Harvest the Blueberries
The first step in harvesting blueberries is to get them off the bushes and into boxes so they can be processed. To do this Maine Sweet and Wild primarily uses a blueberry raking machine. The machine is specially built to carefully remove the blueberries from the bushes efficiently. The machine is very manuverable and is able to rake the blueberries better and faster than manual raking, all without damaging the land. The blueberries that cannot be raked by the machine can be raked manually.Once the blueberries are off the bush and in boxes, they will be transported to our processing facilities.
Process the Bluberries
Maine Sweet and Wild uses a fresh pack processing system that is specially designed to remove the majority of leaves, sticks, and damaged blueberries. The system uses a series of belts, blowers, and filters to do this. There is no "cleaning" or chemicals used in this process. The last and largest belt in the system is watched by employees who act as a final quality check before the blueberries are packaged.
Package the Bluberries
At the end of the belt, the blueberries fall into a resevoir and are then placed into the appropriate containers.. The packaging depends on the size of container and type of order being filled. Blueberries that will be sold as fresh will be placed in quart containers or 5 lb boxes (10 lb boxes can be filled on request). After packaging, the blueberries are shipped to stores, sold at the facility, or stored in an environmentally controlled room until shipment. Some of the 5 lb boxes will be stored in freezers and sold as frozen blueberries throughout the year.
