sultanas

Description

HISTORY AND SPREADING

The vine was discovered by the Semites at the southern boarder of the Caspian Sea approx. 400 B.C. The vines entwined high around the trees of the forests. The Semites did not only like the sweet juice of the grapes, but also developed the destillation of alcohol. They called the fermented juice Yain or Wain. They passed the vine, their knowledge of cultivation, production of wine amongst other things to the Phoenicians, who passed it on to the Greek and later on to the Spanish people as well. The Romans obtained the vine from the Greek people and passed it on to Galicia and Germania. Today grapes thrive in all countries of the world which have a so called „wine-climate”. But Europe is the world’s true vineyard, as two thirds of the sultanas’ crop come from here. The largest portion of course is for the wine production. A non irrelevant quantity is dried and needed for processing sultanas and raisins. These are mainly seedless.

PRODUCT INFO

HISTORY AND SPREADING

The vine was discovered by the Semites at the southern boarder of the Caspian Sea approx. 400 B.C. The vines entwined high around the trees of the forests. The Semites did not only like the sweet juice of the grapes, but also developed the destillation of alcohol. They called the fermented juice Yain or Wain. They passed the vine, their knowledge of cultivation, production of wine amongst other things to the Phoenicians, who passed it on to the Greek and later on to the Spanish people as well. The Romans obtained the vine from the Greek people and passed it on to Galicia and Germania. Today grapes thrive in all countries of the world which have a so called „wine-climate”. But Europe is the world’s true vineyard, as two thirds of the sultanas’ crop come from here. The largest portion of course is for the wine production. A non irrelevant quantity is dried and needed for processing sultanas and raisins. These are mainly seedless.

Dried grapes can be divided into three sub−categories. If the dried grapes contain seeds, they are called „raisins”, if they are seedless then one speaks of „sultanas”.

„Currants” − categorized by themselves − are also dried grapes, but from a very special vine. Currants are seedless, but they are much smaller than raisins and sultanas. The term „dried wineberries” originally was only used concerning the customs tarifs and was a combination for raisins and sultanas. It was mainly used by the health food section to give the „Californian Thompson seedless berries” a name. In fact this fruit are sultanas. For many decades dried wineberries with seeds, meaning raisins, have not been sold in Germany.

As can easily be seen from the paragraph „grading” each growing area produces many different varieties. The difference is often just another vine, whereby the „Thompson Seedless” is the best known. Apart from the variety, the treatment before and after drying plays an important part in the additional categorization. World’s production of sultanas and raisins is presently at 800.000 tons increasing annually by 2%. About half is used for bakery products, breakfast cereals, fruit bars or e.g. just by themselves as a snack. USA is top producer with an annual production of abt. 350,000 tons of sultanas. Turkey follows with 250,000 tons and then Iran with 60,000 tons, Australia with 50,000 − 70,000 tons, Greece with 50,000 tons − combined of currants and sultanas. Then come Chile, South Africa and Afghanistan.

Crop’s sizes depend very much on the weather. Above figures can vary by abt. 40% from year to year. The sultanas are used by the baking and confectionary industry. They are in dried fruit mixtures, taken as a healthy snack, as ingredients for cereals, salads and desserts and also for everyday cooking and baking.

PROCESSING

The production of sultanas is described below. The production of currants and Californian sultanas „Thompson Seedless” only differs very little.

The sultanas come from the farms in baskets or bags. Baskets are better as the sultanas are less exposed to pressure.

After the sultanas are assorted according to colour, they are loosened. The sultanas run through a machine to get rid of any lumps.

Next the sultanas are washed by passing through a Archimedes screw rinsed with plenty of water. Then the little stones are eliminated which are here and there among the sultanas. The sultanas are swept in water over stairs. Each step has a recess. The sultanas float on top of the water from step to step. The stones are heavier and drop into the recesses of the steps.

Now the tiny stems (capstems) must be separated from the sultanas. It is effected by a rotating drum having numerous tiny holes. By rotation the sultanas are pressed against the drum’s walls. Only the capstems can penetrate through the holes. A knife, fastened outside of the drum, cuts off the capstems. Afterwards the sultanas are dried by a fan and assorted to size by running over shaking sifts.

To avoid the sultanas sticking together and forming lumps, oil is added on a conveyor belt with many small nozzles spraying the oil over the fruit. The entire procedure can be repeated, if necessary 2 − 3 times.

Real true cleanliness however can only be ensured by an additional manual assortment. The last stones, stalks and capstems are eliminated on white glass tables. The female workers throw a handful of sultanas on the table and hearing immediately when a stone hits the glass. Afterwards this small quantity is checked for stalks and capstems, which can easily be traced on the white underground. Only after the manual sorting the sultanas are ready for packing into the cartons. Before the cartons are sealed, the contents are rechecked by passing through under a strong magnet. If against expectation any metallic impurities are detected e.g. a ring, a hairpin etc., an acoustic alarm is immediately activated and the production is stopped.