POTATO POMACE. 115 



POTATO POMACE. 

 J. M. Bartlett. 



Potato pomace is the residue which is left in the manufacture 

 of starch from potatoes. This material contains nearly all the 

 fiber, protein, fat and a large part of the starch found in the 

 fresh potato. 



As it comes from the factory it is necessarily incorporated 

 with a large amount of water through the method of manufac- 

 ture. The process in general use in this country and Europe 

 is briefly stated as follows : 



The tubers after being thoroughly cleansed of all dirt are 

 placed in iron grinding cylinders with saw teeth which lacerate 

 the cells, setting the starch granules free. The ground mass is 

 then washed with cold water on sieves placed over tanks, the 

 starch granules passing through and settling out in the bottom 

 of the tank while the pulp passes off with another portion of the 

 wash water. As this pulp residue all goes to waste in this 

 country the process is necessarily a wasteful one, and manufac- 

 turers have been giving some thought to devising a method of 

 recovering it. The chief obstacle to its use in the fresh condi- 

 tion is the large amount of water it contains. If some method 

 could be devised for cheaply removing the larger part of the 

 water, the dry matter would have considerable value as a feed- 

 ing stuff. Of course, the material could be fed with 80 to 90 

 per cent of water present, but in this condition it would keep 

 but a short time, and as the period for manufacturing starch 

 extends over but a few weeks of the year it would be available 

 for only a very limited time for food ; dried, however, it would 

 keep any length of time. 



In Europe the potato and beet residues from the manufacture 

 of alcohol are quite extensively used as feeds in the wet condi- 

 tion, 80 to 125 pounds being fed to cattle daily per head. This 

 material probably does not vary greatly in composition from the 

 starch factory residue, but the manufacturing is conducted on 



