24 BULLETIN 732, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



PACKING FIGS. 



Most growers pack the figs in clean cotton bags, in which con- 

 dition they are sold to the packers, but others find they can add 

 several cents per pound to the value of the product by doing their 

 own packing. Many figs are packed in 5-pound and 10-pound 

 boxes and many more ' in fancy cartons holding from one-half to 1 

 pound each. The expense of fitting up a packing house is inconsider- 

 able, the appliances required being a kettle set in a furnace for heat- 

 ing boiling water or brine, forms for packing the figs in half-pound 

 or 1-pound bricks, and a press to apply pressure to the packed 

 product. The bricks which go into the cartons are wrapped in waxed 

 paper, which tends to retard drying out. 



Fig. 10.— Processing house. The dipping vat is shown in the center. 



P80025B-CP. 



The packing operations begin by exposing the figs to boiling brine 

 for a minute or two in wire baskets or by means of a prune dipper 

 where it is done on a very large scale (fig. 10). The brine is made 

 with from 3 to 4 ounces of salt to the gallon of water. Care should 

 be taken not to make the brine so salt as to be apparent to the taste 

 in eating the fig. The object of the process is to destroy by heat the 

 eggs of any insect that may have entered the fig while it was lying 

 on the ground and also to help retain the moisture and prevent dry- 

 ing out, as it is well known that salt absorbs moisture to some extent. 

 Some growers put their figs through a sizing machine at a certain 

 stage of the work, separating the fruit into about three grades. The 

 smaller and also any defective fruit, including split figs, finds a 

 ready market ordinarily at 2 to 4 cents a pound, and is used by 

 manufacturers of pastry products. 



