USEFUL FRUIT STORES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 September 1941, Page 6

USEFUL FRUIT STORES

- —» FROM NEW ZEALAND CANNING FACTORIES. PIG'S HAIR FOR UPHOLSTERY. A use for the apricot, peach and cherry stones thrown away at New Zealand’s fruit canning factories is suggested by the Imperial Institute, London. ' The factories have been put in touch with manufacturing chemists in England, who can use the kernels for making fixed and essential oils, similar to those obtained from almond kernels, and worth from 3s 9d to 10s 6d per lb. The fixed oils are used in the manufacture of cosmetics, in pharmaceutical preparations, and for culinary purposes, and the essential oils for perfumery and for flavouring in confectionery. The kernels can also be used as a substitute in making almond paste and for macaroons.

Australian fruit kernels now being shipped are fetching 80s per cwt. for apricots and 55s for peaches. When the kernel is taken away, the shells can be used for charcoal to produce activated carbon.

The Imperial-Institute has also given advice about the use of hair from New Zealand pigs, worth from 36s to 46s per cwt. The hair can be used in furniture and automobile upholstery, for insulation, and as a building material. Ready i purchases of both these products have (been found by the Institute, whose work it is to advise Empire producers on the economic value of raw materials. During the past year, the Institute's Plant and Animal Products Department made reports on 212 samples, and dealt with 1,666 other inquiries from thirtythree Empire countries, while the Mineral Resources Department examined 1884 samples and'dealt with 1715 inquiries.