700 



Popular Science Monthly 



So, to offset any incompleteness of dry- 

 ing, it was found advisable in other lands 

 to cook, the vegetables first, thus arresting 

 by so much any tendency to spoil. Briefly, 

 that method consists in parboiling the 

 vegetables and then drying them suffi- 

 ciently to prevent subsequent deterioration 

 or fermentation. 

 The latter step is 

 accomplished with 

 heat. 



To prepare the 

 great majority of 

 vegetables dried in 

 this way for table 

 use, it is necessary 

 to cook them. The 

 dried farm products, 

 already parboiled, 

 thus must be re- 

 cooked. 



This is the main 

 fault with the old 

 method . Twice 

 cooked vegetables 

 are generally some- 

 what flat. 



How America At- 

 tacked the Problem 



Such was the 

 status of vegetable 

 preservation through drying when Waldron 

 Williams and his associates took up the 

 work in this country. Farm products were 

 being dried abroad. But they were not as 

 palatable as fresh vegetables. The task 

 was to conserve them and at the same 

 time, keep their food value and taste un- 

 altered. This these men have succeeded 

 in doing. 



The American process as it now stands 

 consists in utilizing heated air currents at 

 relatively low temperatures, which serve 

 to draw out, absorb and carry off the 

 moisture in sliced vegetables while leaving 

 them otherwise absolutely unimpaired. 



The vegetables are first cut up but not 

 parboiled or in any other way treated. 

 Then they are subjected to the new 

 moisture-extracting process. 



The volume of the air currents and their 

 temperature can now be controlled to a 

 nicety, as a result of long and exhaustive 

 investigation. The time required to dry 

 farm products depends wholly upon the 

 vegetables dealt with. The period of treat- 

 ment ranges from two hours to about five; 

 this can be readily appreciated if the 



The bottoms of the frames used in the ovens 

 are of screening to permit the passage of air 



varying moisture content of the different 

 vegetables is taken into consideration. 



For instance, fresh beets contain 87 per 

 cent of water; cabbages, 91.5 per cent; 

 onions, 87 per cent; potatoes, 78 per cent; 

 and tomatoes as much as 94.3 per cent. 

 The greater the volume of water present, 

 the longer the drying 

 operation must be 

 maintained in order 

 to reduce the mois- 

 ture content to the 

 desiredminimum and 

 at the same time 

 dry the vegetables 

 uniformly. 



How well the new 

 vegetable drying sys- 

 tem works out, in 

 the matter of retain- 

 ing intact the natural 

 flavor of fresh farm 

 products, is evi- 

 denced by the testi- 

 mony of a New York 

 housekeeper, a friend 

 of one of the 

 scientists. 



Merely to satisfy 

 her curiosity, a pack- 

 age of dried spinach 

 was sent to her. 

 When next 

 she saw her 

 acquaint- 

 ance she 

 declared 

 that that 

 spinach 



The dried vegetables 

 in the barrel repre- 

 sent about fifteen 

 hundred pounds or 

 thirty barrels of the 

 turnips, carrots and 

 onions shown below 



