VEGETABLE AND FRUIT DEHYDRATION 195 



circulation between the containers. Under good conditions they 

 should keep 4 to 5 months. Washing is essential. Usually the roots 

 are covered with mud, which increases loss due to mold and decay. 



Grading to size reduces peeling waste. After grading, peeling can 

 be done by passing the carrots through a lye, an abrasive, or a flame 

 peeler. Waste may run as high as 24 percent for abrasive peeling. 

 Trimming is required to remove green ends and spots along the sides. 

 Aggregate losses from peeling and trimming will vary between 20 and 

 30 percent. Dehydrated carrots are either sliced, cubed, or stripped. 

 (See table 21.) Information on the moisture content of carrots and 

 on the maximum moisture content permitted by Government speci- 

 fications for dehydrated carrots can be found in table 22. The drying 

 ratio and drying yield are shown in table 23. Tables 24 and 25 con- 

 tain information on dehydration, and table 26 on packaging. 



Dehydrated carrots require the same protection as cabbage; that 

 is, they must be packaged in cans in which an inert gas has been 

 substituted for air (type 1, p. 23). The method is described under 

 Cabbage. 



Dried carrots are intermediate in stability among dried vegetables. 



When stored at 90° F. in contact with carbon dioxide or nitrogen, 

 samples of blanched dehydrated carrots containing 6 to 7 percent 

 moisture were edible but of poor quality after 32 weeks. After 64 

 weeks they had deteriorated further but were still edible. The caro- 

 tene content of dried carrots is adversely affected by oxygen in storage 

 but is not affected by variation in moisture content. 



In rehydrating dried carrots it is recommended that 8 parts by 

 weight of water be added to 1 part of dried vegetable and boiled 

 gently for 10 minutes if diced or stripped, and for 20 minutes if sliced. 

 After boiling, the carrots are drained carefully through an 8-mesh 

 strainer and weighed. The rehydrated weight should be approxi- 

 mately four to five times the original weight for sliced, five to six 

 times for diced, and six to seven times for stripped carrots. Longer 

 soaking will give a plumper product and slightly greater drained 

 weight, but longer boiling may cause deterioration in taste, flavor, 

 and color. 



Reconstituted carrots should be mildly sweet, free from sour or 

 bitter taste, mild in fresh carrot flavor, and soft and tender in texture. 

 The color should be a uniform, brilliant, yellowish red. The odor 

 should be that of cooked fresh carrots, free from the so-called violet 

 scent. 



CELERY 



Celery is a cool-season crop, adapted to winter culture in the lower 

 'South and to growing either as an early-spring or late-fall crop in the 

 central States. Farther north, in certain favorable locations, it can be 

 grown throughout the summer. The localized distribution of this) 

 crop is due mostly to its soil requirements. Celery is grown on peat 

 or muck, except in the irrigated areas in the West. The labor require- 

 ments for growing this crop are comparatively high. In California 

 and central Florida, celery is produced in important quantities in the 

 fall, winter, and spring. Midseason and late-summer crops are grown 

 mainly on the muck soils of Michigan, New York, New Jersey, and 

 Pennsylvania, with smaller acreages on the irrigated lands of the 



