The word “raisin” as spelled and pronounced to-day, is not of very ancient origin, but rather a corruption and evolution of older words, both spelled and pronounced differently. Thus Falstaff replies to Prince Hal: “If reasons were as plentiful as blackberries, I would give no man a reason upon compulsion” (Henry IV, Act II, scene 4). Also, Cooper, in his dictionary of 1685, indicates that “raisin” and “reason” are of identical sounds. The derivation of the word has, again, been very variously suggested either from “red” or “rose” color, connecting it with the German and Danish word “rosine;” and it has even been suggested that the word was derived from the fact that the raisins were cured in the “rays” of the sun. The true derivation, however, is from the Latin word “racemus,” meaning a bunch or cluster. Richardson, who first points out this derivation, quotes: “Whether a reisyn (E. V. graap, racemus) of Effraym is not better than the vindages of Abiezer” (Wicliffe Judges VIIJ, 2). “And there shall be left in it as a rasyn” (E. V., braunches of a cluster). Marginal note, “A rasyn is a lytil bow with a lytil fruit” (Idem. Is., XVIJ., 6). But we have much older testimony of this derivation being the correct one. An old document states that, in 1265 A. D., the Countess of Leicester paid in London twelve shillings for fourteen pounds, or, as the statement reads in Latin, “Pro uno fraello racemorum;” which, translated, would be, “for one frail of bunches.” The evolution of the Latin word racemus was thus seen to have been accomplished rapidly enough; but, on account of the illiteracy of the olden times, it was spelled and pronounced promiscuously. Thus we meet with such spellings as “reysyns,” in 1266; “reysons,” in 1447 (“Russell’s Book of Nurture”). In 1554 the Stationers’ Company in London paid twopence for one pound of “greate reasons;” while Andrew Borde, in his “Dietary” of 1542, says that “great raysens be nutrytyve, specyally yf the stones be pulled out.” In 1578 Dodoens speaks of dried raysens. In 1685 the word “raisin” is used and spelled as in our days, and from that time on the different spellings were used, if not promiscuously, still without any great uniformity. The term of “greate raysens” was introduced to distinguish them from the smaller raisins, or currants. In our own days, the latter is seldom classed or alluded to as a “raisin” proper, although it, strictly speaking, should be considered as such. The tendency at present in California is to make the distinction between “raisins” and “dried grapes,” meaning by the former certain varieties of grapes which have been skillfully dried and cured, and which are superior in taste, flavor, thinness of skin and saccharine matter. “Dried grapes,” again, are simply any kind of grape, especially wine-grapes, which have only been dried, and which have not undergone that skillful treatment which the grape-grower is so proud of, and justly enough designates as “curing.” They are an outgrowth from the late efforts of the French wine merchants to make genuine French wine out of anything that is sweet, and as they are immensely preferable to beets, potatoes and glucose, they will always be in demand.

With the above definition of the “raisin” accepted, we can proceed to consider their different varieties, their names and derivations. The old designations of the different varieties were derived from the places where they were produced, without special reference to the grapes from which the raisins were made. Thus we had Malagas, Currants, Valencias, Denias, Turkish and Italian raisins. But since it has been found that the same kinds of raisins have been produced in very different localities, and that some localities can produce all the different kinds, a new division has been found necessary. Thus, disregarding the many various brands with which this and other markets are flooded, the following different varieties of raisins will be found the principal ones: Currants, Muscatels, Dipped and Sultana.

THE CURRANT.

The currant is one of the very oldest raisins known. As early as 75 A. D. Pliny speaks of the fine grapes grown in Greece, the berry being thin-skinned, juicy and sweet, and the bunch being exceedingly small. This, then, must be the currant of later times. After this first mention of this grape, the same drops out of history for ten centuries, and the name currant is first to be identified with raisins de Corauntz, or rather, “reysyns de Corauntzs” as late as 1334. As early as the eleventh century, a lively traffic in this kind of raisins had taken place between the Greek producers, the Venetians and other of the Mediterranean merchant nations. In 1334 we find them called “corauntz;” in 1435, “corent;” and old MS. of the Grocers’ Company in London, speaks of “x butts and vi roundelletts of resins of Corent.” Thus spelled, the name was used for years. In 1463 “reysonys of Corawnce” were three pence per pound, and in 1512 the Duke of Northumberland paid two pence per pound for rasyns of Corens. In 1554 the name had changed to currans, and the Stationers’ Company provided for a banquet “5 punde of currans at one shilling and eight pence.” In 1558 the same company provided for “6 punde of currance for 2 shillings.” In 1578 we find in Lytes’ translation of Dodoens’s “Herbal,” in the description of different varieties of vines, that “Small raysens, commonly called Corantes, but more rightly raysens of Corinthe. The fruit is called in the shoppes of the countrie,[1] passulae de Corinthe; in French, raisins de Corinthe; in base Almaigne (Dutch) Corinthea; in English, Currantes, and small raysens of Corynthe.” Here, then, is indicated for the first time that the true and correct name should be “raisins of Corinth.” But we need not follow this evolution any longer; there can be no possible doubt that the name currant, the one now accepted for this class of raisins, is derived from the town of Corinth, on the mainland of Greece,—the Morea of our days, the Peloponnesus of the ancients. Until the time when the Turks conquered Greece, the port of Corinth was the principal point of export for this class of raisins, and while, after the subjection of Greece this commerce entirely ceased, still this fruit always continued to bear the name by which it first became known to commerce.

