a lot of countries to look after to keep vigorous and healthy i do write well at it too if i do say so myself but down there in one corner of the earth is a spot called california where i've been well sorta extra liberal with town why well they've got some soil and water just suited to growing things fruit trees especially when i spot a set up like that tailor made you might say i just naturally pour it on with the result that if you set out to find the best apricot on mother earth you would sooner or later end up there in a place called the set of clara valley close by in the same peaceful region you'd run into the world's finest prune for the world's finest grapes good luck to the san joaquin valley rightfully called the great basket of a nation and your mouth would simply water over those luscious amber morsels just bursting their skins with sugar and goodness as i am of this job i don't want to seem boastful about my end of it after all i have to work with earth and water to produce this wonderful fruit then it's up to men to use it wisely one of the wise ways they found long centuries ago is the preservation of fruit by dry i want to tell you about that now i've seen a lot of fruit drying in my time but the best job i know is done under the eagle eye of del monte one of the world's great factors in the dried fruit industry so follow closely and see how del monte puts me dr sunshine on their dried fruit payroll finest fruit is grown especially for dry seventy percent of our apricot and raisin great more than half or three stone peaches almost our entire prune crop does that look like leftovers no ma'am dried a mainline industry from start to finish year after year i've watched the money buyers go out to those favorite fruit growing regions and literally comb them over buying only the better crops for their dried  fruit as a result of this and i can vouch for it belmont equality is built on selected fruit of course selected fruit means more than fruit from favorite area it also means fruit of perfect right and i'll tell you it isn't right and just about running over with sugar and sweetness it's no good for drying the resulting product will be flat and taste there's no second guess on a deal like that road is either right or it isn't and you can't hang it back to ripen once you pick it too soon so down monday stipulates that constant checks be made in the field rightness is the rule full sugar content the measuring stick on any and all fruit earmarks delmonte not until those long parcels of nature are almost bursting with sugar is the go ahead given the pickers that's the way it is with peaches rates and apricot it's up to men the time the ripeness but over in the prune the potman i hold the stopwatch myself the prune sit up there basking in my wall rays until sugar content reaches a feet that's the instant of perfect right at that moment i kind of pressed the button and the prune let's go before they parachute to earth the soil is carefully prepared so they land on a nice soft cushion when the pickers gather them up by hand each prune is perfectly right and that's a fact they elected fruit destined for del monte but bill money selection means more than favored areas all right for affection it also applies to the care with which the fruit is dry so let's stop along and watch the drying why don't they all stale they want to be dry hold your horses john this is a special step for prunes before they go to the dry was now do you think all the moisture all know mary not all of moisture but most of it and here's why fresh fruits contains some seventy to eighty five percent water if all this were left in the fruit in time would spoil so by drying we reduce the moisture to about fifteen or twenty percent just enough is left in to form a concentrated syrup so high in sugar content that it acts as a natural vines and i'll turn them in the raisins right there but growers have learned that i work faster and better if the fruit is picked and laid in the open so the rich right clusters are placed on trays right in the vineyards and i proceed to concentrate their sugar with peaches and apricot things are a bit more complicated these fruits go from orchard direct to cutting table after which they're fully qualified to say let me tell you about my operation have been good those ripe golden will give up their most year quickly and without a struggle now here's where science comes to the aid of sunshine if this fruit went directly to the dry a certain undesirable changes would take place to forestall those changes purpose of the treatment is to stabilize the color of the fruit in the second place to stabilize its valuable vitamin c content the only known practical agent to accomplish this needed job is fumes from burning sulfur delmonte uses this approved method because it gets protection without penalty to taste food value and quality somebody's time comes those orchard queens stretch out and relax like bathing beauties at the beach then i take over removing the most you're little by little but leading into all the food bad you in the fruit of course there's no a thermostatic control on me dr sunshine so mr grower has to watch the timing and take the freudian at the prime of condition and in the case of raisins give me an even chance on both sides of the so you see how it is i take three to six pounds of fresh fruit depending on their id and with the help of the grower reduce it to one pound of dried fruit then my work is done our selected fruit is ready for the packing house and hardly a start delmonico's that to every purchaser the size and uniformity of dried fruit might be important to catalogue it delmon a really goes to town not by not by labels say fruit is such and such a size this machine is that guarantee and a just can't miss of course that's on my side it doesn't say anything about quality of the fruit i'll come to that later another chapter and control is raisins them after the sweet media raisins have been removed from their main stem and accurately graded for size delmonico's after the caps stamp those stubborn little fellows that buckle mr raisins are the main thing  this another machine goes into action inside its worley meshes raisins play a game of crack the whip raisins travel one way stems fly off the other and is this a boon the housewife thanks jan in the old days i have to pick over delmonico's after fifth columnists and the little stones and pebbles that try to pretend they're raising that's easy they're taken with the raisins for a swim in a freshwater water levels are trapped at the bottom and that's the end of that so it is with every dried fruit in the down mud a line cleanse time and time again with special equipment tailored to special needs douse done plunged and bathe in fresh water change by the second world inefficient rotary again and again and again in every manner of cleaning equipment and clean spread water constantly changed and when those sparkling fruit finally emerged from there are deals there are really two lane and how  i doctor your main claim yes but there's more to come but beyond that efficient cleaning down money takes further measures to preserve and protect that treasured cleanliness all the way to the consumer this added control is known as processing processing is adjusted to the nature of the fruit for peaches and apricot it means a last light suffering final stabilisation of vitamin c and color pru being of different nature are processed in boiling water in the process or they travel in automatically controlled journey designed to retain their natural flavor and goodness emerging they are not only clean but soften which partially explains  none more important than the inspection crew guardians of the inspection belt who with quick hand and eager i stand watch over final quality that's the shop i had reviewing line dried fruits mark john resprayed hands and ready for the consumer so let's move along to the weighing table where accurate way to every fruit every cotton is a dell not a watch word to ensure full measure scales are set for more than the weight shown on the package th tolerance is an offset to the natural evaporation that takes place after packaging no matter when the carton is opened the buyer a sure to receive full value now what would be the use of all this care  del monte that means special cartons for special types of fruit peaches prunes and apricot take the famous triple seal the first sale being especially developed paper liner form automatically and tightly sealed over the liner a sealed then something magic happens a marker passes before an electric which with a single wing measures also delmonte labeled nice as you please a very special delmonte label impregnated and coated with w briny deep those tender delmonte raisins would be as perfect as the moment they enter the cottage nothing gets then nothing gets out there's still a lot i haven't told about dried fruit another whole story could be woven around the handling of seeded raising their seeds removed in much the same way cotton seed the removed by the cotton gin nor did i tell you that an important part of the prudent crop is now dehydrated mechanically the results of the same is drying my own i just thought i ought to mention what we've had to travel fast so i've given you a highlight highlights that show the eternal vigilance down money devotes to dr ed fruit in the careful selection of fruit thoroughly ripened scientifically dry so only the better becomes delmonte in rigid packing house control exercised through endless sequences of grading deliver dried fruit fresh and clean to the consumers table no wonder they're good no wonder they're famous there's from tree to table of precious heritage of quality quality built