METHODS OF DRYING PRUNES 457 



and dipped in the boiling lye for about a minute, or until the skin has 

 a wrinkled appearance, then the basket is plunged into clean cold water 

 to rinse off the lye. This rinsing water must be frequently changed, 

 for it soon becomes very alkaline. Some begin with a stronger lye 

 solution, one pound to ten gallons of water, claiming that a very short 

 dip in stronger lye is better than long exposure in a weaker solution. 

 After this dipping, the prunes are placed on trays. In the sun the 

 prune dries sufficiently in from one to two weeks, according to the 

 situation and weather. 



A process of puncturing the skin of the prunes by causing them 

 to roll over needle points has also been employed to some extent. 

 There are now manufactured very capacious appliances for continuous 

 dipping, rinsing, puncturing and spreading on the trays so that the fruit 

 is handled in large quantities at a minimum cost. In no branch of our 

 fruit industry, perhaps, has there been greater advance in labor-saving 

 devices than in prune handling. 



When sufficiently dried the prunes are put through the "sweat," 

 which takes from several days to two or three weeks, and then are 

 ready for grading, finishing, and packing. In grading, the prunes are 

 separated by the use of a grader, as already described, into a number 

 of grades, the largest, forty prunes to the pound, and so on, fifty, sixty, 

 etc., to the smallest, which may run one hundred or more to the pound. 

 Finishing consists in exposing to steam, in dipping in clear hot water, 

 or hot sugar syrup, or in dipping in boiled juice of ripe prunes, or 

 peaches or apples, etc. Although there is a great variety of materials 

 used for "glossing" prunes by different producers, the prevailing prac- 

 tice is to rely upon hot water, to which purd glycerine is added at the 

 rate of one pound to twenty gallons. Some growers also add a little 

 brine (having first dissolved the salt and skinned off the impurities). 

 This final hot dip kills insect eggs, and the fruit, after drying off away 

 from the access of insects, should be packed tightly in boxes, usually 

 holding twenty-five pounds, though thirty-eight to fifty-pound boxes 

 are used in foreign trade. 



The following explicit hints on the curing of prunes are based 

 upon wide experience and observation in the Santa Clara Valley: 



Be sure to allow the prunes to obtain all of the sugar they can from the 

 trees by hanging until they drop of their own accord. Do not pick up until 

 prunes are soft to the touch. These two rules are productive of nice black 

 prunes. They may not be black when gathered in the bins but will color with 

 age, without any foreign coloring m.atter. 



Do not keep prunes in boxes over night. They go through a sweat, and do 

 not make a first quality of dried fruit, and take much longer to dry. It is better 

 to let the prunes lie on the ground under the tree for several days than to let the 

 picked prunes lie in the boxes over one night. 



The dipping fluid must be kept at the boiling point and no prunes put in unless 

 it is boiling. It is not a matter of how strong the lye is, but how hot is the 

 water. On the trays prunes will either dry or ferment. Unless the dip is hot 

 enough the prune will not immediately commence to dry, but will, in a few days, 

 become a chocolate color and refuse to dry, sometimes a few on a tray, often 

 half and sometimes nearly all. If the water is at the boiling point all through 

 the dip, two pounds of lye to the 100 gallons of water, may be sufficient. If the 

 water is not boiling, ten pounds of lye to the 100 gallons of water may be re- 

 quired. 



