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CHAPTER XVII
WHY WE SHOULD USE DRIED FOODS
The War-Time Need of "Multum in Parvo" (Much in Little)
Necessity is said to be the mother of
invention; and one of the children to whom Necessity has had to give birth
during the American industrial development of the last half-century, and the
rapid growth of our cities, was an adequate system of storing up food for winter
use and of distributing the food so preserved. It is only within recent years
that fresh, succulent vegetables have been obtainable in winter time; and for
most people the cost of these is absolutely prohibitive. At first the canning of
food products met the needs of the situation, and the last score or two of years
have witnessed an incredible development of commercial canning and distribution
of food products.
The continued development of our cities with their teeming
populations, and particularly the necessities of war time, with their demands
for multum in parvo have made imperative a still further advance in the
matter of food conservation and distribution. This is particularly true at this
time because ahead of us we can distinctly see the lean years yawn, even as
Pharaoh beheld the hungry kine in his dream.
History is said to repeat itself; and assuredly we have
witnessed an historic repetition in the creation of a food administrator to
watch over our stores, even as Joseph was appointed to prepare against the lean
years that overtook the dwellers along the Nile. Joseph, representing autocracy,
took the task into his own hands. Mr. Hoover, acting for democracy, asked us to
do the job ourselves. Both cut the Gordian knot of their perplexity in much the
same way. Joseph dried the excess corn and stored it in his granaries. Mr.
Hoover asked us to can and dry our garden surplus. In each case food
conservation won the day. Indeed, so close is the parallel between events in
Joseph's day and ours, that no more accurate description of what is doing in the
world to-day can be found than the Scriptural recitation of occurrences along
the Nile: "The dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was
bread. ...And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn."
Even so all countries are coming to America to secure wheat
and meat, and particularly fats. Here occurs the feature that differentiates
present-day conditions from those of Joseph's time. Joseph's customers could
come to him on dry land; but a mighty ocean, three thousand miles wide, lies
between America and her starving customers. Before they can get food they must
have ships. Even that mighty tonnage pictured in Lloyd George's phrase, "Ships,
ships, and still more ships," can hardly transport the food fast enough to save
the starving world from starvation. Dean Swift called for benedictions upon the
head of him who made two blades of grass or two ears of corn to grow where only
one had grown before. To-day, he might add to his list those who deserve well of
mankind those who can transport two tons of food where only one was transported
before. In effect that is what is made possible by the preservation of food
through drying, for in drying, foods lose both bulk and weight.
This reduction in weight of dried vegetables and fruits
ranges from five-sixths to eleven-twelfths with even greater reduction in some
cases. A California operator furnishes these figures for shrinkage: Potatoes,
about six to one; cabbage, about twenty to one; tomatoes, about twenty to one;
spinach, about eighteen to one; turnips, fourteen to one; carrots, about nine to
one. Less than three pounds of dried tomatoes, for instance, are equivalent of
sixty pounds of canned tomatoes. Not only are the products much shrunken, when
taken from the drier, but they may be still more compressed in packing so that
the bulk is further lessened. This reduction in weight also lowers
transportation costs. A shipping incident serves to illustrate clearly the
economy involved. Fifty pounds of fresh Brussels sprouts were shipped in the
winter of 1917-18 by express from California to an eastern point at twelve cents
a pound. Adding to this cost of $6.00 the cost of shipping with the vegetables
one hundred pounds of ice at twelve cents a pound, there was a total
transportation charge of $18.00. The equivalent of these fifty pounds of fresh
Brussels sprouts, namely three pounds of dried products, which required no ice,
might have been shipped to the same point by parcel post for thirty-five or
thirty-six cents.
With such an average reduction in bulk, the space required
for transportation and storage is far less than that required for either fresh
or canned products. In certain instances the reduction is very great. It varies
with the percentage of water in fresh products. One carload of dried tomatoes,
for example, is equivalent to thirty carloads of canned tomatoes.
