DEHYDRATION OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. 39 



cooked or uncooked — any of these products. They dry quite a little 

 faster, many of them, if they are in the cooked state, because in the 

 process of cooking the little cells of which the tissues of vegetables 

 are composed are burst, and, indeed, that is the object of cooking, that 

 and making things palatable, because when the cells burst the article 

 becomes more digestible. "When the cell is burst the water which was 

 in that cell evaporates with greater speed, so that you can dry very 

 rapidly and more cheaply if the article has been cooked. Some arti- 

 cles give you a product which is tastier and of better flavor if cooked 

 first. Sometimes "you do not want to cook, but to blanch ; that is, to 

 treat it with heat for a very short time. " Blanching " is the techni- 

 cal term the canner uses for a process which is rather scalding than 

 real cooking. That is particularly desirable for vegetables like the 

 potato, the cut surface of which, as everybody knows, will blacken 

 on standing. 



That is also true of apples. And this blanching, brief treatment 

 with heat, will interfere with the blackening process, so that there 

 is not any blackening. Of course, the blanching of vegetables and 

 fruits is universally practiced by the canner. Some articles he 

 blanches and some things he does not. You can not make any 

 general rule. It depends upon what particular type of product you 

 want to obtain. 



Also, it will be necessary in this connection to do a lot of educa- 

 tion on the preparation of these products. One of the reasons why 

 they have not established themselves as they should is that not all 

 the women are willing to experiment and find the best means of 

 cooldng. They are dealing with essentially a new material; they 

 have to learn the best technique of handling that material, and that 

 must also be taught, and that is again where the Office of Home 

 Economics will have to be very active. 



I think. Senator, that covers the points I wished to make. 



The Chairman. We are very much obliged to you. 



STATEMENT OF ME. H. C. GORE, BUEEAU OF CHEMISTEY, 

 DEPAETMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



The Chairman. Kindly state your full name. Doctor. 



Mr. Gore. H. C. Gore, of the Bureau of Cheinistry. 



The Chairman. Doctor, we will be glad to have any statement 

 you desire to make on this subject. 



Mr. GoEE. So much has been said that I do not know what further 

 can be said to amplify the subject. We feel it is very necessary 

 that the Government standardize the industry and save it the long 

 period of uncertainty that we find has existed in the past with such 

 industries as canning. Mr. Sweet mentioned the large number of 

 small drying plants which are now started up, and stated, I be- 

 lieve that a number of those plants were not producing a product of 

 very good quality. If the public gets a hold of any large quantity ot 

 such material, dried products may get a bad reputation, which they 

 do not merit, and we feel that if the Government can take hold of 

 the drvine right now we can do a great deal of standardizing ot 

 products and fnake them what they really are if reasonably treated. 

 and so save the industry perhaps years of development. 



