MAY 21 



Issued May 14, 1910. 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY Circular No. 57. 

 H. W. WILEY, Chief of Bureau. 



EXPERIMENTS ON THE PREPARATION OF SUGARED, 

 DRIED PINEAPPLES. 



By H. C. GORE, 

 Assistant Chemist, Division of Foods. 



INTRODUCTION. 



At the suggestion of Mr. William A. Taylor, Pomologist in Charge 

 of Field Investigations, Bureau of Plant Industry, and in cooperation 

 with him, experiments on the preparation of sugared, dried pineapples 

 were undertaken in July, 1909. A method of sugaring and drying 

 of much promise has been developed, but another season's study is 

 necessary before the final recommendations can be made. 



The first trials were made with a few Red Spanish pineapples. 

 The fruits were sliced and dried with and without previous steaming, 

 using no sugar. The results, though favorable, were not entirely 

 satisfactory. An experiment in sugaring was then tried, and so attrac- 

 tive a product resulted that the succeeding work consisted mainly in 

 developing the best method of applying the sugar. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE DRIER. 



The drier consisted of a steam-heated chamber 8 feet high, 3 feet 

 wide, and 2.5 feet deep, inside measurements, provided with steam 

 coils and ventilators. It was operated out-of-doors. Four steam 

 coils were used, two at the bottom, one a little below the center, -and 

 one just above the center of the drier. With the ventilators open, 

 three different temperatures could be obtained, if desired, by placing 

 the material to be dried on trays in different parts of the drier. The 

 pineapples were generally dried at temperatures between 60 and 

 70 C., never exceeding 75. A diaphragm valve was used, operated by 

 compressed air and controlled by a suitable regulator. The tempera- 

 tures were in this way easily ke^>^iS!^JIh^desired limits. As an 



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