Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-03-17
CRYsTALLIzED FRUIT.
A Great Coming Industry for


| Los Angeles.
So far as the writer remembers the
subject of crystallized fruits has never
had any elaborate discussion at the
hands Of the Manufacturers Associa-
ton. 1t is an industry destined to grow
to large proportions in this end of Cali
fornia. Los Angeles and other South
California counties will more and more
be reclaimed from such prosaic uses as
the production Of cereals and the com
moner sort Of leguminous crops. This
region will be the home of the fruits.
The whole county will in time be cut up
into very small farms of five to twenty
acres, devoted to fruit culture. To dis
pose Of the vast crops of fruit to be
grown here all sorts OF methods will
have to be resorted to. Tho great West
with its many millions of mouths to
| feed will no doubt absorb unimagined
quantities of all sorts of fruit crops, but
| there will come eras of plethora in this
| region when it will be found well to
have more than one channel Of outlet
on which to rely. The modern method
of evaporating fruit will be found an ex-
cellent one, by which thousands of tons
Of fine fruit in cheap form will reach
hundreds Of thousands of the people in
| rigorous climates where such crops can
| not be successfully cultivated
| Capitalization will be called in to act
as the medium through which great
deal of the fruit crop of Southern Cali
| fornia will be handled. In the south of
| France and other parts of Europe this is
a great industry. Mr.. Mason, the
| United States Consul at Marseilles, has
sent report to the government which
contains much Of great interest to the
| fruit growers and merchants OF this sec
ton. He says that at such cities as
| Clermont, Grasse, Avignon and Mar
| seilles, as well as in hundred Others
less well known, the capitalization OF
| fruit is among their leading industries.
| England and the United States afford
| the principal markets for this product.
but il is shipped to Algiers and the In
| dies, east and west, South America and
otherfruit growing regions. where an
abundance of fresh fruit does not seem
~ iutCflrfC ~ WIN viz ossaS "a e%S
manufactured article.
The kind of fruits specified as used for
this purpose are pears, cherries, april
cots, pineapples, plums, figs, citrons,
melons, oranges, including the dwarf"
or Chinese orange. This last is mainly
imported fresh from Italy and Corsica,
as it does not grow well on the south OF
France. The peach is also used, but in
less quantities, owing to the fact that it
is not abundant in the district.
AS to the process an exchange quotes
the report as saying: 1.-THE crystalliza-
ton process is in ;principle simple and
nearly uniform for all the above kinds
OF fruit, but it requires certain skill
and delicacy of manipulation which can
only be obtained by experience, and
which it is difficult to precisely define. |
The essential thing to be done is to ex
tract thejuice of the fruit and replace
il in thepulp with liquid sugar, which,
upon hardening, not only preserves the
fruit from fermentation and decay, but
retains it in its original form and consis-
tency. For this purpose it is necessary
that the fruit should be fresh, clear of
all decay or other blemish, and of pre-
cisely the correct degree of ripeness.
This last is an important and difficult
requirement, as the proper degree OF
ripeness for crystallizing varies with the
different varieties, and is so precise as
to exclude from use for this purpose
much of the fruit sold during the season
insopen market, and which has not been
gathered, assorted and transported with
sufficient care.