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Lemons
Packaging & Transportation
At the packing house, first the lemons are washed. They go through a bath to loosen the dirt, then a shower to wash off any remaining grime.
Next, the citrus fruit gets thoroughly scrubbed on a “brush bed” using soap, water, and a series of brushes that spin the fruit around vigorously until they are thoroughly cleaned.
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The lemons are then sorted by color and placed into storage boxes. If the lemons are bright yellow and ripe, they are sent to be packaged and sold in the market.
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But if the lemons are still a greenish color, then the boxes are sent to the storage area where they can ripen. This ripening process is also called “curing.”
Lemons are cured for up to three weeks, depending on how early they were picked. Most lemons are cured for ten days – but they can be stored for several months. Stored fruit is kept at 56 degrees Fahrenheit and 88 percent humidity.
During curing, the fruit turns from a greenish color to bright yellow, and the juice gets sweeter. Also, the peel becomes thinner, tougher, and forms a silky finish.
When the fruit is fully ripe, the storage boxes are brought to the packaging room.
In the packaging room, the fruits are graded, or sorted, again – this time by hand. Fruit that is too small or has blemishes are removed.
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Here, the fruit get re-washed, dried, and waxed.
Wait, fruits are waxed? That’s right! During washing, most of the fruit’s natural wax is removed. This wax must be replaced or the fruit will dry out and spoil very quickly.
Some waxes are sprayed on, others are brushed on, and sometimes the fruit is dipped! Then the wax is dried onto the fruit by a “wax-setter.”
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Then a stamp-rolling machine stamps the fruit. Sometimes the stamps are put on by hand. Can you imagine putting a sticker on all of those lemons? Wow!
After stamping, the fruit is sorted one more time by size, and then packed into cardboard boxes.
Now the lemons are ready to be shipped to the grocery store for us to buy!
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*Images courtesy of www.saticoylemon.com |
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