OUR STORY
From its family ranch in California’s San Joaquin Valley, Traina® Dried Fruit grows, sun dries and produces premium sun dried fruit for Industrial Ingredient and Foodservice customers around the world.
That’s what we do. Why we do it is another story.
Traina® Dried Fruit was founded on traditions our family brought from the old world, including time-honored methods of sun drying tomatoes and a food-lover’s belief in the slower-is-better lifestyle.
Then we grew with California, harnessing the vast energy of its sun, enlisting its spirit of technological innovation, including sustainable and organic farming, zero food waste and solar energy.
OUR HERITAGE
How to Grow A Family Business
Our story began when our grandparents, Joe and Maria Traina emigrated from Italy to the orchards of the Santa Clara Valley in its pre-Silicon Valley days, bringing the Southern Italian tradition of sun drying fruit to give them a rich, intense flavor. The family moved to a ranch in California’s San Joaquin Valley, near Patterson — the “Apricot Capital of the World” — and in 1926 we began drying and selling fruit.
We found something special in California’s San Joaquin Valley; a rare combination of sun, soil and spirit. The front porch at the ranch house soon became a place for family, friends and co-workers to sit back and share the day’s events. You can see the porch featured in our logo, and in the lifestyle we still embrace.
By 1976, the company was incorporated as it expanded from a local farming and sun drying operation. As Traina® Dried Fruit, we began supplying customers throughout North America with a variety of premium quality California Sun dried fruits.
Sparking a Healthy Trend
Traina® Dried Fruit was busy setting a new flavor standard for California Sun Dried Fruit. We were particularly proud or our Sun Dried Tomatoes, showcasing the difference our natural slow-drying technique brought to the table. When we tried selling our Sun Dried Tomatoes to the restaurant industry in the late-1980s, the product was virtually unheard of. Going door to door to demonstrate the remarkable flavor of Traina® Dried Fruit Tomatoes directly to chefs, the new generation of Traina® Dried Fruit sparked the sun dried tomato revolution; from unknown quantity to gourmet food staple.
It was the start of a bigger trend toward better food and healthier eating. Meanwhile, another revolution was taking place at neighboring Silicon Valley. Embracing the spirit of innovation from our own Santa Clara roots, we enlisted the latest state-of-the-art technology to better ensure quality control throughout our vertically integrated process.