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BETTER FRUIT 



Page 5 



The Conserving of Fruits by Scientific Dehydration 



IN the East Gallery of the Grand 

 Central Terminal in New York is 

 the Mrs. Oliver Harriman Food Re- 

 search Laboratory, a daily exhibit of a 

 practical wartime measure and the an- 

 swer to one of the biggest conservation 

 questions today. To the fruit-grower, 

 who does not need to be told the ad- 

 vantages of drying, the possibilities that 

 dehydration has to ofTer will be of 

 decided interest. Not that dehydration 

 is something totally new, — in various 

 forms it has been practiced from time 

 immemorial. The savage tribes of 

 Africa, the people of ancient Egypt, and 

 the American Indians all very sensibly 

 preserved their food by drying. The 

 custom is a well-known one in Italy and 

 Japan, and, in our own United States, 

 the fruit-growers of California resort 

 to sun-drying to lessen the waste of 

 their abundant crops. But it is only of 

 late that dehydration has come to make 

 the method practicable everywhere. 

 The farmer needs assurance that his 

 labors will not be half wasted if he is 

 expected to turn all his efTorts to 

 greater production. It is an ironical 

 fact that, in the year 1917, in spite of 

 unusual conservation and greater pro- 

 duction, the amount of foodstuffs 

 wasted was greatly increased. Such an 

 occurrence dehydration would make 

 impossible, and the amount of money 

 expended would be lessened as well. 



The laboratory exhibit, which has the 

 personal attention of Mrs. Harriman 

 and is due entirely to her untiring 

 patriotic etforts, has been open to the 

 public since last November, and the big 

 grey machine there has been receiving 

 fruits and vegetables of all kinds and 

 turning them out in dehydrated form. 

 Last summer Mrs. Harriman became in- 

 terested in the experiments that were 

 being made in Westchester, New York, 

 for the County Committee for General 

 Safety. Realizing the great possibilities 

 in the field of dehydration, she and the 

 experimenter, Mr. Clarence V. Ekroth, 

 Assistant Chief Chemist to the Bureau 

 of Foods and Drugs, commenced the 

 extensive research that now shows 

 such wonderful results. For the sum- 

 mer of 1917 Mrs. Harriman generously 

 gave over the ground floor of her town 

 house to the work. The present labora- 

 tory, at 2,5 Vanderbilt Avenue, is under 

 the direction of Mr. Ekroth and is con- 

 ducted in co-operation with the Bureau 

 of Foods and Drugs of the New York 

 City Health Department; there is con- 

 tinuous investigation of the subject of 

 dehydration in an endeavor to arouse 

 public interest in the project. The most 

 practical methods are being worked 

 out and incorporated with new sug- 

 gestions resulting from experiments 

 and with the ideas of the director, the 

 object being to remove llie usual diffi- 

 culties involved in a new undertaking. 

 Others may profit by the research and 

 be saved much hard experience in the 

 future. For dehydration has come to 

 stay, as this exhibit very convincingly 

 shows. 



By Francesca Baltes 



Dehydration, of course, simply means 

 the extraction of all moisture; it goes 

 farther than drying and evaporating. 

 An attractively arranged table at the 

 laboratory holds jars of dehydrated 

 beans, corn, pears, peaches, apples, 

 strawberries, and numerous other vege- 

 tables and fruits from which every bit 

 of moisture has been scientifically re- 

 moved. The same specimens in recon- 

 stituted form are shown nearby, appar- 

 ently the fresh articles. It merely 

 proves that, by the simple addition of 

 water, a dehydrated product may be 

 restored not only to its original appear- 

 ance, but also with no loss of flavor, 

 color, form, or even fragrance. De- 

 hydrated strawberries have the same 

 inviting odor as those ripening in the 

 fields. The food value is absolutely un- 

 impaired. 



The advantages ofTered by dehydra- 

 tion are very definite ones. Its great 

 object is to eliminate waste in every 

 possible way. It is now generally com- 



prehended that, to prevent a world 

 famine, we must keep up the food sup- 

 ply; for at least three years to come, 

 more production will he needed. Our 

 Allies have only about thirty-four per 

 cent of the food they will need; and it 

 is becoming plain that the field of pro- 

 duction is a limited one, for there is 

 not sufficient labor to increase it. The 

 one alternative is to save — to prevent 

 waste. The elimination of waste in 

 every possible way is precisely the 

 object of dehydration. As it is now, 

 there is about sixty per cent, waste 

 between the grower and the con- 

 sumer — a circumstance that, under 

 present conditions, we can no longer 

 afford to tolerate. Perishable food 

 must be saved — before it perishes. Be- 

 sides embodying practically every 

 advantage obtained by canning, pre- 

 serving, and cold storage, dehydration 

 posesses certain greater advantages. It 

 prevents loss by decay and freezing 

 (these products will not freeze, nor will 



Mrs. Oliver Hairimun, stand 



Copyriglited by Intcnialli'iuil Film Serrlce, Inc. 



man, standing before her dehyrtrating machine, is removing a tray of thoroughly 

 dehydrated material and demonstrating this scientific process 

 f conserving fruits and vegetables. 



