Los Angeles herald., 1892-03-20
ORANGE WINE,
1t Is Being Successfully Made
in Florida.
Why Should 1t Not Be Manu-
factured Here?
A Description of the Process and
the Quality.
An Orange Wine Which Compares with
the Best Grape Wine-The Way
1t Is Made-A Delicious
Beverage.

Beverage.
The Philadelphia Times of a recent
date contains an article on orange wine
making in Florida, from which the fol-
lowing extracts are taken:
The latest product which fair Florida
is providing for the enjoyment and ad-
vantage of the rest of the country is
orange wine, product about which
some facts from the cradle of its greatest
manufacture cannot fail to have an
interest.
THE LUSCIOUS FRUIT.
The daily consumption of oranges ia
over $4,000 and is expected to reach
100000 this year. They are secured
from distance of 20 miles around and
the company uses the entire product of
twenty-five different groves. The largest
of these groves has production of 1885,
600 oranges in season.
The oranges are ready in November or
December, but are allowed to hang on
the trees three or even four months
after ripe, and are plucked as required.
all seasoned, and the finer for being al
lowed to remain on the tree.
1t is not surprising that the wine
made from such fruit should have such
nutritive, nourishing and reconstruct
i've qualities and that it's action upon
the human economy, especially in the
case OF invalids, should be so admirable.
In fever and in convalescence from de-
bilitating disease especially it is en-
| ho
DR.. Blackwood Thomas, DR.. Waugh and
many other Philadelphia physicians, I
am informed, recommend it to their pa-
tients. Some idea of its peculiarities
may be cleaned from the following let
ter:
| repeat what told you before, con-
slider it not only the best wine for med
icinal purposes to be found in the mar
ket, but even superior in most cases
to the best brandy, because it is not
only sufficiently stimulating, but it ia
also an excellent tonic to the organs of
digestion, and usually agrees with the
patients stomach, where braDdies nau-
seate, while its pure taste and agreeable
flavor captivates the patients. lam
sorry to say that none of our druggists
keep the wine, and 1 am quite sure
that none of them even know
what it is. Two of them
keep base imitation. which they sell
as orange wine. 1 had the curiosity to
taste some and found it but little more
than colored, sweetened water, favored
with orange peel. 1 have made several
amusing tests with the orange wine.
Upon presenting glass of it to several
gentlemen who have done Europe aev-
eral times and profess themselves 10 be
tolerable judges of wine, they have in
variably pronounced it "most excellent
grape wine," but of "what vintage they
were unable to tell"
HOW MADE.
The sulphur springs of this place are
we'll known through the south, and the
water, though not pleasant to the taste,
is highly medicinal. The wine made
here, however, is not only healthful.
but pleasant to the taste, and no one
tries it once without wanting it again.
The water of the large spring here
actually boils and rolls out of great
hole, making place go deep and wide
that steamboats, have run up to the
very bank.
The winery is about half mile south
of the spring. The largest building is
storehouse, 100 feet front, and various
buildings have been added from year to
year. The oranges are brought in wag-
ons by the growers and counted, and
then conveyed by elevators to the bins.
The elevator consists of an endless chain
with buckets attached, and from them
they are thrown automatically into the
bins. All this is done by steam. There
they are carefully selected, and any that
are the least specked are rejected, az
even one bad orange might taint large
product. All the fruit has to be the
best.
From the bins the oranges pass to the
peelers, ofwhich there are twelve, worked
by hand by twelve men. The peeling of
an orange is much more difficult and
delicate operation than peeling an apple,
for instance, for there is no core to get
hold of, and then for wine making no
particle of the rind can be retained. The
peeler is very peculiar arrangement
devised for this especial purpose.
From the peelers the oranges pass
down into the graters, which tear the
peeled fruit into a golden pulp. This,
in turn, is shoveled by wooden shovels
into the presses, which have a capacity
there it is filtered, passing through cloth,
| UNIV bSAA6 ouSSSoOAVO 10y CIo Vi Uuo pulp.
one above another.
When these layers of fruit are four
inches thick the cloth is doubled over
the top, another rack is laid on this
layer, and so on until ten layers of dis
integrated oranges are prepared. These
layers slide under press which works
very slowly down until the Juice is en-
tirely expressed.
This juice runs from the press into
reservoirs and is then pumped into inn
mense casks holding 1000 gallons each,
for fermentation. After remaining
three months in these casks, it is
drawn off into barrels and shipped
north to the warehouse at Norristown,
Pa, and there once more is placed in
large casks and kept for three years be-
fore bottling. The utmost cleanliness is
observed in the process of making the
wine.
The cleanliness observed ie of the
most scrupulous character, and every
thing about the place is washed daily.
No fond housewives cupboard receives
more attention, for amid such heat and
with 80 many insects, the making of
wine from oranges could not be carried