The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-04-26
NEW ENTERPRISE.
The Alden Fruit and Taro COmpan!

rs comparatively little Is known TO the
general public concerning the Alden Fruit
and Taro Company, although its taro
-four has been successfully introduced,
/ more especially in certain parts Of Hawaii,
a brief description OF the Company 5
works Is here given:
The building Is 3Ox40 feet three stories
high with boiler house extension. On the
first or ground flour are located the two
furnaces for the eyapOratOrs, the engine.
cleaning drum, sllclng machine and circu-
lar saws for repairing box lumber. On
the second floor Is the mill and -four bin
where the taTO or fruit for evaporation Is
placed upon trays preparatory TO being
put into the eyapOratOrS, which are hollow
chambers five feet square. On the third
floor the fruit or tarO Is taken from the
evaporators and the tarO paSse- through
chute TO the mill below. The fruit Is here
packed ready for shipment
TarO as il comes from the patches Is
placed in a round drum or cylinder, with
Stats. A perforated pipe above the drum
throws a spray of water which constantly
falls upon the tarO- The drum Is revolved
by steam, and all extraneOus matter Is re
moved by friction. When cleaned, 1t Is re
moved. and the skin mostly taken off by
pairing machines. When freed from the
skins it Is placed in a chute, from which it
Is fed into the sliCing machine. This con-
sistS of an iron hopper holding about
bushel Of tarO. On circular iron disk are
placed two knives at opposite sides. This
is revolved at high rate of speed, and
works so rapidly that the contents OF six
teen large gunny bags have been uniformly
sliced to the required thickness III less than
ten minutes. The sliced tarO is from here
conveyed to the second floor, where it Is
spread upon galvanized iron wire trays.
These traVS are slid into the eYapOratOrS on
Stats, holding small rolls. -Four endless
chains with dogs or brackets are so
arranged that they come under each tray,
and By gearing are hoisted up, lifting the
tray and supporting it on its journey up
ward. \ fresh tray Is introduced in from
eight 10 fifteen minutes, and so continued
until the eyapOratOr Is full; then a tray IS
removed from the evaporation with the taro
dry at the top or third story, and a fresh tray
is introduced at the bottom or second
story, until the days work is COM
pleted From here, the third floor,
from which it is passed through
chute into the mill below on the second
floor This mill stands about seven feet
high, and is of the latest device, known as
the Stevens roller mill, corrugated steel
rolls. As the tarO passes into the hopper
it is crushed by corrugated rollers, moving
against corrugated plate, into particles
about the size of wheat grain. This falls
onto steel rolls, nine by eighteen, one run
ming much faster than the other, where it
is crushed into flour. This falls into a round
cylinder lined with fine cloth. On the in
side of this is a spiral brush revolving.
This brushes all the flour through the
cloth, and the balance, or tailingS like mid
dlings, passes to the end of the cylinder
and out into cOntainer. The good flour
falling from the wire cloth drops into a
small frame where a Sheet-irOn COnYeyer,
in spiral form, worms it to one end,
where elevators OF Sheet-irOn on an endless
belt convey it to the flour bin, from which
place it IS bagged, at our convenience,
usually i'll tive-pOund packages. These are
again placed in burlaps.
I Bananas are peeled or evapOrated whole,
as desired, going into and out of the eVap
orating chamber similarly to taro, and
when taken from the evaporation are
packed in boxes containing an area of l2X12
X24 inches. All fruits can be evapOrated,
some of course requiring longer than
others.
The Company is now manufacturing Poi
from -four superior to any ever before seen.
4 series of trays, with canvas Innings, are
arranged one above the other, with a space
of about four inches between. Steam is adj
mitted at the bottom and follows a straight
course under and over the trays coming in
direct contact with the flour, which is
cooked in from one to one and half hours.
From here the cooked mass passes into
circular cOntainer, where Il wheel weighing
some two hundred pounds Is revolved by
gearing running over the mass, which Is
constantly kept in position under the
wheel by scrapers until it is worked to the
consistency necessary to make good Poi.
1t is then placed III containers ready for
distributions As the entire process is
mechanical, it will be readily seen it must
be as free from outside matter as 1t is pos
Sible to have it.
The factory is located i'll the central part
of the beautiful town of Wailuku Maui,
near its principal thOroughfare.
The Company intends to supply Homo
lulu and other parts of these Islands with
Poi, where regular communication can be
relied upon.
The following are few of numerous adj
vantages of the Company'S Poi, in COM
parisOn with the ordinary Poi made by
hand:
Poi, as commonly made, can scarcely be
free from impurities of various kinds, some
OF them of Il most deleteriOuS character,
owing to the filthy process OF handling and
the latent diseases prevalent among ma
,tives and Cinnamon, who are usually en-
tplOyed to pound and manipulate the same.
BY the substitution of the machinery above
described for hand labor, all these Objec-
tiOnS to the use of Poi are removed. The
machine-made Poi is absolutely free from
impurities of every kind. To old residents
of the Islands it is unnecessary to COM
mend Poi as an article OF food, but Tor
others not so well acquainted with its in
trinSic value and nutritious and health
giving qualities, testimonials of leading
resident physicians are appended.
TESTIMONIALS.
The Taro Flour as prepared by
the Alden Fruit and Taro Company of
Wailuku, Maui, | consider to be an excel
lent and reliable food. My experience
with Poi, the native food of the Hawaiians,
has been, that in a tropical climate 1t Is
the best food not only for the POlynesian
but for the white race. The objection, and
it is not slight one, is in its preparation,
which Is uncleanly and almost repulsive to
txrff 4, fTph
Poi can be readily made Obviates this
drawback. For irritable stomachs vomiting
from any cause except organic derange-
ment of the digestive organs, have found
Poi invaluable either diluted with water or
milk ] therefore encourage thoroughly
the manufacturers to try to make this food
Dopular abroad q. TROUssEAU.
] can most conscientiously recommend
the Taro Flour, as manufactured by the
Alden Fruit and TarO Company of Wal
luku. Maui, as an excellent article of diet; i
it is very nutritious and easily digestedA