6 BULLETIN 803, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
own system. The standards in Table 1, based on the best com- 
mercial practice, have been suggested by Bioletti.t 
TABLE 1.—Standards for size grades. 
Average Average number per pound. 
diameter 
Designation. Size. in six- 
teens Of | Mission. | Sevillano. | Ascolano. | Manzanillo. 
iimfralance sss Ap abe eee | 1 16 35 33 36 39 
LENE Ds lees ae Sew ap i ay aa | 2 14 52 49 54 58 
IMediam’s £2 ce Wile ee SE) 5 ae a 3 12 82 78 8 93 
Sa roe ao ee ee ee eee 4 10 135 142 148 160 
1 Dp:q Witz iS) C07 GR ia eee Vs ee © 5 Below 9 ? ? ? 
Many fancy names and symbols are used to designate the various 
grades. The graded olives are sometimes run over sorting belts to 
be segregated for color, but this is not common. 
After being graded and sorted, the olives are taken to the nicking 
vats. In the newer factories, Thess are made of concrete, about 8 
by 3 by 2 feet. Similar tanks of redwood are also used, and some- 
times circular tanks of redwood, about 8 feet in diameter and from 
‘ 4 to 5 feet deep. Subject to some variation, the following treatment 
is applied: A quantity of 14 to 2 per cent caustic soda solution, in 
weight about five times that of the olives, is poured over the fruit, 
_and allowed to stand for from 6 to 8 hours, with frequent stirring. 
This liquor is then drained off, and the olives exposed to the air for 
24 hours, with occasional stirring. More of the same or a weaker 
solution is applied for a similar length of time, and again run off and 
the fruit aerated. This operation is performed a third time, or until 
the caustic reaches the pit, as indicated by a darkening of the flesh. 
The lye solution is then run off, and fresh water added to the vat. 
The water is changed about every 12 hours until all the lye is 
washed out. The pickler determines this by. taste. Tests of all 
commercial samples analyzed, with phenolphthalein, show the ab- 
sence of free alkali or normal carbonates. At this point, salting of 
the olives is begun by soaking them in solutions of brine of gradually 
increasing strengths, of about 1, 2, and 4 per cent of salt. Factory 
control is by means of the salometer, a hydrometer graduated in 
hundredths from zero in distilled water to 100 in saturated salt so- 
lution. Usually the strongest solution employed is approximately 
15° on this scale. The olives are soaked about 2 days in each of 
these different solutions, after which they are canned in a 3 or 4 
per cent brine and processed in a water bath. Recently Bioletti and 
Cruess have proposed preserving in lacquered cans or glass jars with- 
out any liquid.? It is claimed that the olives thus treated keep their 
black color better than when brine is used. 
1Calif. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bul. 263. EEE California Olive Association recently has adopted 
a set of size standards. 
2 Calif. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bul. 289. 
tie bey old 
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