AU: Light bulb moment shines for Solarfruit
As was the case with Solarfruit, the Donnybrook-based fruit leather company, which is winning fans throughout Australia. Solarfruit is the brainchild of Sue and Steve Collis, who came up with the idea during a trip around Australia. While travelling with their two young daughters in the early 1990s, the family kept their hunger at bay with their home made sun-dried fruit leather strips - from a special secret recipe - which were healthy and had a long shelf life. "It was a great travel food, and people kept commenting on how delicious it was," Sue said. "We thought, well maybe that is something we could expand on. "So we moved to Donnybrook to do fruit leather." "It was also a lifestyle decision because we wanted to raise our kids in the country."
Sue as a medical technologist and Steve, a frustrated inventor, describe themselves as the perfect team, but said there was a long and difficult road involved in getting the product to where it is today. "It required new techniques in handling and processing as well as the invention of unique equipment," Sue said. "As well as finessing the secret recipe on a commercial scale, we invented new equipment for stone removal and specially-designed drying tables that protect the fruit leather from being contaminated while outside." The entire family takes part in making the fruit leather, from picking the 40 to 60 tonnes of fruit every harvest to cleaning the fruit and packaging the finished product. Sue said the process was very labour intensive.
After the plums, nectarines, apricots and peaches are picked, each piece is washed and checked to ensure it is of perfect quality. The fruit is then put into a rotating sieve, which moves at 550rpm, and which turns the fruit into puree. The puree is then put into a finshing machine, to ensure all the rough pieces have been removed, resulting in a mix that is, according to Sue, as smooth as silk. The silky mixture is poured into drying trays, and wheeled out to one of the 230 outdoor drying tables, where they are covered and left for about 10 to 12 days, during which the mixture is flipped over to ensure both sides are dried. The liquid reduces by a tenth, and develops into a thin, leathery texture. "The slow sun-drying captures the stunning flavours of the fresh fruit, creating the best tasting dried fruit because it is beautifull moist and juicy," Steve said. Solarfruit pick about 40 to 60 tonnes of fruit each harvest, and predict that this year will be a bumper crop.
The warm winter means this has been the earliest harvest in the company's history, and the Collis family began picking fruit almost a month ago. As well as the fruit leather strips, Solarfruit produces fruit jams, sauces and chocolate-coated chunks. The leather has no added colours or preservatives, and as Sue points out, it doesn't need any, as it is already bursting with flavour. "The a big difference between our product and anyone else's on the market is we are the only ones who use fresh fruit. The rest use concentrated powders, and you can tell the difference," she said. They said Donnybrook had proven the ideal location to base their business, thanks to the fact it was only half an hour from Bunbury and amidst beautiful, rolling hills and orchards.
About 80 per cent of Solarfruit's business is from direct sales, but they also sell their products at Donnybrook's Food Barn, the Nedlands IGA and Herdsman Fresh outlets. Steve and Sue often travel to farmers markets across the State, such as the Kalamunda, Subiaco and Boyanup markets, where they said they always receive a warm reception. While the next few months are a busy time, the family always welcomes visitors to their store, where they can take people through the process and help them pick out a few snacks or presents. "It is a great opportunity to stock up on healthy, convenient snacks that don't make a mess. A traveller's best friend!" Sue said.
Source: farmonline.com.au