SCALDING. PRECOOKING, AND CHILLING 15 
color, but they were too soft, and the flavor and odor were objec- 
tionable. 
Limewater, when strong enough to make the peas slightly alkaline, 
preserved the green color to some extent, but it gave an undesirable 
flavor and rendered the peas practically inedible. 
Chilling the freshly scalded peas in cold water had no effect upon 
the color or appearance of the canned product. 
EFFECT OF SCALDING UPON THE TASTE AND FLAVOR OF PEAS. 
Personal preferences differ considerably as regards the prepara- 
tion of green peas for the table. To some, the liquid in which peas 
are cooked is particularly appetizing and, as has been shown in the 
discussion of losses, where too much water has not been used this 
liquid is fairly rich in food value. Others prefer to drain away the 
liquid and substitute cream, milk, or other ingredients. The same 
holds for peas canned without preliminary scalding, and those that 
have been scalded. Peas canned in tin without precooking were 
found to have a richer fresh-pea flavor than those that had been 
scalded, but it is probable that while the untreated peas might be 
more pleasing to many consumers they would not be appreciated by 
others. 
Peas treated with live steam were sweeter in flavor than those 
scalded in boiling water, due to the retention of the sugars, but 
there was no difference in the sweetness of the peas scalded in steam 
and those receiving no scalding treatment. 
There were but slight differences in flavor between the untreated 
and the scalded peas when glass jars were used, since most of the 
volatile flavoring matters escaped during processing in both cases, 
but the untreated peas were judged to have slightly more of the fresh 
green-pea flavor. 
The effect of plunging the scalded peas into cold water was to 
detract somewhat more from the flavor, though the differences between 
the peas that were chilled and those that were not were too small to 
be particularly noticeable. 
From the standpoint of flavor scalding in brine had no advan- 
tage over scalding in plain water when salt was used in the liquor. 
The value of the salt was merely that of a seasoning agent. The 
alkaline substances, as already noted, when used in sufficient quanti- 
ties to affect favorably the color of the product, seriously impaired 
the flavor. One per cent citric acid likewise offered no advantage 
and detracted from the flavor. 
EFFECT OF SCALDING ON THE SOFTNESS OF TEE PEAS. 
In several publications Bitting, (10, 11, 12) has stated that peas 
which do not receive sufficient treatment in the preliminary scalding 
remain hard in the can, even after processing. The writers, how- 
ever, have been unable to verify this in their experiments. Dif- 
ferences in the softness of peas between those canned after a pre- 
liminary scalding and those from the same lot not precooked at all, 
were so slight as to be insignificant. 
These investigations indicate that the softness of the canned prod- 
uct depends not upon the scalding but upon the degree of maturity 
