Rakhshan Kishmish Persia CO. Manufacturer & Exporter of Iranian Raisins

Web: www.raisinsworld.com Info@raisinsworld.com

Our founder RKP has become a major professional company in the dried grapes business, by strictly following the technological advances

in production, processing and marketing techniques. We are proud of that "RKP" Brand has high position among consumers, that our

competitors try hard to create. Learning very quickly of the high quality standards required by the European Markets, our company has

taken its rightful place within the main Iranian dried grapes exporters.

Rakhshan Kishmish Persia Co, commercial experience has been esteemed for over 60 years is one of the leading packers and exporters of

dried seedless Raisins. The company is located at Takestan, a region which is known as the most fertile and highest quality growing area

of vine yards in the Qazvin province.

We are now a fully integrated supplier operating as growers, processors and exporters and one of the leading supplier in the industry. Since

we participate in this sector by the means of three steps (grower-processor-exporter) great experience have been gained in providing with

the best raw materials that are particularly collected from the most yielding areas.

In the knowledge that the landmarks to maintain the quality requirements are the use of right raw material through the correct production

techniques, we have been accredited by HACCP, IFS and BRC certification at higher levels.

Our objectives are to present our processing expertise and to work closely with our customer to continue to enhance the quality of our

products and services.

Who we are

RKP Raisins quality

We will study the items which have a

hand in the quality of our products. These

issues which are related to the color of

raisins and their flavor follow the type of

used grapes and the degree of its ripeness

which means the amount of raisins sugar

and finally raisins preparation method.

A. At picking time of raisins grapes

To produce raisins, sugar amount of the

single grapes considering the ratio of

grapes juice concentration to its acidity,

should be between 21-33%, so one should

proceed to pick the crop at the end of the

season, the grapes that are collected

before complete ripeness, has a relatively

high amount of acidity and so will cause

an undesirable product of raisins.

B. Raisins color

The color of the raisins is related to its

preparation method, if, as we will see

later, grapes are placed in an Alkaline

solution or are faced to Sulphur smoke,

the color of the raisins after drying will be

green or yellow, and if a single grape

drying is implemented without Alkaline

solution, the produced item will be red or

dark brown.

C. Raisins flavor

This characteristic is more related to the

method of drying and raisins variety from

the point of its being seeded or seedless

and the kind of used heat reference. In

addition to three mentioned factors, other

factors which are different in different

kinds of raisins meddle with its quality.

These factors include:

1. The size of the single grape: largeness or smallness of a single raisin is

related to largeness or smallness of a

single grape, and this largeness is due to

regional factors and vineyard soil type

and the kind of the grape. But the most

important factor which has a hand in the

size of a single raisin is the product

amount of the vine shrub. More the

amount of the base product is smaller the

single grape will be. So, more than normal

fruit in a shrub not only weakens the vine

shrub, but also is one of the factors in an

undesirable raisins product. The

concentration degree of grape juice

affects the weight of the single raisins as

well, more the amount of its dried

substances comparing to the available

water in a single is, heavier it will be.

2. Raisins color: The color of raisins

should be uniformed and limpid, the

blurred color of raisins and also different

colors in a pack of raisins will cause a

little value and undesirable good in the

market. If the grapes are dried in the sun,

the color of the raisins product will be

uniformed. To obtain the best raisins from

the point of color, the grapes should be

completely ripe, moreover when picking

or drying the grapes, it should be with

complete caution, cause if the grape

cluster is touched a lot or it is carried from

place to place, Prune which is the white

powder that normally exists on all singles

of grapes, will disappear and raisins color

will be blurred. In other words, the shiny

color of raisins owes Prune existence.

Other factor which affects blurriness or

darkness of raisins color is the rainfall in

the process of drying the grapes.

To prevent the bad effect of the rain,

grapes surface should be covered with

nylon or board or any other impermeable

means when raining.

