—The juice of apples like the juice of many other fruits has the property of coagulating to a solid or semi-solid material on boiling to a proper consistence and allowing to stand. It is due, essentially, to the existence of pectin or pectose bodies as described in the introduction on the chapter on fruits. This is a body allied to the carbohydrates and must be regarded as one of the essential constituents of apples and as imparting to them a characteristic flavor and quality.
Picking and Care of Apples.
—The greatest difficulty experienced in marketing apples is in the danger of bruising either at the time of picking or during transportation. The apple when removed from the tree still remains a living organism with all of its functional activities, except additional growth, continuing in full power. As a rule, at the time of picking the apple is not yet mature, and unless intended for immediate consumption the utmost care should be exercised that the skin be not broken or the flesh bruised. Wherever the flesh of the apple is bruised it lessens its vitality and decay soon begins. This is shown very conclusively in the studies in the Bureau of Chemistry, where it was found that the starch which is still present in apples at the time of picking is gradually converted into sugar during the storage of the apple, thus increasing the palatability of the fruit. In those parts of the flesh that have been bruised and the vitality impaired the starch remains unchanged during the process of ripening. By the careful picking of the fruit and wrapping in soft papers, so as to prevent bruising in transit, apples of the proper character can be transported long distances, even beyond the seas, and arrive in good condition. This is an especially important fact in the American product, because our foreign trade in fresh apples is very large and constantly growing. It is useless to attempt to send a bruised or decaying apple on a long journey, since it will arrive in a condition unfit for consumption and, further than this, the organisms which are active in decay are conveyed to the sound fruit, and thus a whole package may be infected from a single apple in bad condition.
Storage of Apples.
—The apple is a crop which is capable of being stored through many months, especially in winter time, without any material deterioration. The subject of the storage of apples has been carefully studied in the Bureau of Chemistry and the Bureau of Plant Industry, and the following are some of the conclusions which have been reached:
Tannin Principle.
—Apples, as is the case with other fruits, have a notable content of tannin in some form. This constituent of apples is also active in giving flavor and palatability to the product. It is not present in quantities which render the apple unusually bitter or styptic in its character. Inasmuch as tannin is practically a universal constituent of all vegetable substances it must not be neglected as a normal constituent of fruit, while some of the fruits, especially the grape, owe some of their chief characteristics as to flavor and palatability to their tannin content.
Preparation of Apples for Drying.
—The apples usually are brought to the large factories in wagons or by railway and are pared and sliced by machinery. Where proper control is exercised all the imperfect, rotten, and infected apples are rejected, and are used either for cattle feeding or sometimes, unfortunately, in cider making. The sound apples, after they are pared and sliced, are placed in trays and passed to a sulfuring apparatus where they are exposed to the fumes of burning sulfur to prevent their becoming dark upon evaporation. In other words it is essentially a bleaching process. The fumes of sulfur are also strongly antiseptic in character, and thus the finished product is less likely to decay or become infected with mould than a similar product not exposed to the fumes of sulfur. This process is extensively practiced, but its extent does not render it immune from proper criticism. Of 24 samples of evaporated fruits purchased on the open market 13 samples had been treated with sulfur fumes. This shows that over 50 percent of evaporated fruits are sulfured during the process of preparation and evaporation. The greater number of physiological and hygienic experts agree that the fumes of burning sulfur, commonly known as sulfurous acid, are injurious to health. It has been shown by researches in the Bureau of Chemistry that sulfurous acid or sulfites have a specific influence upon the red corpuscles of the blood, tending to diminish them very largely in relative numbers. This acid has also many other influences upon metabolism of an objectionable character. The question is one worthy of very careful consideration—whether for the sake of preserving a light color and securing immunity from mould or decay it is advisable to introduce into a food product any quantity whatever of a substance injurious to health. The answer to this question seems almost unavoidable, and it is, and should be, negative. It is highly advisable that the manufacturer of evaporated apples, as well as other fruits treated in a similar manner, should at once begin a series of experimental determinations for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not a product equally as palatable and more wholesome cannot be made without the use of sulfurous acid. The result of this investigation cannot be doubted. There is no doubt whatever, even at the present time, that by the elimination of the sulfuring process a product can be made which is far more wholesome, although perhaps not so presentable as that which is now made. If all manufacturers of evaporated fruits practice the same method there can be no injury in the market as a result of a darker color which the finished product would assume. On the contrary the consumer of this product would soon understand that the darker color was due to a more hygienic method of preparation, and hence the product would be commended in such a way as doubtless to enter more largely into consumption. Instead of the manufacturer being injured by the prohibition of the use of sulfur he would in a very short time be greatly benefited. It is hoped that by the means of general information which is spread abroad concerning matters of this kind among our people and also through the operations of national and state laws the use of injurious substances, such as the fumes of burning sulfur in connection with food products, may be entirely discontinued.