Lime as a Preservative

Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 114, 24 March 1892, Page 3

Lime as a Preservative

.+. Eggs in lime we know about, but it is, we think, quite a new idea to make use of lime for the preservation of potatoes and fruit. M. Monclar, it seems, has been making experiments in this direction. He first tried the lime with potatoes in order to prevent them from rotting, thinking that a little skin corrosion would be preferable to the complete loss of the stored crop ; but; he t»a»d that the skin was quite unaffected, and he was enabled to keep potatoes fourteen ironths after they had been harvested without .deterioration. He found, however, on keeping a sample four months' crnp that decay began to set in, being accompanied by a degeneration of the starchy matters into fcugar. Encouraged by this? success, Alons. Monclar has more, recently applied lime to the preservation of apples and grapes when stored, and the results were quite as good. The lime, in the case of apples and round fruits generally, can be easly removed by means of a wet rag : but it would bo advisable to wrap valuable fruits first in tissuepaper. The preservati i e qualities of dry lime are iound pnbably in its caustic properties, which are certainly germicidal, and perhaps its hygroscopic properties are in some way concerned.