3. Cleanliness of the single grape

skin: One of the other factors in the

quality of raisins is its skin cleanliness. If

it rains when drying the grapes, and the

semidried grape is wet or if the single

grape is split or squeezed when picking

and carrying the grapes from the vineyard

to drying location or when placing it in

large wooden tray or any other dishes, so

that a part of grapes juice is extracted

from the single, and contaminates other

singles, some dust will reside on the

grapes, so that it will stick to the raisins'

skin which cleaning it with means of

washing will be impossible as well, so the

produced raisins will be bad colored and

undesirable. Green raisins if remain in

Alkali solution for a long time, will have

increasing number of cracks on it, some

grape juice will come out of these cracks,

and it will cause a sticky raisins skin, so

the air dust will stick on raisins skin.

4. Softness or hardness of the

raisins: A desirable raisin should be soft

and carnal. The skin of raisins which

belongs to unripe grapes will be hard and

like a piece of leather to the teeth.

Although softness or hardness of the

raisins is partly related to grapes variety,

preparation method and its moisture

amount meddle with raisins softness to a

great deal as well.

5. Moisture amount of the raisins: If raisins after being dried and washed have

more than %18 of moisture, it will be

contaminated, and if the moisture amount

of its %5 or less, it will have an

undesirable flavor. The most appropriate

moisture amount for raisins is about %14

or a little less than that.

Varieties of alkaline solution

Varieties of Alkaline solution which are

used in foreign producing countries

especially California, Australia, and

Greece, can be divided into two

categories. One is simple solutions and

the other is alkaline oil solutions. In

addition to these solutions, in some of the

countries and for special varieties of

raisins, Anhydrite Sulphur is used as well.

Alkaline solution used in California State

includes simple soda solution and oil soda

solution.

1. Simple soda solution: This solution

contains %2 to %3 of caustic soda and is

usually in nitrifying Thompson seedless

grapes. The temperature of this solution

when using should be between 93 and 100

degrees centigrade i.e. in process of

boiling, they dip the grape cluster in this

solution for only 2 or 3 seconds, and after

taking it out of the solution, they will

wash the grape cluster with cold fresh

water, and they will dry it in the sunlight.

If the time of remaining the grape in the

solution lasts more than 3 seconds, the

grape will be spoiled. So, nitrifying the

grape with this solution needs much

attention and caution, and so some of the

garden owners use Natrium neutral

carbonate (CO3Na2) or

Dinatrium bicarbonates (CO3HNa) which

is weaker than Dinatrium Carbonate to

weaken the solution. After placing the

grapes in front of the sunlight for 3 days,

they will ransack them and then they will

gather them. The produced raisin of this

method has a shiny reddish-brown color.

2. Oil Alkaline solution: They use two

kinds of oil solutions in California. First

kind with relatively low temperature

(37.7°C equal to 100°F) and the second

type with high temperature. (76.6°C equal

to 170°F) The components of these two

solutions are different from each other as

well. In the first kind solution, used

alkaline substances include 30 lbs (13.59

Kg) of Dinatrium Bicarbonate and 1lb

(0.453kg) of caustic soda in 3.78 liters of

water and a little olive oil so that a thin

sheet of oil will cover the surface of the

solution. The time of grape remaining in

this solution differ from 30 seconds to 3

minutes. The color of the produced raisins

with these solutions is relatively dark

brown.

Commercially, in California, none of

these two solutions are used. Only up to

1920 that the production, number of

raisins was not much, they used these

solutions. Nowadays, the main part of

raisin product in America is dried and

provided directly or naturally i.e. without

alkaline solution and with sun heat, but to

provide light colored raisins (Golden

bleached and Sulphur bleach), they use

Alkaline solution and Sulphur soot. The

production method of golden raisins or

green raisins is as after cleaning the grape

clusters, they will dip them in alkaline

solution of the first kind for 2 or 3

seconds, then they will wash them

immediately with cold water, and before

that the grape skin is dried, i.e. instantly

after washing the clusters, they will put

them on wooden trays and then they will

take them to Sulphur soot room.

The time needed to fumigate the grapes is

2 to 4 hours and about 1 to 2 kg of Sulphur

is used to fumigate a tone of grapes. In

this duration of 2 to 4 hours, the grape

should appear in a color of light yellow.

After fumigating the grapes, the carry the

clusters to the drying machine that its

temperature is 140°F to 160° F (60° to

71°c) to be dried. After finishing this

work i.e. grapes being dried, the color of

the produced raisins should be Lemon

yellow.

