DEHYDRATION OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES 85 
PEACHES 
Yellow freestone peaches of the Muir and Lovell varieties are gen- 
erally preferred, although the Elberta is dehydrated to a limited 
extent. The fruit should be firm, fully colored, and free from soft 
spots. The color of the fresh fruit should be uniform. 
Peaches are graded for size and halved by cutting completely 
around the line of suture, and the pits are removed. The halved 
and pitted fruit may be peeled by any of the lye-peeling machines or 
left unpeeled. In either case the fruit is trayed, cup side up, in order 
to retain the juice that collects in the cavity, sulphured, and dried. 
PEARS 
The chief varieties of pears for drying are the Bartlett and the 
Anjou. The fruit is picked when the color is beginning to change 
from green to yellow and when, by merely being lifted, it is readily 
loosened from the branches. The pears are kept in boxes or crates 
under cool well-ventilated storage until firm ripe. 
Pears are prepared in both the peeled and unpeeled forms. In 
preparing the peeled fruit the stem is pulled out, the calyx is cut off, 
and the peel is removed by hand or by lye dipping. The fruit is then 
halved and the core is removed by special scoops or knives. Between 
the operations in preparation the fruit should be kept in cold running 
water or cold weak saline solution to prevent darkening of the tissues. 
The prepared fruit is trayed, sulphured, and dried. 
The degree of translucency in the dried product is controlled in the 
preparation by the extent of sulphuring. ‘he time of sulphuring pears 
(Table 6) effectively preserves the original color and opaque condition 
of the fresh fruit. 
PRUNES 
The Agen (Petite) and Italian prunes are the varieties chiefly dried. 
Prunes should remain on the trees until they fall to the ground or 
until a light tapping of the branches causes them to fall. They are 
gathered from the orchard in shallow lug boxes holding not more 
than 60 pounds. 
Prunes are prepared by cold-water washing, hot-lye dipping, rins- 
ing, traying, and drying. The temperatures used for drying Italian 
prunes should not exceed 160° F.; Agen prunes are sometimes dried 
at 170° to 175° F. without visible injury. 
VEGETABLES 
BEANS (STRING AND STRINGLESS) 
The terms “stringless” and ‘‘green”’ apply more particularly to 
the maturity than to the variety of beans. Many varieties are green 
or stringless at early maturity. In preparing string beans it 1s neces- 
sary to remove the ends and strings by hand, so that it 1s more 
economical to use stringless or green beans, which require less labor 
in trimming. The beans, culled free from tough, fibrous, or spotted 
material, are thoroughly washed, preferably by vigorous sprays of 
cold water. They are then cut across the short diameter of the pod 
by a special cutting machine, trayed, and steam processed. Blanch- 
ing by immersion in hot water or in a very dilute (less than half an 
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