PART II 
HOME DRYING MANUAL 
Drying vegetables and fruits for winter use is one of the vital national 
needs. As a national need it becomes a patriotic duty. As a patriotic 
duty it should be done in every family. 
Failure to prepare vegetables and fruits for winter use by Drying is one of 
the worst examples of American extravagance. During the summer nature 
provides an over-abundance. This year, with the planting of 5,285,000 home 
food gardens, stimulated by the National War Garden Commission and the 
United States Department of Agriculture, this abundance will be especially 
large. The excess supply is not meant to go to waste. The over-abundance 
of the summer should be made the normal supply of the winter. The indi- 
vidual family should conduct Drying on a liberal scale. In no other way can 
there be assurance that America’s food supply will meet our own needs. In 
no other way, surely, can we answer the enormous demands made upon us 
for furnishing food for our European Allies. 
IMPORTANCE OF FOOD THRIFT 
Winter buying of vegetables and fruits is 
costly. It means that you pay transporta- 
tion, cold-storage and commission merchants’ 
charges and profits. Summer is the time of 
lowest prices. Summer, therefore, is the time 
to buy for winter use. 
Every pound of food products grown 
this year will be needed to combat Food 
Famine. The loss that can 
be prevented, the money 
saving that can be effected 
and the transportation relief 
that can be brought about 
make it essential that every 
American household should 
make vegetable and fruit 
Drying a part of its program 
of Food Thrift. The results can be gained 
in no other way. 
Vegetable and fruit Drying have been 
little practiced for a generation or more. 
Its revival on a general scale is the pur- 
pose of this Manual. There is no desire 
to detract from the importance of canning 
operations. Drying must not be regarded 
as taking the place of the preservation of 
vegetables and fruits in tins and glass jars. 
It must be viewed as an important adjunct 
thereto. Drying is important and economical 
in every home, whether on the farm, in the 
village, in the town, or in the city. For city 
dwellers it has the special advantage that 
little storage space is required for the dried 
product. One hundred pounds of some fresh 
vegetables will reduce to 10 pounds in dry- 
ing without loss of food value or much of 
the flavor. 
This year’s need for vegetable and fruit 
Drying is given added emphasis by the 
shortage of tin for the man- 
ufacture of cans. This con- 
dition has created an un- 
usual demand for glass jars. 
For this year, therefore, Dry- 
ing is of more than normal 
importance. Dried products 
can be stored in receptacles 
that could not be used for 
canning. This is excellent conservation. 
DRYING IS SIMPLE 
A strong point in connection with vege- 
table and fruit Drying is the ease with 
which it may be done. The process is simple. 
The cost is slight. In every home the neces- 
sary outfit, in its simplest form, is already at 
hand. Effective Drying may be done on 
plates or dishes placed in the oven, with the 
oven door partially open. It may be done 
on the back of the kitchen stove, with these 
same utensils, while the oven is being used 
for baking. It may also be done on sheets of 
Fig. 1. Carrots cut lengthwise. 
