Patent Application
20120321757
1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to commercial celery harvesting in the field, and, more particularly, to commercial celery harvesting of pre-washed, full-length celery petioles.
2. Description of Related Art
Celery is commercially sold in two forms: as whole heads for the fresh celery market, or as individual pre-sliced or pre-diced pieces for the processed celery market. Celery sold as a whole head is made up of individual stalks attached at the stem. These whole heads are typically unwashed. Consumers have to detach or cut off the stalks from the stem, and thoroughly wash the stalks before eating. The stem is also typically not eaten, and is discarded. On the other hand, individual pre-sliced or pre-diced celery is typically sold as ready-to-eat celery sticks or sliced/julienned pieces. Individual pre-sliced or pre-diced celery is obtained by further processing the harvested celery plant into smaller pieces.
Conventionally, whole heads for the fresh celery market are commercially harvested manually, and packaged with little or no washing. Manual harvesting is typically employed due to the dirt and mechanical damage that can be caused to the celery head by harvesting machines. Field workers may cut off and discard some of the unwanted debris, such as outer leaves attached to the petioles and any defective portions. The harvested head, which includes the stalks attached at the stem, is then transported to processing stations for washing and packaging.
Commercial harvesting of celery plants for individual pre-sliced or pre-diced celery pieces may be performed by machine. Conventionally, a harvesting machine severs the celery plant at ground level, and transports the harvested celery head to one or more processing stations. At these processing stations, unwanted debris is removed, and the stalks are further processed (e.g., sliced, diced, julienned) into smaller pieces. These celery pieces are typically washed, and then packaged as a ready-to-eat product.
Certain wholesale distributers and retailers desire to commercially sell a fresh market celery product free of unwanted debris, and that maximizes the edible portion of the celery head. Additionally, buyers do not want to pay increasingly expensive freight for non-edible portions of food goods. Furthermore, consumers desire to minimize the amount of work performed and the amount of materials discarded to obtain the edible portions of the celery product purchased.
Currently, the whole heads sold in the fresh celery market do not meet this need since the consumer typically needs to separate the individual stalks of the celery from the stem. Moreover, celery sold as entire heads are typically harder to clean, and contains more dirt and dust. As such, consumers may have to discard more materials to obtain the edible portions, and thoroughly wash the product prior to consumption.
Pre-sliced or pre-diced celery pieces also do not meet this need, since the edible portion of the harvested celery head is not maximized. In slicing the celery stalks prior to packaging, parts of the stalks are discarded to uniformly process the harvested celery head into shorter stalks or smaller sliced/julienned pieces. Moreover, this type of post-harvest processing also incurs additional production costs, e.g., labor costs or additional machinery needed to further process the stalks.
In one exemplary embodiment, celery can be commercially harvested by removing the top portion of the celery plant to leave the bottom portion of the celery plant attached to the stem in the ground. After removing the top portion of the celery, the celery is cut above the stem to separate the plurality of individual petioles. The separated individual petioles are then washed, and packaged into a sleeve. The top portion of the celery plant, the separation of the plurality of individual petioles, as well as the washing of the individual petioles are performed in the field in which the celery plant was grown.
The present application can be best understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures, in which like parts may be referred to by like numerals:
The following description sets forth numerous specific configurations, parameters, and the like. It should be recognized, however, that such description is not intended as a limitation on the scope of the present disclosure, but is instead provided as a description of exemplary embodiments.
The following description relates primarily to the commercial harvesting of celery to obtain pre-washed, full-length petioles that are mechanically harvested and packaged in the field. As used herein, “petioles” refers to the stalks or ribs of a celery plant. As discussed above, commercial celery products are currently sold as whole heads for the fresh celery market, or as individual pre-sliced or pre-diced pieces. When sold as a whole head, the product includes petioles attached at a common stem or base. Consumers have to cut and discard unwanted portions of the celery to separate and obtain the petioles. When sold as processed celery, the petioles are commercially processed into smaller pieces to be sold as shorter sticks or sliced/julienned pieces.
Celery is commercially planted as transplants in rows in a field. Typically, it takes about 85 to 125 days for a celery plant to grow to a size ready to be harvested, approximately 28 to 32 inches in height.
As discussed above, whole heads for the fresh celery market are typically harvested manually, whereas celery further processed into individual pre-sliced or pre-diced pieces is typically harvested by machine. The present disclosure provides pre-washed, full-length petioles for the fresh celery market that is harvested by machine.
With reference to
The individual petioles harvested by harvesting machine 302 maximize the edible portions of the celery plant, and minimize the inedible portions. The individual petioles that freely separate have a length of between 12 and 14 inches. The length of these individual petioles is different from what is currently sold in the market. For example, the standard height of whole heads sold in the fresh celery market is typically 14.5 inches. Individual pre-sliced or pre-diced celery pieces can be of any length typically between 3 and 9 inches, depending on the nature of the further processing (e.g., slicing, dicing).
While band saws 304 and 306 are depicted in
As depicted in
Conventional celery harvesting machines typically include gripping mechanisms to handle the entire celery head that is harvested from the ground, prior to releasing the head into a bin for transportation to a processing plant or moving the head into slicing/dicing stations. Since the process described above harvests the celery plant as freely separated, individual petioles, such gripping mechanisms needed for post-harvesting processing of entire celery heads are not necessary for harvesting machine 302. It should be understood, however, that the individual petioles may be held together and transported in a bundle to field workers at a processing station.
With reference again to
As depicted in
With reference again to
With reference again to
While
By cutting off the top portion of the celery plant and cutting the bottom portion above the stem, the celery plant is harvested as freely separated, full-length individual petioles that can readily be packaged as fresh market celery. The process described above maximizes the edible portion of the celery plant. In particular, the edible portion of the celery plant may include at least a portion of individual petioles 308 (
Additionally, by leaving inedible portions of the celery plant in the field, waste disposal costs by consumers are reduced because what would have been waste (e.g., base of the celery stalk, outer leaves, inner yellow petioles, blackened petioles) are left in the field. There is also a reduction in labor costs by consumers because of elimination of the need to separate the individual petioles from the stem, and to trim the outer leaves and defective petioles. Moreover, the waste portions, such as the base of the celery stalk, are typically the heavier portions of the celery plant. Thus, by reducing the packaging of these waste portions, the weight per sleeve is reduced, which in turn reduces hauling and handling costs. The reduction in weight per sleeve also translates to a reduction in weight per carton, with less gross weight per pallet and more usable net weight per pallet. This allows for placing more pallets per freight vehicle, thereby reducing shipping costs.
As depicted in
The weight of packaged product 702 may vary. For example, the packaged product may weigh between 1-5 pounds. In some embodiments, packaged product 702 has a weight of 1, 2, 3 or 4 pounds.
Sleeve 602 may be constructed of any material known in the art that is used for food packaging. In some embodiments, sleeve 602 may be formed from a plastic material. Exemplary plastic materials include, but are not limited to, low density polyethylene, linear low density polyethylene, high density polyethylene, polypropylene, butadiene, polystyrene, polyester, or any combination of these materials.
Furthermore, as depicted in
The foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive, and it should be understood that many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching.
