The raisin was discovered accidentally, many years before Christ. People ate grapes but did not know that if they were to dry the grape, it would become this useful and delicious dried fruit called the raisin. Historians claim that the Phoenicians and Armenians were the first nations to produce raisins. Phoenicians established vineyards in Spain and Greece that were fitting for cultivating raisins and the Armenians established their vineyards in Iran, Turkey and Iraq. The Greeks and Romans had a high demand for raisins and then other countries started to use raisins as well. Now a days Iran is the third largest exporter of raisin in the world by exporting more than 150,000 MT (27% global Consumption) of raisins.
The major producers in the world:
-United States (412,770 tones)
-Turkey (320,000 tones)
-Iran (240,000 tones)
-South Africa (34,000 tones)
-Greece (29,000 tones)
-Mexico (16,000 tones)
-Australia (14,500 tones)