169 



Edible Products. 



sene tins could be employed, the cost of producing the fruit, to which must be added 

 the freight to a central factory, should not be more than from $l - 75 to $2-15 per 

 hundred pounds. The best quality of pulp is obtained in Prance by steam heating 

 instead of fire directly applied to the pans. This method is desirable in the more 

 delicate kinds of fruit, such as the apricot and peach, but it should not be necessary 

 in the guava if sufficient care is taken. As a rule a small quantity of water, varying 

 with the kind of fruit used and which may be easily determined, is added to the 

 pulp to assist in preventing burning. There seems in this proposed industry to be a 

 splendid field for a man of small capital to establish a central jelly factory in Hono- 

 lulu, and to supply it with fruit pulp from a few pulping plants situated in favourable 

 districts.— The Hawaiian Agriculturist. 



THE MANUFACTURE OP SAMSHU (CHINESE SPIRIT) PROM 

 SORGHUM VULGARE. 



This industry is largely carried on in North China and Manchuria, and 

 in a lesser degree all over China. The process, though intricate in detail and not 

 easily described, is really very simple. Briefly, the main points are as follows :— The 

 sorghum grain is first crushed, then moistened, and a quantity of the ferment agent 

 ground fine is thoroughly mixed with it. The mixture is then put into concrete 

 pits, and trampled firmly layer upon layer. When the pit is full it is covered 

 over with boiling husks or chaff, and a layer of adhesive clay is spread 

 over all. (These pits are usually 10 feet deep, 7 feet long, and 2h feet broad, and 

 capable of holding 1,680 lb. of grain.) The clay forms an air-proof cover, beneath 

 which the chemical changes antecedent to distillation proceed. Great heat is gener- 

 ated, and from time to time an opening is made in the clay cover and an iron bar 

 thrust to the bottom of the pit to test the state of the mixture, and to allow of the 

 escape of superfluous gases. 



After 18 days the mixture has undergone sufficient chemical change, and is 

 ready for the first distillation ; the grain is partially decomposed, and has a sweet 

 spirituous taste. The grain is now moved from the pit, and placed in a wooden 

 steamer fitted with a lid having a round opening in the top, whereon rests a conden- 

 ser with its overflow pipe and draining-tube. This steamer is fixed to a grating rest- 

 ing over the top of an iron pan filled to within a foot of the steamer with water. A 

 fire is then started beneath the iron pan, and, as the water boils, the steam passes up 

 through the spirit-laden grain, vaporising and carrying with it the spirit to the 

 bottom of the condenser, whence it trickles down the draining tube to the receiver. 

 The condenser is filled with cold water, and as this gets heated and escapes through 

 the overflow pipes a fresh supply is added. After two hours the whole of the spirit 

 has passed over, and the contents of the steamer are removed and re-packed in an 

 empty pit for a further period of 18 days, when they are ready for a second distil- 

 lation. Pour or five distillations are made ere the grains are finally flung to the pigs, 

 a certain quantity of fresh grain being added for the second and third distillations. 

 The quantity of spirit yielded by one stilling, in which 1,680 lb., of grain are used, 

 averages about 650 lb. 



The spirit is tested by adding water, and watching the quantity of froth 

 which forms when the mixture is shaken ; if one-fifth of its weight can be added 

 to the liquor without considerable froth forming it is considered ' proof spirit. 

 Rectification is unknown in the distilleries, but a more palatable and stronger 

 liquor may be procured in medicine shops, where re-distillation on a small scale 

 is practised. 



The Samshu is packed in earthenware jars carefully stoppered with clay 

 and also in wicker baskets lined with tough paper. The ferment used is made in 

 summer by mixing barley and peas in the proportion of three of bar ley to one of 



