_Sweating or Equalizing._--This is a process by which the overdried
raisins are made to attract sufficient moisture from the underdried
raisins in the same box or bunch, and whereby the overdried raisins are
made moister, while the underdried ones become drier. Equalizing also
moistens the stems sufficiently to prevent them from breaking when being
handled. In our California climate, where the air is so dry, this
equalizing process is an absolute necessity, and no first-class raisin
pack can be produced without the raisins having first been equalized.
The word “equalizing” is to be preferred to “sweating,” as the latter
word may be misunderstood as meaning that a certain amount of heat is
developed by storing the raisins. Heat is indeed necessary, but it
should come from the outside air, not from the inside or from the
raisins. If from the latter the raisins will be in a fair way to become
spoiled. In the foregoing I have described the construction and workings
of the sweathouse. It may be suggested that, if there is no sweathouse
on the vineyard, a large sail or canvas may be used as a substitute. The
latter is simply thrown over the boxes where they are piled
out-of-doors, and answers to some degree in keeping the raisins moist.
But as this is only a substitute, I shall not dwell longer on its
usefulness. It may, however, be said in favor of this appliance, that
it is used by one of our largest packers, and by him considered as of
equal value if not superior even to a regularly constructed equalizing
house.
The raisins which are to be sweated are only the clusters or layers, and
not the loose, which as we have seen should at once be taken from the
field to the stemmer, while the stems are yet crisp and dry. It is
therefore of importance that the bunches or layers should be separated
from the loose already in the field, or, which is much preferable,
before they are dried, at the time when they are picked from the vines.
If the latter is done properly, there will be only a small quantity of
loose which will go in the sweating-house with the layers. The layers
should at any rate be placed at once in sweatboxes when taken from the
trays, and between every two layers of bunches there should be a stout
sheet of manilla paper, in order that the bunches may not become mixed.
When taken to the sweathouse the boxes should be so placed that air can
enter every one. It will not do to place one box on top of another so as
to cover up the top entirely, as the raisins are then apt to ferment in
a very short time, and, before the raisin-packer is aware, whole piles
may be absolutely spoiled. It is not necessary to place the boxes
crosswise, as it is enough to allow the short side of each box to
overlap the underlying box a little; sufficient air will then enter. In
very dry weather the floor of the sweathouse may be sprinkled with
water, but this is generally not needed, as the underdried raisins will
give out moisture enough to soften those that are too dry, as well as
the stems. Every day the sweathouse should be aired, and it is a mistake
to believe that all air should be excluded. If air is not daily
admitted, the raisins will mold and spoil, and it is even advisable to
keep a circulation of air constantly through the house during the
daytime. The attentive packer will soon learn to regulate this, and
nothing but actual experience with his particular sweathouse will enable
him to decide how much air should be let in and to what extent the doors
should be closed.
At the end of from ten days to three weeks, the equalizing process
should be over, and the layers ready for further packing. When the boxes
are removed, it will be found that the majority of those raisins which
had been too moist or underdried have dried sufficiently, while on the
contrary the overdried raisins, as well as the formerly brittle stems,
will have acquired sufficient moisture to enable the packer to
manipulate them without risk of breaking the bunches. The raisins should
be pliable, and stand moderate pressure without cracking or breaking.
But while equalizing is an important operation, and one which we cannot
dispense with, it is always to the grower’s interest to so dry his
raisins previously that they will require as little equalizing as
possible, as even the most carefully sweated raisins which have once
been overdried will never afterwards equal those which were at once
properly dried in the field. The overdried raisins will always have a
tougher skin and be inferior in color; but on the other hand they will
keep better than raisins which have been dried less.
_Grading and Weighing._--The next step after the raisins have been
equalized is to remove them to the grading tables. This should not be
done by dumping the contents of a sweatbox on the table, as in this way
but very few of the real choice bunches are saved for the packer. If,
however, the raisins have been placed carelessly in the boxes, without
sufficient or perhaps without any manilla papers between the layers, the
only way is to dump out the contents. By first placing the sweatbox on
the long side, and then turning it over, the raisins are but slightly
disturbed. But to get these out afterwards from the chunk is the great
difficulty, and many bunches must necessarily be broken. If, again, the
raisins have been carefully handled and consigned to the sweatboxes,
with four papers in every box, not counting in the top cover, the care
and handling of the sweatboxes will be much simplified. The sweatbox is
then placed alongside of the grading table, and each layer with its
paper is lifted out carefully, and placed on the table. The assorting is
now to begin. The bunches are taken up one by one, all inferior berries
are clipped out, all soft ones are separated and placed in a box by
themselves to be further dried. As each bunch is examined and cleaned,
it is put in one of the weighing trays resting on small scales at either
end of the table, and, when the scales indicate that five pounds of
raisins are in the tray, the latter is removed to the packing table.