Another preparation method of yellow or

green raisins which are famous as Sulphur

bleach is as after they have nitrified and

fumigated the grapes, they will put them

on a wooden tray like Golden raisins for a

period of 3 hours in front of the sunlight,

and if the weather is not favorable, this

may last for 24 hour.

After 3 to 24 hours they will ransack the

grapes and after another 24 hours, they

will put the wooden trays on each other,

and bunch it in a sunny location and to

protect the last wooden tray grape from

the direct sunlight, they will put an empty

tray on the last floor, and for this purpose

they gather the grape clusters which are at

the outer side of the wooden trays and are

exposed to the direct sunlight in the

middle of the wooden trays that is the

place of shade.

Approximately 10 days after bunching the

wooden trays, each of them is turned

down in other wooden trays that were

previously explained, and then they will

place them in the sun in the first method

on one another. Drying the grapes with

this method will last for several weeks. To

uniform the moisture amount of the raisin

singles (generally or by any other method

that the raisins have been produced.), they

will place them in a big box which any of

them has a capacity of 50 to 60 kg of

raisins, put these boxes in the open air in

a sunny place, and then place them for a

relatively long duration in this position.

The color of the produced raisins with this

method should be light yellow, and if at

the beginning, the grapes remain under

the direct sunshine more then needed,

they will have an unfavorable dark color

which leads to an undesirable, low value

raisin.

Natural seedless raisins are dried by the

sun, and then loaded into bins for delivery

to the processing plants. The raisins can

either be dried on paper trays on the

ground between vineyard rows or dried on

the vine, and harvested once the desired

level of dryness is achieved. Before they

are unloaded from their bins. Next,

raisins are cleaned, which means they go

through a series of conveyor belts and

drums to remove remaining stems, chaff

or lightweight fruit. Finally, they’re size-

graded and thoroughly washed in pure

water.

RKP Raisins are inspected under

standards by both plant quality control

technicians and ISIRI inspectors

throughout the packaging process, thus

assuring that RKP Raisins are one of the

cleanest and highest quality in the world.

After final inspections, raisins are

weighed and packed in a variety of bulk

industrial and convenient retail sizes.

RKP Raisins are then shipped throughout

Iran and the world for consumers to enjoy.

RKP Producing Line

RKP source their material directly from

growers that they have worked with over

many years. As part of our quality

procedures, the factory has full control of

the product from field to final delivery,

within which they carry out physical,

chemical and microbiological analyses at

all of the required stages of the process.

Our technical team is fully trained and

updated in food processing procedures

and controls as well as current legislative

requirements. For the RKP, quality and

food safety are an integral part of each

individual process step.

Our mission

• Improve the quantity and quality of

products and meet international standards

for direct supply to world markets.

• Job creation and the enabling

environment for export of agricultural

products.

• Strive for customer satisfaction and

direct communication with major

consumer.

• Introducing the Iranian raisins quality

all around the world.

RKP certified in accordance with strict

internationally acknowledged standards

like ISO 9001:2015, ISO 22000:2005,

HALAL, Institute of Standard and

Industrial Research of Iran (ISIRI) and

Prophylactic risk control (HACCP) are a

part of our daily routine.

Providing Premium & Hygienic Quality

with Professional & Fast Services of

IRANIAN RAISINS RKP quality

• Laser Sorted

• Double Washed

• Hand Pick

• X-Ray Scanned

Cartons are ready for export

Packaging

Packaging we use for our dried grapes,

protect the organoleptic and quality

characteristics of the product, protect the

product from bacteriological and other

contamination (including contamination

from the packaging material) and not pass

on any odor, taste, color or other foreign

characteristics to the product.

Our dried grapes are packaged in five

layered carton boxes to minimum damage

during transport with plastic liner inside.

Common packing sizes are

39×24.5×15cm, net weight 10 Kg. When

packaged in corrugated or millboard

cartons, the product usually are

transported on EURO pallets (80 x 120

cm) and further transported on containers.

20ft containers contain 2000 cartons x

10kg. Container Net weight will be 20

Ton and Gross weight 21 Ton max.

