CHAPTER XV 



STORAGE OF FRUIT 



A great industry has been developed since the advent of 

 the cold storage plant and it has become a large factor in 

 handling the country's fruit crop. The details of its com- 

 mercial importance and economic value will not be canvassed 

 in this text, but rather the effect of storage on the fruit itself. 



321. Definition. — Storage developments during the past 

 quarter of a century represent a most valuable contribution 

 of science in making perishable products available over a 

 relatively long period of time. As used in this connection, 

 storage usually refers to cool or cold storage of products and 

 may be defined as the means by which perishable products are 

 maintained at a temperature sufficiently low to arrest disease 

 and the natural physiological and chemical processes of ul- 

 timate maturity and decay, yet not sufficiently low to injure 

 the tissue or quahty of the materials stored. 



322. History^ of storage.^ — The idea of prolonging the 

 season of fruits and other food products by the means of 

 low temperatures is by no means modem. Meyer reports 

 cold-storage methods applied to fruits in remote parts of 

 China, wholly out of touch with civilization. He states that 

 the Chinese have practiced cold storage for centuries." The 

 earliest efforts along this line were to use the natural caves or 

 artificial cellars where a fairly uniform temperature from 

 50° to 60° F. can be maintained at all seasons. Successful 



1 We are indebted to "Practical Cold Storage" by Madison Cooper, 

 Nickerson and Collins Co., 1914, for important parts of this account. 



- Stubenrauch, A. V. Storage and refrigeration of fruits and vege- 

 tables. Standard Cyclo. Hort., Vol. VI, p. 3245. 

 366 



