We have visited one of our fruit growers and the BayWa organic fruit market in Ravensburg, from which we get our organic apples for our juices. So we can show you more precisely how the organic apple gets into our juice. After harvesting, sorting and storage, all organic apples are delivered with small flaws, but otherwise perfect quality, i.e. all apples that can no longer be sold as a table fruit, for further processing to our juice manufacturer. The quality and regionality of our products are very important values for us and therefore we are happy to get great apples from our region. We talked to the head of the BayWa organic fruit market and he gives us insights where the organic apples are delivered from, which processes are in the organic fruit sized market, i.e. which way the organic apple goes from the plantation to the customer and how the Storage and sorting the organic apples runs. He also reveals how you can do it at your location climate -neutral. In our video below in the blog post you will also get more information from one of our fruit growers in the BayWa, which we also interviewed. The video shows you the complete path of organic apples including interviews-from the plantation to our juice and in the package you get from us.
Where do you get your apples from?
The apples marketed by the BayWa come from agricultural family businesses from Baden-Württemberg and southwestern Germany, mainly from the Lake Constance region. The fruit growing families are members of the Württemberg fruit cooperative (web) and mainly build core fruit (apples and pears) but also berries and stone fruit. Our appearances have a lot of know-how and build the fruits with great sense of responsibility for people and the environment. Here you will be looked after and advised by the web. The BayWa provides all the services that are necessary after harvesting to bring the fruits to the shelves of trade. Around 25% of the fruits that the BayWa captures are produced by the members according to the guidelines of ecological farming. With the apples, this is every 4th apple. The organic buildings of the web members are mainly around Ravensburg. Bio-cultivation on Lake Constance has developed very successfully since it was started at the end of the 1990s, which is why the Ravensburg fruit gross market has been prepared exclusively for organic goods since 2005.
What are the processes in the organic fruit wholesale market? How is the way of apple from the plantation to the customer?
If the fruit farmers have harvested their fruits, bring them to the fruit gross market. Here we get a first impression of the quality of the fruits as part of the goods receipt control and then decide which way you take - whether you can be sold as table goods or go to the processing, i.e. become apple sauce or juice, for example. The nice thing about the apple is that there is a sales channel for every quality without food losses. Until the goods can be delivered, various steps are necessary to meet the requirements of the customers. We sort the apples according to different criteria, e.g. how big, how red and how heavy they are. We can also determine if you have damage to the shell. Then we pack them into a variety of different packaging from small boxes to 4 packs or nets. So that we can sell the apples to customers almost all year round, we store them in large cooling chambers, so that they remain crisp and juicy for as long as possible.
How does the sorting of the apples work? What does the water basin have a special function in sorting?
When sorting, we take a close look at every apple or rather that takes care of our fully automatic sorting system for us. It controls every apple from all sides via different cameras, determines how big and red the fruits are, what weight you have and whether the shell is flawless. With infrared cameras, we will also be able to control the internal quality, i.e. whether the apple is through and through well. When sorting, we make use of a physical property of the apple. Since it is lighter than water, it floats and so we can easily transport it with water through our process without getting pressure. After the cameras have checked each apple, the computer or the sorting program in which the 30 channels of the water basin can be stored from the machine. Another combination of sorting criteria is assigned to each channel, so that we can determine the size and quality they want for every customer from the boxes delivered.
How and how long are the apples stored? With what means do you always manage to deliver fresh apples as a company?
There are a variety of apple varieties-from classic varieties such as gala and jonagold to special organic varieties, we Topaz and Santana. Each variety has a certain biological lifespan, i.e. every variety can be stored. Some varieties are only cooled and sold in autumn. Others, which we still want to sell in spring or summer of the following year, we can put them into a kind of hibernation by changing the air composition in the warehouse so that they do not continue. So it is possible for us to store apples for up to 10 months so that our organic fruit from Lake Constance can be enjoyed over large parts of the yearn.
How do you manage to operate climate -neutral at your location?
Responsible handling of natural resources and the reduction of CO₂ emissions to protect the climate are important to us. That is why we are actively involved in climate protection and also work on a comprehensive sustainability concept. Part of this was the successive climate neutral position of the BayWa fruit locations, which have all been working climate-neutral since 2018-including the organic fruit market in Ravensburg. For this we work according to the common principle:
(1) Avoid - e.g. switch to green electricity
(2) reduce - e.g. conversion of the lighting to LED
(3) compensate - that always only comes to the last one
In addition, we have been producing our own electricity on the roof of the fruit large market since 2020, which we use for our own processes. In the next step, together with our producer cooperative, we now weighed the cultivation area with the aim of being able to offer climate -neutral apples soon.
Video - How the organic apple gets into our juice
Watch our video for the complete path of organic apples in the juice including interviews with the head of the Baywa fruit large market in Ravensburg and one of our fruit growers and get exciting and interesting insights.
After the exciting information about our organic apple supplier, do you feel like a few cold-pressed juices & shots? Then have a look in our selection!