Raisin is the generic term for all dried grapes. The sultana owes its name to the fact that it took more than one hundred years before farmers achieved their goal of growing a seedless grape. The new variety was called the sultana grape to honour the sultan of the time.

The sultanas used in RITTER SPORT Raisins & Hazelnuts and Rum Raisins Hazelnuts come from California. They are made from Thompson Seedless grapes, which are named after an English grower. They are a wonderful variety of Californian grapes. Today, it has a harvest yield of approx. 95% in California. That is 1/3 of the entire world’s needs.

California owes its current supremacy in the raisin industry to a mere coincidence. 1873 was an unusually hot summer and the grapes dried on the vines. A resourceful farmer sent the dried grapes to a grocer in San Francisco, who sold them as a Peruvian delicacy. This began the unbroken domination of the Californian sultana.

The grapes remain on the vine until they are ripe. Once their sugar content has reached approx. 21%, they are hand-picked. Then they are allowed to dry in the sun on mats on the ground between the rows of grape vines. They are only collected to be processed once the water content of the grapes has been reduced to a residual water content of 15%. During the sun-drying process, the grapes’ natural pigmentation colours them brown-blue.

Their thin, elastic skin does not burst, despite exposure to the sun, and provides no chance for microorganisms to penetrate into the fruit’s flesh. They are also not sulphurated, and keep without the need for preservatives. After drying in the sun, the grapes are collected, washed, and have their stems removed. After repeated drying, this time by machine, they are sorted according to size, and oiled with palm oil fraction. This prevents them from sticking together.

Their high sugar content gives sultanas an aromatic, honey-sweet, nutmeg taste, which lends every bar of RITTER SPORT Raisins & Hazelnuts and Rum Raisins Hazelnuts a very special flavour. The sultanas that go into Rum Raisins Hazelnuts are even marinated in genuine Jamaican rum for several hours. This makes them even softer and fruitier, and lends them a delicious rum taste.

In order to do justice to our philosophy regarding quality, we only use two sizes of pre-sieved sultanas. These meet our high quality standards concerning sieving and cleaning. Doing this means we exceed even high US standards. In order to be able to demonstrate RITTER SPORT’S high quality standards during the following selection process, they must also pass quality controls with honours. Because only then are they good enough to live up to our claim, “Taste fine quality with the best ingredients”.