7 



bably somewhat deficient in the essential oil which forms the medical property, and gives the flavour to 

 the rind. The Oranges imported into Leghorn, whether for consumption or for candying, are nearly 

 all brought from the Islands of Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica. I shall perhaps convey the clearest im- 

 pression of the treatment of the fruit and the processes through which it passes, if I follow it through 

 the various stages of its preparation, from its arrival at this port to the moment of its departure hence 

 in cases tilled with boxes neatly packed with the cut candied peel. In all the countries I have men- 

 tioned above as contributing the raw fruit for this industry, it is treated in the same manner for the 

 over-sea passage. The fruit is simply halved, and placed in hogsheads or large casks filled with a fairly 

 strong solution of brine, the fruit being halved merely to ensure thorough preservation of the rind by 

 an equal saturation of the interior as well as the exterior surface. In these casks it arrives at the doors 

 •of the manufactory. The first process to which it is then subjected is the separation of the fruit from 

 the rind. This is done by women who, seated round a large vessel take out the fruit, skilfully gouge out the 

 inside with a few rapid motions of the forefinger and thumb, and, throwing this aside, place the rind un- 

 broken in a vessel alongside them. The rind is next carried to large casks filled with fresh cold water in 

 which it is immersed for between two and three days to rid it of tho salt it has absorbed. When taken oat 

 of these casks, the rinds are boiled, with the double object, of making them tender, and of completely 

 driving out any trace of salt that may still be left in them. For this purpose they are boiled in a 

 large copper cauldron for a time varying from one to two hours, according to the quality of the fruit 

 and the number of days it has been immersed in brine. When removed from this cauldron, the p3el 

 should be quite free from any flavour of salt, and at the same time be sufficiently soft to absorb the 

 sugar readily from the syrup, in which it is now ready to be immersed. Tho next process to which 

 the rind is subjected is that of a slow absorption of sugar and this occupies no less than eight days. 

 Needless to say that the absorption of sugar by fresh fruit in order to be thorough it must be slow, 

 and not only slow but it must also be gradual — that is to say, the fruit should at first be treated with 

 a weak solution of sugar, which may then be gradually strengthened, for the power of absorption is 

 one that grows by feeding. 



" The fruit (and this holds good more especially with the rind) would absorb with difficulty, and 

 more slowly and unequally if plunged at once into a thick syrup, than if gradually treated with weak 

 solution, easier of absorption, and by which it has been thoroughly permeated first. It is a knowledge 

 of this fact that governs the process I now describe. The fruit has now passed into what I may call 

 the saturating room, where on every side are to be seen long rows of immense earthenware vessels 

 about 4 feet high and 2\ feet in extreme diameter, in outline roughly resembling the famed Etruscan 

 jar, but with a girth altogether out of proportion to their height, and with very short necks and large 

 open mouths. All the vessels are filled to their brims with Citron and Orange peel, in every stage of 

 absorption, i.e. steeped in sugar syrup of, roughly speaking, eight different degrees of strength. I said 

 before that this is a process that occupies almost always eight days, and as the syrup in each jar is 

 changed every day, we may divide the mass of vessels before us into groups of eight. Take one group 

 of this number, and we are able to follow the fruit completely through this stage of its treatment. 

 With vessels of such great size and weight, holding at least half a ton of fruit and syrup, it is clearly 

 easier to deal with the syrup than with the fruit. 



" To take the fruit out of one solution, and to place it into the next stronger, and so on, throughout 

 the series, would be a toilsome process, and one, moreover, injurious to the fruit. In each of these jars, 

 therefore, is fixed a wooden well, into which a simple hand suction-pump being introduced, the syrup 

 is pumped from each jar daily into the adjoining one. 



" How is the relative strength of the syrup in each jar regulated ?" is the next question, 

 " The fruit itself does that," is the foreman's reply; and this becomes clear from the following - 

 explanation: — Number your group of jars from 1 to 8 respectively, and assume No. 1 to be that which 

 has just been 6 lied with peel brought straight from the boiler, in which it has been deprived of the 

 last trace of salt and No. 8 to contain that which, having passed through every stage of absorption but 

 the last, is now steeped in the freshly prepared and therefore the strongest solution of syrup used in 

 this stage. We prepare daily a syrup of the strength of iS0°, measured by the 'provino,' a graduated 

 test for measuring the density of the syrup," continued the foreman, "and that is poured upon the 

 fruit in jar No. 8. To-morrow the syrup from this jar weakened by the absorption from it, by the fruit, 

 of a certain proportion of sugar, will be pumped into jar No. 7 and so on daily through the series. 

 Thus No. 1 containing the fruit itself regulates the strength of the syrup, as I said." "But if the 

 syrup has lost all its strength before the seventh day, or arrival at jar No. 1 V we ask. Care must be 

 taken to prevent that, by constant testing with the ' provino," is the reply ; " and if that is found to be 

 the case, a little stronger syrup must be added to the jar." 



" A slight fermentation next takes place in most of the jars but this, so far from being harmful, 

 is regarded as necessary, bat of course it must not be allowed to go too far. There is yet another stage, 

 and that, perhaps, the most important, through which the peel has to pass before it can be pronounced 

 sufficiently saturated with sugar. It is now boiled in a still stronger syrup, of a density of 40° by the 

 testing-tube, and this is done in large copper vessels over a slow cake fire, care being taken to prevent 

 the peel adhering to the side of the vessel by gentle slirring with a long paddle-shaped ladle. The 

 second boiling will occupy about an hour. Taken off the tire, the vessels are carried to a large wooden 

 trough, over which is spread a coarse, open wire netting. 



"The contents are poured over this, and the peel distributed over the surface of the netting, so that 

 the syrup — now thickened to the consistency of treacle — may drain off the surface of ttie peel into the 

 trough below. The peel has now taken up as much sugar as is necessary. 



"Now comes the final process, the true candying of the covering of the surface of the peel with tba 

 layer of sugar-crystals which is seen upon all candied fruits. To effect this a quantity of crystallised 

 sugar — at Leghorn the same quality of sugar is used as is employed iu the preparation of the syrup — - 