Especially are dried products adapted for our military camps,
fleets, and overseas fighting force. Army officials estimate that two men are
needed daily to prepare potatoes and other vegetables for every one hundred
soldiers. Dried vegetables are already prepared and are ready to cook, after
soaking in water. In an army of 2,000,000 men their use would release nearly
40,000 men for other tasks. As the original preparation of vegetables for drying
is done largely by simple and inexpensive machinery, there is thus a tremendous
saving of man-power. The shrinkage in bulk makes dried products acceptable and
fitting naval stores, and trans-ocean freight.
Germany's stores of dried vegetables greatly helped her in
carrying on the war. During the last year of which the United States government
has any official record, Germany dried, in potatoes alone, more than twice the
entire quantity raised in this country. She more than doubled the number of her
plants after starting the war, and has now more than two thousand. There are in
Germany fifty-six firms supplying complete drying apparatus, and thirty-seven
other firms which supply auxiliary machines and parts. The drying is applied to
vegetables chiefly, only about twenty-two plants being for milk-drying.
 TOOTHSOME
VIANDS AT DRIED FOOD LUNCHEON
When Mrs. Robert Lansing, wife of the Secretary of State, entertained a group of
prominent Washington matrons at luncheon, the entire bill of fare was made up of
dried foods. The six-course meal included bouillon from dried vegetables, dried
chicken, a Neapolitan salad made of dried peas, dried lima beans and dried
tomatoes with cream cheese filling. All the foods were restored to their
original volume by steaming and soaking before they were served.
Despite all these facts one finds practically no dried
vegetables for sale at retail in America, and only a limited amount of dried
fruit. Outside of government contracts there has been and is little or no market
for dried products. The National War Garden Commission has inquired carefully
into the matter, and has corresponded with most of the commercial drying
concerns in the country. One and all report that, aside from contracts with the
War Department, they have practically no market for their products.
It is highly desirable that markets for dried foods be
created and speedily. The food situation in the world is to-day more critical
than it was at any time during the war. The task of feeding themselves has taxed
to the utmost the United States and her co-belligerents. Now peace imposes upon
these defenders of civilization a task that is simply appalling. German
submarine warfare reduced to actual starvation the 180,000,000 people in the
neutral nations of Europe. Beyond question we must rescue these unfortunates
from starvation, by sharing with them. It is apparent, too, that our
responsibility does not end there. Austria and the new nations which were
formerly a part of that country together with Bulgaria, Turkey, and Russia, are
also starving. If we are to have lasting peace in the world, if we are to have
stable governments and the settled conditions of existence, which alone make
progress possible––in short, if we are to make safe that condition of democracy
for which we have fought, these people must be fed.
"Hunger," said Robinson Crusoe, "knows no friend, no
relation, no justice, no right, and therefore is remorseless and capable of no
compassion." Hunger will endanger the peace of any community or nation. However
we may feel toward our former enemies, the best good of the world, including
America, demands that they have enough to eat. Otherwise there can be no settled
peace, no progress, no reconstruction. Fate has placed largely upon American
shoulders the burden of helping the world's hunger over the critical years that
lie immediately before us.
This being the case, we must have conservation, conservation,
and still more conservation. We must produce more food than ever before and
conserve every ounce produced. As much as possible of this excess should be
conserved in the form which best meets the needs of the situation. For use in
our homes canned foods are highly desirable, but for shipment abroad, dehydrated
products will be particularly needed. France needs steel and wood and cement and
a thousand other kinds of material for the rebuilding of those vast ruins which
once were French cities. All Europe needs cattle, millions of cattle, to make
good the present shortages and needs cattle-feed by the trainload. Ships will be
needed to carry our own soldiers back home. The demands on shipping space will
be almost beyond conception. Whatever saves space, therefore, is a prime
requisite in the upbuilding of a ruined world. Since food is the first of all
requirements, we should by all means adopt and develop that method of food
shipment which calls for least space. This means that we should greatly increase
the use of dried foods.
