Posted on : August 23rd, 2018
We’re so excited—it’s almond harvest season! And that means shaking the trees with our mechanical tree shakers – and kids having fun in the orchard while they fall all around. And the fun (and hard work) has only just begun.
After the nuts are all on the ground, a sweeper will come through and sweep the fallen almonds into a windrow. We let them dry for a few days, perhaps more than a week. Then we have our harvester come and pick them up. They go off to be hulled and shelled, and the rocks and twigs and other debris are removed. Then the almonds are placed in 4ft.x 4ft. bins. The bins typically hold 2,000 lbs! We bring these back to our facility to do the final picking and sorting of the nuts, the pasteurization, and the final packing.
Pasteurization? Isn’t that just something done for dairy products like milk or cream? Nope! Lots of products are now pasteurized: canned goods, eggs, beer, juice, wine and, since 2007, all California grown almonds and any almonds sold as “raw” in the United States commercially are required to undergo pasteurization, too. The legislation was in response to salmonella outbreaks tracing back to conventional California almond growers. To keep this kind of dangerous pathogen away growers use either steam “washing” or fumigation with Propylene Oxide gas. Usually the steam method is reserved for organic products. But here at Maisie Jane’s we choose what we believe is the safer steam method on all our almonds whether they are organic or conventional. Steam pasteurized almonds can still sprout and more easily fit the definition of “raw” by most individuals.
After pasteurization the almonds are stored in refrigeration until we do the further processing of them. Many will be dry roasted and then used for a wide variety of almond products such as our delicious almond snacks and almond butter.
Maisie Jane’s California Sunshine Products, Inc. was founded on strong beliefs and passion for offering unique, flavorful, top-quality, nut products. We strongly believe in earth-friendly practices that start on our family owned and operated orchards. We use Organic farming practices and continue in the process by using all-natural ingredients with no preservatives or GMOs. We believe in honest, friendly and helpful customer relations at all levels. We take pride in every task, every day, with every person.
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