OCR Text |
Show Home Dehydrators Can Prevent Spoilage With Good Storage and Careful Packing Home dehydration of this summer's sum-mer's fruits and vegetables may be of little help to next winter's table unless care is exercised in proper packaging and storing. Adequate protection against moisture mois-ture is an essential consideration for these products, particularly in humid hu-mid climates. Every housewife knows that a leaky seal will ruin a jar of canned tomatoes or string beans. She should be equally aware that a poor container con-tainer will similarly cause spoilage of many home-dried foods. Not all vegetables can be dehydrated dehy-drated successfully. Sweet corn, apples, ap-ples, and parsley and celery (for soup flavoring) can be dehydrated and packaged without much difficulty, diffi-culty, if they are properly processed proc-essed according to instructions issued is-sued by the TJ. S. department of agriculture. ag-riculture. The amateur dehydrator is confronted with real problems when she tackles . the more hygroscopic hygro-scopic foods (those which absorb moisture easily). Even the industrial indus-trial dehydrators, whose business has undergone tremendous expansion expan-sion during the war, have had to overcome many difficulties in preparing pre-paring and packaging these products for the army and for lend-lease shipments. In all cases the packaging of dehydrated de-hydrated foods should be done promptly, under sanitary conditions, and out of contact with dust. Containers Con-tainers should be filled to the top in order to displace as much air as possible to keep down oxidation. Extreme cold will not injure dehydrated de-hydrated foods, since they contain so little water. But prolonged storage stor-age in a very warm place will adversely ad-versely affect them, and light affects some products. Storage in a cool dark dry place is best. Home dehydrators should also make sure that the interiors of larger larg-er pieces of fruit or vegetable are thoroughly dried. Too often one assumes as-sumes that because the small pieces feel dry the whole batch is sufficiently suffi-ciently dehydrated, whereas the larger pieces may be still moist on the inside. Then when all are packaged pack-aged together the moisture in the large pieces may be given off and cause the whole batch to become moldy. For the safe storing of most fruits and vegetables dehydrated in the home, a container must be used which has the greatest resistance to passage of moisture vapor. Cellophane of the moisture-proof type provides an excellent protective package for dehydrated foods. However, How-ever, it is not always easy- for the consumer to obtain this type of film at present due to its great demand for war packaging. It is, therefore, there-fore, important for the housewife to know the difference between moisture-proof cellophane and the type known to the trade as "plain transparent," which is grease-proof but not moisture-proof. The moisture-proof cellophane used for this purpose seals to itself upon application appli-cation of a hot iron, and this is a simple test. This- varisty may be purchased at some of the stores which sell home-freezing supplies, as it is extensively used in packaging frozen foods. The plain or non-moisture-proof film should not be used. Where cellophane is used, it is a good idea to place in one bag the amount of dehydrated food needed for one family meal. A number of these bags may be placed in a crock, jar or box with a tight-fitting lid. The food then can be used one bag at a time without exposing the remainder re-mainder to moisture absorption. In the event that the home dehydrator de-hydrator cannot obtain moisture-proof moisture-proof cellophane or other satisfactory satisfac-tory moisture-resistant paper type containers she may turn to the traditional tra-ditional home-preserving receptacle, the glass jar, one of the safest and most available containers under present conditions. |