74 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 347 



DEPARTMENT OF HORTICULTURAL MANUFACTURES 

 W. W. Chenoweth in Charge 



Cranberry Research. (C. R. Fellers, A. S. Levine, and W. B. Esselen, Jr.) 

 This project has been supported in part by the American Cranberry Exchange. 

 The use of dextrose in canned cranberry sauce is satisfactory provided the ratio 

 of dextrose to sucrose does not exceed 1:3. 



Cooperative cranberry storage experiments conducted for two years show that 

 temperatures of 35°-40° F. are superior to higher temperatures for storing either 

 semi-ripe or ripe Early Black and Howes cranberries. A paper entitled "Gas 

 content of cranberries and possible relationship of respiratory activity to keeping 

 quality" was published in Plant Physiology 12:527-536, 1927. 



Cranberries contain approximately .03 percent total iron, 31 percent of which 

 is "available" iron as determined by the alpha, alpha-dipyridyl method. Hemo- 

 globin regeneration tests with anemic white rats fed cranberries as their source of 

 iron also showed that about one third of the iron present was available. Cran- 

 berries are also relatively high in manganese and copper. At the present time the 

 influence of cranberries in the diet on the utilization of calcium by the white rat 

 is being studied. A paper entitled "Influence of certain fruits on fecal flora and 

 intestinal reaction in diets of rats" was published during the year in Food Research 

 2:65-72, 1937. 



Technological Investigations on Apples. (C. R. Fellers, A. S. Levine, J. A. 

 Clague, and W. B. Esselen, Jr.) The work on canned baked apples has been con- 

 tinued. Among the better varieties for the purpose are Rome, King, York, Stay- 

 man, and Jonathan. Details of the canning process are being studied. 



Cider champagne and other bottled apple beverages have been manufactured 

 with a view to utilization of culls to better advantage than is now done. These 

 beverages contain practically no vitamin C. By clarifying with commercial 

 pectinase enzymes, very clear, attractive beverages can be prepared. 



Mcintosh and Baldwin apples, to the amount of 500 and 1000 grams daily, were 

 included in neutral and acid-forming diets and eaten by young men. Blood 

 alkali reserve was unchanged and urinary acidity but slightly increased as a 

 result of the consumption of these large quantities of apples. 



Currant Jelly. (J. Novick and C. R. Fellers.) A study has been made of the 

 factors affecting yield and quality of currant jellj'. Some of these factors are 

 variety, maturity, extraction methods, concentration, finishing point criteria, 

 and storage of the extracted juice. Accumulated data indicate that juice viscosity 

 is a satisfactory criterion of jelly strength and yield. Since the currant contains 

 no starch, treatment of the juice with diastatic enzymes has been of little value 

 for clarification. Currants contain a little vitamin A and are an excellent source of 

 vitamin C, but most of the vitamin C is lost during the process of manufacturing 

 jelly. 



Nutritive Value of Frozen Foods. (C. R. Fellers, C. F. Dunker, and D. De 

 Felice.) A chemical method suitable for carotene determination in fruits and 

 vegetables has been perfected and used to evaluate 18 fresh and frozen products 

 for carotene content (vitamin A). The standard rat bio-assay method for vitamin 

 A has been used to check the chemical determination in several cases. Spinach, 

 squash, peas, snap beans, asparagus, broccoli, and carrots, in either the fresh or 

 the frozen state, are good sources of vitamin A. 



A careful study has been made for two seasons of the losses in vitamin C of 

 spinach due to shipment, freezing, canning, cooking, and dehydration. The 



