448 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



M»r»h, 1914 



Fruit Section. 



Drying Fruit. 



— Figs. - 



For drjnng figs should be al- 

 lowed to remain on the tree until 

 dead ripe and wilted. They are 

 then picked or shaken off on to 

 sheets in the morning and spread 

 on travs and dried in the sun. 

 The travs are better if made of 

 laths, so arranged as to allow a 

 current of air to pass below. They 

 are turned occasionally as they 

 reauire it. They should drv in 

 from' to 15 days, and then, if for 

 sale, thev require to be "fingered" 

 into shape of the Smyrna, and 

 packed carefullv. The fineering is 

 a knack which can only be 

 acquired bv practice. The dry fig 

 fig should first be dipped in salt 

 water (about as salt as the sea, 

 i.e., A ozs. to the gallon), and 

 carefullv worked between the 

 thumbs and forefingers imtil the 

 eve is over the stem and the fig 

 is flat. White Provence and White 

 Genoa are good drying figs. 



No figs should be picked before 

 perfect and absolute maturity. 

 FisTS nicked before maturity will 

 drv, but thev will not be sweet 

 and soft, the two indisnensable 

 oualities of a dried fig. All figs 

 do not ripen at the same time, 

 and this necessitates goine: over 

 trees everv dav in the season. A 

 perfectly rine fi"' will not only be 

 soft, but •wTirkled, and will hang 

 down pernendiculprlv from its 

 branch or twio-. The best Italian 

 or Smyrna fi^s show fio per cent, 

 of s'""^!" to about },ri per 



rp~<f. hpfnrf '^r-'-iri'T. T'^n1P-t> "••.-o'^pc; 

 P"*; will not become much sweeter 

 pftpr t'-— • ,..of.irf-1. The 



hvf t^e ^•"o^tit>' will not material- 

 ly increase. 



Fi^s destinefl for drvmg should 

 be rrathered cnrr-fi'llv. Smyrna figs 

 fall to the fi-round when nerfectly 

 mature and reafly for dryin'r. To 

 rnthf"- fiofs ,for dr^•^n"• each one 

 should be cut from the tree. In 

 California some fie men sulnhur 

 the fi"'s the same as anricots. Fies 

 are also sometimes fli^^ed in boil- 

 in fr salt water for a second or two 

 at a strength r.f t''' 'bs. to -o 'Gal- 

 lons water. First nnse in clear 

 water, then din in the salt. Others 

 a train use a hath of saltpetre of 

 the same strenrth. 



For drvin", raisine trays are 

 used in California, and the process 

 is similar to prune drying, except 

 that the fitrs should at first be 

 turned twice a day, and later once 



a day to secure even drying. No 

 contrivance has been de^^sed for 

 turning fiirs on the trays. Any 

 fies turning sour or fermentiTig 

 should be taken off the trays. Figs 

 should be covered at night from, 

 any dew and from anv showers of 

 rain, as they spoil very readily. 

 " .\ fig is dry when the meat is 

 plastic (not elastic), hard, and 

 drv." All do not dry at once, 

 and so they must be removed as 

 they are ready, which means extra 

 work. 



— Sultanas. — 



Sultana eraries mav be perfectly 

 dried by carefully fallowing this 

 simple plan : — 



Clean the confer washing boiler. 

 Put in it 10 gallons water. When 

 boiling- add i lb. caustic potash, 

 and half pint of good olive oil, or 

 less. Have ready all your grapes, 

 freshly gathered. They must be 

 cut into small, thin bunches, and 

 all bad or imaierfect grapes cut 

 out. This is the most tedious part 

 of the work. It should be done 

 overnip'ht, and yet you want all 

 vouT grapes ready and out by 

 noon. Then half-fill a common 

 basket with grapes, dip the basket 

 of grapes three times (three se- 

 conds'! in the boiling solution, and 

 spread immediately on wooden 

 travs in a very hot sun. Of course, 

 the raisins must be turned and 

 carefully looked over after the 

 third or fourth day. 



