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114 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Fup., 1900: | 
best material, but it is usually cheaper and more convenient to use woodel 
receptacles thoroughly treated with boiling water and soda until they 
sterilised and all taste of the wood removed. Any wood (such as pine) Wl) 
strong taste should not be used. The vats should be provided with a removablt } 
drawing off the solutions. 
The thickness of the layer of olives should not be more than 2 feet, or le 
with soft varieties. | 
2. Only the very best of potash lye should be used. Some of the brant 
of lye are so impure that it is impossible, without a chemical analysis, to 1 | 
within 40 cent. how strong the lye solution actually is when made up. “ Grech 
bank Lye” has been found the most reliable, and may be considered as 100 p@ | 
cent. pure when making up the solution. The length of time which the oliv 
should be left in the lye, and the number of times the lye should be renew& | 
can only be determined by experiment for each variety and each locality. The | 
object is to extract the tartness of the olive, and at the same time to soften BY 
skin sufficiently to allow the tart or bitter substances to be soaked out in Ht 
subsequent treatment with pure water. The tougher and thicker the skin 0 
the olive and the more intense the tartness, the longer must the lye treatme? | 
be continued. The lye is sometimes made twice as strong as recommendet” 
aboye, and the treatment correspondingly shorter, but the results are not | 
good. Just enough lye solution should be used to exactly cover the olives, a® 
occasionally, during the soaking, some of the solution should be drawn off below 
and poured on top to insure an equal treatment of all the fruit. ‘ 
3. Only the very purest water should be used, both for the lye solutio!” 
and for the subsequent soaking. Canal and river water, or any water thal 
contains a great deal of organic matter, should never be used unless ib ¥ | 
practicable to boil it first. Distilled water, such as can sometimes be obtaine®— 
by condensing the waste steam from a boiler, is the best, both on account of 18 | 
purity and its greater extractive power, provided, of course, it be free from one 
flavours The length of time during which the soaking in pure water shoul? | 
be continued varies yery much in accordance with the character of the fruits 
Jf the olives are firm and show no signs of becoming soft it should continU® | 
until the tartness is sufficiently extracted. ‘This will vary usually between te? | 
and twenty days. ‘I'he moment that the olives begin to show signs of softening 
however, they should be placed in weak brine, even though the tartness has nob 
all disappeared. What remains can then be extracted by the brine, whic? | 
should be changed two or three times, as may be necessary. It is not necessaty | 
to change the brine quite so often as the pure water, once in two days beié 
generally sufficient. | 
Salting.—If the olives are soft at first, before treatment with lye, or if they | 
are of a kind that softens rapidly in the lye, it is necessary to use brine fro! 
the beginning, either immediately after treatment with lye or, in extreme case 
with the lye. ‘I his méthod, suggested by Professor Hilgard, has been used with 
marked success. The lye solution in this case should be made by adding 2 0% | 
of lye and 4 oz. of salt to each gallon of water. As the lye acts much mot® 
slowly when used in combination with salt, it may be allowed to stay on thé 
olives for a longer time without injury, eight to twelve hours, or even more 
In this way the lye solution tends to soften and swell the olives; the brine — 
counteracts this and tends to harden and shrink them. The shrinkage, whi¢ 
occurs when brine is used from the beginning on naturally soft olives, is not # 
disadvantage if not carried too far, as such olives are generally too watery to Pe 
palatable or to keep well. They can, moreover, if shrunk too much, be madé 
jeep again by a few treatments with pure water before} being put finally int? — 
rine. 
