Spons' Household Manual: A treasury of domestic receipts and a guide for home management
General
Spons' Household Manual: A treasury of domestic receipts and a guide for home management
Home economics
To have a fruit room in a garden does not always argue that the fruit
stored in it will be well preserved. Such a store-house is of the
first importance; but, unless care is observed, and some special
attention given to the different kinds of fruit it may contain, much
loss is likely to be the consequence. As to the structure itself,
it is sufficient to say here that it should be perfectly dry, and
so constructed as to maintain an equable temperature at all times.
An ice house, if dry, makes a good fruit room--without the ice, of
course--for a fruit room, once the fruit is placed in it, does not
require much ventilation, unless it can be given without altering the
temperature. Heats and cools, alternately producing condensation and
evaporation, soon produce decay and rottenness, and should be guarded
against as much as possible; the fruit should always feel dry to the
touch. Possibly, the very best position that an apple or pear, for
example, could be placed in, to preserve it, would be to suspend it
by the footstalk in the air, and free from contact with any other
object. Onions done up in strings in the old-fashioned way invariably
keep much better than those laid on shelves or on a floor, and it is
the same with fruit. Fruit rooms which are above ground should be
double-walled, and ceiled; but when sunk or partially sunk in the
ground this is not so important, if damp is otherwise excluded.
Hardy fruits and grapes are often kept long and well in a fruit room
that is more like a cellar (only dry) than anything else.
The shelves and tables for holding the fruit should be sparred, and
before the fruit is stored they should be covered with a layer of
clean wheat straw, but so thinly that one can see through between
the spars of the shelves, which will allow a free circulation of air
amongst the fruit. When the room is empty during the summer-time, it
should be thoroughly ventilated, washed and dried, and made sweet and
clean, and, when the fruit is stored, shut up and kept in darkness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account