July, 1910.] 



28 



Edible Products, 



The next process, that of colouring, 

 follows immediately. As soou as the 

 water has drained off, and without 

 allowing the Vanilla to get cool, it 

 should be put into a box lined with 

 or containing folds of blanket, doubled 

 up thick hessian, or clean sacking — an 

 old blanket is best. The two grades may 

 be put in the same receptacle if kept 

 separate by a fold of the material, and 

 the whole covered well in the box 

 shut. If the heat has been well kept 

 in, by morning the pods will have all 

 turned a light coffee colour, and will 

 have lost their brittleness. 



It is now necessary to begin the third 

 or sweating process, which consists in 

 drying entirely in the shade for the 

 first few days, and subsequently a few 

 hours each day iu the sun, carefully 

 wrapping up and replacing it in the 

 box and blanket every night- The re- 

 sult wiJl be sweating out of the mois- 

 cure by night and evaporation of it 

 by day, which generally involves a 

 loss by the completion of the process 

 of anything up to 75%, generally about 

 50 %, of the weight of the green pods. 

 Should there be any indication of 

 mildewing, the pods must be carefully 

 wiped, and care must be taken to 

 prevent their ever getting wet by being 

 left exposed to rain or dew. This drying 

 is in some places and under certain con- 

 ditions done by the use of chloride of 

 calcium (CaCls), and the sweating by 

 flannel-lined boxes with glass lids, es- 

 pecially to prevent any possibility of 

 damping by sudden showers, &e. 

 On large plantations special drying 

 houses are built of corrugated iron or 

 wood with shelves, trays, and arrange- 

 ments for keeping various temperatures 

 in different rooms of the house of from 

 110 e to the normal temperature of 

 the atmosphere. Where thousands of 

 pounds of Vanilla are dealt with, such 

 drying houses are necessary, but for 

 small quantities a few trays of hessian, 

 which will occupy but little room in the 

 house, verandah, or barn, are sufficient. 

 When the weather remains damp and 

 mildewing may be persistent, it may be 

 necessary to resort to charcoal braziers 

 to make sure of drying. 



The last process is that of manipula- 

 tion, The finishing off of the drying 

 should be done in the shade, during 

 which each pod should be handled daily. 

 This handling consists of gently squeez- 

 ing or smoothing the pods with a sort 

 of massage action from the tip towards 

 the butt so as to evenly distribute the 

 contents, which otherwise might collect 

 at the tip or lower end ; and straighten 



the crooked ones. While this is being 

 done the pods are sometimes wiped 

 with olive, mahogany, or nut oil ; in 

 fact, any oil that does not go rancid. 

 This is not important, and might be 

 overdone, though a little olive oil on the 

 fingers gives the beans a finish and 

 makes the work easier. During this 

 process also any pods showing a ten- 

 dency to split are tied with cotton, and 

 those showing any tendency to mouldi- 

 ness are put back for further sweating 

 and drying in the sun. 



When finished curing the pods should 

 look smooth, even, and glassy, not too 

 wrinkled, he pliable enough to twist 

 round the thumb without breaking or 

 splitting, and have a strong and char- 

 acteristic aroma. The whole pr ocess of 

 curing may take two months, but need 

 not take up a great deal of time each 

 day. 



Sorting, Grading, and Packing. 

 In the stage now arrived at the pods 

 should average about 100 to the lb. 

 The largest, or 8 in., or larger pods, 

 if fairly full not emaciated looking, will 

 run about 75 ; and the small curly ones 

 150 to 160 to the lb. Anything less in 

 weight than this would be either very 

 small, very poor, or too dry. 



The easiest way of grading is for the 

 operator to sit at a cloth-covered table 

 with the Vanilla in a heap in front of 

 him (or her, for this work, as well as 

 the packing, can often be done better 

 by the gentler sex.) A piece of thin 

 wood some 6 in. wide and 1 ft. long 

 is required for the grading board, which 

 should have a narrow ridge about 1 in. 

 high across one end, and have marked 

 across it clearly with ink, or better still 

 a shallow groove, the lengths from 3 

 in. to 9 in. f r om the end ridge in half- 

 inches. The Vanilla pods or beans are 

 laid on this with their ends against the 

 ridge, when the length is readily and 

 quickly seen. They are then laid in 

 heaps of their respective sizes. Each £ 

 in. constitutes a grade, and any inter- 

 mediate lengths go into the grade above 

 e.g., anything over 7£ in. is put in 

 the 8 in, grade, and so on. This grad- 

 ing is much more quickly done than 

 might be gathered from the descrip- 

 tion, and is necessary, for the subse- 

 quent operation of tying. When a quan- 

 tity has been thus graded, 18 or 20 are 

 taken up iu the hand, with their ends 

 all one way, and being laid evenly are 

 wrapped twice round the middle with 

 a piece of tape or raffia fibre sufficiently 

 tight to hold well together ; this is not 

 tied, but while being still held in one 



