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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Or.) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (July 22, 1943)
■■ Vegetable Dehydration If ill Pay Dividends Dehydration is a big word, but don’t let it frighten you! It’s a streamlined way of saying drying. Dried foods are not new to homemakers, for they’ve been known for centuries. The pilgrims picked it up from their Indian neighbors and found it most successful for keeping food throughout the winter. No doubt dehydration would have continued except for commercial canning, but today it is again coming into its own because of shortages in tin and lack of pressure cookers for home canning. In fact, it is the recommended method if you have no pressure cooker available for canning non-acid vege tables. < Bacteria are thirsty creatures and cannot survive in any thing in which extreme dryness prevails. The object of de hydration is to make the vegetables bone dry to stop the de velopment and growth of harmful bacteria which would cause spoilage. Corn, peas, beans, carrots and okra may be dehydrated successfully. Leafy green vegetables may also be dehydrated but they require more care. The foods may be dehydrated either indoors or outdoors, but the indoor method is prefer able as outdoor drying causes greater vitamin loss. In indoor drying, the heat may be supplied by the oven of your range, electric bulbs, portable heaters or surface heat from the range. Use Choicest Produce for Drying Vegetables used for drying should be table-fresh, crisp and tender. They should be in the best of condition, thoroughly cleaned, and used immediately after picking. To save precious vitamins, steam-blanch vegetables for dehydration. This is done by cleaning the vegetables as for the table. Place in a deep well cooker or colander which fits into a deep kettle of water. Have about 1 inch of water boil ing at the bottom of the kettle when colander full of vege tables is placed in it. Cover tightly with close fitting cover. Steam until vegetable is cooked as for table use, and then proceed with dehydration. Steam-blanching vegetables preserves their color and vita mins and gives a superior flavored product. Naturally all de hydrated vegetables must be soaked in water before using to allow them to absorb the moisture which they lost during drying. Air must be allowed to circulate freely through the dehy drator, and the heat should be even. There should be enough heat to dry the vegetable in a minimum amount of time, but not enough to scorch it. When thoroughly dry, foods are stored in moisture-proof and insect-proof bags in cool, dry. dark place. The oven is adaptable for drying in small quantities. The temperature required is 150’ F. This should be maintained throughout the drying process. If necessary, leave oven door ajar. Place the drying racks as high as possible in the oven to remove them from closeness to the heating unit which is usually at the bottom. To prepare oven for dehydration, light the oven while vegetable is steam-blanching. Set the regulator at low. Prop oven door open about 8 inches. During the whole drying process, stir the food several times so it dries evenly. In using the electric oven, set thermostat low. Remove or do not use upper unit. Heat oven before placing vegetable racks in to prevent steaming or sulphuring. Place trays on upper set of glides, and leave door ajar as for broiling. Trays should be shifted 8 to 12 times during drying. I b'etv Easy-fit-follow Directions Eor I out toon I egetaldv- Dehydrated carrots are delicious if they are prepared thus: Peel, slice, dice or shred. Steam for 10 minutes, then place in drying rack in a 160 F. oven to dry. Drying time depends upon vegetable and averages from 4 to 12 hours. Green beans may be dehydrated successfully. Use only garden fresh beans. Remove ends and strings if any and break into short lengths or leave lengthwise as preferred. Steam for 15 minutes. Dry at 140 to 145’ F, until brittle dry. Celery which is dehydrated is often ground after drying is finished and then used for seasoning soups or meats. Wash celery stalks and cut into short lengths about 4« inch long. Include leaves cither whole or cut up. Steam for 2 minutes and dry at 145 F. Peas are excellent when dehydrated. Use them at their freshest, immediately after picked. Shell and steam for 15 minutes. Dry at 150 ' F. Turnips or rutabagas dehydrate nicely. Peel, slice thin or shred. Steam 10 minutes and dehydrate at 150’ F. until bone dry. Many families are learning again to eat dried sweet