Cherry process steps
1 Raw material handling
Choose those cherries which has bright skin color, short stalk and small core, uniform fruit size, and has sweet taste and less juice. Remove moldy and immature fruit, then remove the stalk, put it in a basket, and wash it in a sink or basin with running water for 2- 3 times. This could remove impurities. Afterwards, remove the stalk by hand.
2 Soak in lye and rinse
In order to shorten the drying time, it is best to blanch the cherries in 0.2-0.3% boiling lye solution for a while, then rinse them thoroughly in clean water to remove the lye solution, then put them in a basket for 5-10 minutes and drain the water.
Cherry drying process
1 sulphur
Put the fruit into the baking tray and send it to the sulfur fumigation room. Put the sulfur in a bowl, add wood chips to support combustion, close the door of the sulfur-fumigation chamber after lighting, and smoke it for about 1 hour. Generally, 2-3 kg of sulfur powder is used per ton of fruit.
2 Dry and soften
The 3P machine should be equipped in a drying room with about 15 cubic meters, the 6P machine should be equipped in a drying room with 25-30 meters, and the 12P machine should be equipped in a drying room with 40-45 meters. Spread the sulfurized cherries evenly on the baking tray and send them to the drying room for drying. At the beginning, the temperature is controlled at about 60°C, and continuous dehumidification is carried out. The air humidity is reduced to about 50%. When it becomes slighted dried, the temperature is raised to 75°C-80°C, and the air humidity is lowered to about 25%. After 8-12 hours, take it out, pick out the undried fruit, and put it on another baking tray to dry again. When the air humidity drops to 25%, the internal humidity content of the dried cherries should be 18%.