ROEDING'S FRUIT GROWERS' GUIDE 



47 



Washing and cleaning the dried Calimyrna Figs in a salt and baking soda solution. 



The advantage of handling figs by this method is that 

 they may be picked much riper than when shipped in 

 crates. They will keep from four to six weeks in prime 

 condition if placed in a refrigerator, where the tem- 

 perature is maintained from 32 to 36 degrees Fahren- 

 heit. This method of handling has many advan- 

 tages for restaurant or hotel use, because the figs may 

 be taken out as required from the package without dis- 

 turbing any more of the figs than are actually needed. 

 The sawdust has a tendency to lacerate the skin, so 

 before placing them in the packing material, they should 

 be wrapped with tissue paper, the same as is used for 

 other classes of fruits. California will be the Mecca for 

 preserved figs some day. Texas, with its many disad- 

 vantages for growing figs, has been marketing pre- 

 served figs for years. Practically all the preserved figs 

 sold in California come from Texas. It is hard to under- 

 stand why the canners of this state have not engaged in 

 this industry. I predict the time is not far distant 

 when Californian preserved figs will be as famous as 

 our canned peaches, apricots, and other fruits. Figs 

 for preserving should be picked in the same condition 

 of ripeness as those used for shipping. 



GATHERING AND DRYING FIGS 



Go through the entire category of dried fruits and 

 the fig stands in the lead of being the most inexpensive 

 one of all the fruits to handle. Figs that are to be dried 

 are allowed to drop to the ground. The trees are given 

 a good shaking and all the figs ripe for drying drop off. 

 When the fig is fully matured, it loses its shape and 



hangs down in a more or less shrivelled condition. The 

 figs are gathered from the ground in buckets by either 

 women or children and are then dumped into the lug 

 boxes holding from forty to fifty pounds. These are 

 hauled to the drying ground and the figs are spread out 

 on trays. There is no better place for drying figs, or 

 any other fruit for that matter, than a section of an 

 alfalfa field. As the figs are almost half-dried when 

 they drop to the ground they require but very little 

 exposure to the sun when placed on trays. At the out- 

 side they are not exposed for more than a couple of 

 days, when the trays are stacked so as to permit a cir- 

 culation of air through them. The drying proceeds in 

 the shade from this time on. Whenever the fig feels 

 leathery when squeezed between the fingers, it is dried 

 enough. Avoid over-drying, as this more than any other 

 one thing, causes the skins to be tough. The next 

 step is to dip the figs in a salt brine made by dissolving 

 four pounds of salt and one-half pound baking soda in 

 & gallon of water. The solution should be cold. If hot 

 water is used it darkens the figs. A cement trough 

 equipped with perforated iron buckets, with a lever to 

 raise these buckets up and down, is used, and the figs are 

 dumped on the trays after they have been rinsed. This is 

 by far the best and most economical equipment. The 

 washing of the figs continues over a period of ten to 

 fifteen minutes, depending on the condition of the fruit. 

 The figs are now placed on trays and sulphured. Cali- 

 myrna and Mission figs should be sulphured for three 

 hours, the White Adriatic from five to six hours. 

 After sulphuring, the trays, loaded with figs, are again 



