How It's Made: Cactus Pear Puree – YouTube Dictation Transcript & Vocabulary

1.[Music] it's a fruit known by many names cactus pear cactus fruit and prickly pear it grows on several species of cacti which are native to parts of North Central and South America some growers in addition to selling the fruit produce a puree which they sell as a flavoring prickly pear martini anyone cactus pear fruit is high in fiber and rich in vitamins and minerals it's sweet and delicious eaten as is or as a natural flavoring in foods and beverages in the Salinas Valley in California the cactus pear harvest begins around late August and continues through early April the fruit is right when it's skin begins turning red the harvesters wear thick leather gloves to protect their hands from the thorns and safety glasses to shield their eyes from loose thorns that blow through the air tractors haul the cactus pears to the processing plant the fruit first passes over brushes and into a vacuum that removes loose dirt then through a shower of chlorinated water which kills off bacteria the fruit enters a cold air dryer for about five seconds then passes through a hot air dryer for 20 seconds the fruit X is completely dry a quality-control team removes any with bruises or other cosmetic defects and transfers those cactus pears to the pure a-line the fruit that passes inspection falls into what's called a sink you later a machine that lines them up in single-file the cingulate ER deposits each cactus pear into a cup on a computer-guided way in sort machine which classifies each fruit by size then applies the growers price code sticker the fruit then travels on the conveyor belt that leads to the pad and tub designated for its weight classification a worker stationed at the tub packs the cactus pears into a lined shipping box another worker removes any less than perfect fruit that managed to slip through the previous checks those also go to the puree line on the puree line the dumper drops the cactus pears onto a conveyor belt system which transports them to the crusher the machine crushes the fruit separating the skins and flesh mashing the flesh into puree and extracting the sweet magenta color juice from the crusher the pressed skins drop onto the vibrating shaker while the puree and juice flow through it into a tank below the shaker separates any puree still caught in the skins the skins drop into a bin and are hauled off to be used as compost or sold as animal feed once the tank is filled to capacity with about 400 pounds of puree a pump transfers it to a large hopper a worker releases pure ray from the hopper to the finisher the finishers find screens trap the seeds while letting the puree pass through to a holding tank below the seeds are sold to businesses that press them into oil for cosmetic and hair products from the holding tank the deseeded puree passes through a second finisher with even finer filters then it flows into a tank for pasteurization which kills off any remaining bacteria the puree is finally ready a worker fills a drum which is double lined with plastic bags she draws for one cup samples from each drum for quality control tracking once a drum contains 400 pounds of puree the workers zip ties each bag separately closes the drum with the lid safety seals the lid with the lock then puts the drum in the freezer the cactus pear puree is sold frozen to the food and beverage industry which uses it to flavor many products from ice cream sorbet and gelato to flavored water wine tequila and brandy you [Music]