Gladstone’s Under the Sun Invests in New Dryer – 01/25/12 – Written by Cyndi Wood – http://fenceviewer.com
HANCOCK — Gladstone’s Under the Sun has invested in new equipment that will allow the blueberry processor to dry nearly nine times more berries while slashing energy use. The fruit dryer, custom-built by Nyle Systems of Brewer, arrived at the Hancock plant in mid-December. “It will put us at a point where we can manufacture enough product to be considered a commercial plant,” said Rosemary Gladstone, who owns the business with her husband, Craig. Gladstone’s Under the Sun sells two specialty food product lines: Maine Munchies and The Caviar of Maine. Maine Munchies is a line of fruit and nut mixes. The Caviar of Maine products include dry and moist wild blueberries, spreads, pie fillings and syrups. Rosemary said the company was one of the first to put dried blueberries in a bag and market them as a snack. “The wild blueberry itself has hit such an incredible demand because of the health benefits,” she said. The company struggled to meet demand with its old drying equipment, an inefficient tray dryer from a New Jersey vitamin factory. It took two workers to spread blueberries over 100 trays in the dryer and two workers to unload the trays. The drying process took about 18 hours. The new dryer can be operated by just one worker, uses 40 percent less power and increases output significantly. Drying time is about 90 minutes. “Our throughput is about 900 percent over what it was before,” said Craig Gladstone. “No other dryers are really using this type of technology at this point,” he added. The new dryer could increase production from about 1,500 pounds of berries a month to about 15,000. “By the end of the year I can definitely see us doing that,” Rosemary said.
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