BETTER FRUIT 



AN ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE PUBLISHED MONTHLY IN THE INTEREST OF MODERN, PROGRESSIVE FRUIT GROWING AND MARKETING 



The Canner's Interest in the Fruit Industry 



C. H. Hentlej-, Manager California Fruit Canners' Association, San Francisco, before C^a 



THE relation of the canner to the 

 fruit,gro\ver may be likened in 

 some respects to that of the 

 mothei-in-la\v — she may be cranky and 

 fault-lindini^', but she is very handy 

 when things ,140 wrong; and so the can- 

 ner. with all his faults, is helpful to the 

 fruit industry, not only in emergencies 

 but in the ordinary course of the grow- 

 ers' troublesome business. Time was, 

 and that recently, when business was 

 conducted on the principles of a horse 

 trade, — each party to a transaction fig- 

 uring that one or the other must get 

 the worst of it and each taking good 

 care that the other got it, but in these 

 days, when efliciency in business has 

 demonstrated the fallacy of such meth- 

 ods, canners and growers are recog- 

 nizing that permanent, successful busi- 

 ness can only be founded on the square 

 deal. The grower may now talk wilh 

 the canner without hiding his watch. 

 He may now sisrn a contract selling his 

 crop with a confident belief that the 

 crop is sold even if the market goes 

 down. The canner signs the contract 

 with full confidence that the grower 

 will hide his best fruit on the bottom 

 of the box, and believes that if the mar- 

 ket goes higher he will get the fruit he 

 bought, and not the crop of all the 

 grower's neighbors in addition. We 

 have much in common interest and the 

 State Board of Horticulture and the 

 State University render a great service 

 to us all in providing such an oppor- 

 tunity as has been given in these con- 

 vention days. 



The canner has been of practical 

 service to the fruit industry in many 

 ways that probably escape attention. 

 He often experiments with new varie- 

 ties on his own farms and orchards, 

 demonslrating f)n a practical scale new 

 and improved methods. He has letl the 

 way and assisted financialh' and other- 

 wise in tiphling pests that threaten im- 

 portant varieties of fruits and vege- 

 tables. He gives a profitable and con- 

 venient market of great imjjortance to 

 the growers of many varieties. By 

 canning the surplus in a season of 

 plenty he extends the market for the 

 nroducer. He gives emi)Ioyment under 

 healthful, pleasant, instructive and re- 

 munerative conditions to thousands of 

 employes during the summer and vaca- 

 tion. He supplies a superior article of 

 diet at low cost and great value 

 throughout the year. He exploits new 

 markets, advertises the state and opens 

 up markets not only for the canned 

 article but for the fresh and dried 

 fruits. His market is largely in other 

 states, so that outside money is brought 



into the state to be spent largely for 

 labor, for fruit and for other materials 

 produced for the most part within the 

 state. He often assists the responsible 

 grower in a financial way through 

 loans and advances, though in many 

 cases growers have come to such 

 prosperous conditions that they are 

 often creditors rather than borrowers. 

 These, then, are some of the points of 

 contact showing the relation of the 

 canner to the fruit industry. Assuming 

 that you accept these as credentials, I 



Features of this Issue 



THE CANNER'S INTEREST IX THE 

 FRUIT INDUSTRY 



UTILIZATION OF WASTE FRUITS IN 

 VINEGAR MAKING 



RY-PRODVCTS OF THE APPLE 

 SECRETS OF SUCCESS IN CANNING 



DRIED FRUITS— RY-PRODUr.TS OF 

 THE NORTHWEST 



DRYING APPLES AN ANCIENT 

 CUSTOM 



shall undertake to discuss some things 

 which I believe to be of common 

 interest. 



I am instructed by your organization 

 committee to present facts of practical 

 use, telling the particular kinds and 

 varieties of the various fruits which 

 are most desirable for canning. In 

 order that we may understand each 

 other, let me explain some fundamental 

 things relating to fruit canning. While 

 there is a limited quantity of jams, 

 jellies and preserves manufactured 

 commercially within the state, by far 

 the larger quantity of fruit is used for 

 the ordinary canned fruit, tliat is, fruit 

 that is filled into the can fresh before 

 cooking. Sugar syrup is then put in 

 merely for flavoring, the can is her- 

 meticallv sealed and finally processed 

 or sterilized by heat. Sugar is not 

 essential to the keeping ([ualilies. The 

 endeavor is to keep the fruit in its nat- 

 ural appearance, flavor and condition. 

 When projierly cooked or sterilized 

 canned foods will keep so long as the 

 hermetic seal is unbroken. If rust 

 forms on (he tin it soon iienetrates and 

 destroys the seal, admitting the air willi 

 its microscopic germs of fermenlation 

 and decay. The preserves, jams and 



lifornia P'ruit Growers' State Convention 



jellies, stewed in kettles with a high 

 percentage of sugar, are not so de- 

 pendent upfin hermetic closure, as the 

 sugar acts as a preserving agent. For 

 these so-called preserves, jams and 

 jellies, California produces suitable 

 berries, sour cherries, peaches, plums, 

 quinces, currants, gooseberries, apples 

 and figs, but of greater commercial im- 

 portance are the fruits that are gener- 

 ally used for tinned or canned fruits, — 

 apricots, peaches, pears, cherries and 

 plums. 



It may seem strange to some of you 

 who have fresh apples all the year that 

 there is a considerable business in 

 California canned ajiples. These are 

 chiefly put up in the large tins for 

 hotels and pie bakers, peeled, cored 

 and quartered, ready for use. They 

 are more convenient and frequently 

 cheaper than the fresh apples. A lim- 

 ited quantity is packed in smaller tins 

 for table use in the tropics, where fresh 

 apples quickly spoil. About 2„50n tons 

 are canned annually in California, 

 chiefly Newtown Pippins. The firm 

 white apples are recpiired. For the 

 very best quality of table apples the 

 average price is about one cent per 

 pound. The undersized fruit is largely 

 used for llie pie grade. Wormy apples 

 aie useless on account of the additional 

 waste and expense in coring and re- 

 moving disfigurements. Thanks largely 

 to the university, apple growers have 

 been shown that the codling mofh is 

 not inevitable nor the plague of ven- 

 geance. The apples for canning pur- 

 poses come largely from Sonoma, Santa 

 Clara and Santa Crux Counties. The 

 growers have the opportunity of selling 

 for fresh-fi-uil shipment, for canning 

 or for dr,\ ing. On suitable land and in 

 certain locations growers have pros- 

 Iiered, but with the enormous increase 

 in the acreage of Oregon and Washing- 

 tf)n, California has serious competition 

 and the relativel\' small demand for 

 canned a|)i)les offers no great aid to the 

 solution of tliis serious problem. 



The canner is of more importance to 

 the grower of apricots, for this variety, 

 like that of pears and jieaches, is ex- 

 ported all over the world to all coun- 

 tries which have not set hostile tariffs 

 against us. In a normal season 20.0(10 

 tons of apricots are canned in Calil'or- 

 nia. Frnif of good size with a clear 

 skin, golden color and firm texture is 

 desired. As a rule apricots are packed 

 unpeeled, as the skin gives a peculiar 

 flavor and character which is dcsireil. 

 Tliis makes the canner very particular 

 about n])ricofs l)eing free from fungus 

 or skin blemish. The Royal, Hlcnlicim 



