89 



never go back to the days when we depend entirely on the 

 grocer for everything, but out of this terrible conflict we 

 will come a more thrifty and economical people. 



Drying is Nature's own method of preservation as we 

 ;see in the drying of grains like wheat, corn and many 

 others. And it is a century old method although you will 

 hear many people say "This drying of vegetables is some- 

 thing new isn't it?" Nearly all that we have learned about 

 it has been gleaned from French and German books in our 

 libraries, and from that we are going on experimenting and 

 learning all the time and I feel sure the more we find out 

 about it the more eager will we be to do more of it. 



There are three names in general use for this process of 

 preservation and in the final analysis they all mean the 

 same thing so you may call it by the old name of drying or 

 you may say "evaporating" or even "dehydrating" so long 

 ■iis you do some of it we will not quarrel about names. 



There are three methods of drying: Sim drying — dry- 

 ing by artificial heat — and drying by moving air. And 

 really a combination of heat and circulation aro essential. 

 Sun drying is a method entirely dependent upon climatic 

 conditions. In Southern California sun drying is practiced 

 almost entirely, as they are free from rain or excessive 

 moisture for the entire season, but in our New England cli- 

 mate it is rather an uncertain method as we are never sure of 

 our weather and rarely do we have enough warm, dry days 

 in succession to entirely finish a product, but we may begin 

 drying in the sun and finish by artificial heat, always re- 

 membering that a good circulation of air is just as essential 

 as the heat, without the products will mould or sour rathe: 

 than dry. Sun drying is usually so slow a process that a 

 darkened product results and possibly not so good a flavor 

 as though dried more rapidly with the aid of artificial heat. 



The method of drying with the aid of moving air which 

 usually means the use of an electric fan has its disadvan- 

 tages in this climate unless you can heat and dry the air you 

 blow over the products as, obviously, there would be no 



