Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1882-06-08
Fruit Evaporation.

'NtS ANSSsS S'Ss " ~ AbOiio "AhSlt pa VIII
ises to add moro TO the revenue of
tho farmer and gardener than the
evaporation of fiuit. All of us
can remember what n laborious,
unsatisfactory and unprofitable
process drying apples, pumpkins
and berries used to be; what hard
work it involved, and in what a
conglomcration of dirt and spoiIt
fruit it resulted. 1t was at best a
bad job, and tho best that could be
said in its favor was that it fur
nished an excuse for an occasional
paring-bee, and poor substitute
for green fruit in a season when
nothing better could be had. No
body ever got fifty cents a day
drying apples or pumpkins to sell,
nobody ever bought them who, in
our Judgment, didn't get the worst
ofthe bargain. But the invention
of evaporators, by the help of
which fruits nearly all kinds arc
in few hours put into a condition
in which they will keep tor months
and retain all their original excel
lenccs, has worked a revolution in
fruit preservation, and not only
made it practicable to save a
great many farm products which
formerly wont to waste, but put
them within tho reach of nearly
everybody at all seasons of the
year.
OF the benefits ofthis new pro
cess, J. G Bennett says in an in
tcresting paper, in the Rural New
Yorker:
In properly cvaporatcd fruit
there is no loss Of pleasant or val
liable properties, but an actual in
crease Of fruit sugar, from the fact
that evaporation is essentially a
process, the development
ofsugar ranging from 0 to % per
cent. in different fruits as deter
mined by chemical analysis. In
stead Of a rctrogradc transition
awaiting our really unsurpassed
fruits, berries and vegetables at
their full stage ofripcning, we have
in the use Of tho cvaporator a
elimination Of the samc organic
forces, and in a few hours the
juices, which heretofore formed
and perfected tho fruit (but which
after this hasten dccay,) arc
quickly matured, and the maxi
mum development Of sugar Sc
cured and tho water cvapo-atcd,
the change being analogous to the
transition Of the grape to tho
swcotcr ra,sin or the acid green
apple to ripcnoss, with correspond
ing delicacy. The cell structure
remains unbrolScn and the articles
when placed in the juvcnating
bath of fresh water return to their
original form, color and consist
ency. Thus, a few ounces of
pumpkin flour make sauce or
custard at all seasons and rarely
can any one distinguish a pic or a
pudding of cvaporatcd apples
from that made from fresh fruit
by sight or taste. Tho summer
squash becomes an alI-thc-ycar
vegetable for every climate and
market on the globe. A large
load Of pumpkins may be driven
in from the field in the morning,
and the next morning shipped to
the antipodcs, in a barrel. The
sweet potato which perishes SO
rapidly as to be unknown to most
of the markets Of the world, is re-
duccd to an imperishablc condi-
ton by pneumatic evaporation,
and will soon bccom familiar
luxury On the tables and markets
Of the world and at al! seasons of
the year alike. lis slices, placed
in cold water and brought to a boil
for thirty minutes, arc ready for
the table or frying pan, and are in
no respect inferior to tho original
vegetable. The Northern potato,
like the turnip, improves by cvapo-
ration, and for spring use, for ship
stores and for expectation, leaves
its original out Of sight, occupies
little room, and is proof against
lo,ou