2 BULLETIN 1025, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



brownish colloidal suspensions, distinctly uninviting in appearance. 

 While a considerable number of these juices are superior in flavor 

 and in beverage quality to juices of the Concord type, their appear- 

 ance counts so heavily against them that, with the exception of 

 Catawba, no systematic attempts have been made to place them on 

 the market, and they seem to be very little used for juice making 

 even in districts in which the production of such varieties is in 

 excess of market demands for fresh grapes. 



Unfermented apple juice, or " sweet cider," is to a very large ex- 

 tent a seasonal product, made and consumed in large quantities dur- 

 ing the autumn months, but practically unobtainable at other sea- 

 sons. Pasteurized unfermented cider has not gained greatly in popu- 

 larity, its consumption in recent years having entirely failed to keep 

 pace with the increase in consumption of synthetic soft drinks. While 

 this failure to gain in favor has been due in considerable part to lack 

 of uniformity in the character and quality of the product and to loss 

 of distinctive flavor or development of foreign flavors as a result of 

 faulty preparation, the criticism most frequently heard is that pas- 

 teurized ciders are " muddy " and unattractive looking on account 

 of the presence of suspended matter. In view of the reception given 

 the clear, attractive juices placed on the market by a few manufac- 

 turers employing zealously guarded special methods of preparation, 

 it seems certain that a very considerable increase in demand and con- 

 sumption as well as a very large extension of the small-scale home 

 manufacture of unfermented juices would result if simple, effective 

 methods of making brilliant, transparent juices of unaltered bever- 

 age quality were generally available. 



One of the purposes of the studies of fruit juices which have been 

 in progress in the Bureau of Plant Industry for the last three years is 

 the development of simple, generally available methods for the prepa- 

 ration of unfermented fruit-juice beverages, by which the fruit 

 grower or the individual consumer may make products of good qual- 

 ity, distinctive flavor, and attractive appearance without the use of 

 special equipment. Concurrently a large number of varieties of ap- 

 ples and grapes have been studied with reference to their special fit- 

 ness for the making of various products. It has consequently been 

 possible to employ in the work each year samples of juices from ap- 

 proximately 250 varieties of apples and more than 60 varieties of 

 grapes, including nearly all the more widely distributed varieties of 

 these fruits. Materials of the greatest possible diversity have been 

 available for study, affording an unusual opportunity for testing the 

 general applicability of proposed methods. 



At the outset the devising of satisfactory methods of clarification 

 was recognized as a very important part of the problem, requiring 

 entrance into a very imperfectly known portion of the field of colloid 



