Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-03-09
PLENTY OF RAlSINS AND NUTS.
They Come from California and
Drive Foreign Goods Out.

=
There is not one person in ten be-
fore whom is placed a dish heaped
with tempting mixture of almonds,
walnuts and raisins who would not be
surprised if he or she were told that
they were grown in California. And
yet that prolific State is now supply
ing us with these things to the gradual
exclusion of the imported brands, and
they are cheaper, fiesher and better
in every way than the latter. A Front
street merchant, who deals largely in
foreign and domestic nuts and fruits,
in answer to questions on the subject,
gave some information that will no
doubt be new to many readers.
"The California Almonds" said he,
all have thin shells, the kernel is ten
der and the flavor is delicate. The
best OF them will run two or three
ounces more meat to the pound than
the Tarragona, which is the leading
imported almond. The latter is a
handsome nut on account of its large
size, but the shell is very thick and
hard. 1 should not be surprised to
see the California almond entirely
supplant the imported article in few
years. 1t gets better and better every
season.
"Many of our table walnuts come
from there. They are grown chiefly
in the Southern part of the State, and
in freshness and favor they are su-
perior to the foreign nut. More and
more attention is given to their cult
walton every year, and is only ques
ton Of time when they will drive i'm
ported walnuts out of this market"
''What is the Grenoble walnut ?"
"This is grown in little district
lying between France and Switzerland.
1t is good article, but its chief pecul-
iarity is the fact that it will stand up
right on end, and no other walnut will.
1t does not eat any better for tnat,
however.
"But the greatest industry of this
kind in California now," continued
the dealer, ''is the production Of
raisins. By the way, do you know
how they make them? No? Well,
its worth telling. The grape
generally used, you know, is the white
Muscat. The slips are set out in
what is seemingly barren, sandy
plain. They are staked at first, OF
course; but in two years the main
stem of the vine is as large as your
arm and no longer needs support.
The stems are cut off about thirty
inches from the ground and the
branches shoot out on all sides, the
ends being buried in the earth at a
little distance from the main stems.
The big punches of grapes hang un-
derneath, and when they are suffi-
GENTLY ripened Chinamen 60 into the
vineyard with wooden trays five feet
square, and three inches deep, cut
off the punches and lay them in the
trays, being careful that the grapes do
not lie upon each other. The trays
are then laid in the sun and left there.
"Ten days later the Cinnamon go
into the vineyard again, each one
with an empty tray. They find the
exposed sides of the grapes cured and
of purplish color. The empty trays
are now laid bottom up on the filled
ones and they are turned over each
other so that the uncured sides of the
grapes is exposed on the new trays.
they are left thus in the sun another
ten days, and are then taken to the
cooling house, where they are kept
about two weeks. They are then
packed in boxes for the market, in
what is known as the London layer
style. The quality? There are nc
better raisins in the world; indeed,
there are few that equal them. The
production last year was 100000
boxes. In 1873 it was only 5000
boxes. ."-[New York Mail and Ex.
press.