Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-25
FOOD IN SMALL BULK.
Almost Anything the Cook Needs Is
Now Put Up in Condensed Form.
EGGS IN THE SHAPE OF sAWDUST.
Coffee and Jelly in Blocks and Cider
Boiled Into Small Space.
A cIrY's DAILY MILK IN ONE BUCKET
WRITTEN Fon THE pIspArcH.i


When Uncle Sam next goes to war the
soldiers who fight under the starry flag will
| be supplied with coffee in shape so highly
condensed that one 4-ounce package will
serve as Q months ration for each man. The
concentrated preparation will be given out
perhaps as dry powder, but more probably
in the form of small Iozenges, resembling
cough drops in size and shape. These loz-
enges will be enclosed in tin boxes of 100,
each of them weighing gramme and repre-
senting one cup of coffee. For preparing
the beverage no coffse-pot will be required,
| it being necessary merely to put coffee
tablet into the cup and pour boiling water
upon it, when the coffee Is instantly made.
In France such coffee lozenges of compare
lively large size have been recently intro
duced, being made bulky by the addition Of
sugar for sweeteningj but everybody does
not care for sugar, and therefore those
which have lately begun to be manufac-
tured in this country have been made plain.
| The processes by which coffee Is thus con-
centrated are very interesting. To begin
with, the beans are roasted in an enormous
oven and ground in huge mill Then
they are put into great iron vessel, which
is nothing more nor less than gigantic
coffee pot, holding 24o pounds at a time.
Hundreds of gallons of filtered water are
pumped into the coffee pot, which acts on
the 'drip" principle. and the infusion is
drawn off to an evaporating tank.
Coffee as Thick as MoIasses.
A steam pump keeps the air exhausted
from this tank, SO that the coffee is in
vacuo, being heated meanwhile to a high
temperature by steampipes The water it
contains rapidly passes of, and the coffee is
of about the consistency of molasses 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 q short time later,
the coffee is a dry solid, which is scraped
off the trays, ground to powder and nodded
| into loZenges
There is no reason why the Government
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 pro-
| duce more than 100 cups. By inquiry 1t has
been ascertained that hotels and restaurants
j only get from Is to Sc cups from the same
quantity, the minimum being reported BY
the most expensive establishments and the
maximum BY the cheapest eating houses.
The reason for this is that the usual plan Is
to make the infusion and throw away the
grounds, which still contain two-thirds
or more of the original strength of the
| coffee Of course, for commercial purposes
| the lozenges can be made of Rio, Mocha or
any other variety of the bean to suit the
taste.
| Experiments have recently been made
with success in the treatment of tea by sim
liar methods, and before long a dry soluble
essence, produced from the leaves, will be
| offered in the market, a tiny drachm bottle
| holding 90 tablets, each representing one
cup.
Eggs That Look Like Sawdust.
Eggs are now sold on the market in a
shape resembling savdust. The chief center
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 nothing. They are
broken into pans, the whites and yelks sep
arated and evaporated to perfect dryness.
| Finally they are scraped from the pans and
| granulated by grinding, when they are
ready for shipment in bulk. Bakers, con-
fectioners and hotels use eggs in this form,
| which is an important saving at seasons
| when they are dear in the she'll 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 limewater, so
that people should be thankful for . dessi-
| Gated substitute.
A manufactured product of similar
description, called "egg albumen," is i'm
| ported from abroad 1t looks very much
like a 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 for glazing prints 1t costs 55 ce nts
pound retail.
Jellies Made Into Bricks.
Condensed jsllies are becoming an impor-
tant commercial article. They are made in
the shape of little bricks, each weighing
eight ounces and with an inside wrapper OF
oiled paper. According to the directions
the brick is to be put into one pint of boil
ing water and stirred until it is dissolved
The mixture is then poured into mould or
other vessel, and put in cool place. In
few hours the jelly is ''set" and ready to
use, pint and half of it. 1t never fails
to 'jell," which is the cause of so much
anxiety to amateur jelly-makers The
DIlChb are udNOIeu Will various cur
rant, raspberry, grape, ETC.. and some are
of pure calves-foot jelly, to which wine may
be added for wine-jelly, preferably Sicily
madeira. Fifteen cents brick is the retail
price.
Concentrated ice cream is put up In tin
cans of eight ounces each. The contents of
the can are to be put In three pints of boil
ing milk, stirred we'll, permitted to cool,
and then frozen, producing two quarts of ice
cream. Condensed desserts are prepared
and sold in cans similarly, such as blanc
mango.
When condensed milk was first intro
duced, 80 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, 900, 900, made out of the
business, which has proven to be gigantic
industry.
How Condensed Milk Is Made.
The processes employed are very simple,
the fresh milk being put into q great cop
per tank with a steam Jacket While it Is
being heated sugar is added and the mix
ture is then drawn off into q vacuum tank,
where evaporation is produced by heat.
The vacuum tank will hold perhaps 5000 |
quarts. 1t has glass window at the top,
through which the operator in charge looks |
from time to time. He can tell by the ap-
pearance of the milk when the time has |
arrived to shut off the steam, and this must |
be done at just the right moment else the |
batch will be spoiled. Next the condensed |