Raisins
grapes dried in the sun.
In the case of the best grapes the process is effected by cutting half through the fruit stalk without detaching it from the tree, or by gathering the grapes when fully ripe and dipping them in a lye made of the ashes of the burned tendrils, after which they are exposed to the sun, or they may be simply laid out to be desiccated. Inferior qualities are dried in an oven. Raisins are extensively produced in California. They are slightly refrigerant. In Europe and the United States they are used solely to sweeten preparations, in India they are given as medicine. They are an ingredient of compound tincture of cardamoms and tincture of senna.