Evening star., 1953-05-27
Powdered Potato Can
Be Tusty (It Says Here)
Government Improves Bone
Of 81 Mess During War
By Thomas R. Henry

The "dehydrated potato" - that's
about all that need be said for the sew
eral million American soldiers overseas
who had to eat it.
In wartime it was an emergency prod
uct. 1t saved lot of shipping space and
doubtless contained most of the nutri-
tive value OF fresh potatoes. But one
would go far to find anybody who liked
the tasteless 'goo."
Now it's going to be different, accord
ing to a report Of the Department of
Agriculture's Bureau of Chemistry. Re-
search started after the outbreak of
the Korean war in 1850, says the report,
has led to improved methods for maxi
Ing dried mashed potato powder. An
improved dryer was designed, the effects
OF several process variables on the quail
ity OF the product were determined, and
an objective method was developed for
evaluating the product. A novel process
for removal Of water has been applied
on a laboratory scale.
'The product is dried while being
carried upward in q vertical column by
a stream Of hot air. The column is
expanded at the top to reduce the
velocity Of the air. Thus large parti-
cles remain in the dryer longer than
small particles. and adjustment can
be made to prevent overheating Of
small particles while large particles are
dried to relatively low moisture con.
tent.
"Granules were produced by drying
IN two stages the moist mixture OBJ.
tanned by adding previously dried and
size-graded granules to freshly cooked
mashed potatoes. After the first stage
of drying the product was separated
into three fractions by screening. The
small proportion of relatively coarse
particles was rejected.
"The lower the moisture content, the
less will be the amount of extractable
starch in the product. This is impor.
tant because high content of extract.
able starch causes an undesirable pasty
texture of mashed potatoes prepared
from the product. Also the lower the
moisture content the higher will be
the packing density of the dry product.
This is an important factor for mill.
tary USE"
The new dehydrated potato, the re.
port says. "is lighter in color, blander
In flavor, and more resistant to deteri.
grafton at room temperature. BY tho
addition OF water at any temperature it
can be reconstructed to a product that
closely approximates freshly mashed
potatoes in consistency"
Agriculture Department chemists
have also developed powdered orange
juice"
1t is intended primarily for CT messes
all over the world.
Even at high temperatures" says
the report, "it has sufficient storage
stability to meet the requirements Of
either domestic or military use. When
mixed with water it is readily reconsti-
tuted into palatable beverage"
The process, it Is explained, starts
out with frozen concentrate of orange
juice, such as is in ordinary CONNER
cial use. Solids from corn syrup are
added to this to reduce its capacity to
retain moisture.
Vacuum drying is then conducted
in such a way that the concentrate
expands during the process. The re-
Sulting open structure makes it possible
w OL1C dU d
temperature low enough not to cause
significant changes in flavor.
The powder is prepared by crushing
the dried, solid material of orange con-
centrate and corn syrup solids. It's
structure is such that it can be reconsti-
tuted rapidly with water.
Most of the original orange flavor is
lost during the dehydration. This is
replaced by adding small quantity Of
specially prepared natural orange oil
to the powder.
This orange powder, according to the
report, has a storage life at 1000 F. Of
more than six months. There appears
to be little change in its content OF
Vitamin c or of the material which IL
converted into Vitamin A.
With each package of the material
is added a small amount of a drying
material which prevents it from ac-
cumulating any moisture during its
storage.