Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1858-10-21
Farmers Department.
About Drying Apples,

October aud November are the best mont hS
for drying apples, and the welripencd, choice,
fall varieties, are by far the best for that pur-
pose Some people have an idea, that anything
in the shaI c of an apple, big enOu III To pare,
cut, and core, let the flavor be what it may,
it just as good for drying as another We beg
leave TO correct this error 1t is Just as I'M
portant to have a good apple to dry, as to e"
raw, cook, or bake TO those, therefore, who
want good dried apples, we will offer Il lew Sng-
gestiOns
Ist Let your apples be of good size. fair in
shane, choice in havOr-sweet or tart, as you
may prefer, bat both are good for variety of
purpose. They should be gathered aritboWt
braisiAg laid by till nearly ripe, bat not
quite ripe pared with machine-if you have
a good one-and qiartered, or half quartered
according to the size of the fruit, or the use to
be made of the articIeiwhen dried.
End Let the work he done as rapidly as
possible, for the fruit may rpen too fast after
beginning to do them, and keep the cutting and
coring mp with the pairing /; for the mOQrnt the
open flesh OF the fruit becomes exposed to the
atmosphere, not heated, it begins to lose its
aroma, moisture and flavor, oil TO the damage
of its qnality when dried.
3rd If you choose to string them, which
may be done, or not as you prefer, do 1T as
soon as You can We should not dry thus,
preferrng wire racks for the purpose. Then,
instead of hanging them up by the side of the
house, in the sun, or in the kitchen, where
millions Of flies will alight upon, aud live on
them for several days put them in a kiln, or
drying room, with n heat of a hundred degrees
of thermometer L.t the kiln he ventilated at
the bottom aud top, to pass off the exhaling
moisture, but not enOug Ii 10 make pcrcccptl-
BILE dramght through it.
4th When the drying heat has sufficiently
closed the pores of the cut fruit to prevent the
escape of its aroma, the heat may he modified
ten or twenty degrees. and so continued an
til they are sufficiently cured for storing away
which may be known by breaking "a few pieces
and the absence of any settled moisture in the
lesh showing fermentation.
5th. When sufficiently cured, pack them
away in small bags. or sacks made of common
cotton sheeting, or light -four sacks, not closely
crowded in, but as they will naturally lilI ; tie
them closely, and hang them to nails OH the
side of dry room They will thus keep indie
finitely, or till you want to use, or market
them.
A well selected apple, properly pared, cut,
Cored, and cured, is one of the best luxuries Of
the table, while Indifferent varieties, carelessly
worked up, strung and dried in the kitchen,
half covered with flies, fused with the steamS
of cookery, dust, and the accumulations and
exhaations of an open, diSOrdered living-room
are not fit to eat, nor even to SELL We have
seen apples dried after the latter fashion, even
in the households of otherwise tidy people and
to those who are in the habit of doing so, we
say, try the other plan, and if they do not ac-
knowledge it a better way, in every possible
use an apple can be put to, call upon us, for
the difference in expense.