Raisins

Raisins are dried grapes, used for cooking, for dessert, and in the manufacture of wines. They are produced in largest quantities in the south-eastern provinces of Spain—Malaga, Alicante, and Valencia—and in Asia Minor—the islands of Cos and Samos—and the adjacent districts on the mainland; smaller quantities are grown in Provence, Southern Italy, the islands of the Greek Archipelago, and Crete. Currants (q.v.) are a small and peculiar variety produced in Greece, in the Morea, and the Ionian Islands. The grapes intended for raisins are dried either on the vines, after the stalks of the bunches have been partly cut through, or spread out on the ground; it is only in case of continued bad weather or persistent want of sunshine that they are dried by artificial heat. The better qualities are left on the stalks and dried in bunches; these are exported for use as dessert. All less estimable qualities are intended for cooking purposes, and, to a less extent, for the preparation of artificial wines or the improvement of wines of inferior quality. Raisins are rich in sugar, and it is this property that makes them serviceable to the manufacturers of wine. The bunches intended for table use are sometimes dipped in water upon the surface of which swims a layer of olive-oil, or in a strong potash lye. The object is to make the skin soft and give it a glossy lustre. The raisins grown in Spain are large and blue, and are known in the market as 'Malaga raisins' and as 'lexias,' the former for dessert, the latter for cooking. The raisins of Asia Minor are shipped principally at Smyrna (q.v.), and embrace the Elemé and similar varieties, which are long and light brown in colour, and sultanas, small light-brown grapes, with a thin and delicate skin and no seeds or kernels. Britain imports in all annually from 493,600 cwt. (1886) to 653,100 cwt. (1887), valued at £813,000 (1886) to £1,022,400. From Spain Britain imports every year raisins to the average value (ten years ending 1889) of £808,370, and from Asia Minor to the value of £399,300 (1889). Of late years raisins have been successfully dried in California; but in 1890 the United States still imported raisins to the amount of 36,914,330 lbs., of the value of $1,997,103.