The Okanagan has table and wine grapes — where are the local raisins?

The Okanagan Valley is a powerhouse when it comes to growing grapes and producing wine thanks to a warm climate and ideal growing conditions.

Both the smaller wine grape varietals and the larger, seedless table grape varietals are harvested every fall, with the former being pressed into wine and the latter being enjoyed as fresh, healthy snacks.

The thin-skinned, seedless, sweet properties of fresh table grapes make them ideal for turning into raisins, however, there isn’t a commercial raisin industry in the Okanagan.

Canada generally doesn’t produce raisins on a large scale because of its climate. Most grapes used for making raisins in North America are grown in California where there is lots of sun and milder winters. The Thompson Seedless variety, also known as sultanas, is the most widely grown raisin in the world, and California is a significant producer on the world stage.

The Okanagan is relatively warm compared to the rest of the country, but the owner of three wineries in the South Okanagan, Jesse Gill, said we just don’t have what it takes.

“The reason is the climate difference from regions like California’s San Joaquin Valley,” he said in an email to iNFOnews.ca. “The Okanagan experiences unpredictable autumn rains and humidity. Grapes require consistent, dry heat for a period of weeks to dry on the vine or on trays without developing mold or rot.

“Early autumn frosts are a significant risk that can destroy a crop before the grapes reach the necessary high sugar levels required for quality raisins.”

Gill said raisin production is not economically viable and the region lacks the infrastructure for large-scale drying, packing and processing required for commercial operations.

“The Okanagan wine industry generates high-value returns, and raisins are a lower-margin commodity, making it economically unfeasible to switch from profitable orchard and wine grape production to competing with mass-produced California or Turkish raisins.”

Raisins are made by drying grapes in the sun, and several different types can be used including the formerly mentioned Thompson Seedless, Black Corinth, Fiesta, and Muscats, according to How Products Are Made. These varietals ripen early, are easy to dry, have a soft texture and no seeds. It takes four pounds of fresh grapes to make one pound of raisins.

Some grapes are mechanically dehydrated, but the majority of them are dried naturally in the sun. The grapes are picked in late August and September and put onto paper trays and left to dry for two to four weeks. Once dried into raisins, they are wrapped in the paper tray, stored in bins and taken to a processing plant. There they are put on a conveyor built where debris is removed and the raisins are sorted by size, health inspected and put into packages to be shipped to customers.

Matthew Carr is an agrologist and owner of Linden Lane Farms in Crescent Valley in the Kootenays. While his farm doesn’t produce large volumes of table grapes, he shared his thoughts from an agrologist’s perspective in a message to iNFOnews.ca.

“The market for fresh seedless table grapes is growing but is really small, and there are not many producers that would have excess fruit to diversify their market,” he said. “Many grapes grown in BC are used for wine production and contain seeds which would be undesirable for raisins. Wine grapes are commonly grown with limited irrigation which keeps the fruit smaller but condenses the flavours for the wine juice.”

He echoed Gill’s suggestions that raisin production is cost-prohibitive to compete in a global market against places like California where vineyards are set up for efficient harvesting and production of raisin grapes, along with storage limitations.

“Storage of raisins as a product are much more complex than vats of wine juice as specific moistures must be maintained and the crop is more perishable,” he said. “Since there is little infrastructure for a raisin industry, it would be very difficult to develop, but there may be opportunity in small-scale artisanal production of raisins for direct-to-consumer sales as a specialty item.”

The table grape industry in the Okanagan region dates back to the 1920s, with the original plants coming from New York State, according to the Okanagan Table-Grape Growers Association. Some of these early varietals can still be found in original orchards in Kelowna, the most abundant varietal being Sovereign Coronation which was developed at the Agriculture Canada Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre in Summerland in the 1970s.

According to a publication in McLean’s magazine, sovereign coronation grapes are the varietal used by Reif Estate Winery in Ontario which was the first to produce Canadian raisins in 2010 using tobacco kilns to dry them.  

“Very similarly to the BC hazelnut industry, raisins would be a produceable crop but without the market demand and industry development and specialization, it will remain a small niche item unable to compete on an international level,” Carr said.  

Gill added a commercial raisin industry in the Okanagan would require massive tracts of lands at low cost, which is not where land prices are currently.