Pomelo peeling machine easily separates the green peel, white pith and flesh; Hualien District Agricultural Research and Extension Station promotes it to support processing
Peeling pomelo can be more convenient! The Hualien District Agricultural Research and Extension Station (abbreviated as "Hualien DARES") has adapted a machine originally used for peeling pineapples to handle processing raw materials such as cutting pomelo peel, removing the white pith and keeping the flesh, hoping to ease the burden on farmers, improve work efficiency, and make pomelo peel quality more consistent, which is also more beneficial to downstream processing procedures.
Hualien-Taitung farmers: The peeling machine can assist processing, but must be linked to the overall industry chain
What is the willingness to buy a mechanical peeling machine? Zeng Guoqi, head of "Dongfeng Shisui Farm," produces organic rice and pomelo, and on average about 20 to 30 percent of his pomelo is used for processing each year. He pointed out that pomelo peel can be processed into essential oil, cleaner, handmade soap, mosquito coils and candied pomelo peel snacks, but peeling, separating the white pith and the flesh all need to be done manually, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive, so he mostly delivers "whole fruit" (meaning the whole pomelo) to processing plants for centralized handling.
Regarding the development of an automatic peeling machine, Zeng believes it can indeed help pomelo farmers handle the peel. But he stressed that guiding agricultural product processing "is not something that can be solved entirely by one machine." He believes all technological development must be linked to the downstream industry chain, for example how to mechanize the flesh-processing part, the willingness of processing plants to use mechanical peeling machines, and what other pomelo processed products can be developed.
Peng Yurong, founder of "Hualien-Taitung Vegetable Market," returned to his hometown many years ago to start a business, hoping to help solve the production and marketing problems of Hualien pomelo through processing. At present, the pomelo raw material used to make candied pomelo peel is mainly the peel. In addition to using normal fruit, last year he also purchased some large fruit or off-grade pomelo with partially damaged peel.
He described that in making candied pomelo peel, the surface oil cells of the peel must first be broken with a steel brush to reduce the bitter components, then the "head" is removed and several slits are cut with a knife, after which the peel is removed by hand. The peel is taken off together with a little white pith and green peel, cut into pomelo peel strips with a shredder, blanched to stop the enzymatic process, and finally pickled with sugar.
He once pointed out that there was a lack of easy-to-use peeling machines on the market. Regarding the new version of the peeling machine launched by Hualien DARES, he said, "I haven't used it yet, but it looks like it can solve the peel-processing problem." However, he also mentioned that the peel used to make candied pomelo peel does not need to be very long, while the machine performs the peeling action on a whole pomelo as a unit, and the blade cuts off one long strip of peel, so it still needs to be cut into sections in use and may not be convenient for direct use in candied pomelo peel processing.
As for how pomelo flesh should be handled? Peng explained that at present the peel utilization rate is higher than that of the flesh. The peel can be made into cleaning, cosmetic, baking and tea drink-related products, with a wide range of uses. The flesh is more labor-intensive to process. The fruit must first have its "head and tail removed," then the flesh must be opened by hand and the bitter segment fibers removed. If the segments are not fully processed, it will affect the taste of the flesh when juiced or made into jam, and these factors all affect processors' willingness to use it.
Tainan farmers: It is more helpful to peel processors
Xie Yujie, a pomelo farmer in Madou, Tainan, said that Madou pomelo is mainly for the fresh fruit market, and processing demand is not large. In addition, most pomelo farmers in Tainan are smallholder units, with orchard area on average below five fen. "When it's time to peel, I just peel them one by one. Anyway, the quantity isn't too large." She believes the peeling machine is more suitable for orchards with large processing demand.
Zhang Wenzhao, associate researcher at the Tainan District Agricultural Research and Extension Station, also pointed out that pomelo processing still needs to consider the part about extracting the flesh, but the machine currently can only solve the peeling problem and cannot help pomelo farmers handle the separation of segment fibers and flesh. He believes the peeling machine may be more helpful to peel processors.