264 MANUAL OF AMERICAN GRAPE-GROWING 



are made from grapes, and of these California produces small 

 quantities from White Corinth. 

 The following account of raisin-making is given byHusmann :^ 

 "In the raisin districts grapes are ripe by the middle of 

 August, the season often lasting into November. The average 

 time necessary for drying and curing a tra}^ of raisins is about 

 three weeks, depending on the weather, the earliest picked grapes 

 drying in ten days and the later ones often taking four weeks or 

 more. 



"The method of drying is very simple. The bunches are 

 cut from the vines and placed in shallow trays 2 feet wide, 3 

 feet long, and 1 inch high on which the grapes are allowed to 

 sun-dry, being turned from time to time by simply placing an 

 empty tray upside down on the full one and then turning 

 both over and taking off the top tray. After the raisins are 

 dried they are stored away until they are packed and pre- 

 pared for shipment. Some of the larger growers, in order 

 not to run so much risk in drying on account of rain, and 

 also to enable them to handle the crop fast enough, have 

 curing house:?, where the curing is finished after having been 

 partially done outside." 



Dipping and scalding raisins. 



"The operation of dipping and scalding is designed to accom- 

 plish several purposes, namely, to cleanse the fruit, to hasten 

 its drying, and to give the dried fruit a lighter color. In dipping 

 and drying, the fruit, immediately after being cut from the 

 vines, is either dipped in clear water to first rinse it of particles of 

 dust and other foreign matter, or it is taken direct to the scalder 

 and immersed in a boiling alkaline mixture called Megia' (lye) 

 until the grapes show an almost imperceptible cracking of the 

 skin, the operation consuming perhaps from one-fourth to one- 

 half of a minute. This dipping calls for skill on the part of the 

 1 Husmann, George C\ U. S. Dept. Agr. Bui. No. 349. 1916. 



