Lowbush Blueberries

Lowbush Blueberries
The lowbush blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium an Vaccinium myrtilloides) seldom grow higher than 0.5 m (1.5 ft).

They are from native stands and are low growing shrubs that spread by underground stems (rhizomes).

Shoots develop form buds on the rhizomes, the roots develop adventitiously and form a dense mat.

The species are native to the northeastern US and Canada, and most of their fruit is harvested from managed, wild stands.

Most lowbush blueberry stands that are commercially harvested are under a 2 year of management where the fields are burned every second year to increased fruit production.

One year wood from rhizomes gives a greater yield than 1 year old wood from 2 year old wood because more buds are produced.

In a “wild” stand 40 to 60 shoots per square meter are desirable to give a yield of approximately 1.5 tons per acre.

Lowbush blueberries are insect pollinated. Because lowbush blueberries are highly self-sterile, it is estimate that pollen from one plant should be available to pollinate flowers of a different genotype.

Harvesting begins when 90% of the fruit is blue in color. The fruit is harvested by a specially designed rake that is combed through shrubs to separate out the fruit. Almost all the fruit is for processing purpose.
Lowbush Blueberries

Lemons

Lemons
Lemons trees may be grown from nursery root stock, but mostly the fruit is grown on graft made on stock of the sour orange.

Once established, the trees may bear fruit for many years. Since the trees, and particular the fruit, are damaged by freezing temperatures, they may have to be protected in cold weather.

Lemons are produced in United States, mainly in California and Arizona.

They are harvested when the skin in green or silver in color and ripened to a yellow color in bins, the air of which contains some ethylene.

Most lemons are marketed in the fresh state, and as such are handled in much the same manner as are grapefruit.

Cooled to about 32 degree F and held at this temperature, fresh lemons have a storage life of 1 – 4 months.

Some lemon juice is prepared and frozen as a lemonade concentrate. The fruit is washed, sized and inspected, after which the juice is extracted and screened.

Sugar is added to provide a soluble solid to acid ration of 14:1 – 19:1. The mixture is then evaporated at low temperature under vacuum to provide a 5:1 concentrate.

The screen pulp (which contains some liquid) is then added to the concentrate to provide 2.4 – 4% pulp by volume.

The concentrate mixture is frozen to a slush having a temperature of 25 degree F ( - 3.9% degree C) in a refrigerated heat exchanger.

The slush is filled into cans, the cans sealed and conveyed through a cold air tunnel until the product is cooled to a temperature of – 18 degree F (-27 degree C) or lower.

Some lemon juice is evaporated to a concentration of about 2:1 and packaged in glass or plastic containers with 0.1% sodium benzoate. Pulp and sugar are not added to this product, which requires no refrigeration. Pectin is manufactured from lemon peel as in the case of grapefruit.
Lemons

Processed Banana

Processed Banana
Bananas are considered the fourth most important food crop in the world, after the three main cereals rice, wheat and corn.

World production statistics are not very accurate as in many countries bananas are produced in home gardens or small plots that often escape the reporting.

For many years fresh bananas have had the highest per-capita consumption of any fresh fruit in the U.S. They displaced apples in the early 1990’s.

In the tropical countries of all continents, bananas have been a staple food for centuries.

The seedless bananas consumed today in the industrialized countries are the result of long painstaking selection and breeding, some done by our primitive ancestors.

Until a few years ago banana seeds from seminal verities were used in breeding. Tissue culture is widely used at present to improve the verities.

Although fresh bananas are widely consumed in develop countries, the consumption of processed banana products is less than that of other processed fruits. Several attempts to launch consumer products such as canned sliced bananas in syrup have failed.

This is partially because fresh ripe bananas are readily available year-round, even in the northern countries, thanks to a remarkable logistics and marketing system.

On the other hand, seasonal crops such as apples produce an abundant crop in a short time.

In the not too distant past, the only way to use so many apples in the short crop period was to process them into products such as juice and applesauce.

There is no such pressure with bananas, they are produced any time of the year with little volume variation.

Therefore, the volume of processed banana products has developed slowly. Also this situation makes the quality of the processed banana products vulnerable to comparison with the readily available fresh “real thing.”

Canned peaches in syrup do not resemble fresh peaches in flavor and aroma, but between crops one either has canned peaches or no peaches at all.

Processed bananas are still produced mostly from rejected of the fresh banana trade. Therefore, the varieties used are the same as for fresh fruit, but there has been a decline in the number of varieties being grown, resulting in only a few selected varieties and sub-varieties of the Cavendish type being used for processing.
Processed Banana