SUPPLIES OF JAM

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26379, 6 February 1947, Page 6

SUPPLIES OF JAM

DOMESTIC PRODUCTION LITTLE FRUIT OFFERING MANUACIURERS’ TROUBLES Pans for making household jam are almost unprocurable in Dunedin today, but this is unlikely to cause much concern among housewives, as the manager of a wholesale fruit mart said in an ■ interview with a Daily Times reporter yesterday that the picking season for jam fruits is over, and little fruit for jam-making is available. The fruit season has been a short one this year, and prices have been high for what fruit has been offering. With the season for raspberries almost over, and only a few strawberries now coming forward, while the stone fruit season has ended, the outlook for domestic jam-making and preserving is bleak. Only a few currants and gooseberries are likely to be coming forward in the future, and those housewives who have not already made as much jam as they could find fruit and sugar for are likely to find that they will be unable to fill their requirements this year unless they have private sources of supply. The shortage of domestic jdms is not likely to be relieved by manufacturers’ supplies. An official of a prominent company in Dunedin said yesterday that jam has been in short supply for the past three years, but with the possible exception of raspberry, it would be in even shorter supply during this preserving season. . “The fixed prices to which we are limited make it virtually Impossible for us to buy fruit for jam-making,” he said. “We are allowed to pay the grower 2Jd per lb for fruit which he can sell at the marts at 8d a lb. If we want supplies we have to pay three times the controlled price to the grower, and lose that much on our preserved jam.” He added that reasonable supplies of raspberries could be bought at prices competitive with the wholesalers’, and endeavours were being made to import Tasmanian pulp to help out the position, but it was not yet known whether this could be obtained.