It s easy! Simply call us up during our office hours and we ll be happy to assist!

Transcription

1 FAQ How do I order your fruit? It s easy! Simply call us up during our office hours and we ll be happy to assist! June-December Monday Friday: 8am-5pm Saturdays: 9am-4pm Closed Sundays January-May Monday-Friday: 9am-4pm Closed: Saturday & Sunday You can also fax your order to or it to We have a link to our order form in PDF format right at the top of our webpage. We re working on getting an online shopping cart set up, so watch our site for the updates! Why is fruit out of stock? Living in a country with 24 hour supermarkets stocked with food from around the world, it can be difficult to understand how a food item could be out of stock not for a few days but for a few months! We are a small cannery (our output for our entire canning season equals one DAY s output for a big-name fruit cannery) and source our fruit from local growers.

2 This means that we offer the best fruit available but that we, just like our growers, are at the mercy of Mother Nature. If there is a late spring freeze and half of the cherry crop is ruined, that means that we won t be able to can as many cherries that year. In any given year a crop may fall short and so may our production of a specific fruit. We try to can enough fruit to have ample supplies for the entire year but we will occasionally fall short. We appreciate your understanding and want to assure you that it is never our intention to run out of fruit! Tip: We encourage you to pre-order in late spring or early summer to ensure you receive your fruit. If a crop is short, we may begin to run out by early fall. Where does the fruit come from? From the best growers in the Northwest! Click here for more information. We take pride in our premium canned fruit and thus take pride in our quality-focused growers. We buy only the best fruit and try to support our local growers as much as possible. The Northwest has great soil and climate, ideal for growing fruit full of flavor and minerals.

3 Here are our growers that make Hood-Crest Fruit the BEST EVER! Light Cherries Ben Synon, The Dalles, OR Dark Cherries Gary Curtiss, The Dalles, OR Apricots Zoria Farms San Jose, CA Plums Dave Eischen Cornelius, OR Peaches Gary Curtiss, The Dalles, OR Pride Packaging, Wapato, WA Robison Fruit Ranch, Caldwell, ID Symms Fruit Ranch, Caldwell, ID Williamson Orchard, Caldwell, ID Pears Diamond Fruit Growers, Hood River, OR

4 What is your canning process? Our secret to great tasting canned fruit is starting with the best, ripest fruit we can find. We work with excellent Northwest orchard growers who pick their fruit at the peak of ripeness. When the fruit arrives at the cannery our work begins. While the canning process is slightly different for each variety of fruit we can, the basic process stays the same. Here is what happens when we can peach halves: First a bin of fruit is loaded onto the bin dumper where the operator keeps the flow of fruit from the bin onto the canning line gentle and even. The fruit is then hand-fed into a pitter that halves and pits the peaches. They travel along a conveyor belt where the pit cavity is inspected and flawed peaches are discarded. The peaches then pass under a steam hood that loosens the skin. This is a process that we are proud of most other canneries use a chemical to burn the skin off the fruit. The home canning process is similar when blanching the fruit in a water bath. Once the skins are loose, they are rubbed by hand to remove the peel and then hand-packed into cans. The cans then pass under the syruper (a nozzle) which fills the cans with one of the variety of syrup blends; or, in the case of

5 water pack, just hot water. They then travel into the exhaust box where gentle movement of the can releases air bubbles trapped between fruit pieces. This box is also heated and begins to warm the cans. Upon exiting the exhaust box, the cans are sealed with a lid and then travel up to the ceiling where our overhead cooker processes the peaches and then cools them off. The finished cans roll out to our dock where they are put on pallets and transferred to the warehouse where they rest for a week at which point they are labeled and boxed. What is the difference between your syrups? Light Syrup: Offers a hint of sweetness. We use between 1 1/2 2oz of real sugar (not corn syrup) in each 28oz. can. Heavy Syrup: Contains more sugar (2 1/4 3oz) and blends well into many of your favorite dessert recipes. Splenda Pack: Also known as Sucralose. A no-calorie sweetener suitable for use with sugar restricted diets. Water Pack: Nothing but fruit and water! Especially food for sugar-free diets. It allows the full natural flavors of the fruit to come through. How long are cans good for? Three years. What is the difference between fruit in a can and fruit in a jar? Really, there s no difference in the fruit. When fruit is sealed in a can light cannot reach the fruit therefore citric or ascorbic acid isn t needed to prevent the fruit from darkening. All you find in our cans is fruit, water, and sweetener if you choose. The fruit canned in a jar can experience some slight discoloration, due to the light because we don t use ascorbic acid. For the most part, this is a

6 rarity, though. Are tin cans safe? Yes. We do recommend transferring any unused portion of your canned fruit into a non-reactive (glass or plastic) storage container and then refrigerating. This prevents the fruit from taking on a metallic taste as the exposure to air begins an oxidative process. How will I receive my fruit? There are three different ways. Please specify which method you will be using when you place your order. 1. Pick Up. If you live close to The Dalles or will be traveling through The Dalles, you are welcome to come directly to the cannery and pick up your order. The is great for viewing the canning process during the season. 2. Shipped. We ship parcels via Fed Ex. Prices vary from location to location so please call us for an accurate quote Delivery. If you live in our delivery area, we make one large delivery run throughout the month of November and into December. During that time you may check our Facebook page for delivery date estimates. What is there to do in The Dalles? We re probably partial to The Dalles because we live here but it s GREAT! We re located in the beautiful Columbia River Gorge which offers ample outdoor activities from hiking to windsurfing. Depending on the season, there are many different festivals to attend and there are always fun shops to browse such as Klindt s in downtown The Dalles it s the oldest bookstore in Oregon! Click here to visit The Dalles Chamber of Commerce website for current activities going on in the area. Where are you located? We are located at 5267 Mill Creek Rd., approximately 3 miles south of I-84, in beautiful The Dalles, Oregon. Clear days

7 bring a beautiful country drive looking right at Mt. Hood and the surrounding orchard-studded hills. Driving directions to the cannery (we are about 10 minutes from the freeway): Eastbound I-84 Exit #83 At stop sign turn left. Turn right at light onto Webber St.. Go to stop sign at 10th St. Left on 10th to second stop sign. Right on Mt. Hood St. (this becomes Mill Creek Rd.). Travel 3 miles, Muirhead Canning Co. will be on the right hand side. What makes your fruit so delicious? Several things. First, we start with the finest fruit around. We only can FRESH, RIPE fruit the kind of fruit you would want to slice and eat right on the spot. Second, we can our fruit in a process that is very similar to home canning. We never use chemicals to peel our fruit and we pack each can and jar by hand. And last, but not least, we use sugar, not corn syrup to sweeten our syrup. It s a big difference that you can taste.