X
THE SUNDAY OREGONTAN, PORTLAND, JUNE 18, 1322
I n I I a . V I i 1M II
jjontjamnon ood
nr. a
17,000 Tons of Fruits and
Vegetables Being
Reduced to 2000 Tons This
Season
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THE three wise men, called from the
Jar corners of the world to see the
son of God in Bethlehem, feasted .
on dates In the desert. This was just be
fore the beginning of the Christian era
and the dried fruit they ate waa pre
served by means of evaporation in the
sun. It is a difficult matter to trace the
origin of this natural process of preser
vation, but it likely existed for many
centuries before the birth of Christ.
Arabs used the date for food, as the na
tives of Greece used the dried grape.
Here, masked in antiquity, wa have the
birth of dried food storage. Until a few
years ago man seemed to have progressed
but little along this particular line, per
sisting in drying his fruits in the open
air. It has remained for Oregon to blaze
, the way for a new industry, dehydration.
Food preservation probably began with
tha storage of such grains and fruits as
were naturally dried in ripening; wheat,
corn, barley, or which readily were dried
In the sun, such as figs, dates and grapes.
These articles of food could be placed
in crude granaries and store houses dur
ing the harvesting season and these res-
ervolrs of food tapped when necessary. It
eoon becam'e a practice to ship this sun
treated fruit or food, and, as the bulk
was substantially reduced and the keep
ing qualities assured, ready markets were
found in far-distant parts of the globe
where it was not possible to grow them.
For centuries this "drying" and storing
c food was practiced with very little
improvement even so late as our colonial
days. Every old colonial homestead had
its yearly store of dried apples and other
fruits; the pioneers of the west even
learned from thendians how to dry meat
to make it keep.
Foods Kept On Long Journeys.
Then came the' development of world
commerce, a progressive series of as
tounding steps in trade, wherein the .prod
ucts of all corners of the globe could be
marketed at great trading centers. It
was found that certain heavily populated
sections of the world could better apply
themselves to manufacture and therefore
could not produce enough food to feed
the inhabitants. This again necessitated
a further development of commerce and
the brokers, or those interested in the im
port and export of foods, began to cast
about for means of preserving their wares
until they could reach the consumer. Of
late years we have been treated to the
spectacle of grains, meats, fruits and
vegetables, all perishables to a greater or
lesser degree, going on long journeys and
arriving at their destination in as food
condition as when they left their place of
origin. This has been made possible by
refrigeration and sun-drying processes.
Antique as some of these methods un
doubtedly are they were the only means
known for preserving food. The world
is entering a. new era of food preserva
tion, an astounding yet a simple system,
all embraced in the one word dehydra
tion. Stopped for centuries by an obstacle
seemingly insurmountable, mankind has
finally managed to evolve a new and as
tounding process for insuring the keeping
of foods, on a neaf-permanent basis. It
is not too far-fetched an idea to picture
the men centuries from now dining on the
foods that we now use. For, judging
from the success, of the past very, few
years, dehydration is Just in its infancy.
Already it is recognised as one of the
marvels of the age; It is revolutionizing
the marketing and food problem of the
world and it is an Oregon discovery and
an Oregon industry.
Tons of Water Kemoi'ed.
Simplicity itself is this' astounding
achievement that takes front rank in
these days of applied efficiency; It is
merely the removal of some seven tons
of water from every eight tons of food.
Within a very few years the exderts inti
mately in touch with the work predict its
application to the handling of meats and
many other foods, in short everything of
a perishable nature that man eats and
that contains moisture. It's water that
has been the stumbling' block- for cen
turies in the way of the scientists who
- would keep his food, and he could not
find any way of-evaporating it except the
most apparent, by use of the sun's rays.
. Decades ago California stepped into
and rapidly forged to the front as a fruit
and garden center because her favorable
climate enabled the producer to dry his
grapes or prunes andv other such crops
in the open. Spread on trays, exposed to
the sun, the moisture was ' rapidly ab
sorbed and only the mass of pulp re
mained. True much of the residue was
liberally besprinkled with grit, dust and
other foreign matter, but it was the best
that man could do. In the canneries the
fruits were subjected to yet another proc
ess, and both methods can best be de
scribed as cooking, one in the sun and the
other in vats. With the prune Industry
the fruit was "checked" in a chemical
bath and then taken to huge ovens and
evaporated. None of these systems could
be described rightly as . "natural" ones,
for the resultant product unquestionably
changed its identity, as those who have
eaten fresh and preserved fruits and
vegetables can testify.
Dehydration Idea Is Born.
Yet it remained for this Oregon con
cern, mainly through the efforts of a man
not familiar with the industry but who
had an idea, to perfect the real "na
tural" process, dehydration. R. W. King
came to Portland in 1911 to sell real es
tate and got his inspiration while here,
an inspiration born of necessity. The
northwest, while growing unquestionably
the best of frnits and vegetables,' did not
have a climate that would permit of
"sunpreservatlon." The tremendous can
ning industry did not seem to fill the bill
so King set about to develop his plan.
He sought gome means of drying out the
fluid content of fresh-grown perishable
produce and at the same time retaining
the natural flavor. The present highly
successful process makes a staple of fresh
fruits and vegetables as easy to get in
one place and season as in another.
Fruit, Refreshed, Is Natural.
Place a moist sponge on a radiator and
allow an electric fan to blow on it and
the water will gradually disappear. The
sponge will be reduced in size; will weigh
much less. In that condition the. sponge
may be carried anywhere, .it will not
change in any extreme of temperature.
Yet the moment you place the sponge in
water, because the walls of the minute
little holes or "cells," in the sponge re
tain their elasticity, the moisture is re
absorbed and swells the sponge again to
the original form. King merely proved
that fruits and vegetables were made up
very much like a sponge, that there were
millions of little holes or cells filled with
water or other elements that give aroma
or flavor. He sought the natural drying
system that would take away the 80 per
cent or more of water from the bulk1 and
leave the fresh fruits or vegetables as
near their natural state as possittl.
So, by standardization and control ne
subjected the produce to be treated to
certain warm air currents and found that
he could abstract this seven-eighths bulk
and the concentrated product that re
mains needs but a few hours refreshing
in water to regain its original identity.
Months, yes even years, after fruits or
vegetables have been dehydrated they can
be brought back to their original state
by the mere addition of water. Water
not only gives fresh products weight and
bulk and luscious appearance, but un
fortunately furnishes the element that
causes decay. Highly concentrated, their
bulk reduced so that they easily can be
handled, the dehydrated foods of the
west are now reaching the markets of the
world and the growth of the industry,
fortunately in the hands of men who un
derstand thoroughly problems of mar-
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