Almond Processing
This morning had an appointment at 10 am to visit an almond hulling and shelling plant in the nearby town of Wasco. Set out of home at a quarter past nine. The sky had been overcast since morning and the sun was playing hide and seek from behind the moving clouds. Mere sapnon ki rani rang through my mind as I was driving alongside a train. There was no handsome hunk looking out of the window of the train nor was I driving an open top convertible. It was actually a freight train but still it brought nostalgia with the thought of the iconic song.
Once past the town of Shafter it was entirely agricultural land anywhere the sight went. Mostly almond and pistachio groves, but occasional garlic or other crops. As the town of Wasco approached various hulling centers began to appear alongside the road. Finally I arrived at the one where I had the access. My acquaintance Marie welcomed me at their office and introduced me to her manager Sean. He had barely joined the company 3 months back. A tall, heavyset man, Sean had a friendly demeanor and I felt welcome instantly.
We set out in his truck to see the facility. The property was huge. Around the main processing plant were scattered open areas where there were rows of large wooden containers that would transport the final product to the handlers. Another side had parked trucks. Another section held covered stockpiles of the harvested almonds. I learned from Sean that these stockpiles are fumigated to rid of insects and other pests while they await processing inside the facility. A large central part of the open property was occupied by sky high piles of crushed hulls and crushed shells.
I accompanied Sean to the main plant. On one side of it was an input station. Trucks would load up the unsorted almond harvest from the stockpiles and come position at this station. Once the position was ascertained the driver would open the dispenser door in the belly of the truck and the entire load from the truck would flow out and move on a belt into the feeders that carried this through large pipes that emptied it into another belt inside the facility.
Sean had offered me ear plugs warning me that it is very noisy inside. Yes indeed it was very noisy inside the facility and Sean had to bend close to hear me if I asked any questions. The overall concept of the plant was quite similar to one I had seen at the cotton gin. The large network of pipes and conveyor belts were designed to separate contaminants like leaves, twigs, soil etc from the almonds first, then remove the hulls, next remove the shells and repeat the process till a clean batch of almonds was separated out. This final quality assured product was then emptied into plastic lined large wooden containers that would be hauled on big trucks to the respective handlers. These are the middle parties between the growers( farmers) and the wholesalers & retailers.
The hull is delegated through separate pipelines and deposited in huge piles outdoors. The shells are similarly deposited in their own separate piles outdoors. From the cleaned almond harvest, hulls comprise 60% volume, shells 15% and flesh( almonds) 25%. Some of the almonds are shipped with shells intact, mainly overseas exports, because it saves on taxes for both parties. The completely cleaned produce is mainly for consumption within the United States. Last year the facility’s output of almonds was 130 million pounds.
The hull is sold to dairies to feed their cattle. The shell debris is also sold to dairies and used as bedding/ seating for cattle. Hull sells for $130 per ton, shells for $25 per ton. The other separated impurities go into landfills. Nothing is wasted.
Both Marie and Sean had been very gracious to give me this unique opportunity to watch the process from close quarters. It was a truly amazing experience. I thanked them and was back on the road. Not too far from the almond facility I spotted a huge dairy so took a quick diversion to check if anyone there would grant me a close view of their activities. There was no one in sight but in my short stop I got a good view of the cattle feeding on the byproducts of the almond hulling. I had come a full circle from witnessing the first blossoms on the almond trees in spring to the ready fruit on the trees to their processing and consumption. The only missing piece in this cycle was the harvesting from the trees. Somehow this year I missed catching a glimpse of this in action. It was all done by the time I returned from India . May be some day in the future I will get a chance to watch it. Just like cotton harvest it is all mechanized process. Nevertheless merely knowing about it and actually witnessing it being done are never the same thing.
I am grateful for what I got so far. It’s been an enriching experience. Biting on an almond is never going to feel the same anymore.
Saree is a cotton ikat from Odisha. The design is named Baghambari because the flower resembles the face/ mane of a lion. The design calls for great precision from a weaver.
Harcharan Kaur
ReplyDeleteExcellent expression of your unique experience ...you add to my knowledge, widen horizons...
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