Hulling & Shelling

We often have people come by our plant to see how the processing is done. We have had almond growers, almond buyers, teachers and schoolchildren that have learned about almond hulling at Superior. If you haven’t yet had a chance to come by, here is a quick overview:

Almonds are unloaded in the pre cleaner, which removes any dirt and debris, including sticks. The cleaned nuts are temporarily stored in holding tanks until the hulling and shelling plant is ready for them. Superior Almond Hulling has 11 stages of hulling and shelling. This allows the nuts to be cracked gradually, preventing unnecessary damage.

Shear rolls in the initial stages crack and then peel off the hulls. The crop is screened across giant decks to sort and direct the nuts to the next appropriate stage. The later stages are where the shell is cracked and the nut meats are separated.

The final nut cleaning is performed by “gravity tables” where foreign materials are removed by density differential. Inshell production can be sorted electronically to remove foreign material. These processes are all steps in producing a clean and damage free final product.