354 



January, 1914 



take them out and imanediately 

 Immerse th«m in a tub of dean 

 cold water, beingf careful not to 

 bruise them. The s1<in may then 

 be easily removed. But I recom- 

 mend peeling by hand tis most sat- 

 isfactory. 



If the bottles are not ready, the 

 I)ears should be put into a brine 

 dense enousrh to just float a pota- 

 to. This will prevent the fruit 

 from oxidisinor, which it is likelv 

 to do if exposed to the air. It is 

 not necessary to wash the fruit 

 after brining, but allow it to drain. 

 The small quantity of brine will 

 not affect the flavour. 



WTien the bottles are readv, cut 

 the pears in halves for "dessert and 

 quarters for pie-fruit, remove the 

 core with a pitting-spoon, a sharp- 

 ened sjJoon, or wire-cutter ; also re- 

 move the stalk and all loose pieces, 

 and pack carefully into the bottles, 

 outer side, uppermost, filling with 

 syrup of medium, density for des- 

 sert pears, and light den-sity for 

 pie-fruit fsee " Svrup "). The bot- 

 tled pears must be turned about 



before preserving, to enable the air 

 to escape from.- the ca\-ity caused 

 by cutting away the core. 



— Peaches. — 



Gra'de peaches for size and vari- 

 ety, rejecting damaged fruit. 



The -fruit should be pared by 

 hand. Some prefer to remove tlie 

 peel first, while others prefer to 

 remove the pit and halve , the fruit, 

 neieling each half separately. The 

 latter process frives the better re- 

 sult, and is employed in the best 

 canneries in California and .Kurope. 

 l\Tuch depends upon the fruit to be 

 handled ; both wavs should be 

 tried, l^emember that much hand- 

 ling- after the skin is removed will 

 materially damage the appearance 

 of the fiuit. 



To remove the pit, procure a pit- 

 tinsT-sponn made for the purpose ; 

 insert this close to the pit at the 

 stalk end and cut it away cleanlv 

 from the flesh all round, keeping 

 the sPOon close to the stone. It 

 •s then auite easv to cut round 

 the stone and divide the fruit into 

 halves. 



The fruit is Packed flat side 

 downwards, partly overlapping; (as 

 recommended for apricots), and 

 the bottles filled up with svrup— 

 heavy for dessert and light for 

 pie-fruit. 



Freestone Peaches are pared first, 

 cut round the stone, halved, and 

 the pit removed ; the fibre in the 

 pit-nod should be cut away so as 

 to leave a clean-cut surface of 

 frxiit. .Ml loose pieces are _ re- 

 mo\'ed, and the fruit packed into 

 bottles, as above. 



W%en a very lartre qnantitv is to 

 be prepared, the skins may be re- 

 moved, by scalding in solution for 

 about two minutes and plunoincr 

 into cold, clean water as described 

 in preparing pea-rs, but I do not 

 recommend this method. It is not 

 employed even in factories, as it 

 is very liable to spoil both the 

 flavour and the appearance of the 

 fruit. 



Pie-fruits are sometimes packed 

 whole, but this is not recommend- 

 ed, as the bottles do not hold 

 enough when packed in this way. 



— Plums. — 



Onlv the best varieties of plums 

 should be bottled. I do not con- 

 sider the .Japanese varieties or in- 

 feri'^r-grown plums worth even the 

 small amount of labour and ex- 

 pense. The .Japanese plums do not 



develop ilavour and quality until 

 they are quite ripe. Then they are 

 good enough to eat ; but their con- 

 dition renders them unsnitabie for 

 bottling, with a few exceptions. 



Pick out all damaged, s]>eckled, 

 and o^ cr or under ri^e fruit; grade 

 for size, wipe carefull^r if v.^et or 

 soiled, pack straight into the 

 sterilised bottles, and fill with 

 light svrup for dessert fruit and 

 very light syrup foT pie-fruit. If 

 the stones are free from flesh, it is 

 advisable to prick the fruit to the 

 pit-pod to allow the air to escape 

 during the process of preserving. 



— Oninces. — 



Pick out Ijadly bruised fruit ; 

 pare and core the fruit, and ciit 

 into e\enly-si/,ed wedees or thin 

 slices ; pack in sterili.sed bottles, 

 and cover with a very light syrup. 

 Quinces are usually packed for pi&- 

 fruit or stewing. 



\ 



— Apples. — 



These must be carefully selected 

 if it is intended to produce a 

 really good result. The varieties 

 must not be mix^ed, or the appear- 

 ance will be spoiled. |Pare and core 

 the fruit. This is best done with 

 a machine. Then cut the apples 

 into quarters, according to the size 

 of the apples — large into fivfe, six, 

 or more, m^edium into four or five, 

 and small apples into four ; or, 

 better still, <rrade the apples, and 

 cut them of each grade into an 

 ev"enMiumber of wed<res. Place the 

 apple-i)ieces immediately into brine 

 to prevent discoloration, allow a 

 few minutes for the fruit to drain, 

 and transfer into sterilised bottles, 

 covering immediately with lisrht 

 svrup. It is desirable to have the 

 apples as white in fesh as pos- 

 .sible, and care should be taken to 

 remo\e all bruises and blemishes. 



— The Syrup. — 



For the convenience of estimat- 

 ing the density of svrup we take 

 the weitiht of a gallon of water 

 at i-n lbs. • thus, T lb. of sugar to 

 I gallon of water, or lo lbs. of su- 

 gar to TO gallons, which equals 

 loo lbs.. of water, gi cs us a s^rup 

 of lo Per cent, density ; 2 lbs. to 

 the gallon gives 20 per cent, den- 

 ,sity, and so on. The svrups men- 

 tioned herein may be set forth as 

 follows : — 



Kxtra heavy, f^lbs. to the gallon, 

 or 60 pe'r cent, density. 



Heavy, 4 lbs. ditto, 40 per cent, 

 density. 



