174 

 690. -THE PREPARATION OF FRUIT PULP. 



The Journal of Board of Agriculture, 4, Whitehall Place, 

 London, S.W., for January, 1905, contains an excellent article on the 

 above subject. As it is of considerable importance to the grower of 

 tropical fruit to get his fruit to market in proper condition, it may 

 perhaps be of service to our cultivators if they can apply locally 

 some of the methods advocated for the preservation of fruit, and the 

 article is quoted for that purpose. 



Considerable difficulty has been found to arise in getting tropical 

 fruits to market, and it appears that by the suggested method a means 

 is available, which will enable the British operator to deal with large 

 quantities of West Indian produce and to put it on sale in a form 

 which would be acceptable to the British buyer. 



[Preparation of Fruit Pulp in France. 



Pulping is a useful method of preserving fruit intended for jam- 

 making. It enables the fruit to be sent long distances and to be sold 

 out of the season when the market is not overstocked. The practice 

 prevails to a considerable extent in some parts of France, particularly 

 in the neighbourhood of Dijon, in the Cote d'Or, whence the pulp is 

 exported to this country, and in the Departments of Bouches du Phone 

 and Vaucluse. Briefly, the method is to sterilise the fruit in tins 

 after the removal of the stalks and stones and when carefully prepared 

 the pulp can be preserved for a long time. The black currant, cherry, 

 raspberry, red currant plum and apricot are treated in this way, but 

 the demand for the pulp in France varies with different fruits; thus 

 the black currant, apricot, and plum are readily disposed of, but the 

 red currant meets with less demand, while in the case of cherries, 

 buyers of any considerable quantities are hard to find. The prepara- 

 tion of these pulps forms the subject of a Report to the French Min- 

 istry of Agriculture by M. Vercier, Professor of Horticulture at Dijon, 

 and some of the particulars given in his Report may be of interest to 

 fruit-growers in this country. 



The black currant appears to be the fruit most largely preserved 

 in the Cote d'Or, and since 1897 it has been exported to England 

 under the name of black currant pulp for the use in confectionery. 

 The crop in this Department amounted in 1903 to about 19,400 cwt., 

 and in a good year it may reach 25,000 cwt. It is estimated that 

 about one-hall' of the crop is sent to this country. The pulping is not 

 usually performed by the growers, as the work requires to be done on 

 a fairly large scale. The utensils required include a vertical boiler 

 for generating steam ; two pans, holding about 6^ gallons each, well 

 made of stout copper, with spouts to pour out the contents and levers for 

 tilting; and a metal tank for sterilising. Both the pans and the tank 

 must be constructed so that they can be heated with steam from the 

 boiler. The cost of an installation for making about 60 cwt. of pulp 

 a day, including fixing is estimated to cost in France from £120 to 

 £160. 



The method of preparation is as follows : — The currants arc freed 

 from their stalks by Avomen, at rates varying according to their skill 

 of from 110 to 240 lb. a day each, so that a factory dealing with 60 

 to 80 cwt. daily would require probably fifty women or children for 



