Mandarin Kinnow

[Ashraf Vohra]

Mandarin Kinnow

 

Pakistan is blessed with a climate ideally suited to the farming of all kinds of fruits - rich in taste and juicy. Farmers have been developing newer strains of fruit by

 

grafting one exotic variety with another.

Pakistan is largest producer of Kinnow Mandarin. A variety closer to tangerine and similar in taste. Its aroma and taste makes kinnow mandarin one of the best

 

mandarins varieties every known to man kind.

Kinnow has distinguished attributes than tangerines and Clementine which puts this mandarin on higher rack. By nature Kinnow is very strong variety and with shelf

 

life of more than 2 months with recommended temperature of +2.0 degree pulp temperature.

Attributes:

Easy Peel

By nature peel of Kinnow is so attached with pulp that its put off very easily as compared with other mandarins.

Higher Juice content

The Refreshing and mouth watering juice content is very high near to 48%. Color of Kinnow juice is little darker than orange juice which makes it attractive. The aroma

 

just attracts the person’s mind to taste the freshness.

High content of Vitamin C

Kinnow contains about 32 mg of Vitamin C per 100 ml. WHO  recommends 45 mg input of Vitamin C per day which means that Kinnow a day fulfills daily requirement

 

of Vitamin C.

 

Pulp

The Juicy pulp taste best when consumed in its natural form, however there are other uses like use of pulp in juice to make it pulpy juice or even jams could be made.

 

 

Peel

Kinnow Mandarin peel contains good amount of essential oil which can be used in cosmetics and other essence.

Availability and Season

November – April

Packaging:
10 Kgs net, corrugated cartons

06 Kgs net, corrugated cartons
08 Kgs net, corrugated cartons
13 Kgs net, corrugated cartons

 

General production of Kinnow (mandarin) December to April.

 

 

 

Processing of Kinnow Mandarins

For high quality kinnow it is important that international practice of mandarins processing along with food safety should be well in placed.

Citichem and counter parts is dedicated to produce, procure and process high quality mandarins with highest rate of rejections in industry.

To achive this purpose we have developed a system which also complies and exceeds current system of HACCP, BRC and GlobalGap.

All our mandarins are processing on state of art Fomesa (Spanish) packing lines to have perfect processing, application of wax and perfect grading. These state of art

 

machine specifically designed for mandarins ensures soft handling of fruits through out processing and avoid mechanical injuries.

Following are the brief processing steps of processing:

 

Pre-Sorting

Hand picked mandarins are pre-sort in farm and carefully handled. This process eliminates unwanted fruits being transported to pack house. It is important that kinnow

 

should be picked and carefully transported to pack house for which 20 kgs plastic bins are used.

 

Drenching

Once Kinnow arrived at Pack house, drenching is done with TBZ (Thaibedozole)

 

Sorting 1

Plastic bins filled with kinnows are than carefully placed on sorting conveyor, where skilled workers checks mandarins and reject low quality or unwanted fruits.

Washing

Washing is done with clean water to remove field dirt. Water used in washing is clean and drinking water which is regularly checked in laboratory.

Drying

It is important to dry kinnow after washing as waxed is to be coated. Cold drying is therefore applied with ambient temperature of 10-25 degree centigrade.

Waxing and application of fungicide

Fungicide along with wax is applied after drying. These fungicide namely Thiabendazole and Imazalil along with wax are imported from EU countries and complies with

 

international standards of EU, HACCP, BRC and GlobalGap.  Regular test and audits are done for this critical applications.

Post Wax Drying

Once wax are applied, drying is done with controlled temperature to ensure that fruits are dried completey.

Sorting 2

After washing and waxing, Kinnow appears in its full lusture. Any unwanted fruit is sort in sorting 2 conveyor so that fruits when packed would be of perfect quality

Sizing

State of art Fomesa grader size fruits so that desirable sizes are achieved for packing. Our 8 lanes sizer makes 8 different sizes which once packed are marketed

 

based on sizes.

Packing

Hand packing is done carefully at final stage. Qualify and experienced skilled workers placed mandarins in box in a way for safe handling. Food grade stickers are

 

placed on top layer and finally package are strapped for storing

Pre-Cooling

Temperature of Kinnow should be cooled down before storing or loading into containers. Desirable temperature is +4 degree centigrade. S&C is equipped with state of

 

art computer controlled pre-cooling chambers.

Cold Storing

After pre-cooling, kinnow are stored in cold storage to be waited for loading in reefer containers.

Cool Chain

Citi Chem and counter part strongly focus on cool chain and therefore installed generators on reefer containers to ensure that cool chain is maintained. Cool chain ensures perfect quality

 

arrivals, freshness and humidity retention

 

contact  in...@citichem.net