At this point, with growers developing new breeds of leafy greens, there are so many varieties that it’s almost hard to keep up with them all! Luckily, a lot of the different greens that are grown are mixed into salad mixes and we end up eating them whether we realize it or not! Escarole is one of them!
Table of Contents
What is Escarole?
In the case of escarole, it is a member of the chicory family (similar to radicchio, endive, and Blonde Frisée), and has a particular leaf shape. As you can see in the picture below, the leaves are not like what you are used to seeing with other leafy greens. However, the escarole harvesting and packing process is similar to what is commonly seen with other leafy green harvests. (Some previous examples you have seen on the blog include baby romaine and Blonde Frisée.) Below is a behind the scenes look at an escarole lettuce harvesting and packing operation from Sabór Farms in Salinas, California.
Harvesting Escarole
The escarole harvesting process consists of:
- Harvesting equipment (harvest rig)
- Harvesters cutting the heads of escarole in the field, moving alongside the speed of the harvesting machine
- Packers that are located on the harvesting machine
- A box maker that is creating boxes as the harvesting machine moves through the field
- Palletizers that are located on the adjacent trailer and are responsible for palletizing the packed product
- With this system in place, everyone has to keep up with the harvesting and packing process, as well as with the speed of the harvesting machine
To break it down further:
- Box Formation – The boxes are formed at one end of the harvesting machine and transferred to the packers.
- Harvest – The heads of escarole are harvested where they meet the soil line, the outer leaves are removed and they are placed onto the packing tables.
- Packing – The packers receive harvested product from multiple workers and pack the product into boxes. Once the boxes are full, they spritz the product with sanitized wash water, close the boxes and pass them off to the adjacent trailer.
- Palletizing – The workers on the adjacent trailer receive the packed product and stack the boxes into pallets.
- Transport – Once the adjacent trailer is full of palletized product, it is taken to the nearby cooler until further transport and another trailer takes its place in the field.
Escarole Harvesting & Packing Video
You can see the entire step-by-step of the process in the video below.
Side note: if you are wondering why harvested product from Sabór Farms is being packed into boxes with a different company name, that is because Sabór Farms is co-packing product for a customer in the packaging that was requested by the customer. This is a very common practice in the produce industry. For example, just think of all of the products you buy from Trader Joe’s and how they all have the Trader Joe’s label on them, but they were not actually produced by Trader Joe’s, that is just what Trader Joe’s requires of their suppliers.
Food Safety Considerations
For an escarole harvesting and packing operation, some of the main food safety concerns are:
- Cleaning and Sanitation of the harvesting knives – Cleaning and sanitizing of the knives needs to occur on a regular and frequent basis. In addition to this being on a schedule and controlled by the company, there also needs to be a knife dip to store the knives in while the workers are on break.
- Glove policy – Since gloves are required, there needs to be a glove policy enforced. This means that the gloves are controlled by the company, and that they are either disposable or able to be washed, and are changed out appropriately. If the gloves are washed, the company needs to control the cleaning of the gloves. This also includes any sleeves, smocks, foot and leg protection that is used.
- Cleaning and Sanitation of the harvesting rig – Every piece of harvested product touches the harvesting rig between being harvested and packed, so it needs to be cleaned and sanitized to prevent any potential cross-contamination issues to the product.
There are many more items to be taken into consideration, but this is just a brief list to get you thinking about it! This is a similar process for many other leafy greens.
Postharvest Considerations
The most important postharvest factor is quickly cooling the escarole near 0°C/32°F and maintaining that temperature throughout the cold chain.
Featured Grower Information
I would like to thank Sábor Farms, Fresh Avenue and Green Light Fresh for the tour and for allowing the gathered content to be shared. You can also click here to get a glimpse of some of their other operations: leeks, Bok Choy, and endive.
If you enjoyed this post, you might also like: