Drying Fruit in the Arvena Valley

For centuries, farmers in the Arvena Valley have preserved their apricots, figs and plums by drying them, and today three quite different methods are used side by side. A recent survey by the valley's agricultural cooperative compared them in order to advise younger growers who are deciding how to invest.

The oldest method is open-air sun drying. Fruit is cut in half, laid on wooden racks and left in the fields for between eight and twelve days, depending on the weather. The only cost is labour, which explains why it remains popular with small family farms. However, the fruit is exposed to insects and dust, and a single unexpected storm can ruin a whole batch. Growers who use this method usually cover the racks with fine cotton netting, but the survey found that losses of up to a fifth of the harvest were still common in wet summers.

The second method, the smokehouse, was introduced to the valley by traders from the coast in the nineteenth century. Fruit is hung inside a brick building above a slow fire of walnut shells, and it is ready in around four days. Smokehouse fruit has a darker colour and a distinctive taste that some buyers value highly; at the valley's weekly market it sells for almost twice the price of sun-dried fruit. The main drawback is fuel: a smokehouse needs a constant supply of shells, and in years when the walnut crop fails, owners must buy firewood, which changes the flavour and reduces the price.

The newest method is the solar tunnel, a long plastic-covered frame in which fans move warm air across trays of fruit. The first tunnel in the valley was built in 2009 by an engineer named Lusa Meren, who adapted a design originally used for drying chillies. A tunnel dries fruit in just two to three days and keeps it clean, so it meets the hygiene standards demanded by supermarkets. Its weakness is the initial price: a medium-sized tunnel costs as much as a small tractor, and the plastic cover must be replaced roughly every five years because strong sunlight makes it brittle.

The cooperative's report does not recommend one method for everyone. Instead, it suggests that farms selling locally may be better off improving their sun-drying racks, while those hoping to supply city shops should consider sharing a solar tunnel between several families. Smokehouses, the report concludes, are worth keeping mainly for their reputation, as visitors increasingly travel to the valley specifically to watch the fruit being smoked.