The sultana grapes must be tho- 

 roup-hlv ripe to make a good 

 raisin, for an unrine erape is defi- 

 cient in suear, and sugar is essen- 

 tial for good raisins. They will 

 not drv well if only just ripe 

 enousrh to eat. 



— Paisins. — 

 The i^ranps should on no account 

 be cut until nerfectlv rine. Tf pos- 

 .sibl'e, they should hauT until the 

 ripest on thp bnichps bef^in to dry. 

 In the cooler districts it is better 

 not to make raisins at all, for the 

 "'Ta'-'es are usually too deficient 

 in suorar to make a first class rai- 

 .sin. The a'^^^earance may be all 

 ri^rht. but the quality is not so 

 eood as those made in the hotter 

 districts. 



— Table Raisins. — 



For table rai.sins the finest 

 bunchps onlv should be taken, and 

 all defective and small rrranes 

 should be cut out with nointed 

 scissors, the buoch bein"- held bv 

 the stalk, so that the bloom will 

 will not be rubbed off. The bunch- 

 es should be laid carefully on the 

 travs with the best side \\n. The 

 travs for drvin<r layers .should havel 

 cleats to keen the tray 2in. off the 

 ground. This will facilitate the 

 drying. In hot, dry weather the 



raisins m;iv drv iti;^about seven 

 days, but it is adv||pDle to take 

 lono-er, say, 12 days^^v 



WTien they are about three- 

 quarters dry, or say, in seven or 

 eip^ht davs — these figures are only 

 apnroximate, as all depends on 

 locality and weather — they are 

 carefully turned by placing an 

 ton, and deftly turning both over, 

 leavinsT the fruit on the new tray, 

 and the old one empty for turning 

 the next. They must not be al- 

 lowed to become too dry. 



— When a Paisin is Dry. — 



To ascertain if a raising is fully 

 dry, take it between the thumb 

 and fin?er and roll it Efently until 

 soften, when either jelly or water 

 will exude. If jelly, it is dry ; if 

 water, it reauires further drying. 

 This testincf is of course done be- 

 fore the travs are stacked for sort- 

 insf. 



— Puddine Raisins. — 

 Loose lexias, or pudding raisins, 

 are prenared much more rapidly. 

 The frapes are picked in baskets or 

 boxes, and brou<rht to the drying- 

 (Toimd, where thev are nlaced on 

 a wire tray and dinned for, from 

 10 to 20 seconds, into a shallow 

 tfink' of boilinff lye-water, tnade by 

 addin"- about one nound of carbon- 

 ate of potash to three rrallons of 

 water, of T lb. of Greenbank's con- 

 centrated Ive Tcanstic soda, qS per 

 cent, streno'th). in t.s g-allons of 

 water ^'ent at a temperature of 

 about t8o deg. Fahr. 



After beiu'ir dinned in lye. the 

 obiect of which is to break the 

 .skin and facilitate drvino-, the 

 fruit is nluntred for an instant into 

 clean, cold wat^r, to remove the 

 soda or potash, and are then 

 snread on the travs and arran<^ed 

 on the dr^'inf-n-rniiTid. They dry 

 more niiic'''U'-. and do not reqtiire 

 the same care. 



As sonn as s'lfRcientlv dry, and 

 white the stall's are brittle. the 

 r'^isins are rubbed off and put 

 throup'-h thp winnower ; or, if nof?- 

 sible. the drv fruit is nut through 

 a .snecinl machine called a stemmer 

 and "trader. The loose rai.sins are 

 nlaced in laro-e boxes to enualise. 

 and are then n a eked in clean deal 

 boxes, rontainin<T either 28 or sfi 

 ltis. This is called sweating. 



Standard trays are most easily 

 made of three Sin. boards, Xin. 

 thick, and lit. lone, of pine or 

 snruce, held to'T'ether by a cleat 

 across each end 2ft. lone, made of 

 2 X lin. deal or pine. The cleats 

 are nailed clo.se to the ends bv the 

 thinner edo^e, so that if the travs 

 are packed one above another 

 there is a distance of two inches 

 between each nair. These travs 

 can be handled by one man if ne- 

 cessary. 