corn —and liking it. So if your victory garden yields more roasting ears than you can eat fresh, and if you have no steam pressure outfit to safely home can your corn, try storing away some in dried form for next winter's eating Food specialists in the U. S. Department of Agriculture say you can dry corn either by controlled heat or by the warmth of the sun IIsc any good table corn. gathered when it is in good con dition for immediate eating. As for canning, plan to use corn right away—do not let it stand for any length of time before drying If it should have to stand even for a few hours, keep it cool That helps to keep the sugar in the com from chang ing to starch and losing its sweetness First, husk the corn and remove any blemishes. You do not need to silk it. however, because the silks separate easily from the kernels after they are dried. Then steam the corn for 10 minutes in a deep container with I tight fitting lid. Or hold it in boiling water from 8 to 12 minutes—until the milk is ’ set." Test for that is when no fluid comes from the kernels when you cut across them. When through steaming or boiling the corn, drain it, cool it. and cut it from the cob. If you have some wav to dry the corn by controlled heat, you will find this method much quicker than sun drying. Canning Tomatoes 4 ' ■ Surplus Foods Stored Best in Cool Cellar Victory gardeners who raise more than their families eat during the growing season can well send many of their prod ucts to the winter-time dinner table by way of the cellar, indoors or out, says the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Cellars under houses provide storage facilities if they ar* cool, moist and well ventilated. Outdoor cellars serve similar purposes for gardeners who have basements unsuitable for vegetable storage. Basements with a furnace for heating the house are usu ally too warm and dry, but it is often possible to partition off a room either in one corner or at one end where the tempera ture may be controlled by means of outside windows. At least one window is needed, and two or more are desirable for cooling and ventilation. Storage-room windows should be darkened to protect vegetables from light. They can be boxed in or shaded to keep the light out when the windows are open. Directions for constructing a storage room in a corner of the basement are as follows: Lay two 2-by-4-inch scantlings flat on the floor where the two walls are to be built, using the cellar wall for the other two sides. Secure these scantlings firmly to the cellar floor. Set 2-by-4-inch studs from the sill formed by the scantlings to the ceiling, spacing them 16 inches apart from center to center. Locate the door to the storage room at the most con venient point, making it large enough tS admit barrels and boxes, a good size being 2*4 feet wide by 6l/t feet high. Set the studs on either side of the door 32 inches apart; this will allow for the door and the frame. Put a header over the door, allowing 1 inch for the frame and seven-eighths of an inch for the sill at the bottom. Set the studs against the walls where the cellar walls and storage-room walls meet. Care in Construction Guarantees Results Home economists of the United States Department of Agriculture suggest you select firm, ripe tomatoes, free from spots and decay for canning. Pride and joy of the home canner are tomatoes—easiest of all vegetables to put up at k^ome. Sought for their bright color, good tart flavor and high vitamin C rating, home-grown, home- canned tomatoes are more prized than ever now that the com mercial pack is point-rationed. No fancy equipment is needed to home-can tomatoes. If you don't have a regular water bath canner you can easily im provise one from a wash boiler or deep kettle or bucket. All that’s necessary is that the container be large enough to hold several jars at a time without crowding, and deep enough to let the water boil rapidly 2 inches over the top of the jars when they are set on a low rack. This rack, which can be knocked together from a few strips of wood if no wire one is available, allows water to circulate freely all around the jars, keeps glass from overheating and cracking. Here's the how-to-do-it on home-canned tomatoes, direct from the Government’s canning expert of the Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics, U. S. Department of Agriculture. • . . Use firm, ripe tomatoes with no decayed spots. One spoiled tomato can ruin a whole batch of canned tomatoes. . . . First skin the tomatoes. Easiest way to do this is to put them in a tray or wire basket, dip them in boiling water for about a minute, and ^w with 41 quick dip in cold water. 