as a strip on the front part of the wrapper.
3. Fold both sides: The wrapper is folded inward from both sides to cover the ends of the filling.
4. Roll up: It is rolled from front to back into a cylinder.
5. Seal: The end is brushed with batter or water and stuck down to seal.

How the edges are folded and how tightly the roll is wound affect whether it comes apart during frying and whether the filling leaks oil. Wrapper size, filling amount, and rolling tightness must all be adjusted together.

How Should a Frozen Spring Roll Line Be Set Up?

A common frozen spring roll line:

1. Filling preparation: Cabbage, carrots, bean sprouts, shiitake, shredded pork, and so on are julienned, stir-fried or blanched, then thoroughly cooled and drained. Filling that is too hot or too wet softens and tears the wrappers.
2. Rolling: Automatic rolling machine or by hand.
3. Par-frying (optional): Some products are briefly fried first to set their shape.
4. Blast freezing: Sets the spring rolls quickly and keeps the wrappers from absorbing water.
5. Packaging and storage: For frozen transport, under Article 8 of the Regulations on Good Hygiene Practice for Food (食品良好衛生規範準則), the ambient temperature of frozen compartments must not be higher than -12°C.

Water seeping from the filling is the most common quality problem with frozen spring rolls: the water in the filling freezes, then seeps into the wrapper on thawing, so the rolls tend to burst and spatter oil when fried. That is why cooling and draining the filling after stir-frying is such an important part of the line.

Cleaning and Safety

The heated drums and griddles of spring roll wrapper machines get very hot, so before cleaning, stop the machine, let it cool, and cut the power. The rolling mechanism of a rolling machine presents a risk of being caught; when cleaning, inspecting, or adjusting, the machine should be stopped, locked out, and tagged, as required by Article 57 of the Occupational Safety and Health Facilities Regulations (職業安全衛生設施規則).

None of the models listed on Dong-Yih Machinery's website indicate spring rolls as a suitable product. If you need to mechanize spring roll production, call 06-257-4644.

FAQ

Q: Can spring roll wrappers be made by machine?
A: Yes. The common method is to feed batter or wet dough onto a heated drum or griddle to form a thin film, which is cooked, peeled off, and cut into sheets.

Q: How does a spring roll rolling machine work?
A: It places the wrapper, deposits filling, folds both sides, rolls it forward, and seals the end with batter, mimicking the hand-rolling steps.

Q: Should a small business buy a spring roll wrapper machine?
A: When volumes are not large, most businesses buy spring roll wrappers first and mechanize only the rolling, which requires a smaller investment.

Q: Why do frozen spring rolls burst when fried?
A: A common cause is overly wet filling, whose water seeps into the wrapper during freezing and thawing. Thoroughly cool and drain the filling after stir-frying.