The Raisin Industry / A practical treatise on the raisin grapes, their history, culture and curing

by Gustavus A. Eisen

Seedless Sultana.

—This grape is decidedly one of the most important raisin grapes known. Its bunches are very large, sometimes weighing five pounds each. The berries are round and seedless, the size of large peas, of a green color, which, when the grape ripens, turns bright amber yellow, with small brown spots. The leaves are large and very entire, and more yellowish than those of the Muscat. The growth of the vine is upright, with erect or climbing branches. This grapevine in order to bear must be pruned long, and should properly be staked from four to five feet high. The yield of the Sultana is very heavy, and as much as sixteen tons of fresh grapes are frequently harvested from an acre, provided the soil is the very best possible. The grapes begin to color and sweeten several weeks before the Muscat, but they become fully ripe later than this variety, and are on that account not as extensively grown as they certainly deserve to be. For districts with long summers and autumns the Sultana will prove a very profitable and desirable grape. The native home of the Sultana is Asia Minor. There it is grown principally around Smyrna and in several of the islands in the Archipelago. In California only few Sultana vineyards are planted; still there is undoubtedly a great field for this grape where the seasons are long enough to allow of its perfect ripening. The raisins are light in color and somewhat acid, but with no particular flavor, and in this respect are inferior to the Muscats and the Currants. They are produced either by dipping, as is done in Smyrna, or by sun-drying, as we do in this State. If the dipping process is used, the grapes must be very ripe, else they will turn reddish and dark and lose quality. In California the Sultana grape does well, and only seldom produces seeds. In Eastern Mediterranean countries, except in the few favored spots of Smyrna, or in some of the Islands, this variety rapidly deteriorates and becomes seed-bearing, which of course entirely ruins its usefulness. The Seedless Sultana was first brought to California by Colonel Agoston Haraszthy in 1861.

Black Currant.

—This variety is but little known in this State. The growth is erect and climbing. The bunches are long, narrow and cylindrical, with heavy shoulders. The berries are small, of the size of peas, seedless and black, very sweet and with a peculiar aroma not found in any other variety. The Black Currant should be pruned short, and the young branches require staking in order to bear well. The home of the Black Currant is the Grecian Islands as well as Morea, especially around Patras. Zante, Cephalonia and Ithaca all produce Currants of the highest quality.

Other Varieties of Currants.

—The White Currant grown in California is not the true raisin grape which produces the Currant of commerce. The bunch and berry resemble the Black Currant, but differ in not being black, and in lacking the peculiar aroma and flavor alone possessed by the Black and true Currant. There are in Greece several other varieties of Currants, such as red and gray, but these are used for wine and not for raisins. The White and Red Currants were introduced from Crimea in 1861 by Colonel Agoston Haraszthy.

Thompson Seedless.

—This variety has been growing in California for many years, but has only lately come into notice. It was imported from Rochester, New York, from the establishment of Elwanger & Barry, about 1872, and was by them described as a grape from Constantinople under the name of Lady Decoverly. Thompson Seedless is the name given this grape by the local growers around Yuba City, and not the original name. I am inclined to believe that this grape is related to, but not identical with, the oblong, seedless grape which is grown around Damascus in Asia Minor, and there dried into a raisin of very good quality. This Damascus grape is brownish when ripe. Thompson Seedless is an oval grape, greenish yellow, as large as a Sultana, seedless, with thin skin, good but not strong flavor, and without that acid which characterizes the Sultana grape and raisin. The bunches are large, or very large, and the vine is an enormous bearer. As yet it is principally grown around Yuba City and Marysville in limited quantities, but the raisins are in good demand. When sun-dried and cured, these raisins are bluish and dark like Muscats, but narrower and more tapering, and only a quarter the size. Their sweetness and taste commend them for cooking purposes, and the bearing quality of the vine will no doubt make their growing profitable in all places where the seasons are too short to thoroughly ripen the Sultana. In Yuba this grape ripens early in August.

Other Seedless Grapes.

—In the Islands of Lipari and Pantelleria a coarse but seedless grape is grown, out of which a variety of Sultana raisin is made. We have no further notices and description of this variety.