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CHAPTER XIV

HOW TO DRY VEGETABLES

Vegetable drying is a little more complicated than fruit drying, just
as vegetable canning is more complicated than fruit canning. Blanching
is an important part of the operation. It makes vegetable drying
satisfactory as well as easy and simple, just as it makes vegetable
canning possible.

However, there is one difference between blanching vegetables for
canning and blanching them for drying. After repeated experiments it
has been found that for drying purposes it is best to blanch all
vegetables in steam rather than in boiling water. In vegetable canning
we blanch almost all vegetables in boiling water, usually steaming
only the members of the "green" family.

So remember that for drying all vegetables are blanched in steam. To
do this steaming you can use your ordinary household steamer, such as
you use for steaming brown breads and suet puddings, or you can simply
place a colander over boiling water in a kettle. Do not allow the
colander to touch the water. If you are fortunate enough to possess a
pressure cooker, steam the vegetables for drying in it.

Blanching is necessary for many reasons. It removes the strong
flavors, objectionable to many people. Beans, cabbage, turnips and
onions have too strong a flavor if dried without blanching.
Furthermore, it starts the color to flowing, just as it does in
canning. It removes the sticky coating round vegetables. Most
vegetables have a protective covering to prevent evaporation. The
removal of this covering by blanching facilitates drying. Blanching
also relaxes the tissues, drives out the air and improves the
capillary attraction, and as a result the drying is done in a much
shorter period. Products dry less rapidly when the texture is firm and
the tissue contains air.

Blanching checks the ripening processes. The ripening process is
destroyed by heating and this is to be desired for drying purposes.

Blanching kills the cells and thus prevents the hay-like flavor so
often noticed in unblanched products. It prevents changes after
drying, which otherwise will occur unless the water content is reduced
to about five per cent.

Thorough blanching makes the product absolutely sanitary; no insect
eggs exist after blanching and cold-dipping.

There is one precaution that must be followed: Do not blanch too long.
Blanching too long seems to break down the cell structure, so that the
product cannot be restored to