MUSCATELS.

The principal and most valued class of raisins are the Muscatels or Muscats. They all derive their name from the Muscatel or Muscat grape, from which these raisins are made. As to the origin of the name Muscat, opinions differ. The most popular one is that the grape got its name from the supposed musky flavor peculiar to this variety of grape. It is, however, far more likely that the name is a very ancient one, and derived from the Latin word Musca, meaning a fly,—these fine grapes when drying being especially attractive to flies. The Romans called this grape, “Uva Apiaria,” meaning bee grapes, or grapes beloved by bees, from the fact that the bees are especially attracted to these grapes when they are being dried. The Muscat or Muscatel would then not originally designate a certain variety of grapes, but grapes used for drying generally. In the course of time the name was transferred to or especially given to the best grape for drying purposes,—the Muscatel of our own times.

DEHESA RAISINS.

The finest or at least the most expensive brand of raisins made is the Dehesa raisin of Malaga. They are produced from the Muscatel variety and the name they bear has an interesting origin, giving us at the same time an insight in the development of the agricultural and horticultural resources of Spain. The word “Dehesa” is found by reference to a good Spanish dictionary to mean pasture ground. The “Dehesa” raisins then are pasture-ground raisins, or raisins grown on former pasture ground. The way the raisins came to be given such a name is as follows. Between the years 800 and the end of the fifteenth century, the fairest part of Spain as well as Portugal was occupied by the Moors. Contrary to their nature in other countries, they proved here extremely industrious, and excelled both as merchants, artisans and agriculturists. The waters of the streams were conducted to the land in aqueducts, dams were thrown across the rivers, reservoirs were formed, and the whole of Southern Spain became most highly cultivated, rich and prosperous. In fact, if the historians are to be believed, and the yet remaining views of former grandeur can be trusted, no country either in ancient or modern times has ever in prosperity rivaled the ancient Moorish kingdoms of Granada and Andalusia. In the thirteenth century the Christian knights and kings of Central and Northern Spain succeeded in conquering the Moors, who again were unmercifully expelled, massacred or enslaved, their cities burned and razed, and the fertile and cultivated districts utterly ruined. Vast tracts were depopulated and abandoned, and, nature taking its course, wild grass, shrubbery and trees soon covered the former highly cultivated plains. In the course of time these uncultivated lands attracted the attention of the highland shepherds, who drove their herds to them during the winters, again returning to the mountains at the advent of the dry season.

By degrees the self-taken rights of the sheepmen became more widely recognized, and, while the less valuable lands were taken possession of by the poorer peasantry, these pasture lands were set apart for the exclusive use of the sheep-owners. The pasture lands thus being free, it was no wonder that the sheep industry flourished, and that the flocks increased. The wool industry soon became one of the most important in Spain. The flocks were principally owned by nobles and monks, and the poor peasants, who constituted the only agricultural population, had very little if any chance to oppose the ever greater encroachments of the wandering flocks or their insolent owners. The Merinos, or moving sheep, were wintered in the warm valleys of Andalusia, Murcia and Estremadura, only to be again removed to the cooler mountains of Leon and Castille at the advent of spring. What curse this would entail on the agricultural population is easy to be seen. The sheep were moving in bands of 10,000 each, and 700 to 800 such flocks were moved annually twice through a country devoid of fences or inclosures of any kind. Numerous disputes and constant bloody fights arose between farmers and the shepherd, to settle which the “Council of the Mesta” was instituted. In tyranny, this dreaded institution was only equaled by the famous Inquisition, with which in birth and death it was almost contemporaneous. In the year 1556 a code of laws was promulgated, and a compromise was entered upon. But the tyranny of the shepherds, upheld through their “Mesta,” was in no way diminished. The latter continually extended its power, encroached upon new territory, appropriating gradually the finest pastures of Spain, and finally obtained a monopoly of the wool trade. Its tyranny became at last intolerable. The shepherds of the Mesta were more dreaded than robbers and highwaymen in every place through which they passed. Agriculture became almost impossible. At last the “Mesta” was abolished by the Cortez in Cadiz in 1812, and a few years afterwards the pastures or Dehesas were sold. One of the finest Dehesas near Velez, Malaga, was planted to Muscatel grapes, and through the combined fertility of the soil, and the abundance of moisture, the vineyard proved a great success. So fine were the grapes grown there that they attracted great attention; no such fine grapes had ever been seen in Andalusia before. The merchants to whom the first raisins were sold were much astonished, and wonderingly asked whence they came. The reply, “from the Dehesa,” was from that time on applied to the finest Muscatel grapes.

