EVAPORATTON OF FRUrT, 



[Doc. 189;^ 



consigDing fruit to glutted markets, or by selling the apples at 

 home at miserably low rateo. 



Pears are evaporated in America, chiefly those not fine enough 

 or large enough for sale as fresh fruit. They are pared, but not 

 cored, and put into the trays in quarters, or, if small, in halves, 

 having been first exposed to sulphurous fumes for a few minutes. 

 The temperature at which they are eva})orated varies between 

 176° and 212° Fahr. They take rather less time than the apples, 

 but they are packed in the same manner. 



Plums and damsons are evaporated in enormous quantities in 

 America, especially in California, where this industry has increased 

 lately with rapid strides. Many are^ still dried in the open air, 

 but drying with evaporators is becoming general, even in the 

 fine warm climate of California, as time is saved, and all risks 

 of weather avoided. 



When plums and damsons are selling in England at the 

 ridiculously low prices obtained in the seasons of 1893 and 

 1895, it would pay well to evaporate them. The same machine 

 will dry this fruit, as well as apples, pears, peaches, apricots, 

 cherries, and all kinds of vegetables. The stones are not taken 

 oat of the plums in America. The process is the same as 

 that described above for drying apples, except that the plums 

 are placed in wire baskets and dipped in a solution of 8 oz. of 

 carbonate of potash to 30 gallons of water. The light- coloured 

 plums are sulphured, and put into the evaporator. Dark- 

 coloured fruit is not sulphured. The temperature should be 

 rather higher than for apples, and the time required for drying 

 is longer. When they are evaporated they are put into bins in 

 a dry place, and stirred to prevent heating, precautions being 

 taken to keep moths away. They are then packed carefully 

 into boxes. It takes 2 J lbs. of fresh plums or damsons to make 

 1 lb. of evaporated fruit, of the value of at least 4<d. per lb. 

 Assessing the fresh fruit at Id. per lb., and adding Id. per lb. 

 for the expenses of evaporation, there would be a profit. One 

 penny per lb. for the fresh fruit represents 4ts. per sieve or 

 l3ushel. Thousands of sieves did not fetcli this in the seasons 

 referred to, and the charges for carriage and commission were 

 deducted from the price made. 



Cherries are easily evaporated; 100 lbs. of fresh cherries 

 will give about 18 lbs. of evaporated fruit. Sometimes the 

 stones are ' left ; sometimes they are taken out by a little 

 machine. The best eating cherries are not good for evaporation. 

 Those are best which have a sub-acid flavour, as the Morello, the 

 Kentish cherry, and the Flemish. The cost of evaporation is 

 about Id. per lb., and the dried fruit is worth from 4d to 6d. 

 per lb. Fresh cherries of the best kind for evaporating gene- 

 rally make from l|c?. to 2 Id per lb. clear of expenses, and it 

 rarely happens that there is a glut of this fruit. 



Until recently, stoves were always used for fruit drying in 

 France, Now there is a tendency to use evaporators upon the 



