Page:National Geographic Magazine, vol 31 (1917).djvu/502

480 tion by merely drying may seem novel to the housewife of today, it was not unknown to the thrifty mistress of the home two generations ago. Our grandmothers knew the secret of drying many garden and farm products, and so successful were they in putting aside for the winter day those vegetables which could not be consumed in season that they came to prefer dried sweet corn over the canned product, while the dried pumpkin and squash were pie-plants par excellence.

In certain communities today snap-beans are strung on threads and dried above the stove, while festoons of red and green peppers decorate the space between the kitchen rafters. Thrifty housewives dry cherries and raspberries on bits of bark for winter use in place of raisins. In fact, a survey of our fruit products shows that drying is by no means an unusual method of preservation. Prunes, figs, dates, raisins, apples, and apricots are staples in the food markets of the world.

Turning to the vegetables, we find that dried beans of many varieties, peas, and other legumes, tea, coffee, and cocoa are familiar articles of food, while various manufactured products, like starch, tapioca, and macaroni, are dried either in the sun or wind, or in specially constructed driers.

While the modern methods of canning on a vast commercial scale caused the drying processes of two generations ago to become one of the “lost arts” of the home, the present food situation seems destined to revive it with splendid economic results. The country is producing at the present time larger quantities of perishable foodstuffs than at any other period in its history, owing to the effective educational campaign which has stimulated the cultivation of individual gardens in waste places.

Drying will help to conserve the surplus yield of these gardens. But canning and preserving should not under any circumstances be abandoned. All processes have their place in the economy of food conservation.

One of the chief advantages of drying vegetables and fruits lies in the practicability of the process for the city housewife. The farmer's wife has her root cellars and other places for storing vegetables; but in the city home, where space is a primary consideration, the drying method furnishes a practical solution of an important problem.

For the farmer's wife the new methods of canning are commended in preference to the longer process of sun-drying. But new and shorter methods of drying are now available, and the dried product has several advantages over the canned product, particularly in the saving of the expense of cans, glass jars, and other containers. Dried vegetables can be stored in receptacles which cannot be used for canning, and the bulk of the product is usually less.

Another consideration should be taken into account: the canned fruits and vegetables are subject to freezing, a danger entirely obviated in the drying process. Dried foodstuffs can be shipped in the most compact form, with a minimum of weight and a minimum of risk.

One of the most important considerations commending the drying process is that the city or town housewife can employ this method of preservation with the simplest and most inexpensive facilities, and the process can be employed continuously, whether the food to be saved is in large or small quantities. A few sweet potatoes, peas, or beans can be dried at a time. Even a single turnip or an apple is worth drying. Bit by bit vegetables may be saved until a whole meal is conserved. Small lots of dried carrots, cabbage, turnips, potatoes, and onions are combined to advantage for vegetable soup.

As to the tastiness of such dried products as spinach, beet-tops, and kale there is no question. In other cases, while the flavor of the fresh vegetable is not preserved in its entirety, the use of these ingredients in soups and stews meets successfully the problem of any loss of palatability, while the food value of the dried product remains unimpaired.