Cost Advantages of Bulk Handling Through the Citrus Packing House

The Citrus Industry is always interested in finding economies, but it usually takes some stimulus to bring in new methods. The stimulus for handling fresh fruit in bulk from the field to the packing house came during the 1947–48 citrus season, when delivered-in fruit prices were exceptionally low. With grapefruit widely quoted as low as 5¢ per box on-the-tree, a tremendous amount of interest was generated in finding cheaper methods of handling. Several commercial concerns experimented with various types of bulk handling for fresh fruit by attempting, unsuccessfully, to adapt the cannery fruit systems for this purpose. Paper published with permission.

Continuous Vacuum Dehydration of Citrus Juices

The dry, nonvolatile solids of citrus juices, produced by high vacuum dehydration, represent the ultimate in edible juice concentrates. Upon the addition of certain volatile constituents, and reconstitution with water, a juice can be obtained which closely resembles the fresh original material. The major difference is that the reconstituted powder lacks the bouquet characteristic of fresh juice. So far as this author knows, the only method of returning this “fresh bouquet” to vacuum concentrated citrus juices is by the addition of “cut back” fresh juice to the product. With a dry powder this is, of course, impossible. Paper published with permission.

Booster Compressors for the Citrus Industry: Reciprocating, Rotary and Centrifugal

To a citrus engineering group, refrigeration is a common-place item. However, except to those directly concerned with the subject, immediate reference to specific terms might be somewhat confusing. Since our subject is “Booster Compressors For The Citrus Industry”, it might be well to define a booster compressor. Paper published with permission.

Can Handling Systems

It is well-known that methods for handling empty cans in can plants and packing plants have been undergoing considerable change during the past few years. I know that many of you here today have been active in promoting such changes and in cooperating with the can producers to the end that the changes may be of mutual benefit. That there has been considerable progress in can handling methods is particularly true of the Florida Citrus Industry — which has used over 1-1/2 billion 6 oz. juice cans annually to pack fresh, frozen concentrated orange juice. Paper published with permission.

Steam Generation for the Citrus Industry

One of the unique features of the Florida citrus industry is the fuel used for steam generation. Usually any industry will use all three of the fossil fuels but due to its geographical location, oil is at present the only one of these economically feasible for the Florida citrus industry. Paper published with permission.

Production and Distribution of Chilled Citrus Salads

The production and distribution of chilled citrus segments and salads has developed into an important outlet for Florida citrus within the last few years. These chilled segments are highly perishable sections clipped from oranges or grapefruit, using technics similar to the ones developed in the commercial canned section operation of the Florida citrus industry. The sections are subjected to a minimum of processing and for this reason maintain a substantial amount of their natural flavor for several weeks provided adequate refrigeration is provided. Paper published with permission.

Modern Handling of Citrus Fruit From Grove to Plant

The Florida Citrus Industry can now be classed as big business. The introduction of frozen concentrates has made possible the full utilization of the crop and its distribution to markets which readily absorb this product. Paper published with permission.