Commercial Dehydration of Vegetables and 

 Fruits in Wartime 1 



CONTENTS 



The importance of dehydrated foods in the war. 1 



Dehydration, old and new 2 



In former wars __ 3 



Since 1940 6 



What of the future? 6 



Prohloms and methods of vegetable and fruit 



dehydration... 9 



Location of the dehydration plant 9 



Selection of crops and varieties 9 



Harvesting and delivery to the plant 10 



Preparation of products for dehydration 11 



Blanching 12 



The drying process 13 



Types of dehydrators. 13 



Drying temperatures and length of drying 



period. 15 



Packaging and storage 16 



Compressing dehydrated vegetables 18 



Drying and sulfuring fruits. 18 



Ectention of nutritive values 19 



Eeconstitution and cooking 20 



Page 



Special information on individual products 21 



Vegetables 21 



Beans, green lima.. 21 



Beans, green snap 22 



Beets 22 



Cabbage 22 



Carrets 23 



Corn, sweet 23 



Onions 24 



Parsnips 24 



Peas, green _. 25 



Potatoes 25 



Rutabagas 26 



Spinach and other greens. 26 



Sweetpotatoes.. 26 



Tomatoes 27 



Fruits 27 



Apples 27 



Peaches 28 



Pears 28 



THE IMPORTANCE OF DEHYDRATED FOODS IN THE WAR 



FOOD AND MUNITIONS are war essentials. Fighting men 

 must have both. The United States is supplying its armed forces 

 all over the world with food and is also sending, under the Lend- 

 Lease Act, millions of pounds of food for the civilian populations of 

 some of our allies. Invasion of territories by our forces will bring 

 increased demands for food. An immense total of foodstuffs will 

 have to be shipped to all quarters of the globe. 



It takes a great number of ships to carry this food and all the other 

 things that must go with it. Not only is conservation of cargo space 

 necessary, but also conservation of the metal used in food containers. 

 Dehydration helps fulfill the triple requirement of more food in less 

 space, packaged with less metal. 



Almost all natural foods contain much water. Most fresh vegetables 

 and fruits contain 75 to 95 percent of water. Dehydration — rapid 

 artificial drying — reduces the moisture content to 3 to 7 percent. The 



i This publication was prepared by Marion J. Drown, associate technical editor, from material supplied 



largely by the laboratories ol the Agricultural Research Administration, which includes tin 1 Bureaus ol 



Agricultural and Industrial Chemistry; Animal Industry; Dairy Industry; Entomology and Plant Quar- 

 antine; Human Nutrition and Home Economies; Plant industry. Boils, and Agricultural Engineering; 

 and the Office of Experiment stations, in Its recent work on dehydration, the Agricultural Research 

 Administration has had the cooperation of numerous research agencies, both public and prh ate. and tins 

 publication contains information from a wide range of .sources. The western Regional Research 

 Laboratory of the Bureau Of Agricultural and Industrial Chemistry has carried on much pioneering work 

 in the, commercial dehydration of vegetables and fruits. 



