and. There is no expense for glass jars or tin cans, and
with ordinary care there is no loss of products, as there may be in
handling glass jars or from spoilage. The actual work requires less
time and less skill than canning and the dried products when properly
prepared are just as good as the canned ones--some say better.

One special thing in favor of drying is the little storage space
needed. You can often reduce 100 pounds of fresh product to ten
pounds by drying, without any loss of food value and with little loss
of flavor.

Dried products can be moved more conveniently than glass jars or tin
cans, for they are usually reduced to from one-third to one-fifth of
the original bulk.

Another valuable thing about drying is that the little odds and ends
one would scarcely bother to can may be dried in the oven as you go
about your housework.

I have often been asked the difference between the meaning of the
terms "evaporated," "dried," "desiccated" and "dehydrated." These
terms are used more or less interchangeably when applied to foods from
which the moisture has been removed. In a general way, however,
"evaporated" products are those from which the moisture has been
removed through the agency of artificial heat; dried fruit is that
which has been exposed to the heat of the sun, though not infrequently
the term is applied to products handled in the evaporator. The other
terms are commonly applied to products that have been evaporated by
one of the various patented processes in which equipment of some
special design has been used.

To avoid any confusion we will use the general term "dried" for all
products that have enough of the water removed to prevent bacterial
action, but which still retain the maximum food value, color and
flavor of the original product. And that is what we want to accomplish
when we attempt to dry.

How are we to remove the water and still retain food value, color and
flavor? There are three principal methods by which we can do this.
First, by artificial heat. Drying by artificial heat is done in the
oven or on top of a cookstove or range, in trays suspended on the
stove or in a specially constructed dryer built at home or purchased.

Second, by the sun. Sun drying is done either out of doors in the sun,
under glass in sun parlors, or the products are hung in the attic
where the sun has free access.

Third, satisfactory drying may be done by an air blast from an
electric fan.

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