These data show that the preparation of the pines in the Straits Settlements for shipment in cans is the same as that in Singapore. The average amount of sugar added appears to be about one percent greater.
Average composition of canned pineapples from the Bahamas:
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| Solids. | Sugar. | Protein. | Ash. | Acidity.
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|Percent.|Percent.|Percent.|Percent.|Percent.
Average, | 13.78 | 10.69 | .34 | .38 | .57
Maximum, | 26.78 | 22.43 | .46 | .50 | 1.18
Minimum, | 8.54 | 6.33 | .20 | .22 | .22
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The above data show that nearly all the canned pineapples coming from the Bahamas must be regarded as canned in their natural juice without the addition of sugar. Of the whole number of samples examined, only four gave any indication of containing added sugar.
Composition of the Pineapple.—The average composition of twenty-two samples of fresh pineapple grown in Florida, as determined in the Bureau of Chemistry, is as follows:
Total solids, 13.85 percent
Total sugar, 11.69 "
Protein, .40 "
Ash, .42 "
Acidity, .52 "
Of the sugars 4.44 percent existed in the form of invert or reducing sugar and 6.88 percent as cane sugar. These data show that the value of a pineapple as a food product lies chiefly in the sugar which it contains. The ethereal and aromatic properties of the pineapple give to it its chief value as a food, since it is the flavor and aroma rather than the nutriment in the fruit which make it valued as a food. These flavors and aromas are due to essential oils and ethers or compound ethers, and they exist in such minute quantities as to escape ordinary chemical investigation. A study of the details of analyses show that there is a wide variation in the percentage of sugar. In two instances the total sugar fell below eight percent, but those evidently were green and imperfect samples and were not included in the general average.
The highest quantity of sugar found in any case of a Florida pineapple was 15.28 percent.
The data show that in general it may be said that the Florida pineapple contains nearly 12 percent of its weight of sugar.
Average Composition of Cuban Pineapples.—The average composition of