In the meantime all loose or inferior bunches are raked down through the
openings in the grading tables and received in sweatboxes below, to be
either further dried or to be stemmed and graded at once. In packing
several grades of layer raisins, the grading of the bunches should be
made at this table. No great choice in selecting the bunches should be
left to the packer, as his time should alone be occupied with the
packing of his box. The best way is to have differently colored scales
for number one and number two layers, and when taking them out of the
sweatbox assort them at once by placing them in different trays. The
graders can never be too careful. No moist raisins, no small ones, no
red and poor raisins, should ever be allowed among a better quality.
They will lower the grade of the whole box, while the good quality of
high-grade raisins will not raise the grade of a generally poor box.
Thus, while the many good raisins in a poor box are not paid for
according to their value, the few poor raisins which will be
accidentally or carelessly smuggled in a good box will lower the value
of the whole. Few packers will sufficiently understand this, which is
really the principle of all good packing, and which should be
scrupulously adhered to. Even inferior size berries, if otherwise ever
so good, should be carefully clipped from the large-berried bunches. It
is astonishing how quickly the buyer will notice a few small berries,
and how readily he will ignore the value of the largest raisins in the
box.
_Packing Layers, Top-up Method._--As with packing the loose raisins,
there are two methods, the top up and the top down. The top-up method
can be as little recommended in this case as in the former, but as it is
used by many of the packers I will here describe it: The trays
containing the five-pound layers are placed in front of the packer on
the packing table, so as to be within easy reach of the packer. The
trays or frames with the sliding bottom are now used. The first move is
to place one of the inner paper wrappers in the tray, and next the
layers are placed in the frame as carefully as possible. There are two
ways in vogue in which this is done. One of them is to crowd the raisins
to one side,--“bunch” them, so to say, beginning at one end of the tray
and gradually working towards the other end. This is the _wrong_ way,
which I am sorry to say is used by very many packers, who desire speed
above everything, thus sacrificing care and quality and even appearance.
Raisins packed this way point their ends upwards in a slanting way,
which not only detracts from their appearance, but causes them to get
entangled in each other. Such bunches when pressed will generally break,
and, when lifted out of the box afterwards, will be very different from
what they were when they were placed there in the first instance. The
raisins, whatever method is used, should always be placed flat on the
bottom of the tray. Care should be taken to arrange them so that they
will fit, and only _very_ few broken bunches should be allowed to fill
unoccupied corners or spaces in the box. It is better even to leave such
spaces empty than to tear up good bunches in order to get the small
quantities needed, or in using inferior berries to fill up the holes.
[Illustration: Riverside, Showing Orange Orchards and Raisin
Vineyards.]
When at last the tray is full, and all the five pounds of raisins from
the weighing tray are in, the upper surface should be smooth so as to
require as little pressure as possible. When full the trays are taken to
the press and stored on a side table until actually used. The presses
are generally arranged for four trays. These are now placed under the
press, a follower is placed on the top of every tray, and only
sufficient pressure applied. Frequently too much pressure is used, and
the raisins are flattened out to their greatest possible extent, many
even crushed and so broken that the juice runs out. All such crushed
raisins will sugar in a few months, and the whole box containing them
will spoil and deteriorate in value. If, again, the raisins have been
properly pressed, they will keep for months or even years. After the
trays have been sufficiently pressed, which generally is accomplished in
one minute’s time, the pressure is released, the follower removed, the
folders turned over the raisins, and the trays removed to the boxing
table, on which they may be allowed to accumulate until the boxer is
ready to fill his boxes. On this table the final packing or “making up”
of a box is done. It takes four of these five-pound frames to fill one
whole box. Each tray is in its turn placed over a box, the sliding
bottom is quickly removed, and the five-pound layer drops down in the
box undisturbed. Every fourth frame should, in addition to the common
paper wrapper, have labels and fancy paper pasted on the folders, or, as
is sometimes done, an extra fancy folder or wrapper is placed on the
third layer, and on the top or inside of it the fourth layer is dropped.
Each layer will thus be found in its own wrapper, but the upper layer
will have two, the outside one of which is fancy. Fine layers should
have a waxed paper immediately above the raisins, in order that the
moisture or sugar from them may not spoil the labels. On the top of the
waxed paper the chromo or label is placed. The box is now ready for
nailing.
_Packing Layers, Top-down Method._--This method I advocate as the most
proper one to use. Thin galvanized-iron trays with a drop bottom are
used. On the top of the drop bottom is placed a heavy follower of metal.
White’s facing-plate, turned over, can be used to great advantage, even
where no facing is required. The choicest bunches are now selected and
spread evenly on the bottom of the tray; other bunches are placed on top
of them, and so on until the tray is full. Great care must be taken in
packing so as to make the bunches fit each other and lie solid;
otherwise they are very apt to be disturbed, or they will require too
heavy pressure to be kept in place. When the tray is full, it is gently
pressed, and the pressure kept up for a few seconds. A loose zinc plate
is then placed over the tray, the latter is turned over and placed over
the box, in which the necessary wrapping papers have been previously
placed, the loose zinc plate is quickly withdrawn, and the contents fall
into the box. The heavy follower keeps the top layer steady, and with a
little care the raisins are not disturbed.