Duration of storage is usually 12 months

in the relative humidity of 60% on the

temperature between 4 and 20°C. In

normal storage conditions shell life of the

products will be 12 months.

This is our costumer’s rights to have

their own logo on cartons.

Sultanas

The single of Sultana grapes (Sultani) or

Shahani is dark red, round, big and juicy.

There is a high amount of grape juice in

this item and its flavor is a little astringent

due to the great amount of Tanon. In some

parts of Iran like Gilan and less in Tehran,

it is used as fresh fruit, but its application

case is mostly in preparing sap and

Shahani famous wine. This item is found

too much in most of the parts of Iran

specially in Takestan. Sultana grapes are

dried, to concentrate their rich flavor.

Sultana raisins have a delicate and unique

flavor and are especially noted for their

sweetness and golden color.

RKP manufactures sultana raisins in range

of light to dark, according to the higher

global specifications and the final product

shall consist of clean, fully developed raisin

berries of a general golden appearance.

Sultana berries shall be free flowing and

facial matter shall be present.

Products

Golden seedless raisins

Takestan also produces golden raisins by

harvesting fresh grapes and taking them to

dehydrating facilities where they are

thoroughly washed, placed on special

trays and sent into drying tunnels. The

fresh grapes are treated with Sulphur

dioxide (SO2), which when dried leaves

the raisins with the bright golden color

desired by bakers, confectioners and

snack food manufacturers because They

are golden amber in color with a naturally

sweet and fruity flavor. They are similar

in appearance and taste to sultanas,

although the latter come from a different

variety of grape than do typical dark

raisins. Of the approximately thousand

tons of raisins annually produced in

Qazvin province, approximately 8-10%

are golden raisins depending on the

demand by manufacturers and consumers.

Golden raisins are typically encountered

in the Western Hemisphere, while

sultanas are seen more often in the

Eastern.

Products

Sun-Dried raisins

Iranian Thompson Raisins are very

popular in world markets with its similar

taste and odor to Californian style

although it’s reasonable prices. This

variety is called “Undipped Raisins” as

well as they are not dipped to alkaline

olive oil emulsion (Potash) before sun

drying which makes the drying period

longer than conventional products. Sun-

dried raisins are seedless grapes dried in

direct sunlight and as a result they are

typically dark-brown in color. This kind is

treated without any additive and is high in

sugar level. Sun drying is seen as a natural

way to produce raisins that not only gives

them a particular intense flavor but also

maintains the delicate balance of nutrients

of the original grape fruit. RKP, supplies

Thompson raisins on a regular basis

during the season to its wide customer

range in the world markets.

Products

Malayer raisins

Malayer is located in the northwest of

Iran, in Hamadan province, with its great

climate, suitable for growing varieties of

grapes, the city of Malayer has the best

and the most vineyards in the country.

This raisins type is 100% local and

unique. Light Malayer raisins are dipped

in or sprayed with an alkaline oil-in-water

emulsion known to growers as 'cold dip'.

Normally it takes up to 3 weeks for the

grapes to dry. To minimize the time and

retain the light color farmers use a

Potassium carbonate and olive oil

solution which cracks the invisible

membrane on the grape and speeds the

drying time. The commercially produced

'grape dipping oil' used in the emulsion is

a mixture of ethyl esters of fatty acids and

free oleic acid.

The dark raisins are dried under direct

sunlight without any treatment.

Products

Kashmari raisins (long raisins)

This name is taken from the Kashmar city

where the raisins are produced, so this is

100% local and unique in the world. This

kind is famous for its special sweet and

sour taste and its long shape. This type is

popular for those who dislike the extreme

sweet flavor of other raisins types. In Iran

people mix this kind of raisins with

chickpea to ate as a snack and use it in

some national occasion like “Shab

Yalda”.

There are two kinds of Kashmari raisins:

1.green or shade dried without any

additional solutions.

2.golden with sulfur dioxide treatment for

having light color.

Products

Rakhshan Kishmish Persia CO.

Manufacturer & Exporter of Iranian Raisins

No.6, Building No.19, Eshraqi Alley, Shariati St, Teharan, Iran

Phone: +982188545475-76

Email: Info@raisinsworld.com

Web: www.raisinsworld.com