One thing alone stands in the way of a large development
of the commercial drying industry. Aside from government contracts, the food
driers have at present practically no market for their products. Manufacturer
after manufacturer has so reported to the National War Garden Commission, and
practically all report that it is difficult to create a market. The period of
government contracts is limited. Army consumption will decrease rapidly. Faced
with this situation, food driers naturally do not care greatly to enlarge their
plants.
Something must therefore be done to create a market for dried
foods. For one thing, an educational advertising campaign on the part of the
operators is to be strongly urged. A western company writes of the astonishment
of visitors "at the simple and sanitary method of handling the fruits or
vegetables," and their interest "because of the very apparent economy of the
method." With this as premise an intelligent advertising campaign should
quickly create a market. The establishment of government-controlled plants and
government advertising would more quickly and thoroughly create markets,
however, than the usual procedure of private companies. Dried foods are
practically "new" foods, and the acquisition of a new food habit by a whole
people is exceedingly slow, unless the government systematically undertakes its
establishment.
The policy of the Department of Agriculture in regard to the use of the
drying fund of $250,000 appropriated by Congress, will be of great economic
significance. Such a fund has been strongly needed, and makes possible enlarged
and nation-wide help in the urgent matter of drying vegetables and fruits, and
placing them in the homes of the people.
The appropriation will be used in conducting further
experiments with dehydration of food products and carrying this knowledge to the
American people. The Secretary of Agriculture has appointed Major S.C. Prescott,
who was in the food division of the surgeon general's office, United States
army, and Mr. Lou D. Sweet, of the United States Food Administration, as a
committee to carry out the purposes of the appropriation. Major Prescott was
professor of micro-biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before
he was called into war service.
When the appropriation became available, plans were promptly
made for beginning the dehydration experiments. Able construction engineers and
other experts whose services could be helpful were called in to aid in this work
which Mr. Sweet characterizes as "one of the biggest benefits that has come to
the American people as a result of the war." Soon after the committee was
organized plans were under way looking to the construction of several
dehydration plants with a capacity each of from 60,000 to 100,000 pounds daily
of raw product.
 DRYING
PEACHES IN CALIFORNIA
This shows fruit drying on a large scale. The structure of trays and arrangement
of fruit are of interest. The shed in the background is used for the preparation
of the fruit. Stacks of trays and lug boxes are also pictured.
These plants are not to be built by the government but by
private corporations with which the government will coöperate in making an
economic and commercial success of the process so as to help establish a
permanent market with the American people for dried foods. In order to do this
it is necessary, first to educate the people of this country to the value and
the use of such products, and, second, to have the dehydrated foods of such
attractive appearance and palatability and of a price so comparable with the
average price of the products in their undried form, that they may be marketed
in paying quantities.
The federal government and the states, by conducting
propaganda directed toward a general use of dried fruits and vegetables, would
be performing a needed service toward the preservation of health, with increased
economy to all concerned. Advertising on the part of private operators, can be
done only in so far as it pays them, and it would take several years and
millions of dollars to establish a general retail sale of dried food articles.
Furthermore, it is necessary to establish standards. It would
be a serious error to allow an inferior class of products to be put forward at
this time. The movement would receive a decided check. Commercially dried
vegetables should contain a given percentage of moisture, scientifically
correct; they should be packed in proper containers, and stored in cool places.
So prepared and handled, dried foods will be 100 per cent. free from spoilage.
Again, blanching is expensive in commercial drying, and its omission
necessitates very thorough drying of products to insure their preservation.
Some products, however, such as Irish potatoes, require
blanching before drying in order that the dried product may be satisfactorily
utilized. These do not "come back" well if dried without blanching. In getting
these new foods on the market, therefore, it is desirable that the government
draw up strict regulations, just as it has done for other foods through the
national pure food laws.*
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