SCIENTISTS DEVELOP MEAL IN A MATCHBOX
(British Information Services)
You can, of course, if you are
ruggedly conservative, buy. your
food fresh and cook it in the oven
—and it has to be admitted that
this is the method still generally
preferred in the British Isles. But
it may not always be this way, if
recent achievements of British
government experts develop com
mercial possibilities.
For the experts, scientists at a
Food Ministry research station
near Aberdeen, have just demon
strated that a tasty meal—of
chopped beef, mashed potatoes,
and yellow turnips, for instance,
preceded by soup and followed
by apple puree, if you want to
make a formal occasion of it—
can be carried around in a match
box in dried form to be reconsti
tuted and made extremely pala
table by the mere addition of hot
water.
Better Flavor
This extension of the process of
dehydration used in World War
II is claimed to be far more effi
cient and productive of much bet
ter flavor and more attractive
appearance than anything hereto
fore achieved in this field.
The development is believed to
have been spurred by require
ments of Britain’s Defense Minis
try.
A correspondent who tasted a
v Ministry meal described it as
“succulent—just like the real
thing,” altho a few minutes before
the potatoes had resembled a
small pile of ground chalk and the
stewed steak had appeared as
brown granules.
Also on the Ministry menu were
fish, pork chops, bananas, chopped
carrot, pineapple, raspberries and
whole tomatoes.
The chops, a quarter of normal
weight in dehydrated form, re
quire immersion in water for sev
eral hours before grilling, to
swell to full size.
Vacuum Method
To produce these results the
Aberdeen station used the vac
uum contact plate system, in
which the food is laid out in thin
layers and covered with an alumi
num plate.
This sandwich is then placed In
a large cabinet between plates
heated by hot water coils. By per
forming the operation in a vacu
tun, the maximum temperature
required is only 140 degrees F.
and the method is described as
“considerably quicker” than any
used in the last war, besides
greatly improving quality and
giving a much longer storage life
for vegetables. *
Good for Expeditions
Though it is entirely possible
that most households will con
tinue to regard dehydrated food
as an emergency measure, it has
many advantages for specialised
pursuits—such as antarctic expe
ditions. Explorers could carry
food which would remain edible
for years.
Weight and space problems of
storage are considerably reduced.
For example, a five-ounce dried
pack of compressed, cooked
minced pork and beef weighs
one pound when reconstituted
and, even in tropical climates,
will remain in good condition for
at least two years.
V
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New Standard plant foods help the West
produce better meals at less cost
..ahaaii
Broadcasting of Standard's new uniform chemically blended plant food
by airplane can turn sparse hilly acres into rich pasture for livestock
RICHER SOIL means better crops, yet the West has
never had enough soil-building fertilizer. To help meet
fanners’ needs, Standard opens a $16 million plant next
month which will produce petroleum-derived plant
food* in pellet form for Western soils and crops.
This uniform blend of essential plant growth elements
is so effective that 400 pounds on an acre of grassland
often enables it to feed 3 to 5 times more livestock. On
other crops, too, it increases profits per acre. With this
better use of Western land, your family will get tastier,
more nourishing meals for every budget dollar.
*One of many ORTHO PLANT FOODS, made and sold by
Standard’s wholly-owed subsidiary, California Spray-Chemical Corp.
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Progress in the West means...
1956
food production must increase
35% to feed the 26‘A million
people who'll live here by 1965
STANDARD OIL COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA
puts petroleum progress to work for you