FREEZING FRUITS. 1-^ 



THE FREEZING OF SMALL FRUITS IN COLD STORAGE. 



In some of the liiru'e cities the practice of freczinj^- small fruits for 

 tlie purpose of holdiiiu- them indefinitely in a frozen condition to be 

 used in makinu- ice.cream and pastries has recently come into use to a 

 limited extent amono- confectioners, bakers, and restaurateurs. Much 

 of the fruit used for this purpose is bought when the market price 

 is low, sucli as on Saturday evenings or when the market is olutted. 

 It is hurried into cold storage and is frozen at a temperature rang- 

 ino- from about 5^ to 12 F. This fruit is used during the normal 

 small-fruit season, if necessary, or may be held to prolong the season 

 for several weeks, or even months in the case of some of the small 

 fruits. By freezing the fruit a large amount may be kept on hand, 

 thereby avoiding the danger of a temporary shortage in the supply. 

 Some restaurateurs who formerly made a practice of packing l)erries 

 in dry granulated sugar and of holding them at a temperature of 31 to 

 32° F. have now given up this practice and have adopted the freezing 

 method. 



If the fruit is intended for long preservation it is usually placed in 

 loosely covered tin cans to prevent evaporation, but if it is to be kept 

 a short time it is frequently .stored in the ordinary crates in which it 

 is conveyed to market. In the tests of the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 of 1904-5 Gandy strawberries were frozen and held at a temperature 

 of 10° to 14° F. for ten months in the tight paper-wrapped cartons 

 of paraffined cardboard already mentioned, with very little change in 

 color and practically no shrinkage. The condition of berries that had 

 been in storage over seven months in a temperature of 10° F. is 

 shown in Plate I, B. Berries frozen in open crates at the same time 

 evaporated and shrunk away fully one-half within a few months. 



In June, 1905, strawberries of the Gandy and Tennessee varieties 

 and Miller and Kansas raspberries were frozen and stored in different 

 styles of packages in a temperature of 12° F. in a general freezing 

 room containing meats, poul-try, game, etc. The packages used were 

 (1) the paper-wrapped paraffined cardboard carton shown in Plate II, 

 figure 1; (2) the same carton with an additional heavy paraffined paper 

 wrap over the cardboard, which with the outside paper jacket con- 

 stituted a triple-thick carton; and (3) the common open slat berry 

 crate used in this section. This fruit was still normal in appearance on 

 January 12, 1906, except for a slight fading in the color of the straw- 

 berries and a slight shrinkage of both strawberries and raspberries in 

 the open crates. The fruit in the closed packages was plump and 

 attractive in appearance. The flavor of the fruit of both strawberries 

 and raspberries in the open crates was not good. Apparently the 

 fruit had absorbed odors from other articles in the storage room. 



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