Evening star., 1939-01-04

Careful Handing
Is Essential.
"'Handle with care is a motto we'll
observed in the citrus fruit indus
try, especially at picking time. Clip
pers are used to snip the stems
OF short, so no ends will be left to
puncture other fruit. Pickers put
the fruit into sacks that open at
the bottom so it will be easier to
protect the fruit from injury as it
is rolled into the field boxes. Pick
ers even wear gloves 50 there will
be no finger nail scratches on the
delicate skins Of the freshly picked
oranges.
I'm the packing house, oranges
and grapefruit go through many
processes designed to make them
better to eat and easier to sell.
They are treated with specially pre-
pared antiseptic solutions to prevent
decay, separated into different
grades and sizes, 'degreened,'
scrubbed with brushes in a special
soap solution, dried and covered
with wax coating and polished.
Often they are wrapped each in a
separate square Of paper and packed
into boxes.
"The ripe fruits that look green
are placed in 'degreening' room
where they are treated with very
dilute othylene gas to take out the
green color and leave the natural
yellow or orange. -.
For the sake Of eye appeal only,
artificial color may be applied to
oranges from some producing areas.
Early in the season, when much Of
the fruit is very green, coloring
matter is added to many of the
oranges, but after mid-December
nature usually completes a salts
factory coloring job. The practice
Of adding color Is permitted under
the present Food and Drug Act If
the following conditions are COM
piled with. Each orange so treated,
must be plainly and conspicuously
labeled to show the added color, and
only fully ripe fruits can be colored.
Citrus Fruits Keep
Best on Trees.
s"Citrus growers have learned from
experience that the best storage
place for oranges or grapefruit is on
the trees, and this tree-keeping
quality helps make possible the
year-round supply Of fresh oranges
and grapefruit. Once picked, citrus
fruits are best kept in cold storage
For oranges, the best temperature is
| just above freezing, while so degrees
| Fahrenheit makes more salts
factory storage temperature for
grapefruit. Homemakers who buy
in quantity find it helpful to follow
these storage rules.
Nutrition workers have had their
influence in increasing the quantity
Of citrus fruits grown, harvested, and
consumed. Vitamin studies proved
that citrus fruits are unusually rich
natural sources Of vitamin c, and
that daily supply Of this vitamin
is necessary because it cannot be
stored in the body. Citrus fruits are
most welcome on the winter markets,
when supplies of fresh fruits and
vegetables are at their lowest.
"The person who starts the day
with an average sized serving of
one Of the citrus fruit juices, say
half cup Of juice-or perhaps half
large grapefruit-hasa assured him.
self Of a considerable part of his
vitamin G needs for the day. While
citrus fruits established their repu-
tation with nutrition workers on the
basis of their vitamin c content,
they are also good sources of vitamin
B, supply some vitamin G, and a fair
amount of the essential minerals.
Shoppers who want to get the
most for their money when they
buy citrus fruits, select fruits that