DRYING VEGETABLES 305 



the drying establishment of Penniman Brothers of San Jose, which 

 was opened for vegetable drying in 1889 and subsequently turned 

 to other uses for lack of demand, was turned again to vegetables to 

 supply sharp orders for Alaskan shipment. Onions, potatoes, string 

 beans and carrots were dried and several slicing machines were 

 used. Dried potatoes sold at 12 to 17 cents per pound and onions 

 at 25 to 30 cents. A drying establishment at Azusa, Los Angeles 

 county, was also operated for vegetables during part of the season, 

 and others probably participated. If the development of the mining 

 interests in the extreme north should proceed as anticipated, the 

 Pacific states would find a good market for large quantities of dried 

 vegetables as well as dried fruits. Experience thus far seems to 

 favor machine evaporation rather than sun drying, but it is quite 

 probable that sun heat may be found available, at least for part of 

 the work, when further attention is given to the matter. The fol- 

 lowing outline of methods may assist local experimenters: 



Potatoes. Peeling can be done with an apple parer but large estab- 

 lishments are provided with a cylindrical machine in which the potatoes are 

 placed and revolved at high speed. The tin of which the cylinder is made 

 is punched through from the outside in a large number of places, making 

 its inner side a grater, which soon scrapes the skin off the potatoes. The 

 potatoes are then sliced with an apple chopping or an apple slicing machine. 

 After slicing, the potatoes are boiled from five to ten minutes, but in some 

 factories they are boiled until two-thirds done. They are then placed in 

 the evaporator and thoroughly dried. If it is desired to bleach them they 

 should be placed in the sulphur box before they are boiled. 



Onions. Onions are easily evaporated. They should be peeled, sliced, 

 boiled from six to eight minutes and then spread Upon the trays and placed 

 in the evaporator. From one hundred pounds of fresh onions there should 

 be obtained ten to twelve pounds of dried product. 



String Beans. String beans should be at the right stage for immediate 

 use as such. The strings should be removed and then broken up as if to be 

 immediately prepared for the table. In order to preserve their natural 

 color, boil them in a bath made by dissolving five pounds of carbonate of 

 soda in twelve gallons of water. They should remain in this boiling bath 

 six or seven minutes. In any event it is necessary to boil them for this 

 length of time in order to coagulate the albumen, which would otherwise 

 undergo slow fermentation and injure the dried product. It is not safe to 

 use a very high temperature in drying string beans, as there is some danger 

 of scorching them. 



Green Peas. Green peas at the right stage for table use make a very 

 choice dried product. They should be shelled, boiled about five minutes, 

 and then spread upon vhe trays, which must first be covered with muslin 

 cloths. In drying peas use a temperature between 110 and 120 degrees. 



