OUR FARMS
Vertically integrated in raisins
Our competitive advantage begins right at the source, where we pick raisins directly from our network of owned farms. This network spans 300 kilometers up and down the province of San Juan and La Rioja and gives us the ability to trace our fruit from farm to customer, ensuring we deliver the highest quality product at an unmatched efficiency.
Harvesting and Drying
TRADITIONAL METHOD
From mid-January to March, grapes are harvested as they have their optimum sugar level. The bunches of grapes are hand cut by rural workers and then put into boxes, which are in turn palletized to be transferred to the drying shed, which is entirely built with clean stones allowing an homogeneous drying process and, in the case of rainfalls, an immediate draining. Once at the drying shed, the pallets are downloaded with fork-lifts, and the bunches of grapes are placed on racks for sun exposure. Depending on weather conditions, the grapes are left to dry for 2 or 3 weeks, and their humidity level is reduced from 75% to less than 15%. Once they are at their optimum drying point, they are collected and put in bins by specialized staff, and then transferred to a plant where they are fumigated and stored in sheds waiting for their processing.
DOV METHOD
DOV raisins have proven to meet the food safety concerns of our customers, over that of tray-dried raisins, for the following reasons:
- No stones.
- No embedded grit.
- No embedded sand.
- No animal contamination.
- No human contamination.
- Fewer embedded stems.
NATURAL FOOD ARGENTINA is currently producing raisins with the advanced technique of Dried-On-the Vine, called DOV Raisins. What are DOV raisins and how are they an improvement of the traditional tray-dried raisins? At the UC Kearny Ag Center in Parlier, CA starting in 1965, researchers found that if the canes (part of the vine where the grapes grow) were cut and allowed to dry, the resulting raisins could be harvested by mechanical means.