We begin the hulling and precleaning process during the fall, and once the almonds reach our facilities, the hullers are ran seven days a week, 24 hours a day. As the almonds are received, they are weighed and information is collected regarding the source, the grower, and the variety of the almond. Quality testing is also performed to establish the quality level of the received product. Almonds are stored in bulk by variety ready for hulling. The huller machines remove the soft outer hull of the nut. Mountains of hulls are generated from this process. Our hullers are capable of hulling tons of almonds each day. The almonds are eventually loaded on trucks and transported for further processing and sales.
Once the nuts are hulled they continue on to the next step, which is to remove the hard shell. This process is completed with state of the art technology. Experienced employees monitor the shelling process to ensure the kernel is not damaged.
After the hulls and shell have been removed from the nuts, sizing decks calibrate the kernels by size, and separate them into large wooden bins. The product then goes into storage, awaiting further processing, packing and distribution. The almonds are sent to any processor of our customer's choice.