VEGETABLE AND FRUIT DEHYDRATION 189 



In the South, Henderson bush lima and the Sieva or Carolina pole 

 lima are commonly grown. 



Ordinarily, green lima beans are vined by machine in the harvest 

 fields. After they are vined they are mixed with cracked or crushed 

 ice and packed in lug boxes. The safest method of handling is to 

 process them as soon as possible. Delay should not exceed 8 hours. 

 The shelled beans should not be held in water; this treatment may 

 cause undesirable odors and flavors in the product. 



The operations required in the preparation of lima beans are clean- 

 ing, sorting out of overmature white beans, washing, and blanching. 

 Green lima beans are blanched in live steam for at least 5 minutes. 

 The large-seeded types, such as Fordhook, may require 1 or 2 minutes 

 longer. The approximate blancher-loading and blanching time are 

 shown in table 21. If there is any delay between blanching and de- 

 hydration, the product should be cooled in water at 65° to 70° F. 

 The delay period between blanching and dehydration should not ex- 

 ceed 1 hour. Information on the moisture content of shelled lima 

 beans and on dehydrated limas can be found in table 22. The drying 

 ratio and drying yield are presented in table 23, and tables 24 and 25 

 contain information on dehydration. 



Dehydrated green lima beans present no unusual problem so far as 

 packaging and storage of finished product are concerned. In rehy- 

 drating green lima beans it is recommended that 8 parts of water 

 by weight be added to 1 part of the dried material and boiled gently 

 for 30 minutes. At the end of 30 minutes the beans should be drained 

 through an 8-mesh strainer and weighed. The weight of drained 

 beans should be approximately three to four times the weight of the 

 dried vegetable. The odor, flavor, and color should be those of freshly 

 cooked lima beans. The texture should be soft and tender. 



SNAP BEANS 



Snap beans are an important vegetable crop and rank fourth among 

 those that are canned commercially. Nearly half of the 462,000-ton 

 commercial crop produced in 1942 was processed. The leading States 

 in production for processing are New York, Oregon, Maryland, Ar- 

 kansas, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Florida leads in production for 

 the fresh-vegetable market. An early fall crop is harvested in Florida 

 and harvesting continues with the early- and late-spring crops in the 

 southern States. Summer crops are harvested in the States farther 

 north. In California the early crops are harvested during the months 

 of April, May, June, and July, and the late crops during the months 

 of August and September. The average yield in Oregon, where the 

 entire commercial production was used for processing, was 5.3 tons per 

 acre in 1942, which was higher than that of any other State in that 

 year. The average yield in Pennsylvania the same year was 2.85 

 ions per acre for snap beans grown for the fresh-vegetable market 

 and 2.10 tons per acre for snap beans grown for processing. 



Only about one-seventh of the commercially grown snap beans 

 are produced on pole-type vines; the remainder are produced on the 

 dwarf, or bush, vines. Almost 90 percent of the total are green beans ; 

 the remainder are yellow or wax beans. Kecommended varieties of 

 green bush beans for dehydration are Asgrow Stringless Green Pod 



