CHAPTER XVI 
CONSERVATION BY DRYING 
How American Housewives Made It Hot for the Kaiser 
M ARIE ANTOINETTE’S milliner once remarked 
that there is nothing new except what is 
forgotten. One of the “new” methods of food 
conservation practiced by the women of America 
during the war was that of drying food. To most of 
them the process was an absolute novelty, yet it is as 
old as civilization itself. It is merely one of those 
practices so long out of use as to be forgotten. 
Most of us are familiar with dried apples and the 
evaporated fruits of California, but there our knowl- 
edge ends. To most of us it comes as a distinct 
surprise, almost as a shock, to learn that practically all 
vegetables and fruits can be preserved for future use 
by drying. Certainly it was a great surprise to most of 
the housewives of America when they were asked to 
conserve food, not only by canning, with even which 
process many were only slightly acquainted, but also 
by drying, a method practically unheard of. 
Drying is both economical and simple as a method 
of preserving food. It requires no elaborate or costly 
apparatus. The finished product can be kept in any 
sort of containers that are clean; whereas in canning 
expensive glass receptacles must be purchased. Dried 
foods are compact, thus saving space in storing and 
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