The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-10
NEW AMERICAN INDUSTRY.
California Has "a Place Where VegetR~
bles Are Dried Like Fruit.
San Francisco Call.


A new and important industry has come
into existence in Santa Clara county, which
bids fair in time to rival the fTuit-drylng.
TT is the preparation of dried vegetables
for the market, which at present is general
ly confined to the short season at the driers
between the ripening Of the different fruits.
Just lately the vegetables have been uSurp-A
ing the place of the apricots, but they have
now already begun to give way TO the
prunes. On approaching drier 1t does not
take one long to decide whether fruit or
vegetables are being prepared, for In the
latter case pungent odor PUSHES out to
sting ones eyes and crawl uncomfortably
up ones nostriis-for the trail of onions is
over the land. Within q lively scene is
presented. Men are hurrying to and fro
bearing traps and boxes, while long rows
of women and children sit busily peeling
potatoes and carrots, which, together with
the onions, form at present the staple prod
uct. When boxes of potatoes or carrots are
filled they are poured into large hopper
and from there fed to a machine with rotat-
ing knife blades which. cuts them up into
small sliVers quarter of an inch thick. The
further process which the potatoes undergo
is simple, and for carrots and the other mi-
nor vegetables it is practically the same.
After being sliced the tubers are slightly
sulphured in a chamber built of wood Here
great discrimination must be used, for, If
they are Sulphured too much, the potatoes
will taste of the fumes; if too little they
will not contain enough antiseptic property,
and bacteria attracted by the starch will
develop. Moreover, a little sulphuring is
necessary to preserve the color of the veg
etables as far as possible and to prevent
decay.
After this process the potatoes are not
spread out in the sun, but put into an
eyaporator The latter looks like a small
Ferris wheel and is inclosed in a sort OF
brick oven with glass windows. Within
this it revolyes close to hot-air pipes for
a few hours When the moisture is suffi-
GENTLY evaporated the cars of the wheel
are emptied through the windows, and their
contents are now ready for shipment in
sacks. When this stage is reached the sliced
potatoes resemble dry chips, and 1t takes
six or seven pounds of the fresh to make
one pound of the dried.
BY their pungency onions possess the
power of Warding off bacteria, and are.
therefore, only slightly sulphured to pre-
serve their color They are next evapo-
rated until one-third of their moisture is
expelled and then placed in trays in the
sun Just as is done with fruit The drying
process shrivels the onions so much that it
takes twenty parts of the fresh to make
one of the dried. While the onions are be-
ing cut up the moisture coming from them
is very disagreeable and hard on the eyes
of the employees.
When carrots are evaporated 1t takes
about nine parts of them to make one dried
part. Perhaps the drying process used in
the case of both carrots and potatoes might
he improved upon were steam employed BY
would be partly cooked and Sterilized,
and after this the tubers could be
evaporated in a chamber similar to the one
above described. In this way the potatoes
could be rid of sulphur well dried and yet
capable of being quickly soaked, and thera
Other vegetables than these mentioned
are at present in process of development;
but so far the industry has proved very
profitable, as evidenced by the increased de-
country, but especially in the mining re-
giOnS