ALL raisins come with chemicals. These are sprayed to prevent fementation during drying. That also happens to inhibit the yeast rising... I buy raisins and currants in bulk, and I ALWAYS give them a bath. Dump them into a large bowl and give 3 washes with warm/hot tap water. Use your hands to rub well and you will see just how much junk starts to colour the water. Dump and repeat. Then do a final rinse without rubbing. Spread a clean towel onto a cookie sheet, and squeeze the water gently out of handfuls or raisins, and spread them on the towel to air dry. You can crowd them about a finger deep. Put the dry raisins into zip bags for storage or use as soon as dry. You will be able to load raisins into dough if you like, using these clean raisins. Irene, that's very interesting - thanks for letting us know. PJH

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