Articles
UTILIZATION OF APRICOTS IN THE CANNING INDUSTRY OF HUNGARY
For products canned in syrup, the hand-picked fruits are suitable, with a manual halvening operation.
For halved, refrigerated pulps packed in drums, the quality requirements are similar and the storage i.e. the transport needs a refrigeration chain.
The production technology of sterile pulp or of that preserved by a chemical additive can be mechanized.
With the production of apricot pulp we have the best possibilities for utilization of excess fruits due to the crop fluctuations.
With the creation of possibilities of aseptic storage, the pulp quality can be improved to a high extent and the raw materials harvested mechanically can be utilized efficiently.
Following the Second World War apricot cultivation began to expand beyond house farming and became an important component of industrial orchards.
Unfortunately part of the industrial orchards were established among unfavourable ecological conditions and this is one of the causes of the great crop fluctuations creating a difficult problem in our industry.
The great need for manual picking of the fruit has determined the expansion of industrial apricot plantations and the spread of mechanical harvesting technology -by shaking- has given new impetu to this branch.
In Hungary, the industrial utilization of apricots goes back to the time after the First World War with the manufacture of apricot jam and in 1935 the production of the canning factories was recorded as 150 tons/year.