raisin (razn)

[ Nether in the vyneyerd thou schalt gadere reysyns and greynes fallynge doun, but thou schalt leeve to be gaderid of pore men and pilgryms. Wyclif, Lev. xix. 10. ( Trench.) 2. A dried grape of the common Old World species, Vitis vinifera. Only certain saccharine va-. rieties of the grape, however, thriving in special localities, are available for raisins. The larger part of ordinary large raisins are produced on a narrow tract in Mediterranean Spain. These are all sometimes cla ed as Malaga raisins, but this name belongs more properly to the "de ert-raisins" grown about Malaga: they are also called muscatels from the variety of grape, blooms from retaining a glaucous surface, and, in part at least, raisins of the sun or sun - raisins because dried on the vine, the leaves being removed, and sometimes the cluster-stem half-severed. When packed between sheets of paper, these are known as layer raisins. Raisins suitable for cookery, or "pudding raisins," sometimes called lexias, are produced especially at Valencia. These are cured, after cutting from the vine, in the sun, or in bad weather in heated chambers, the quality in the latter case being inferior. The clusters are often dipped in potash lye to soften the skin, favor drying, and impart a glo . Excluding the "Corinthian rake raising-gig (rā'zing-gig), п. In cloth - manuf., a machine for raising a nap on cloth; a gig machine. E. H. Knight.