fruit dryer photos, from the road trip

These are pictures of the fruit-drying operations we visited on our road trip last week. They are all run by small groups of 3-6 people who are members of TerrEspoir. The drying is done in large wooden ovens filled with racks on which fruit is dried, heated by the same gas (propane?) that everyone runs their stoves and ovens with here. All the dryers have received training and startup funds from TerrEspoir, who also sets the prices at which they buy fresh fruit and sell dried. TerrEspoir places orders, conducts inspections, and handles delivery of the fruit to Switzerland. There is very little market for dried fruit in Cameroon, because of the cost.

In uniform, in front of a dryer. That small white hose runs into a gas container you can just see behind her.

The inside of that same dryer, with bananas on the rack. Normally all the racks are filled, but this is the tail end of a drying order, because we visited towards the end of the week, and deliveries are on Friday.

Dried bananas. In a bucket.

A larger dryer at another group. These are three of the six members we met. Note gas cannister again. The inspector from TerrEspoir recommended putting the cannister outside, so this group in working on running a line for that, and constructing an enclosure outside the building.

The inside of that big oven. Bananas again.

Work uniforms, hats and a scale from one of the operations.

That red circle on the right is a chute by which fresh fruit comes into the building. The drying facilities are separated into different stations, so that the fresh fruit does not come into contact with the dried product.

Christi, our coworker, who works with RELUFA on behalf of the Presbyterian Church USA.

Another group of dryers. This is the other side of that red chute from a couple of pictures ago. The TerrEspoir inspector also recommended those glass louvres in the window, which also has mosquito netting. The concrete sinks are for washing fruit.

A small digital scale, and the sealer used on the bags once they are filled with fruit. TerrEspoir ships in these bags from Switzerland, and all the dryers use them. They label the back with a lot number, a date, and the name of their group. The front part of the bag has a window that displays the product -- this one, obviously, is empty.

Tools of the trade. That doodad next to the blue glove is for coring pineapples.

Two members of another group, and a daughter, along with two drying ovens.

Your intrepid bloggers, traversing Africa to bring you the latest from the front lines of dried fruit production. Ann is working with Christi on fair-trade research, and took notes during this trip, so I was on photography duty.

A member of another drying group. You can see a basin and some gas bottles behind her. That item at the lower right is a stainless-steel work surface.

Here she is again with some of their products. Those plastic buckets are filled with various dried fruits yet to be bagged. They sent us on our way with some dried pineapple and mango. Dried mangoes are the best, and it's almost impossible to find them in the US with no sugar added, which essentially turns them into candy. The eventual goal of the fair-trade research is to sell them in the US market under a fair-trade label, and as far as we've been able to determine, there is no competition yet.

If you've never eaten a mango, it tastes like a combination of a peach with the smell of a pine tree. The dried version is chewy and tastes even more intense.