The top-down method for packing layers has the following advantages over
the top-up method. It gives a smooth surface on which to pack the top
layer, without necessitating pressure to first create such a surface,
the packing being done on a hard plate. The wrappers are not soiled, as
they are not first placed in the frames. The packer is enabled to pack
and select his choicest bunches for the top layer while he has plenty to
select from, and any odd berries and broken or smaller bunches come
naturally in the bottom of each layer. In the top-up method all such
odds remain for the top, where they _must_ go in, in order to make up
the required five pounds.
A raisin-packer averages seventy-five trays of five pounds each per day,
for which she is paid two cents each. Some pack more than this; but very
excellent packing proceeds slower, and a packer of very choice layers
can only pack twenty-five trays of five pounds each per day, for which a
correspondingly higher price is paid. In Malaga, a trained and expert
packer receives between two and three dollars per day. In California,
they do not receive any more. In our raisin district, the girls are
rapidly becoming expert packers, and the same ones are reëngaged year
after year by the same packing-house.
_Filling._--The filling of the raisins is a trick to make them appear
larger than they are. This filling was invented in Spain, and is used
there especially on Dehesa boxes and where very expensive packing is
required. It is done in the following manner. The raisin is first
flattened out as much as possible, then the edges are bent, making the
raisins slightly concave. In placing the concave side downwards, a
smaller raisin is slipped underneath so as to cause the manipulated
raisin to keep its shape. These filled raisins are used for facing only.
The Spanish filled raisins have been handled to such an extent that all
the bloom is lost, and the raisin looks anything but attractive. The
California method of filling is a great improvement on the Spanish way.
When the facing-plate is used, the raisin is first placed in a cavity
on the plate, then worked out by a pressure with the finger, and when
sufficiently concave another raisin is dropped in the hollow and pressed
tightly. The faced raisin is thus filled, and when seen from the other
side will appear much larger than otherwise. When, again, the top-up
method of packing is used, a small block of wood may be employed. This
block contains a single cavity of the size, that a raisin when pressed
will fill it. The counterpart of this block is furnished with a convex
protuberance, and when the two halves are placed together with a raisin
between, and pressure is brought to bear, the raisin flattens out and
becomes concave just enough to receive the filling.
In this way no handling with the fingers is done, and the raisin keeps
its bloom undisturbed. Nothing is more attractive than a raisin with its
bloom untouched; similarly the raisin that has lost its bloom always
gives the buyer an idea that it has been fingered. Its appetizing
quality is gone. Spanish Dehesas are generally both faced and filled.
Some objection to this method is that it deceives, but as long as people
not only are willing to be deceived but are actually anxious to pay for
the deception, there is no reason why the filling should not be used.
The deception, besides, is a very innocent one. It has also another
excuse: A well faced and filled box is really a work of art; it will
help to educate the people up to the appreciation of what fine raisins
and fine packing should be. Filling and facing combined are practiced
but little in California, and it is doubtful if filled facing will ever
grow in much demand here.
_Nailing and Trimming._--The boxes are next moved to the nailing table.
Two nails are put in the short sides and two in the long sides of the
cover. The boxes when nailed are passed to the trimmer, who with a
drawknife trims the edges and cuts off the comers diagonally. The latter
prevents the boxes or covers from splitting. The best nails are French
wire nails for the sides and ends, one and one-quarter inches long, and
for tops and bottoms one inch long.
_Labels._--I cannot finish this part without adding some words about our
labels. It is of importance that our labels and colored lithographs
should be appropriate. The time has come when our raisins should stand
upon their own merits, and should be designated with appropriate names.
I should wish to see only California names used, California layers
instead of London layers, California scenes instead of foreign scenes,
which give no idea of our conditions, and which do not help to advertise
our State and its resources. Whatever our labels may represent, they
should be distinctly Californian. Another point which is but seldom
observed on these labels is the shape and color of our raisin grapes.
The latter are often represented on the labels, but their shape is
seldom observed. Nowhere have we seen on them a true Gordo Blanco or a
true Muscat of Alexandria represented, the grapes there pictured being
impossible as raisin grapes, or even well-known wine or table grapes,
out of which no raisins could be made. The packer has a right to protest
against such misrepresentations of our fair grapes, especially as the
lithographer could just as readily and just as cheaply have followed
the originals. A beautiful label is well worth its price. As a work of
art, it is seldom thrown away, but is carefully kept and made to adorn
the walls of many a humble home, in which the name and fame of our State
will soon be a household word. Let these labels go out by the million
yearly to tell of our climate and of our soil, and of the land where the
luscious raisins are produced, with the same care as apples or garden
stuff in countries less favored by nature.