Sulfuring Day

When we pick our tree fruit, we immediately grade it and pack it into Panti-Paks in the orchard. The top quality fruit will go to the farmers' market or fruit stand, and the seconds or over-ripes are prepared for drying. We put on plastic gloves for sanitary reasons and because it's a very sticky job.

We cut the fruit in half, remove the pit and place the fruit cut-side up onto an 8 x 3 foot drying tray. We lay the fruit side by side, making sure to squeeze as many pieces as possible on each drying tray. The idea is to have as little space between each piece of fruit to force the smoking sulfur into the fruit and thus preserve it. We found it took about 3 to 3 1/2 boxes of fruit to fill each tray. And most of the day for five or six of us to cut 16 trays worth, so it helps to have a good buddy to visit with while you cut, as it sure makes the time go faster. 

The fruit-laden trays are stacked on top of each other, in our very fancy smoking tent, with a little block of wood between each tray to allow the sulfur smoke to circulate. The bottom tray was elevated a little higher off the ground and a narrow trench was dug underneath to encourage the smoke to travel throughout the enclosure. At the inside edge of the enclosure, a coffee can filled with approximately 2 pounds of smoking sulfur (purchased at an orchard supply store) was partially buried (about halfway), for stability. We sealed the sides of the enclosure with shovelfuls of dirt and prepared to light the sulfur. A long fireplace lighter did the trick. My husband Nick stuck it into the can and ignited the sulfur, blowing out the flame if there was one and making sure it was going to smolder and smoke. Then he sealed the remaining flap with dirt, making sure not to get the plastic too close to the smoldering can.

We stood around until we could see smoke venting from our little cut in the top of the tent just to make sure all was working well. And then you wait, usually overnight, for the process to complete.

The next morning, we were excited to open the sulfuring tent to check on the fruit. First, we needed to open the sides of the enclosure to air out the sulfur. We left this for about an hour. Since we were drying so many trays at once, we weren't sure if we should have used more sulfur. But the fruit looked beautiful. The little seed cavities were full of juice and the fruit was bleached out beautifully. Perfect! We sat the trays on our cement blocks, in full sun, and took lots of pictures of course!