Drying Apricots with Bella Viva Orchards, making Dried Fruit on the farm

[yukkix3]

yum dried apricots are my favorite! can be quite expensive at times though

[BellaVivaOrchards]

@yukkix3 Check out our Online Specials Page or subscribe to our Newsletter. Apricots will be on sale sometime this year.

[hydraxeno07]

so 1 piece of that dried fruit is equivalent to half an apricot?

[BellaVivaOrchards]

@hydraxeno07 Many times that is correct. Most stone fruits such as apricots, peaches, and plums are cut in half before they are dried. Many fruits such as apples, persimmons, and most organic fruits are cut into many slices before they are dried. Smaller fruits like cherries, grapes and berries are dried whole.

[mammamya1]

Don't the flies go crazy around the drying apricots and land on them? How do you keep the flies/bees/bugs away?

[BellaVivaOrchards]

@mammamya1 Great question. We take many steps to prevent pests: Spraying Balence, an Organic fly killer, & hang fly zappers & traps. We release 50K Parasitic Wasps/week to eat any insect eggs. Flies & Bees do not "go crazy" around drying fruit because it is preserved by SO2 & they don't like the smell. We are closely inspected by The State and retail customers that require us to follow strict HACCP standards to be sure NO pests get in the food. Basically put, we do not have a habitat for flies.

[mammamya1]

@BellaVivaOrchards Very interesting! Thank you for this detailed answer :)

[jakeed09090]

@BellaVivaOrchards thats pretty cool about how you keep flies away, how much does the company spend on anti-fly measures? (for lack of better wording)

[BellaVivaOrchards]

@jakeed09090 I am sorry I am not able to share that information but I can give you an idea what it might cost an individual for personal usage. Fly zappers covering 1000 sq ft = about $275. 12 Fly traps = about $55. 250 Parasitic Wasps = about $65.

[8ctopus0000]

do you skin the apricots before you dry them?

[BellaVivaOrchards]

@8ctopus0000 We slice them in half but do not skin the apricots.

[BellaVivaOrchards]

I may be partial, but I did hear Bella Viva Orchards is #1 for the best dried apricots in the world! =) An interesting thing about apricots is that if you purchase apricots from the US they are a different type of apricot all together. Turkish apricots are similar to a prune. They are a little sweeter and even pitted like a prune for drying. I think both are quite tasty and we do offer each. Mike

[movement26]

Excellent video,very interesting. Surprised to find out that Turkey is the world's leading producer. U.S.A. not in top ten [;-(

[mainandmizzen]

all you have to do is read the front or back of most boxes or bags of dried apricots to see that they come from Turkey.

Thailand is world's #1 rice & pineapple producer, Iran is #1 for dates, China is #1 for wheat, potatoes, apples, Brazil is #1 for coffee & beef, Ivory Coast (Africa) is #1 for cocoa, Australia is #1 for lamb, USA is #1 for corn, Italy is #1 for wine, Spain is #1 for olives, India is #1 for tea, etc etc. My point is that all kinds of food comes from all kinds of places.

[BellaVivaOrchards]

The apricots take about 5 days to dry in the sun if the temperature stays around 90

[LizzieLamb1993]

how long do they take to dry out????

[jo3ly]

Wow