The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-02-13
DRIED APPLE Pres.

DRIED APPLE PIES.
whsvs the Apples Of whisA rAsy Ars
Maas Come fron, and How They Are
Prepsred-The Dried Fruit BssiAsss In
General.
People who live at boarding-houses
poke fun at the dried apple pies fur
nished by their benevolent landladiss-
and then eat the pies. In this way vast
quantities of dried apples are consumed
in the course of year. There is no
,, use talking" said a leading wholesaler,
who had been thinking some on this
matter, "dried apples cut very i'm
portant figure in trade-and so, indeed.
do dried fruits of all kinds-you'd be
astonishsd if. you knew what proper
tons the dried fruit business had
reached. Millions of dollars are invest
ed in it throughout the country, and
right here in st. Paul the sales of dried
fruits amount to several hundred dollars
annually. That surprises you, but it's
So" There seems to be no doubt about
this. Dried fruits are always popular
when green fruits are out of season, and
in this section, where there is very little
fruit grown, there is always a.good de-
mand for them. There was time
not very long ago-when about the only
kind: of fruit put through the drying
process was the apple. There were
always plenty of dried apples to be
had. New Englanders remember how
the drying process was carried on
how the apples were pared and cut up,
and laved out on big trays in the sun
to dry Sometimes they were strung up
on long string, and hung in festoOns
from the rafters in the attic; and when
the lady of the house wished to bake
up batch of dried apple pies for the
family, she would just cut yard or
two off of one of the strings. The mar
kets were supplied from all the farms,
and the dried apple trade was great
business even in the olden time. Then
people began to dry other fruits more
extensively, ndprocesses were invented
known as evaporating processes, by
which large quantities of fruit were
dried at once and in q short space of
time. To-day nearly all kinds of fruit
are offered for sale in the dried state
the list including peaches, pears, plums.
prunes, nectarines, blackberries, rasp-
berries, cherries and grapes. Some
kinds of garden truck also undergo the
drying process, and dried pumpkin pie
can be had as well as dried apple pie
The eyaporating process hasn't revo-
lutionized by any means the old-fash-
Toned sun-drying process. STILL evapora-
ton has come. TO be quite common on
large farms in the East and South. The
evaporators are of various kinds, but in
general appearance they are all the
same. AT the bottom is a furnace and
above it is high, narrow structure
which looks like wooden chimney.
Within the chimney the evaporation is
carried on by one process Or another.
In one of the most popular machines of
the kind the fruit is carried along on an
endless belt in trays which revolve
above the heater until properly dried.
Some evaporators can be taken to pieces
and carried from place to place, and
these are rented to farmers. This,
then, is the way evaporated fruit is
turned out. 81 don't think there's
much difference in the quality of the
machine dried stuff and the sun
dried,' was the opinion expressed
by the grocer. '.If you notice,
the evaporated fruit looks much |
clearer and more tempting than the sun
dried. Something is used for bleaching |
it. Select fruit is also generally used
by the evaporators, and in the case of
evaporated apples, the cores are cleared /
better from the fruit. don't think the |
flavor is any better, however. and when
it comes to the question of cost, the |
fruit is much the cheapest.
Oh. YES; the farmers still cure good
deal of fruit in the old way. in fact, the
old method is the one most in use to-
day, and never expect to see it abol-
ished entirely" Now. the amount of
fruit laid out to dry in Minnesota would
go q very Tttle way toward supplying
even the local market. The fruit used
here comes from distant parts peaches
from New Jersey. Delaware. Maryland
and Pennsylvania; blackberries from
various Southern States; pears, plums
md nectarines from California. Fruit
drying is big business, and there is al
good deal of money in it. The profit
on one hundred baskets of peaches. for
is about forty dollars. and
farmer with proper facilities can pre-
pare that amount in a days.. Paat
Pioneer Press.