Unique look at raisins dried on the vine

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- This is the time of year one of the Valley's top crops is dried and packed. But not all Valley raisins are set out on paper trays. Some are dried on the vine.

The canes of raisins hanging in bunches in a Fresno County vineyard were cut five weeks ago. The leaves are dried up. Ray Jacobsen knows his Selma Pete variety raisins are ready.

Jacobsen said, "We're down to a 10-12% moisture and that's basically where we want to have them when we deliver them to the packing house."

So it was time to get ready to rumble in the vineyard. A harvester shook the raisins off.

Jacobsen explained, "It has picking rods that will beat the raisins off. They'll go through a conveyor belt."

Stems, canes and leaves are removed from grapevines which stand seven feet tall. Ray Jacobsen went to the dried on the vine method back in 2000. The uncertainty over labor played a big part in his decision.

"Labor shortages and getting more expensive all the time," said Jacobsen. "It's competitive in the raisin industry and grape industry."

But the method takes longer than the traditional two-week drying period for raisins on trays.

Jacobsen said, "On these overheads here, what the DOV, dried on the vine there, it takes anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks for drying time."

Ray's son Ryan heads the Fresno County Farm Bureau.

Ryan said, "We are looking at an industry just over a decade ago we were probably in single digits as far as mechanization. Today I think we're approaching 60%."

The view from up top offered a great illustration of how the crop is alternated each year. Next year the green vines will be cut and dried.

Right now 40 acres of Jacobsen's raisin crop is dried on the vine. Next year he'll mechanically harvest more of his raisins.