Page 3 Advertisements Column 1

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8670, 12 September 1891, Page 3 (Supplement)

The British Medical Journal throws more light on the mysteries of jam-making. , An inquiring stranger, it says, who was being shown over a British wine manufactory was struck by several high mounds of crimson dust. These ho was told were the refuse of the wine-presses in which the juices of raspberries, currants, and other fruit used in the business was extracted for making the wine. As it is seldom that anything is wasted in an English factory, an inquiry was made as to the form in which these mounds of dust would re-enter the market; the visitor was promptly told that it was disposed of to jam-makers to give the appearance of fruit to the pulp of turnip, vegetable, apple, or what-not, which forms the basis of the confection. It would seem that almost anything will do to make jam of, as the chemist can produce a flavour to imitate every kind of fruit. It is commonly supposed that orange-peel is picked up in the streets wherewith to make marmalade. Probably this is a slander on the preservemaker; but, according to the report of a case heard this year in a metropolitan police court, rotten oranges in the condition of a " black pulpy substance," and " quite unfit to eat," as the inspector very sapiently remarked, are considered by the owners of the fruit as good enough to be chopped up for marmalade." Oranges for this " excellent substitute for butter at breakfast" only cost 4s a box, whereas fruit for eating costs 12s.