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raisins

United States standards

1. Seedless Raisins

Sizes of seedless rasins and golden seedless raisins

Size	Definition
Select	No more than 60% by weight of all the raisins pass through round perforations 22/64 inch in diameter (8.7 millimeters), but not more than 10% by weight pass through 20/64 inch perforations.
Small or Midget	95% by weight of all the raisins pass through round perforations 9.5 millimeters in diameter (24/64 inch) and not less than 70% by weight of all the raisins will pass through round perforations 22/64 inch in diameter.
Mixed	Mixture that doesn't meet eiither the Select or "Small or Midget" size requirements.

For all grades, the raisns in a lot mst have similar varietal characteristics.

Grades of natural seedless, including sun-dried, tunnel-dried, and golden Thomson Seedless

	A	B	C
	U. S. Grade¹
color	"good typical"	"reasonably good typical"	"fairly good typical"
flavor	"good characteristic"	"good characteristic"	"fairly good"
maturity	well-matured	reasonably well-matured	fairly well-matured
maturity (percent by weight "well-matured or reasonably well-matured")	not less than 80%	not less than 70%	not less than 55%
Maximum moisture,² by weight	18%	18%	18%
maximum number of pieces of stem per 6 pounds	1	2	4
maximum number of capstems per pound	15	25	35
maximum sugar, percent by weight	5%	10%	15%


Max % underdeveloped/substandard if Midget	2%	3%	5%
Max % underdeveloped/substandard if Select	1%	1.5%	2%
Max % underdeveloped/substandard if Mixed	1%	2%	3%

but max % damaged
but max % mold damaged
Max % sugared	5%	10%	15%
Grit, sand, silt	none that affects appearance or edibility		not more than a trace

1. Another grade, Substandard, applies to seedless raisins that fail to meet the requirements of U. S. Grade C.

2. Except for the Monukka variety, for which the maximum moisture content for all grades is 19% by weight.

2. Golden seedless raisins

The size and grade standards are the same as those for seedless raisins, except for the color requirements:

			predominating color	percent by weight of definitely dark berries
Grade A, well-colored	practically uniform	yellow or golden to light amber	yellow or golden	not more than ½ of 1 percent
Grade B, reasonably well-colored	reasonably uniform	yellow or golden or greenish yellow to light amber	greenish yellow or light amber	not more than 3%
Grade C, fairly well-colored	fairly uniform	yellow or greenish yellow to amber or light greenish amber		not more than 6%
colored	variable			not more than 20%

3 Raisin with seeds except layer or cluster

Seeded
	through 34/64 inch round perforations	through 22/64 inch round perforations
select	not more than 70% by weight	not more than 5% by weight
small or midget	all	not less than 90%
mixed

Unseeded
Size	passes through round perforation, diameter in inches
Size	42/64	34/64	24/64
4 crown	none	none	none
3 crown	all	none	none
2 crown	all	all	none
1 crown	all	all	all

Grades of Muscats (seeded)
	U. S. Grade¹
	A	B	C
Maximum moisture	18%	18%	18%
Maximum number of pieces of stem per 2 pounds	1	2	3
Maximum number of seeds per pound	12	15	20
Maximum number of capstems per pound	10	15	20
Max % underdeveloped/substandard	2%	5%	8%

but max % damaged
but max % mold damaged
Max % sugared	5%	10%	15%
Grit, sand, silt	none	none	trace
Minimum % well-matured	80%	70%

1. Another grade, Substandard, applies to seedless raisins that fail to meet the requirements of U. S. Grade C.

Grades of Zante Currents
	U. S. Grade¹
	A	B
Maximum moisture	20%	20%
Maximum number of pieces of stem	1 in 1.5 lbs	1 in 1 lb.
Maximum number of seeds per pound	12	15
Max % by weight of currents with capstems (include a current for each loose capstem)	1.5%	2%
Minimum % well-matured or reasonably well-matured	75%
Max % underdeveloped/substandard	2%	5%
Max % discolored, damaged or moldy raisins	5%	7%
but max % damaged	2%	3%
but max % moldy	3%	4%
Max % sugared	5%	10%
Grit, sand, silt	none	none
Max % Substandard development and Undeveloped	2%	5%

1. Another grade, Substandard, applies to Zante currents that fail to meet the requirements of U.S. Grade B.

sources

The Zante currant is really the dried fruit of the small black Corinth grape, which is grown in Greece, and especially on Zante, Cephalonia, Ithaca and adjacent islands. The word "currant" is a corruption of Corinth, at one time a prosperous city from which the fruit was exported. The grapes are dried in the sun, picked from the stalks, cleaned and packed for shipment.

E. H. S. Bailey.
The Source, Chemistry and Use of Food Products.
Philadelphia: P. Blakiston's Son & Co., 1916 (corrected edition).

sources

United States Dept. of Agriculture. Agricultural Marketing Service.
United States Standards for Grades of Processed Raisins. Effective date December 1, 1978.

www.ams.usda.gov/standards/raisin.pdf