Some Problems in the Preservation of Citrus 
Fruit Juices 
Seth S. Walker, Tampa 
Probably there is not a member of this 
distinguished Society who does not real¬ 
ize to some extent the importance of the 
fruit products industry to the citrus 
growers in particular and to the State at 
large. It has been freely predicted by 
those who are, in a position to know, that 
this is the real key to the situation; that 
the enormous increase in production each 
year is soon going to out-strip the in¬ 
crease in consumption of fresh fruits and 
that the only hope of keeping prices up 
to a profitable figure lies in the with¬ 
holding from the market of the low 
grade, off sized, and unattractive article 
which at present constitutes a large pro¬ 
portion of the, fruit shipped. Another, 
perhaps equally important, factor is the 
huge amount of drops and packing house 
culls which now go to the dump, a dead 
loss. It has been variously estimated that 
ten to twenty per cent of the entire crop 
will come under this head. Probably 
ninety per cent of this wasted fruit, if 
used at once, is perfectly suitable for 
manufacture into fruit products. In this 
' connection let me emphasize that “cull” 
fruits are not as a rule “spoiled” fruits. 
In fact they are often the sweetest, juici¬ 
est fruits in the bins, and are culled out 
merely because of skin blemishes, thorn 
pricks, or other minor defects which ren¬ 
der them unfit for shipping long dis¬ 
tances. 
If the lower grades of fruit now ship¬ 
ped are withheld from the market there 
will be no difficulty in disposing of the 
higher grades; and if the dead loss of the 
cull pile is converted into money, there 
will be an enormous decrease of the over¬ 
head cost per box of fruit marketed, mak-. 
it actually possible to sell the good fruit 
at lower prices than are now necessary. 
Thus the consumer as well as the grower 
will benefit. 
What then shall be done with the low 
grade fruit? The answer seems easy. 
“Convert it into fruit products,” every¬ 
body says in the same breath. But if it 
were as easy to do as it is to say the fu¬ 
ture of the citrus growers would loom up 
bright indeed. 
There have been many different at¬ 
tempts made to solve the problem. Some 
have made marmalades, others jellies, and 
others candy; some have bottled the juice, 
and still others have extracted the essen¬ 
tial oil from the peel. A number of these 
endeavors, especially those in connection 
with marmalade, candy, and juice, have 
met with a gratifying degree of success, 
but it is evident to the most casual observ- 
