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Freshly picked green, orange or black saw palmetto berries are loaded into crates. |
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The berries are transported to a processing location by truck, and are weighed. |
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Workers transfer the fresh berries into drying bins. |
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The drying bins are equipped with blowers and/or heaters. The berries are dried either
at anbient temperature or an elevated temperature (approximately 140 F). |
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The saw palmetto berries are dried after several days, but still contain pieces of
stems, metal and other trash. |
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Workers load the dried saw palmetto berries into a large blower that removes most of
the non-berry material. |
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The "cleaned" berries are either loaded into bags... |
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...or stored before shipment to European or United States companies. These companies
prepare chemical extracts from ground saw palmetto berries, for use in pharmaceutical or
herbal remedy products. |