Dried Apricots

How are apricots grown and processed? The following pages provides an insight into how we process our apricots.

Apricots are part of the rose family. The photo shows an apricot tree with fresh fruit on its branches. The trees normally grow to a height of six metres.

The bright, almost spherical fruits hang from the bare branches. They are often flecked or dotted with red on the side that catches the sun. The stone fruits are covered in velvety hairs and measure 4-8 cm in diameter.

The branches and leaves are then sifted out by hand. The apricots are packed into boxes and sulphured in tightly sealed huts or tents to ensure that they retain their yellow-orange colour.

Once the sulphuring process is complete the produce is laid out on tarpaulins to dry.

After approximately 3-5 days the apricots are stoned by hand. This involves pushing out the stone as carefully as possible. The apricots then continue to dry for another 3-5 days.

Once completely dried, the produce is delivered to the processing facilities. Only certain farmers who specialise in premium quality and have conscientiously followed all processing phases meet our high quality standards.