Drying Fruit in America.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, 14 February 1890, Page 2

Drying Fruit in America.

The Albura (U.S.A.) Republican, after bestowing warm praises on the exhibit of dried fruits made at a recent cbanitry fair by W. M. Foster, of Lincoln, and presuming that he is sumptuously neat in all bis operations, describes bis methods with different kinds of fruit as follows : — [ For choice dripd peaches he selects I the largest and best : clingstones he can find. These are peeled, split, pitted, and then put into a white sugar syrup, such as ie 1 used for canning. The syiup is allowed to come t > a boil, when the fruit ia immediately faken out, and placed on wooden trays in the sun where it is dried about four days. Mr Foster thinks tin trays, kept bright and clean, would be better. He aims to get the largest amount of dried fruit f 'om the smallest amount of green, and finds that by this process 3lb of green fruit make one ot dried. The sugar costs from 8 to 5 cents for each pound of product ; but the result is something very like crystallised fruit. An Oakland' lady who sat? it at the fair says.it, is as choice as the cryastalised fruit for which she paid '50 cents a pound in Oakland. Mr Foster say? it is a good paying business at 25 cents a pound. Pears and apricots are treated the same-* as ppeches. But hie choice prunes and Pacific figs were simply brought, to a boil in clear water without any sugar before the drying process. vTJJey contain sufficient syrup ; and the, dig into the boiling wajjer brings it to the surfaoe, so that the prunes are made transparent. Mr Foster has the handsomest dried fruit in the market ; and everything is done by the foregoing methods. He uses no sulphur on his figs; and he gets fancy prices for everything