Chris Streight, age 14, of Omaha, Neb., for his question.
HOW ARE SEEDS REMOVED FROM RAISINS?
Ten minerals of important food value are found in raisins. The iron and copper in them have given raisins the name of blood builders. The sugar in raisins gives quick energy because the body absorbs it almost immediately. Vitamins A, B 1 and B 2 can be found in raisins, as well as enough alkali to help balance the acids in the body.
A sun dried grape is called a raisin. Raisins make an excellent snack food and can also be enjoyed in bread, cookies, cakes, puddings and candy.
The ancient Egyptians were the first to discover that fruit could be dried in the sun to preserve it. Growing grapes and drying and selling raisins was an important trade in Armenia as early as 400 B.C.
Seedless grapes are allowed to ripen on the vine and are then harvested either by hand or by machine and are placed on sheets of heavy brown paper between the rows of vines.
The raisins dry in the sun for 10 to 15 days. Then they are stacked and dried again. Next comes storage in great bins, called sweat boxes, where their moisture content is equalized.
Next comes a trip to the packing house, where workers stem and grade the raisins by passing them over screens of different sized mesh. Machines remove stem caps as the fruit passes between revolving screens.
A machine then whirls the raisins through a fine spray of water, which gives them a final cleaning. The raisins are then pressed into packages and sealed.
Raisins with seeds go through a slightly different procedure. Muscat raisins are larger and softer than the seedless type, and they receive additional drying before they go through the stem removing equipment.
After drying, the muscat raisins are softened again and washed in hot water. Next they are fed between rubber rollers, which press the seeds to the surface. A saw tooth roller catches the seeds between its teeth and removes them. The seeds are carried away while the raisins go to a packing machine.
Raisins contain 24 percent moisture, 2.3 percent protein, .5 percent fat, 71.2 percent carbohydrates and 2 percent ash.
California is the only U.S. state that produces raisins commercially. They were introduced during the mission days by Jesuit friars and Franciscan padres.
By 1892, California was growing more raisins than Spain. The state's central valley is ideal because of its hot, dry summers and mild winters. More than 350 million pounds are now produced by California growers each year.