In this section:
Cutting Methods
Machine versus hand
Several factors need to be considered in deciding whether to machine-cut, the main one being the quantity of fruit to be dried. Where a crop can be handled with family labour there is little incentive to buy a cutting machine. For larger growers who must employ cutters, a cutting machine can reduce labour costs by up to 50 per cent. The greater the quantity dried, the sooner the cutting machine will have paid for itself.
There is some loss in quality, dried size and drying ratio associated with drying less mature fruit cut by a machine. Maintenance and attention to harvest maturity can minimise these losses. This requires care with picking maturity and grading out overripe fruit before machine cutting.
Cutting machines increase the speed of processing, allowing a smaller labour crew to process a similar quantity of fruit an hour, which many growers view as a distinct advantage. A machine does not allow you the flexibility of adjusting the hourly cutting rate like altering the number of hand cutters employed, but, in practice, adjusting the number of hand cutters is not always feasible either. It takes as many workers to machine cut a small amount of fruit as it does for a large quantity. Operating the machine slowly does not use labour resources efficiently, so it is important to maintain the supply of fresh fruit to the cutting machine.
Hand cutting
The standard method of hand cutting apricots is to cut the fruit completely around the suture line, remove the stone and place the cut halves cup uppermost on wooden drying trays. Specially designed knives are available for cutting apricots for drying. The cut should not be off line or leave a ragged edge of flesh when the fruit is separated. Do not force the stone through the flesh of the fruit with the cutting knife as this will produce a standard grade fruit or slab. Place fruit close together on the tray to fill it completely, but not squashed together or fruit will stick together during drying. Wide spacing wastes tray space and increases handling and drying costs. Fruit placed loosely on the trays are more likely to vibrate and become off balance when transporting to the sulphuring enclosure. Instruct cutters to place fruit squarely on the trays, as off-balance fruit will more readily allow juice to run out of the cups during sulphuring, increasing the drying ratio due to the loss of sugars from the fruit.
Do not let cutters tip containers of fresh fruit on to the cutting trays as this is a sure way to contaminate dried fruit with dirt, leaves and twigs. Discard fruit with yeasty appearance or with mould growth in the stone cavity when cut as it will dry black. Remove any stone chips as well as the stone and stem, as they are not easily removed when the fruit is dried. Presence of stone chips is a common reason for downgrading fruit, especially peaches and nectarines.
Machine cutting
Since the mid-1970s machines have been used increasingly for cutting apricots and placing them on trays for drying. Machines are not as accurate as hand cutters and will not handle extremely ripe fruit. Fruit has to be firm ripe for the machine, and soft fruit should be sorted out at the receival hopper for hand cutting. The best quality fruit will always be produced by hand cutting, but good machine-cut fruit is readily accepted by packers.
Research carried out by the Department of Primary Industries helped in the introduction of cutting machines. The unit developed by the department is no longer manufactured in the described form, but the ideas and principles are used by all manufacturers. Modifications and improvements in cutting machine design continue to be made by individual manufacturers and growers.
