CHAPTER X 

 THE PRESERVATION OF FOOD: DRYING; COOLING 



The growth of bacteria in food is nearly always unde- 

 sirable and the housewife must always aim to prevent it. 

 Even where the incipient decomposition products are 

 useful because pleasant to taste, this taste is developed 

 in the food before it is received into the house, so that 

 the housewife is not concerned in the methods adopted 

 to produce the flavors. Her sole aim must be to prevent 

 the food from spoiling. To do this she must constantly 

 bear in mind that putrefaction is always due to the growth 

 of microorganisms, and that all types of putrefaction and 

 decay may be prevented by stopping the growth of such 

 organisms, and delayed by decreasing its rapidity. Any- 

 thing which will check the activity of bacterial growth will 

 delay the spoiling of food products. In order to know 

 how to treat food for this purpose it is most useful to 

 bear in mind the facts already mentioned in regard to the 

 growth of bacteria. 



To the housewife of to-day the problem of food preser- 

 vation is of less significance than it was fifty years ago. 

 To-day, at least in all communities of even moderate size, 

 these problems have been largely solved for her by the 

 marketman, and she can buy her food in such small quan- 

 tities that frequently she does not need to consider the 

 problem of preservation. The housekeeper of fifty years 



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