1903 The still-room by C. Roundell

The Drying of Fruit

when first placed in the machine. As soon as the plums commence to shrivel all danger of bursting is past, and they may then remain in the evaporator until dry. The time required for plums is from six to ten hours, and the temperature requisite 240° to 300° F. Plums may be steamed for a few minutes and then split in half, thus entirely dis- pensing with the cooling process, and considerably reducing the length of time required in drying. 100 pounds of fresh plums will give about 30 pounds of dried. Apricots are simply cut in two, the stones being taken out, and the fruit then dried just like apples, at from 240"" to 250'' F. They take from two to three hours to dry. From 100 pounds of the fresh fruit, 10 to 12 pounds of dried will result. Pears for drying purposes ought not to be quite ripe. They are peeled, and either dried whole, or, more generally, are divided, and the seed-vessels cut out, the stems being left on. They then require steaming for eight or ten minutes, and are filled in from the bottom upwards. The tem- perature used is 212° to 240° F., and the pears will take five to seven hours to dry if divided, or seven to nine hours if whole. From 100 pounds of fresh pears 12 to 16 pounds of dried ones will be obtained. When preparing the pears before dry- ing, the flavour will be improved if a little sugar be added to the water in which they are cooked, 69