THIS 
PAGE STILL BEING BUILT - PLEASE BEAR WITH US
Here's some general information about dried fruits and nuts we supply. We don't stock cheap brand-named dried fruits so feel it's important to offer our customers some detailed information which they can refer to as required. Many of our customers use some of this information in their own websites and marketing literature as the quality of the ingredients is outstanding - something which helps set them apart from competitors and attracts more business.
Now compare our dried fruit to what you normally find in supermarkets and cash 'n' carries . . .
"THE GREAT SUPERMARKET SWINDLE"
There has been quite a number of TV programmes and books in the past couple of years covering areas of mass food production and supermarket selling tactics. We're not out to knock supermarkets or cash 'n' carries for the sake of it, but here's a very accurate and honest account of how they are able to sell dried fruit at low prices while making a very healthy profit. This information comes from inside the fried fruit industry. If you care about the quality of your cakes, then you'll care about the quality of the ingredients you use. You may be shocked . . .
A supplier of dried fruit to supermarkets and cash 'n' carries buys a tonne of raisins from the growers. They don't buy the best of the crop obviously - it might contain a wider range of berry sizes and grittier fruit, but it's still pretty much OK. Playing on customers' fears about the perceived lack of hygiene in other countries, they make a big point of advertising their fruit as "UK washed and cleaned". It all sounds fair enough except that their version of washing and cleaning may come as a surprise . . . they take their tonne of raisins and "wash" them in a sugary water solution for 24 hours. Hardly the rinse under a cold tap we would use at home(!). During this time "washing", the raisins absorb up to 50% of their own weight in sugary water.
So it's 1 tonne in and 1.5 tonnes out.
The sugar solution dries so that the outside of the fruit has a dry appearance (effectively a light sugar glazing) while the inside is still moist, and the supplier is able to meet the supermarkets' demands for the lowest possible prices.
OK, so what's the problem, you might ask? Well, with this fruit you're now introducing a load of extra water and sugar into the very heart of your cake . . . that excess moisture is released during baking and can cause cool spots where the mix remains undercooked and the fruit will dry rapidly to become hard - a process sped up by the extra sugar.
We're not suggesting every cake will be a disaster - of course not - and, over time, many bakers have changed their recipes or oven temperatures to compensate but ruin just one cake and the "saving" you made buying cheap fruit has disappeared. If you're baking a rich fruit cake and have added brandy or sherry, then there's nowhere for this extra liquid to go . . . the fruit is already saturated with sugary water, so your exspensive maturing liquid won't be absorbed. That affects flavour and wastes your money.
Ultimately, it's about using quality ingredients to produce quality cakes.
Unfortunately EU regulations are a little vague on the subject of added water and added sugar when it comes to dried fruit, and so long as suppliers claim the process is "washing and cleaning" they seem to be just inside the law.
What a pity.
