346 



THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



A Whole fruits (1-3-4). 

 B Fruit pulp (1-2). 

 C Sliced fruits (5-6-7). 

 D Fruit juices (8-9). 



Jam-making. — This constitutes the most ex- 

 tensively adopted method of dealing with fruits 

 both for home use and in British factories, and 

 many thousands of tons are produced annually 

 to meet the general demand. It is especially 

 adapted for all the soft fruits, such as Straw- 

 berries, Gooseberries, Black and Red Currants, 

 together with such stone-fruits as Plums and 

 Apricots, and it is the most satisfactory means 

 of dealing with these fruits immediately they 



Fig. 1119. —Copper Preserving Pan, 

 for home use. 



-Double Copper Preserving Pans with 

 water space, for home use 



are gathered. The method is essential wherever 

 large supplies have to be utilized quickly to 

 avoid loss, and it is equally necessary in small 

 establishments, because, with Strawberries par- 

 ticularly, a large proportion of the crop is often 

 ready for gathering at one time, being influenced 

 by the weather conditions.. As soon as the de- 

 mand for the fruit in a fresh state is exceeded, 

 there will either be a regrettable waste or jam- 

 making must be resorted to promptly. 



Whether on a large or a small scale the prin- 

 ciple is the same, the fruit must be subjected to 

 heat sufficiently long to sterilize it, but not long 

 enough to alter its character or impair the flavour 

 or colour. With the aid of a due amount of 

 sugar employed in addition (which may vary 

 from a weight equal to that of the fresh fruit 

 to half as much again) such jam, carefully pre- 

 pared and secured in jars with air-tight coverings 

 over the mouths, should remain good for an in- 

 definite time, certainly until fresh fruit is again 

 obtainable. 



On a small scale and for home use the opera- 

 tion is both simple and inexpensive, while at 

 the same time it is as effectual as that carried 

 out in a factory. A wide shallow stew-pan of 

 copper or bell-metal is the only essential utensil, 

 which can be had in various sizes at proportionate 

 prices, but the smaller ones can be had for a few 

 shillings. One of these pans 1 4 inches in diameter 



and 6 inches deep will hold 20 lbs. of fruit and 

 sugar, and with the help of such a vessel a little 

 experience will enable anyone to produce 1 cwt. 

 of good jam per day. This applies to any of 

 the soft fruits which will not require more than 

 twenty minutes or half an hour's exposure to 

 the fire, but with stone fruits, which will need 

 perhaps three-quarters of an hour, rather less 

 could be prepared within the same time. A pan 

 like that described is adapted for placing on an 

 ordinary kitchen range, or it could be heated 

 over an oil-stove, but the former is preferable, 

 and where large ranges are available, two, three, 

 or more of these pans could be heated at once, 

 and it is quite possible without any special fac- 

 tory to produce a quarter 

 of a ton of jam a day, or 

 two to three tons in a 

 week, which would suffice 

 for most of the smaller fruit- 

 growing establishments. 



Where considerable 

 quantities of fruit are con- 

 verted into jam as a regu- 

 lar part of the business it is 

 more convenient and eco- 

 nomical to erect a building for the purpose, 

 which need not be of a pretentious or costly 

 character. Larger pans are then employed, 

 which will hold from half to a hundredweight 

 of fruit ; they are double-cased and connected by 

 pipes with a boiler so that a constant supply of 

 steam is maintained at a high temperature 

 immediately under and around the fruit. The 

 advantage of this method is that the boiling 

 is done rapidly, and there is not the danger of 

 burning, which has to be avoided when the pre- 

 paration is done over an ordinary fire. 



An idea can be formed of the routine work in 

 a large preserving establishment where the fruit 

 is grown, from the following particulars of an 

 extensive factory. The fruit is gathered in 

 the early hours of the morning, when dry, by a 

 number of women who come from the neigh- 

 bouring country, and who are glad to have the 

 opportunity of obtaining labour in the open air. 

 At 8 a.m. the factory work-people arrive from 

 the surrounding villages, the total number of 

 hands in the height of the season being about 

 five hundred. Those from a distance are lodged 

 on the plantations. The hour for the first de- 

 livery of fruit to arrive at the factory is 8 a.m. 

 This may consist of Strawberries, Red or Black 

 Currants, and Raspberries, which are picked 

 free from the stalks on the plantations, and are 

 ready therefore at once for the boiling -pans, 



