928 
to a ton of dried fruit, one estimate be- 
ing about one-half this amount. 
These estimates are for evaporating 
sliced fruit. If the apples are quartered 
or dried whole, being merely pared and 
cored, considerably more fuel is required. 
From 25 to 50 per cent more fuel should 
probably be estimated for in such cases. 
Apples Suitable for Evaporation 
There is an increasing demand for 
dried apples of the highest quality. The 
tendency has sometimes been to make 
quantity at the expense of qualily. But 
prices are governed not only by the sup- 
ply but also by the grade. The cleanest, 
whitest fruit, that is well cored, trimmed, 
bleached, ringed, and dried, is most in de- 
mand. Carelessness in any particular 
injures the product. 
Primarily the economic usefulness of 
an apple evaporator is through its utili- 
zation of windfalls and the poorer grades 
of fruit which can not be marketed to 
good advantage in a fresh state, and it is 
these grades that are most often evapor- 
ated. But the magnitude of the crop also 
influences the grade of the evaporated 
product in a decided way. In seasons 
of abundant crops and low prices for 
fresh fruit large quantities of apples that 
would ordinarily be barreled are evap- 
orated and the grade of stock produced 
is correspondingly improved. On the 
other hand, in years of scanty crops, when 
all apples that can possibly be shipped 
are in demand at high prices, only the 
very poorest fruit is evaporated, as a rule, 
thus lowering the grade of the output. 
The commercial grading of evaporated 
apples is based primarily on appearance 
rather than on dessert quality, and the 
fact that one variety may make a better 
flavored product than another is not con- 
sidered. As a rule, a product of high 
commercial grade can be made from any 
sort which has a firm texture and 
bleaches to a satisfactory degree of 
whiteness. A variety of high dessert 
quality, such as the Northern Spy, may 
be expected to make an evaporated 
product of correspondingly high flavor. 
In sections where the Baldwin apple is 
grown extensively it is in demand at the 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
commercial evaporators, as it meets the 
requirements in a fair degree and it is 
also available in relatively large quanti- 
ties. In the Ben Davis sections that va- 
riety supplies a similar demand. 
Most early varieties lack sufficient firm- 
ness of texture for the best results and 
are undesirable on this account. On the 
other hand, some comparatively early 
sorts, such as Gravenstein and Yellow 
Summer Pearmain, are considerably 
prized in some sections; the dessert qual- 
ity of the latter is especially high. 
Similarly the product made from other 
sorts possesses qualities that are due 
more or less to varietal characteristics. 
For instance, that from Esopus is said to be 
unusually white; Hubbardston and varie- 
ties of the Russet group also make very 
white stock. The latter make relatively 
a large amount of stock, by weight, to a 
given quantity of fresh fruit. Limber- 
twig is said to produce from one and one- 
half to two pounds a bushel more of dried 
stock than most sorts do, but it is not 
as white as that from some other varie- 
ties. 
Preparing the Fruit for Drying 
Paring 
No special comments are necessary un- 
der the head of paring, save to mention 
this step in the order in which it occurs 
in the preparation of the apples for dry- 
ing. The apples are cored in the same 
operation by an altachment applied to 
the paring machine for this purpose. The 
fruit is automatically forced from the 
fork and drops to the table, where it is 
next taken in hand by the trimmers. In 
the smaller evaporators the slicing is 
often done at the time of paring by a 
slicing attachment applied to the parers. 
In nearly all the evaporators the paring 
and trimming are done by women and 
girls. 
Trimming 
In paring the fruit there is usually 
more or less skin left around the stem 
and calyx of the apples and any irregular 
places that may occur. There will be 
wormholes, decayed spots, and other blem- 
ishes which will detract from the appear- 
ance of the product, if allowed to remain. 
