The Washington times., 1917-01-15
DRYING WOULDSAYE
WASTE OF PRODUCE
Saving to Consumers Would Be
Big Economic Factor, 1t
Is Declared.
GERMANS LEAD THE WAY
New American Process Sur
passes All Others, However,
in Saving Flavor.
GERMANS LEAD THE WAY

Fifty thousand dollars was cast
into the Atlantic the other day by Of
ncials Of the Department OF Health.
To be specific, something like 2,00o,-
900 overripe oranges were destroyed
because they were not At for sale.
Thus $50 tons Of foodstuff from Porto
Rico and Jamaica were lost after hav-
ing been brought q long distance at
. considerable outlay.
Again. not long ago $500 bags of
onions were thrown into San Fran
cisco Bay because they had deteri-
not be sold. II searched the news
papers would show that these In
stances are but twol among many
thousands OF similar cases of market
losses. They give an inkling OF the
enormous wastage In produce that
goes on in the United States annually,
and all because green vegetables and
fresh fruits will remain edible 80
long and no longer. The ultimate
consumer pays for this wastage. The
loss could be prevented IL part of the
moisture in the fruits and vegetables
could be eliminated without injuring
them.
Housewife Pays fer Water.
The public is scandalized when
watered stock figures in the realms
OF finance, but # has been putting up
with something much akin to It In
the matter OF foodstuffs. The house
wife has purchased heavily Of water
when she thought she was getting q
full measure Of nourishment.
Take, for instance, the wheat from
which our 6Sily loaf comes. As the
farmer ships his grain to the elevator
20 per cent of the wheat is con-
tanned water. In other words, out of
ffve carloads of wheat the moisture
present is equivalent to one carload
Of water. Freight Is paid on that
water at the same rate as for the
transportation OF the grain and the
ultimate consumer foots that bill
when he buys his barrel Of flour. Not
only that but the bakers loaf-sold
: by weights 35 per cent water.
Consumer Pays Toll.
The average citizen does not realize
it. but his watered foodstufis are levy
ing toll upon him all along the line.
1t IL that moisture content that in
vites deterioration and decay and but
for the tcebox-the upkeep OF which
means tidy annual outlay-spoiling
and waste would cost still more.
Trace the STORY step back. The
marketman has to contend with the
same conditions; q goodly percentage
OF his stock willis and deteriorates1
upon his hands because Of the trouble
breeding moisture; and what he sells
must bring q higher price in order
to fetch q general profit. The whole
saler IL confronted by the same prob
lem, because he has to pay charges
for transportation, cover depreciation
in transit. and sell at prices that will
insure q balance on the right side of
his ledger.
Applies to Farmer, Toe.
Again. the farmer must ship only
the very best OF his produce in order
that his perishable wares may stand
reasonably well their journey to the
markets. As a result, where his fruits
and vegetables ripen overabundantly
he must count broadly as a loss that
part of his harvest which remains on
his hands. He must get enough from
his sales to pay for this wastage and
the ultimate consumer sighs at the
prices thus made necessary.
A possible remedy for this state of
things lies in a process recently per-
fected IN this country that makes 1t
practicable to dry fruits and vegeta-
bles without impairing their palata-
bleness and their natural nutritive
values. The hard pressed Germans
have already been doing something in
this direction.
Germans Sought Solution,
Some years ago the Germans turned
their minds to conserving surplus
farm products, and in a way they
sought to initiate nature, who taught
primitive man how things would keep
when well dried by the sun or by fire
Briefly, their method consists in part
ly cooking or parboiling the vegeta-
bles and then drying them sufficiently
to prevent subsequent deterioration or
fermentation in storage. Reboiling Is
necessary to prepare these vegetables
for the table. Now twice cooked food
IN somewhat fiAt,t and not only that,
there is a decided loss in nutritive
value. Palatableness has lot to do
with digestibility.
Good SIIaEe Crops.
The beet and the potato were the
two vegetables that the Germans
worked with on a large scale origi-
najIy. Later they took up the drying
of bcet tops, potato tops, peas, and
grains for the feeding Of domestic
cattle.
Drying TO preserve and drying
merely to produce a sense Of dryness
are two entirely different things. |
The housewife knows this when she |
bakes bread too quickly.
The process for drying vegetables
raferred IN as having haan davaIonad L