The multi-stage pulping process is performed in a single digester (10) in a batch type operation. The wood chips to be cooked are introduced into the digester (10) and soaked with a warm black liquor to remove most of the air from the digester (10) and the chips. This warm black liquor is thereafter displaced from the digester (10) with a mixture of a first stage hot black liquor and hot white liquor, the proportionate amount of hot white liquor being relatively high. The temperature of the digester contents is then raised to a cooking temperature for a predetermined amount of time. The original cooking liquor is then displaced with a mixture of a second hot black liquor and hot white liquor, the proportionate amount of hot white liquor in this second cooking liquor being less than in the first. Again, the temperature of the digester (10) is raised to a cooking temperature and the cooking is carried out for a shorter period of time than in the first cooking stage. After the required number of cooks which may be preferably three but may be as low as two or more than three, the cooking liquor is displaced from the digester with a liquid filtrate (47) derived from pulp washing. Finally, the contents of the digester (10) are emptied by applying gas under pressure to the interior of the digester (10).
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