5o8 



BOOKS AND BULLETINS. 



"Apples and pears about 12 per cent.; plums, prunes, 

 apricots, peaches, about 10 per cent.; cherries about 12 

 per cent. ; most berries, 8 per cent. ; currants, 10 per cent. ; 

 grapes, in California, 18 to 22 per cent, average, 24 per 

 cent." That is, to any preservative fluid having about 

 the density of water, about 12 per cent, of glycerine 

 should be added for apples, 10 per cent, for apricots, 

 and so on. Several preservative fluids are discussed, 

 but only two appear to meet the requirements : (i) "A 

 solution of one ounce of salicylic acid to five gallons of 

 water, to which as much glycerine has been added as 

 corresponds to the density of the fruit juice, constitutes 

 a preservative fluid which has been used with very satis- 

 factory results heretofore. Trouble has arisen from the 

 use of soda to make the acid dissolve ; as already stated, 

 with patience or heating, the water alone will dissolve 

 the acid, and soda need not be used at all." (2) The 

 use of corrosive sublimate ('2 oz. to i gallon water) is 

 lately recommended in Italy by Professor Pichi, who 

 has used it with marked success in preserving grapes. 

 This is, of course, very poisonous. 



Sulphur is used in the evaporating of fruit in order to 

 bleach the product and to repel or kill insects. Profes- 

 sor Hilgard has made a careful study of the effects of 

 sulphuring fruits, and his denunciations of the operation 

 are well known. The browning of fruits 

 Sulphuring of in drying is a perfectly natural process, 

 Dried Fruits. in whatever manner the evaporation is 

 accomplished, and it is a false taste 

 which demands that the fruits shall be white. "The 

 consumer then has reason to object to dry-sulphured 

 fruit on two counts, either of which is sufficient to con- 

 demn the practice. One is that dirty, ill-prepared or 

 damaged fruit may thus be imposed upon him for good 

 quality ; the other, that the natural flavor of the fruit is 

 either seriously impaired or sometimes almost complete- 

 ly destroyed, and its acidity is greatly increased. There 

 is another and very serious count in the indictment, 

 namely, that such fruit is unhealthy because containing 

 an antiseptic that impedes digestion, and while the fruit 

 is relatively fresh, causes headaches just as will sul- 

 phured wine. After some time, the sulphurous acid 

 originally introduced becomes converted into sulphuric 

 acid, a condiment that few will desire to consume in 

 their daily food. " 



Analyses are given showing the amounts of sulphuric 

 acid in commercial samples. In one case the amount 

 of this material — commonly known as oil of vitriol — was 

 equivalent to about 25 grains in a pound of fruit (prunes). 

 "In addition to rendering the fruit unpalatably acid, it 

 had been rendered obnoxious both to the digestive or- 

 gans and to the teeth. No one could habitually consume 

 such fruits without feeling the effects of such an amount 

 of mineral acid, introduced into his food purely for the 

 gratification of the eye with an unnatural tint." 



' ' But so long as the public and its agents, the dealers, 

 continue willing to pay from 30 to 50 per cent, more for 

 the whitened sepulchres offered them in the shape of 

 sulphured fruit than for that which retains, with its nat- 



ural flavor and sweetness, the natural tint of dried fruit, 

 and with it the marks of careless or careful treatment, so 

 long will the producer continue to supply the demand 

 for the doctored article, unless, indeed, the law should 

 intervene, as has been done in most European countries. 

 There the sale of sulphured fruit is simply forbidden as 

 injurious to public health, and as coming under suspic- 

 ion of having been 'doctored up' from an inferior ar- 

 ticle with fraudulent intent. When, therefore, it is asked 

 what I think is the proper policy to be pursued in this 

 respect by a region which this year will, for the first 

 time, come into the dried fruit market, I reply that I 

 think the time has come to make a step forward and try 

 to put upon the market a first-class article of 'unsul- 

 phured dried fruit,' with the express statement and 

 claim that it is unsulphured and retains the natural 

 sweetness and flavor of California fruit, instead of being 

 reduced to ,^a common level with the worst products of 

 any other country. For it is certain that the whitish- 

 green dried apples and pears now sold at high prices in 

 our grocery stores might just as well have been grown 

 anywhere from Norway to the Mediterranean for aught 

 they teach of the quality of our fruits." 



If sulphuring is done before the fruit is dried, little if 

 any harm can come. To those manufacturers who de- 

 sire to slightly improve the appearance of the product 

 " with some regard to the fruit's palatableness, " Profes- 

 sor Hilgard makes the following suggestions : " Large 

 quantities of sulphur introduced at once 

 into the drier or sulphuring-box will tend Judicious 

 to cause a deposit of sulphur, in substance, Sulphuring, 

 on the outside of the fruit, adding its 

 flavor to that of the acid, which alone is useful. The 

 less sulphur put in at one time, and the more air admit- 

 ted, the less there will be of the visible fumes that carry 

 the sulphur up into the fruit. It is best to let the sul- 

 phur catch fire all over before putting it into the box at 

 all. Let whatever sulphuring you must do be done be- 

 fore drying, as in that case not only will the drying pro- 

 cess itself drive of a great deal of the superfluous acid 

 and prevent it from penetrating the whole, but the flavor 

 of the interior will penetrate outward and measurably 

 do away with the laboratory odor that will otherwise 

 pervade the fruit package. 



"A very sightly and appetizing cinnamon-brown tint 

 for sliced apples and pears may be secured by dipping, 

 for a few minutes, the freshly made slices, contained in 

 a properly shaped basket (of galvanized wire if desired), 

 into a solution of salt, containing not less than two ounces 

 in five gallons of water. This prevents any spotting 

 where the fruit has been touched. Instead of the salt, 

 a similar solution of the bisulphites of soda or lime may 

 be used, which effect a slight external bleaching without 

 injury to the flavor of the fruit. 



' ' Last, but not least, let us try to gradually educate the 

 public taste up to the point of preferring, in this matter, 

 the substance to the shadow, and accepting healthy, 

 brown, high-flavored dried fruit to the sickly-tinted, 

 chemical-tainted product of the sulphur box." 



