Aiay, 1920 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page II 



Methods of Utilizing California Wine Grape 



By Arthur L. Dahl 



NATIONAL prohibition has been in 

 effect for too sliort a period to 

 speak with any certainty upon the elTect 

 of the closing of the wineries upon the 

 wine-grape market, but in Cahfornia 

 the growers are very active in arrang- 

 ing to divert their 1920 production into 

 new channels, and that more than one 

 market will exist for the grapes is 

 shown by sales being made at .?40 and 

 8-13 a ton. 



The most promising market for wine 

 grapes this year appears to be the con- 

 cerns that are planning to put on the 

 market various kinds of table syrups 

 made from wine grapes. One such 

 company is going ahead on a big scale 

 and is buying up considerable quanti- 

 ties of grapes for delivery this season, 

 and by a national campaign of advertis- 

 ing it is hoped to create an immediate 

 demand for grape syrup for table use 

 and for the making of beverages, that 

 will utilize considerable grapes, and 

 what cannot be made into syrup at 

 once will be dried and stored for fu- 

 ture use. 



Grape syrup is not a new thing in 

 the wine industry, for practically every 

 winery made it for use in sweetening 

 some wines or in the manufacture of 

 brandy, but the syrup thus made was 

 valuable chiefly for its sugar content, 

 and most of the flavor of the grapes 

 was lost in the process. At a recent 

 hearing to discuss wine grape matters, 

 however, it was announced that a new 

 and entirely distinct process for making 

 grape syrup had been perfected by Mr. 

 M. K. Serailian by which all of the 

 natural flavors and even aroma of the 

 fresh grapes can be preserved and 

 transmitted to the syrup, so that the 

 new product is delightfully distinct in 

 taste and ought to create for itself an 

 extensive market if properly brought 

 before the people. 



In spite of the fact that there are 

 now on the market a score or more of 

 table syrups, some of which are manu- 

 factured much cheaper than the new 

 grape syrup can be put on the market 

 for, it is thought that the new product, 

 by reason of its distinctive flavor, will 

 appeal to a large number of people who 

 are tired of the old flavors and who are 

 constantly in search for something new. 

 .Since grapes have served as food and 

 drink for mankind since the dawn of 

 history, and their food values are so 

 well known, a permanent market can 

 be built up for the syrup. The fact, 

 too, that grape syrup, when diluted 

 with water, will make an excellent soft 

 drink, naturally widens its possible 

 markets, and an enormous quantity of 

 the syru]) could be used by the various 

 soft drink parlors, confectioners and 

 in the homes, where beverages are 

 dispensed. 



One of the problems on which the 

 vineyardists are now working is to pre- 

 serve the fresh juice of the grapes with- 

 out having it ferment. As the wine 

 grapes will all mature in a compara- 

 tively short season, and it will be neces- 

 sary to press out the juice shoitly after 



they are picked from the vines, some 

 adequate means must be devised to 

 either work up this juice into syrup 

 inunediately, or else preserve the fresh 

 juice in tanks or casks until it can be 

 made into syrup. Under the direction 

 of experts of the Department of Agri- 

 culture and the State University of Cali- 

 fornia, experiments have been tried to 

 preserve the fresh juice by using sul- 

 furous acid. Preliminary experiments 

 demonstrated that liquefied sulfurous 

 acid or a water solution of sulfurous 

 acid were the forms most suited for 

 this purpose. Fumes of burning sul- 

 phur are hard to control and sulfites 

 leave too much potash or other base in 

 the product. Suf urous acid can be com- 

 pletely removed. Tests were made on 

 small laboratory samples of juice and 

 on larger lots in 25 to 50 gallon bar- 

 rels. Sulfurous acid was added in 

 amounts ranging from .03 per cent to 

 0.2 per cent. All samples with 1000 

 milligrams or less fermented within a 

 few weeks. The sample with 1250 milli- 

 grams kept perfectly for two months, 

 when it was used. Fifty gallons in a 

 barrel treated with 2000 milligrams 

 kept from September until July of the 

 following year. The large lots were 

 stored in a shed where the temperature 

 varied greatly and was often very hot. 

 The juices containing sulfurous acid 

 were all stored in wooden barrels, as 

 the mixture should not come in contact 

 with any metal. 



During the present season a great 

 many independent experiments, some 

 on a commercial scale, will be tried out 

 in California, looking to the saving of 

 wine grape juice for the manufacture 

 of syrups, and it is expected that some 

 satisfactory plan will be devised 

 whereby the grapes can be pressed as 



they come from the field and the nat- 

 ural juices saved for sufficient periods 

 to permit of their being processed for 

 the making of food products. When 

 this time comes, the vineyards of the 

 state will again be upon a permanently 

 prosperous basis, such as they were on 

 before prohibition went into effect. 



Many independent growers are refus- 

 ing to sell their 1920 crop and expect 

 to dry all their grapes and market them 

 in the dried state. As the climate of 

 most of the vineyard sections of Cali- 

 fornia is such that sun-drying can be 

 practiced, the vineyardist who chooses 

 to dry all of his grapes can do so with- 

 out elaborate equipment, and as dried 

 grapes will keep for long periods, the 

 crop is thus given a greater speculative 

 element, as the grower can ship his 

 product to distant markets, if an attract- 

 ive demand exists there. Dried wine 

 grapes have been used in the past for 

 the making of wine, when fresh grapes 

 were not available. France, on several 

 occasions, when pests or blight ruined 

 her own vines, imported large quanti- 

 ties of dried wine grapes from Spain 

 and other districts, and is said to have 

 made excellent wine therefrom. In the 

 United States during 1918 and 1919 large 

 quantities of dried wine grapes were 

 shipped out of California for use in 

 making wines for family use. Whether 

 they can be marketed as dried grapes 

 for wine making purposes, or as raisins, 

 the prospective demand for the dried 

 article is sufficiently strong at this time 

 in California to lead many growers to 

 plan to convert their season's crop into 

 the dried form, and it is said that all 

 owners of dried grapes of the 1919 

 season can now dispose of them at a 

 price that will return a handsome 

 profit. 



Another prospective use to which 

 wine grapes can be put is in the manu- 

 facture of vinegar. In all foreign grape 



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