Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1918-08-06
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APPLES AND PEARS

II the housekeeper purchases apples
for drying. she should postpone the
work until the late autumn and win
ter varieties can be obtained. as these
have a higher sugar content than do
the summer varieties. But if the
home orchard produces summer APP
pies in excess of the immediate needs
OF the family, they should by all
means be preserved by drying as
they give a dried product which is not
at all TO be dispised. Even wind
falls, if reasonably well-grown. make
an acceptable addition TO the diet
when thoroughly dried
To make the best grade of dried
fruit, the apples used should be ma
ture but not soft, and free from
bruises due TO rough handling. AS
the flesh of applies discolors very rap
idly after it is exposed TO the air, the
work must be so planned in advance
that the fruit is not permitted to stand
at any stage of the process after its
preparation is begun. If several per-
sons are doing the work, this may be
accomplished by dividing the pairing,
coring and slicing, and spreading ON
trays so that any given single fruit
spends only two or three minutes on
the way from the pairing knife TO the
drier. If only one person is doing the
work and delays are unavoidable.
darkening may be largely prevented
by dropping the pared fruit either
into cold water or into very dilute
salt solution made by dissolving one
L -,
Ion of water In no case should the
fruit be allowed to stand in water a
moment longer than is necessary,
since the water dissolves out sugars
and other valuable elements, while
prolonged standing results in absorb
ton of water and slower drying.
Fruit should be carefully pared and
trimmed TO remove all discolored por-
tions If a pairing and coring ma
chine is used, the apples should be
worked over with a knife in order to
remove any bits of core left by the
coring spoon. Most pairing machines
have a slicing attachment which cuts
the fruit into rings. If they must
be sliced by hand care should be
taken to make the slices as nearly
the same thickness as possible in or
der that they may dry uniformly; 3-16
to Il of an inch is the best thick
ness. If preferred, apples may be
quartered or cut into eighths, but
such pieces, because of their irregu-
larity in size, do not dry uniformly
and there is also tendency to dry at
the surface while the centers are still
too moist for safety.
If the housewife desires to make an
especially attractive white dry prod
uct, il will be necessary to blanch
the fruit after it has been pared, cor
ed, and sliced by short treatment
with steam in order to prevent the
discoloration which will otherwise oc-
cur. In order to do this, fit up a
washboiler with false bottom placed
to inches above the bottom and
make a wire basket to fit inside the
boiler, resting upon the balse bottom.
Fill the boiler to a depth of 3 TO 4
inches with Water place on the stove,
cover with the lid, and allow to boil.
Place the sliced apples loosely in the
wire basket to a depth of not more
than 2 inches, and when the has
reached vigorous boiling raise the lid.
lower the basket into the boiler, TAX
ing care that the fruit doeos not come
into actual contact with the water;
replace the lid, and allow the fruit
TO remain in the steam for 3 to A
minutes. Remove, spread in a sin
gle layer on trays, and at once place
in the sun or in the warm drier.
While this rather troublesome treat
ment will result in the production of
white, inviting product, it retards
the drying to some extent. The some
what brown or chocolate-colored fruit
produced by drying without blanch-
/ ing is as high in nutritive value and
as pleasing in flavor as that obtained
by blanching
If apples are being dried in an evap-
orator, the temperature should be
1870 to lao degrees when the fruit is
put in and the temperature should be
kept at this point until the fruit has
lost its crispness and becomes some
what leathery. The heat may then
be increased gradually-this may be
accomplished by moving partially
dried trays downward in the evapo-
rator-but should never exceed $50
degrees. The trays should be exam
ined from time to time, particularly
when nearly done, to guard against
overdrying or scorching.
The fruit is sufficiently dry when a
handful of pieces, if firmly pressed
together. have an elastic, springy
feel and separate promptly when re-
leased without leaving visible moist
ure upon the hands. 1t should not be
possible TO press moisture out of the
freshly torn surfaces of the pieces.
AS soon as it is taken from the
drier the fruit should be placed in a
large wooden or pasteboard box, lin
ed with newspapers and vored with
muslin to exclude insects, and stir
red at intervals of a day or two,
mixing the older portions thorough
ly with each new batch as it is put
I in. The box should be placed in a
warm, dry, darkened room, so that
( drying may slowly continue by loss of
moisture TO the warm atmosphere.
After ten days TO two weeks of this
treatment the fruit may he placed in
permanent containers for storage.
Pears receive the same general
treatment as apples. They should be
mature but not soft, and may advan-