OUR KNOW HOW

Planting the orchards

The trees are planted in a way that allows them to grow naturally and also allows for the passage of machinery. Right from the beginning, the plum trees are regularly pruned to create a shape that will allow the sun to penetrate the whole tree, encouraging the fruit to ripen whilst remaining healthy, and also encouraging a more homogenous and better-quality crop (large fruits) that is also bigg

Pollination and watering

Insects pollinate the flowers. Beehives are sometimes placed in the orchards to facilitate this. The trees are watered using water from irrigation basins that are filled from water courses during the winter and then disconnected from them in the summer.

Harvesting the plums

The harvest runs from mid-August to mid-September. It is done by gently shaking the tree. The plums fall onto collars surrounding the tree. This is the best method for harvesting the greatest number of plums. In order to only pick the ripest plums, requires picking each orchard 5 or 6 times

Drying

The Ente plums are transported to the drying centre where they are washed and sorted. Then they are spread out on large racks, known as “claies”, ready to be dried. This step is called “enclayage”. These racks are then placed on trolleys which will be put into the drying tunnels. These tunnels can each dry 11 tonnes of plums a day. It requires between 3 and 3.5 kg of fresh Ente plums to produce 1kg of Agen prunes, after a drying process of 20 to 24 hours at a gentle heat. By this stage the moisture content has been reduced to 23%. To create the traditional mi-cuit Agen prune, the drying is stopped when the moisture level is still at 35%. For the ones known as Molles (soft), the moisture level is 40%. These two products will therefore need to be stored under negative cold conditions as they are more sensitive to microbial growth.

Sorting and storing

During this operation fruit that is split, damaged, blemished or not properly dried is removed. The sorting is generally done by hand on sorting belts. The prunes will be stored in paloxes (large, slatted bins made of either wood or plastic) lined with large food-grade polyethylene bags. These bins are then placed in suitable warehouses, preferably out of the light, where the humidity and temperature are constant (6°c and 70% humidity).

Sorting and sizing

When prunes are delivered, they are sorted to check the quality. According to the rules, Agen prunes should have a moisture content of between 15% and 23%. Perforated grills are used to size the prunes. The openings on the grills change in size, going from the smallest to the largest, so that the prunes fall into their respective boxes. The sized prunes are then put back into refrigerated storage.

Rehydration

In order to get soft, ready-to-eat prunes, the prunes undergo a warm rehydration process in the Montayral factory. They are soaked for between 15 and 30 minutes. Agen prunes will then have a moisture content of 35%. If mi-cuit or soft prunes are being processed, this step is not necessary.

Packaging and pasteurisation

Once the Agen prunes have been rehydrated they can be stoned if necessary. Then they are usually put into packets. The packets of prunes are spread over racks which are put on trolleys and then put into ovens for a special heat-treatment pasteurisation which means the prunes do not contain any preservat