Volume 2

The practical grocer : a manual and guide for the grocer, the provision merchant, and allied trades / by W.H. Simmonds ; with contributions by specialists, trade experts, and members of the trades ; illustrated by a series of separately-printed plates.

  • Simmonds, W. H.
Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: The practical grocer : a manual and guide for the grocer, the provision merchant, and allied trades / by W.H. Simmonds ; with contributions by specialists, trade experts, and members of the trades ; illustrated by a series of separately-printed plates. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    during the second 65° to 70° C., and during the third 80° to 90° C., otherwise the skins break and the plums burn. Each baking lasts six hours. The fruit is considered good when the skin is firm and shining and the flesh elastic under Drying pressure of the fingers. During the first and second bakings all air crevices are stopped, so that the plums are con- stantly in an atmosphere saturated with steam. During the third baking, however, the apertures are left open. But in the evapo- rating process the plum is lighter, and the taste quite equal to the fresh article, and, as this method is quicker, it is less costly. It consists of exposing the fruit in a hot-air current, the tem- perature of which must not reach 100° C., so that they are not boiled, which would spoil the taste. After gathering they are laid on wicker trays and put in the evaporator, where they remain from twelve to fifteen hours. After being taken out and cooled they are piled up in lofty chambers, where they remain from ten to fourteen days. The moisture is very unequal, as some fruits contain more water than others, and this last process levels them up. A ripe plum of good quality contains on an average 75 per cent of water, the remaining 25 per cent being flesh and stone. After drying it has lost 80 per cent to 90 per cent of its weight of water, the remaining 20 per cent or 10 per cent of moisture giving the plum the soft and elastic qualities which a good dried pluni should possess. The French plums are classed according to the number it takes to weigh a French pound. The largest plums take 40 to 44 to the pound, and fetch the highest price; and the sizes then following take 50 to 54, 60 to 64, and so on up to 120 to 124 to the pound, which fetch a very inferior price. Old French plums can be made to look almost like new by steaming them in a sieve over a hot copper, dipping them in syrup, and drying them in the sun or near a fire. A grocer writes: “ Take an ordinary fruit-sieve and fill it with prunes, adding about i lb. of Barbados or Demerara syrup. Place it over a copper of boiling water with the lid on the top of the sieve. Allow it to remain half an hour. If the prunes are sound, and have been well cured, the result is highly satisfactory; in fact, it would take a good judge to tell them from new fruit. We have just treated a quantity of two-year- old very ‘rusty’ Bosnians in this manner.” 'I'he export of prunes from the United States is now extremely large.