October, 1908.] 



339 



Edible Products. 



the following: account of the methods 

 employed in Florida in the preparation 

 of jelly and other guava conserves :— 



The guavas are picked up every morn- 

 ing and taken to the factory, where 

 they are weighed, and later sorted to 

 remove any bad fruits that may have 

 been delivered. The guavas are turned 

 into a boiler for preliminary cooking, 

 after which the juice is filtered through 

 a heavy, coarse fabric, which prevents 

 any of the pulp from passing through. 

 The juice is afterwards bottled or put 

 into jars, sterilized by means of heat, 

 sealed, and kept in these vessels until 

 the jelly is wanted on the market. The 

 quantity desired is then taken from the 

 containers, sugar is added, and the 

 juice is boiled long enough to give the 

 proper colour, when it is placed in the 

 jelly containers and sent to the market. 

 The fancy product isjput up in glass jars, 

 sealed and labelled properly, while the 

 cheaper grades are placed in paper boxes, 

 in which form the jelly is sold as cheap 

 as 29c. per lb. retail. 



In addition to guava jelly, another 

 product is sometimes made that resem- 

 bles the jelly in firmness, but which 

 might be briefly described as jellied 

 marmalade. This preparation is known 

 by several names, as guava cheese, 

 guava paste, etc. It is moulded in 

 various cubical or oblong shapes and 

 wrapped in oil paper. The formulas for 

 making it are very numerous, but in 

 general it is composed of the best of the 

 guava pulp, containing sufficient juice 

 to cause it to become firm like jelly when 

 properly cooked with the requisite 

 amount of sugar. In addition to jelly 

 and cheese, wine and vinegar are also 

 made from the guava, both of which are 

 said to be excellent. 



Canned guavas are rarely seen outside 

 of the guava belt, but they make a fine 

 appearance and are delicious- To pre- 

 pare them for canning, the firm, ripe 

 fruits are chosen, pared and quartered, 

 and then treated like any other fruit. 

 The more fastidious housekeapers choose 

 the thick-meated guavas, and in addition 

 to paring the fruits, they also remove 

 the seeds. The fruit that has become 

 too ripe to make good jelly, or is not 

 firm enough for canning, may still be 

 used for marmalade. For immediate 

 table use, sliced guavas with sugar and 

 cream make an excellent dessert. 



The Monserrat Preserving Industry 

 Company, whose products were referred 

 to in the Agricultural Neius, Vol. VII,, 

 p. 52, make a speciality of guava con- 

 serves in different forms. — Agricultural 

 News, Vol. VII., No. 161., June, 1908. 



MISCELLANEOUS ECONOMIC 

 PLANTS.* 

 By J. C. Willis. 



I. Aberia. 



Aberia, often united to Doryalis, is a 

 genus comprising some ten or eleven 

 species found in Africa (West, South, 

 and Abyssinia) and in Ceylon, but not in 

 South India (one of many things that 

 mark the former connection of Ceylon 

 with Africa). In most English botanical 

 text-books it is placed in the family 

 Bixineaj, but in more modern classifica- 

 tions is placed in Flacourtiacese. 



The only Ceylon species, A. Gardneri, 

 Clos., called by the Sinhalese Ketambilla, 

 is a tree 16-20 feet high, much branched, 

 with male and female flowers on 

 separate trees. The pale purple fruit is 

 globular, about an inch in diameter, 

 with a velvety hairiness. It is found, 

 but not commonly, in the neighbourhood 

 of Kancly, Hanguranketa, Maturata, 

 Wilson's Bungalow, and elsewhere from 

 1,000 to 4,000 feet elevation. Its greenish 

 flowers come out in June, and the fruit 

 is usually ripe in August. Plants are 

 sometimes for sale at Peradeniya at 

 25 cents each. 



The fruit of this plant is eatable and 

 has quite a pleasant acid flavour, but a 

 great objection is the hairy skin, and it 

 is better made into jelly. Trying an 

 experiment in the manufacture of this the 

 other day, we found that eighty fruits 

 weighed 2 lbs. They were covered with 

 water and then boiled down to 2h lbs., 

 to which 3 lbs, of sugar was added. This 

 was perhaps a little too much, but made 

 a distinctly good jelly, with a magni- 

 ficent colour. The jelly has proved of 

 much use in cooking with plantains. 

 The fruit is also said to make good tarts. 



There is no information forthcoming 

 regarding the West African and Abys- 

 sinian species, other than that the fruits 

 of the latter are edible, but of the South 

 African species it is recorded that 

 A. rhamnoides and A. rotuiulijolia, 

 known as Zuurebesjes or Kaffir plums, 

 form a good jelly, while ^1. Caffra, the 

 Kei apple, is a popular eating fruit in 

 Natal. This species was long ago (at least 

 as early as 1884) introduced into Ceylon, 

 and planted at Peradeniya and Hakgala. 

 It has not yet fruited at Peradeniya, 

 but at Hakgala a tree bore a few fruit 

 in 1889 and until 1904, when it died. 

 There is another tree there, about 

 17 feet high, that has not yet fruited. 



* In this series of papers I propose to give 

 the results of the examination and arrange- 

 ment of our departmental files which is now 

 going on as time permits, — J. 0. W 



