Quality beyond comparison

AUSTRALIAN DRIED FRUIT

PREMIUM AUSTRALIAN 5 CROWN SULTANAS, LEXIA RAISINS & SUN MUSCAT SULTANAS

Australian dried fruits are some of the best in the world. Their flavour and texture is different to Turkish fruit and is popular with our retailers and craft bakeries who need a unique product with a point of difference.

We are proud to have imported and distributed Australian dried fruits for many years and are currently the exclusive distributor for Sunbeam Foods, who are the largest packer of Australian Dried Fruits.

We are able to offer this high quality product which is justifiably famous for both its taste and appearance from our stocks here in the UK in a bulk pack. We also have the facility to repack into either a retail 375g or 500g pack, or indeed any larger catering sized bag.

Sunbeam Foods who has been established since 1926 and source their fruit from 350 growers across Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and Western Australia. The factory has recently invested in state of the art machinery that is BRC accredited.

The grapes are grown along the Murray River, the largest river in Australia, in the Mildura area known as the sun drenched region. The soil is rich which is ideal for the grape vines for both wine and dried fruit. Up to four kilograms of freshly picked grapes are required to produce just one kilogram of dried fruit. No sulphur is used in the process of drying Australian grapes. Sultanas, Raisins and Sun Muscats are sprayed with an emulsion of Potassium Carbonate and a refined vegetable oil. This alters the wax layer of the skin of the berries allowing moisture to pass through the grapes so they dry faster.

Sultanas are graded in colour and in our opinion the 5 & 6 crown sultana is the most premium sultana on the market, with its attractive light amber colour, sweet flavour and juicy texture.

Australia also grows its own currants too and is an alternative to Greek currants if there became a shortage of the latter.

Our Australian dried fruit is of premium quality, plump and juicy
Ideal for artisan baking.

5 & 6 Crown Sultanas

Naturally light in colour, more juicy and fleshy than similar vine fruits. A dried fruit of exceptional quality.

Lexia Raisins

Lexia raisins are dried seeded Muscat grapes, with large sticky, sweet, caramelised tasting berries. Lexia raisins are an ideal ingredient for luxury puddings and cakes.

Sunmuscat Sultanas

Sunmuscat sultanas from the Muscat grape and have a unique sweet flavour similar to the muscat wine. The berries are lighter in colour than most traditional varieties of raisins with a fleshy plump texture.

2024 CROP UPDATE

The fruit maturity is ahead of the 2023 season by approximately one month and this has enabled growers to get in and cut the canes in a timely fashion and utilise the very warm dry conditions.

The rain events experienced in early January has had a flow on effect with some damage evident in some of the varieties. This has resulted in a portion of the fruit producing an inconsistent colour between light and brown.

The weather forecast for the next four weeks continues to look dry and if this comes through we should have one of the quickest drying seasons that we have experienced for a while.

At this stage the intake is at 15% of our estimate, so there is a lot of fruit to be delivered. The intake is well ahead of 2023.

Nearly all the canes have been cut on all varieties and harvesters are busy and struggling to keep up with demand.

Large areas are being completed in the mornings and harvesting ceases in the afternoons due to the high temperatures.

The season is on track and maturity of all varieties is 3-4 weeks ahead of 2023, 1 week ahead of the standard timing.

 

Sunglo Sultana

Sunglo (sultana) is showing a good crop and are disease free.
Fruit maturity is well ahead of 2023.
All the Sunglo canes are now cut and a good quality fruit will be produced.
The volume of Sunglo is increasing year on year and this variety is showing high and consistent yields.

Sugra39 & Selma Pete (Sultana)

These two early season varieties have shown very good yields and maturity levels were well advanced ahead of Sultanas.
Being young vines the berry size and colour are quite inconsistent, but with vine age will come more consistency.
These are emerging varieties that will have substantial volume increases over the next few years.

Sunmuscat Sultanas

Maturity is well ahead of previous seasons with most canes being cut by the 8th of March and favourable conditions will produce a good quality product.
The growing conditions have allowed for the berry size and sugar accumulation to reach their potential, so a larger, bolder berry size will be produced and the colour will be very suitable for the export market.

Currants

As with the other varieties, currants are ahead in maturity and the fruit is looking very good.
This is a very consistent variety and yields are consistent with 2023.
There will be a very good quality product produced this season.

Download the Full 2024 Australian Dried Fruit Crop Harvest Report HERE (March 2024)

Office & Factory

Demos Ciclitira Ltd
Park Drive Industrial Estate
Braintree
CM7 1AW

Registered Offices

Capitol House
60-62 Leman Street
London
E1 8EU

Contact

T: 01376 321272
F: 01376 552160
E: info@demos-uk.com