Food for Buoyant Health 225 



boiling water. Second, remove skin from vegetables or fruit. 

 Third, cut vegetables into thin slices. (This does not apply 

 to beans or leafy vegetables.) Fourth, put the slices on the 

 cloth tray and place in the gas oven. Bring the oven tempera- 

 ture to 150 degrees, leaving door open to permit air circula- 

 tion. The vegetables will be completely dehydrated in four 

 and one-half to six hours. 



"Vegetables are reduced to about one-fourth to one-ninth 

 their original size. They may be stored for future use in glass 

 jars. When wanted, they are soaked in water ordinarily 

 about three hours and then the food is cooked as desired." 



Van Itallie says this of the food problem today, the bigger 

 one of tomorrow, and the part dehydration may play in the 

 solution: 



"If the war lasts several years more, and we are among 

 those who think it will, the quantities of food which America 

 will be called upon to conserve by all available means will 

 become so staggering that every housewife will have to do her 

 bit to reduce the load on the country's food preserving 

 facilities. 



"We have only just begun to get a taste of it. No more 

 canned pork and beans. The beans will keep indefinitely 

 when dried, and to cook them is up to the individual house- 

 wife. When canned food rationing comes upon us, there is 

 bound to be a trend toward an even greater consumption of 

 fresh foods, unless transportation facilities become so con- 

 gested that there is not enough truck or railroad space to ac- 

 commodate the bulk of fresh foods. Should this condition 

 arise and the present scarcity of metals continue, then we will 

 all be eating dehydrated foods, for these are the best answer 

 to transportation shortages. They occupy a minimum of bulk 

 and require a minimum of steel and tin. In fact, for domestic 

 consumption, dehydrated foods can be packed in moisture- 

 proof, cellophane-lined cardboard containers. For export, 



