The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-03-29
.RASPBERRlES NOW WINTER
 FRUIT BY REFRIGERATION
Successful Experiment. Tried In Chi- cago Cold storageS House In
 Freezing Delicate July Berries
Dealers Predict that PerishabIe Foods Soon Will Be Kept All Year
 Round In This Way

1 Chicago. March 29.-Fresh red rasp- berries all through the winter and l spring, just as firm and with just as delicate a flavor as the newly picked 1 triumph of the cold storage ware l houses of Chicago. Red raspberr1es that were stored in a Chicago cold storage warehouse last July by D. R. Steffy a produce merchant, as an ex- pertinent. were taken out last week and found to be in perfect condition for the most fastidious appetite.
 This experiment marks another great advance in the development of the modern cold storage business an i'm provement, according to James J. Hill, on the primitive cold storage meth hods practiced for centuries by the farmers when they buried their fruits and vegetables to keep them over from the period of plenty to the period of scare Previous experiments have proved the possibility of keeping fresh cher ries and strawberries through the winter and spring-this part of the business now being well established.
 It has also been proved that fresh tomatoes may be kept in perfect con dftion for two months and fresh peaches for the same length Of time. Oranges and lemons are stored for mmercial use and kept in good con- dition for two months.
 The harder varieties of pears are kept in cold storage for months With out any i'll effects resulting. Potatoes
 
 difficulty from the keeping viewpoint, but the range of prices for potatoes IS not great enough to make their stor- age paying proposition MT story put eight carloads of potatoes in Stor- age in July at the time of the freight teamsters' strike because he could not sell them for enough to pay the freight on them from Michigan; he took them out of storage in September in perfect condition and disposed of them so that he suffered financial loss.
 roar1h9 ntS of South Water street do a business of about $250, ,O0O,- 900 a year, handling probably two thirds of the food products veal but excepting meats and flour consumed in Chicago. So great has been the Improvements in the cold storage methods in recent years that most of these dealers predict the time is not far distant when practically all < of the perishable foods for the resi- dents of the larger cities especially will come through the cold storage warehouses.
 At the present time thousands of barrels of apples are kept in cold storage from the season of plenty to the season of scarcity; celery is sup piled to the tables of Chicago through practically all the year because it is preserved in the coolers for months, coming out as good or better than when it went fn.''
 These are only side issues in the cold storage business at present. The bulk of the business still consists of eggs. poultry, butter. fish and meats.
 The method of preserving delicate fruits in the cold storage houses prob ably will surprise most persons who have the idea that freezing would spoil them. The red raspberries, cherries and strawberries are frozen solid and are stored in rooms maintained at a steady temperature of several degrees below freezing. When taken from storage they are spread out and su- gared so they can thaw without mash ing. When thawed they are ready to eat and will keep in good condition for two or three days.
 The furnishing of fresh berries in the winter to private homes probably will not become a common occurrence for some time because such careful handling is needed when they are taken from cold storage. To make it 1 a commercial possibility would entail the installation by the retailer of cold storage refrigerators where the berr; es ! could be kept without thawing until sold to the consumer. This would add some to the cost. but even then the berries could be supplied to the con- suner at lower prices than are charg- | ed for the first fresh winter grown | berries that are shipped to Chicago from the southlands.
 Cherries and strawberries are how | ever stored in great quantities for the l use of hotels and restaurants and ice cream manufacturers. who are thus enabled to supply really fresh cherry pie and strawberry short cake and fruit ices throughout the winter and