Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1892-11-03
CONDENSED FOODS

serves the Washington Star, the soldiers
who fight under the. starry flag will be
supplied with coffee In shape SO highly
condensed that one four-ounce package
will serve as a months ration for each
man. The concentrated preparation will
be given out perhaps as dry powder,
but more probably In the form of small
lozenges, resembling cough drops in size
and shape. These lozcngcs will be in
closed in tin boxes of 100. caeh of them
weighing gramme and representing one
cup OF coffee. For preparing the bever-
age no coffee pot will be required, 1T be-
ing necessary merely to put coffee tab
let into the cup and pour boiling, water
uponit, whenthe coffee is instantly made.
Sugar and milk can be added 20 suit the
taste. In FRANCE such coffee lozengcs of
comparatively large size have been re-
Gently introduced, being made bulky by
the addition. of sugar for swcctening,
but everybody does not care for sugar,
and, therefore, those which have lately
begun TO be manufactured in this coun-
try have been made plain.
The processes by which coffee is thus
concentrated are very interesting. To
begin with, the beans are roasted in an
enormous oven and ground in huge
mill. Then they are put into a great
vessel, which is nothing more nor less
than gigantic coffee pot, holding 2 10
pounds at time. Hundreds of gallons
of filtered water arc pumped into the
coffee pot, which acts on the drip"
principle, and the infusion is drawn off
to an evaporating tank. A steam pump
keeps the air exhausted from this tank so
that the coffee is in vacuo, being heated
meanwhile to high temperature by
steam pipes. The water it contains
rapidly passes off and the coffee is of
about the consistency of molasscs when
it is taken out. 1t is poured into trays of
enameled ware, and these trays are placed
on shelves in another evaporation. When
the trays are removed short time later
the coffee is dry solid, which is scraped
off the trays, ground to powder and
nodded into loZenges.
There is no reason why the Govern
ment should not prepare coffee in this
way on large scale in the event of war
at very great saving BY the processes
described one pound of the beans can be
made to produce more than 100 cups.
Eggs are now sold on the market in a
shape resembling sawdust. The chief
centre for the manufacture of this product
is st. Louis, where great quantities of
eggs are bought up in summer, when the
price of them goes down to almost moth
ing. They are broken into pans, the
whites and yelks separated and cvapo-
rated to perfect dryness. Finally they
are scraped from the pans and granu-
lated by grinding, when they are ready
for shipment in bulk Bakers, confcc-
TONERS and hotels use eggs in this form,
which is an important saving at seasons
when they are dear in the shell. 1t is
without doubt fact that most of the
eggs sold in cities during the winter
have been kept over from the previous
summer by picking them in brine or
lime water, so that people should be
thankful for desiccatcd substitute. A
manufactured product of similar de-
s,ription, called "egg-albumen, is i'm
ported from abroad 1t looks very much
like fine quality of glue, broken into
small bits golden yellow, transparent and
decidedly pretty. The eggs of wild fowls
of various species are largely employed
in making 1.-THE whites, that is TO say,
the yelks being utilized in Europe for
tanning leather. This "egg-albumen"
is used by bakers and for glazing prints.
1t costs fifty-five cents a pound.
Condensed jellies are becoming an i'm
portant commercial article. They are
made in the shape of little bricks, each
weighing eight ounces, and with an in
side.wrapper of oiled paper
Whan onnAonon1 mill xx-oc Grct sntrO
duced, thirty years ago, the idea was
laughed at. The inventor carried the
entire daily supply for New York city in
a ten-quart pail, delivering it personally
to patrons. He died worth 81, 200, 600,
made out of the business, which has
grown to be gigantic industry. The
processes, employed are very, simple, the
fresh milk being put into great copper
tank with steam jacket. While it is
being heated sugar is added, and the
mixture is then drawn off into vacuum
tank where evaporation is produced by
heat. The vacuum tank will hold per-
haps 0, 900 quarts. 1t has a glass window
at the top, through which the operator
charge looks from time to time. He
can tell by the appearance of the milk
when the time has arrived to shut off the
steam, and this must be done mt just the
right moment else the batch will be
spoiled. Next the condensed milk is
drawn into forty-quart cans, which are
set in very cold spring water, where they
are made to revolvc rapidly by mechan-
ical continuance, in order that their con-
tents may cool evenly.
When the water does not happen to
be cold enouth ice is put in to bring it
down to the proper temperature. Finally
the tin cans of market size are filled with
the milk by machine which
pours into each one exactly sixteen
ounces automatically, one girl showing
the cans beneath the spout, while an
other removes them as fast as they are
filed.
Another commercial article is con-
densed cider, which is made by evaporat-
ing the juice of apples. One gallon of it
costing eighty cents. will furnish fifteen
or twenty gallons of cider that is suffi-
GENTLY strong for bottling by the addition
of fifteen pounds of sugar and the rcqui-
site quantity of water. Peach, grape,
cherry and apricot cider, similarly con-
centrated, are sold for 81 gallon. Root
beer is put up in the same manner, half
pint of it making enough to fill six
teen half-pint bottles.
During the last year 0,22 gallons of
condensed lime juice were imported to
the United States from Jamaica.
Compressed salt is even provided for
horses and other beasts, brick of it be-
ing put into frame above the water
trough, where the forr-footed creature
90, Enl- Il It.urn,,ld hn intnroctir,.r 20