1 hen drain, peel and remove the cores. . . . Cut the tomatoes in quarters, heat until the pieces are boiling hot through and through. Pack boiling hot into jars —adding 1 teaspoon of salt for every quart. Fill the jars with boiling hot tomato juice and process immediately in a boiling water bath. . . . Have water boiling in the deep vessel, with low rack to hold jars off the bottom. Place the jars of hot-packed tomatoes on the rack, leaving enough room for the water to circulate freely around and under each. Have enough boiling water to cover the jars 2 inches and keep it at this level throughout processing. . . . Put the cover on the boiling bath. And start counting processing time when the water comes to a rolling boil. • • . Process hot-packed tomatoes for five minutes, whether jars are pints or quarts. 4 Care in making the frame square and plumb will enable the builder to get the structure tight with a minimum of labor. A good room is made by covering the studs on the outside with tongue-and-groove material, but a better way is to sheathe the outside with plain lumber, tack building paper on this, and side with tongue-and-groove material. This con struction in connection with lath and plaster or wallboard on the inside makes an excellent room. Barrels, crates, boxes or bins may be used as containers for the various vegetables and fruits, but movable containers are preferable to built-in bins, as it is possible to remove them for cleaning. Outdoor storage cellars, accessible from the kitchen at all times, are also excellent for vegetable storage. The type and construction of outdoor cellars vary with their geographical location, but all must be free from moisture and frost. An above-ground storage cellar suited to conditions in southern sections of the United States may be built on a well- drained site at low cost. A row of posts may be set 5 or 6 feet apart, extending 7 or 8 feet above the surface of the ground, with a ridge pole placed on top of them. Against each side of the ridge pole a row of planks or puncheons is placed, with their opposite ends resting in a shallow trench 4 or 5 feet from the line of posts. The ends are boarded up, a door being provided in one end of the structure, and the roof covered with sod to a depth of 5 or 6 inches. Avoid Storing Skinned or Bruised Vegetables Victory garden products intended for storage should ba handled carefully at all times to avoid bruises and skin breaks, says the U. S. Department of Agriculture. The successful storage of vegetables, is, however, described as ’’not at all difficult." In fact, say the authors of a Federal bulletin on this subject, “good storage facilities already exist in many homes, it being only necessary to make use of ths cellar, a large closet, or other parts of the dwelling, and to take reasonable care to discard all individual vegetables show ing any decay or mechanical injury before putting them into storage.” Places recommended for home storage of vegetables in clude attics. Outdoor cellars and basements. Dry beans and peas, for example, are stored in an attic or other cool, dry ptace, while late cabbage keeps best in a pit, trench or out door cellar. Other garden products are suggested for storing, as follows: Onions, in any cool dry place, above freezing. Parsnips, where they grew, or in soil in storage cellar. Various root crops, in pit or in soil in storage cellar. Potatoes, in pit or storage cellar. Pumpkins and squashes, in dry, fairly cool cellar or base- Sent. Sweet potatoes, in dry, warm cellar or basement. The length of the periods during which the vegetables can be stored vary from "as long as desired” for dry beans and peas, to only 2 to 3 weeks for cauliflower and broccoli The storage period length for endive is 2 to 3 months. Late cab bage and late celery can be stored through late fall and winter. Onions, parsnips, various root crops, potatoes, pumpkins, squashes and sweet potatoes may be stored through the entire fall and winter. Temperature and humidity requirements for good storage are summarized, as follows: Dry beans and peas, cool and dry. Late cabbage, cool; avoid severe freezing, and keep mod erately moist. Cauliflower and broccoli, 32* F. Moderately moist. Onions, cool and dry. Parsnips, cold; freezing does not injure. Moderately moist. Various root crops, cool; avoid freezing. Moderately moist. Pumpkins and squashes, 50’ to 60* F. Moderately dry. Sweet potatoes, 55’ to 60’ F. Moderately dry. Potatoes, avoid freezing. Moderately moist.
