BULLETIN ^o. 198. 



DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY. 



STUDIES OF CRANBERRIES DURING 

 STORAGE. 



CHEMICAL STUDIES. 



BY F. W. MORSE AND C. P. JONES. 



Chemical Changes in Cranberbies in Storage. 



For several years the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station 

 has been studying problems connected with the storage and shipment of 

 cranberries, during the course of which chemical data have been gathered 

 that are here arranged to show the composition of a few well-known 

 varieties of cranberries and some of the changes which take place in their 

 composition while they are held in storage. 



The essential qualities of a fruit that is to be used for cooking or dessert 

 are juiciness and flavor. With our present knowledge of analytical chemis- 

 try such qualities can be measured only in terms of water, sugar and acid, 

 since as yet there are no sure methods for determining the characteristic 

 fruit flavors or esters. Therefore determinations of water, total sugar and 

 total acid were made in all our samples of cranberries, while the proximate 

 analysis of the food constituents was executed on some of them. 



The analyses of varieties have been selected as far as possible to show 

 them at their best. The Early Black and the Howes varieties were sampled 

 in October from lots stored at natural temperatures, while the McFarlin 

 and Centemiial varieties were sampled in November from lots in cold 

 storage. Early Black is the earliest variety shipped from the Cape Cod 

 district. It is of good quality, but is not a good keeper. Howes is a later 

 variety and forms the main crop on many of the bogs. It is a good keeper, 

 but is not equal to some other varieties in quality. The other two varieties 

 are rated among growers as "fancy" kinds, and are growai in limited 

 quantities. The McFarlin is an excellent variety in quality, but not as 

 good a keeper as Howes. The Centennial is a very large berry, attractive 

 on account of its size, of good flavor, but not as juic}^ as the others. Cran- 

 berries, however, are not sold under their variety names, like apples, but 



