Articles
PREPARATION OF TURKISH SWEET CHERRIES FOR EUROPEAN MARKETS
Article number
468_90
Pages
713 – 718
Language
Abstract
Due to beneficial ecological and geographical conditions the Turkish sweet cherry ‘0900 ZIRAAT’ is being exported over 6 to 8 weeks to European markets.
The fruits of this variety are very sweet, firm, dark coloured, crack resistant and large.
They are transported by frigo-trucks, and it takes 6 to 8 days to reach western European markets.
In earlier years the harvested sweet cherries used to be transported by normal trucks to packing houses which are generally 150 to 200 km away from the orchards.
There they were put in cold stores to be cooled and then sorted, graded and packed in room temperature.
These handling procedures used to cause decrease of quality and shelf life.
Recently, with the collaboration of the universities, some of the fruit export firms started to give emphasis on precooling of the harvested cherries.
Precooled cherries are stored in cold stores until they are sorted, graded and packed.
Nowadays these handling procedures are performed in cooled rooms.
Mostly the precooling units are attached to packing houses which are rather far from the orchards.
However, one of the firms developed a mobile precooling unit in order to prevent the quality losses more efficiently.
In this system, the cherries are preselected in the orchards and after harvest they are precooled as soon as possible and transported to the packing house where the cold stores and other packing facilities are.
The mobile precooling unit is transported to the major harvest locations.
It is very effective since it drops the temperature of the fruits from 25°–28°C to 3°C within 8 minutes.
Due to the very careful selection and quickness in all the steps of preparations, the fruits reach the western European markets in very good condition.
As a result, there is an increasing demand for Turkish sweet cherries in those markets.
The fruits of this variety are very sweet, firm, dark coloured, crack resistant and large.
They are transported by frigo-trucks, and it takes 6 to 8 days to reach western European markets.
In earlier years the harvested sweet cherries used to be transported by normal trucks to packing houses which are generally 150 to 200 km away from the orchards.
There they were put in cold stores to be cooled and then sorted, graded and packed in room temperature.
These handling procedures used to cause decrease of quality and shelf life.
Recently, with the collaboration of the universities, some of the fruit export firms started to give emphasis on precooling of the harvested cherries.
Precooled cherries are stored in cold stores until they are sorted, graded and packed.
Nowadays these handling procedures are performed in cooled rooms.
Mostly the precooling units are attached to packing houses which are rather far from the orchards.
However, one of the firms developed a mobile precooling unit in order to prevent the quality losses more efficiently.
In this system, the cherries are preselected in the orchards and after harvest they are precooled as soon as possible and transported to the packing house where the cold stores and other packing facilities are.
The mobile precooling unit is transported to the major harvest locations.
It is very effective since it drops the temperature of the fruits from 25°–28°C to 3°C within 8 minutes.
Due to the very careful selection and quickness in all the steps of preparations, the fruits reach the western European markets in very good condition.
As a result, there is an increasing demand for Turkish sweet cherries in those markets.
Publication
Authors
N. Kaska, S. Paydas, S. Çaglar
Keywords
Harvest, hydro-cooling, packaging, production, export
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