34 



The Sweet Potato 



commerce than can the product in the natural state in- 

 cludes canning, desiccating or dehydrating, from which 

 process of reducing the water-content such by-products 

 result as potato flour and chips. All of these processes 

 are means of changing the same food into a dif- 

 ferent form that marketing may be facilitated. In 

 addition to these strictly food manufacturing indus- 

 tries, at least two other side-line or strictly speaking 

 by-product commercial endeavors are possible of con- 

 siderable development ; one of these is the manufacture 

 of starch and the other is the possibility of alcohol 

 manufacture from the fermentable carbohydrates con- 

 tained in the roots. 



Dehydrated and desiccated sweet potatoes. (Eigs. 2-5. ) 



In recent years the dehydration of various vegetables 

 has been undertaken extensively in certain sections by 

 numerous manufacturing concerns, and to a more lim- 

 ited extent on a small scale in the home. This process 



consists in remov- 

 ing the water 

 from the products 

 by means of heat- 

 ing after the vege- 

 tables have been 

 first sliced or cut 

 into small pieces. 

 Perhaps no other 

 one vegetable of- 

 fers better possi- 



FiGUKE 2.— Showing possible con- bilities of develop- 

 struction of a commercial sweet potato , , 



desiccating plant. ment as a lood 