LEXIAS, OR LYE-DIPPED, AND OTHER RAISINS.

The third class of raisins are the dipped raisins, so called from being dipped in boiling lye before being dried and cured. The Spanish name for these raisins is Lexias. The name Lexia is, again, derived from a more ancient word, the Latin lixivium, or lixia, meaning lye. To-day the continental name for this class of raisin is Lexias, when the more specific names of Denias and Valencias are not used. Here, in America, we generally use these names, and whenever we speak of Valencias and Denias we mean the dipped raisins of these districts. To the above three classes of raisins we might appropriately add Sultanas and Malagas. The Sultanas are made from the Sultana grape, a seedless grape from Asia Minor, now grown in many Mediterranean countries, as well as here in California. The Malagas, again, were originally the Muscatels grown around Malaga, in Spain; but of late this name is being, with considerable confusion, applied to a coarser raisin made in California from a grape here called, for want of a better name, the Malaga grape.

Among names which were formerly much used, but which have gone out of use, was the Solis, or sun-dried raisins, especially the sun-dried Muscatels of Malaga. As early as 1295 A. D., the Muscatels were generally called thus: Raisins of the sun; Solis, or sun-dried, so as to distinguish them from the inferior dipped, or Lexias. In our own time, this name was nearly being revived, when a couple of years ago our California sun-dried raisins were spoken of in opposition to our machine-dried raisins, and when both classes had their earnest and enthusiastic champions.

We cannot leave this chapter on names without referring to classes of raisins receiving their names from certain localities. Of course, the number of such names may be almost endless. It is, however, only of interest to refer to the principal ones, such as have been known to commerce in former days or are yet known. Thus, we designate as Malagas any of the raisins grown and shipped from Malaga. The Smyrnas (formerly Smirna) are those from Smyrna, in Asia Minor, both sun-dried and dipped raisins; the Alicantes, dipped raisins, from Alicante, in Spain; the Denias, dipped raisins from Denia, in Spain; the Valencias, dipped raisins from Valencia (include Denias); the Lipari, raisins from the Island of Lipari, near Sicily; the Belvideres, from the same island and from the Island of Pantellaria; the Calabrian raisins, from Calabria, in Italy; the Faro raisins, from the port of Faro, in Algarve, Portugal. We have above already referred to the currants, from the town of Corinth and the Grecian Islands, and the Malagas, from Malaga. The latter were also known as “great raisins,” on account of their superior quality. Among the latter we should, of course, count the California raisins; but, unfortunately, our raisin-growers have not until quite recently recognized the necessity of adopting names which should at once show the locality where the raisins are produced. But we will return to this further on.

VARIOUS KINDS OF RAISINS.

a. Sun-dried raisins.

1. Muscatels, or Muscats, from Malaga or California. The former, also known at various periods as “Solis,” or sun-dried, or “great raisins,” on account of their very superior qualities.

2. Currants, raisins made of the small currant grape, originally from Corinth.

3. Belvideres, raisins from Calabria, in Italy, and from the Islands of Lipari and Pantellaria, near Sicily.

4. Black Smyrna, properly only a dried grape, not exported to this country.

5. California Malagas, made from the Malaga grape.

6. California sun-dried Sultanas, made from the Sultana grapes in this State. And, lastly,—

7. Seedless Muscatels, made in California, and being the smallest Muscats separated from the larger seed-bearing berries.

8. Thompson Seedless, a new, very promising raisin now being produced in this country from vines imported originally from Constantinople, producing seedless grapes, slightly larger than the Sultanas.

9. Dried grapes of any description, especially wine grapes, exported from this and Mediterranean countries for wine-making to France, England and the Eastern States.

b. Dipped raisins.

10. Lexias, or Dipped Muscatels, from Denia, Valencia, Alicante, in Spain.

11. California Dipped, especially second-crop Muscatels. Proper name not yet established.

12. Smyrnas, which again may be either Sultanas, Chesmes or ElemÊs. The first from the Sultana grape, the two latter, the “red” grapes, from Dipped Muscatels.

13. Faros, from Algarve, in Portugal, not known in this country.

c. Dried in the shade.

14. Huasco raisin, from Chile. To this list might be added many more varieties of less importance.