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Title: Every Step in Canning
Author: Gray, Grace Viall
Language: English
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EVERY STEP IN CANNING
The Cold-Pack Method
by
GRACE VIALL GRAY, PH.B., ED.B
Formerly Associate Professor of Home Economics,
Iowa State College
1920
PREFACE
It was six years ago that I first heard of the One Period, Cold-Pack
Method of canning. A little circular was put in my hand one day at a
federated club meeting announcing the fact that in a few weeks there
would be a cold-pack demonstration about fifty miles away. Immediately
I announced that I was going to the demonstrations. So leaving my
small daughter with my mother, I went to the Normal School at DeKalb,
Illinois, and heard and saw for the first time cold-pack canning.
It is sufficient to say that those three days were so crowded full of
interest and new messages on the gospel of canning that I felt amply
repaid for going fifty miles. As a result of that trip, the first
story ever published on cold-pack canning appeared in _The Country
Gentleman_ and I had the pleasure of writing it. So enthused was I
over this new, efficient and easy way to can not only fruits but hard
vegetables, such as peas, corn and beans, that I wanted to carry the
good news into the kitchen of other busy housewives and mothers.
My mother had insisted that I take with me my younger sister, just
from college, but with no domestic science tendencies. So, much
against her wishes, preferring rather to do some settlement work, my
sister went with me. The canning was so interesting that for the first
time in her life, my sister became enthusiastic over one phase of
cooking. My mother was so pleased at this zeal that when she received
my sister's letter written from DeKalb, saying, "Mother, I am
enthused about this canning and want to can everything in sight this
summer," she hastily washed all available glass jars and tops and had
everything in readiness for young daughter's return. And we canned. We
were not content to can alone but invited all the neighbors in and
taught them how to can. Our community canned more things and more
unusual things, including the hard vegetables, that year than they had
ever attempted before.
Do not think for one minute it was all easy sailing, for there were
doubting Thomases, but it only took time and _results_ to convert even
the most skeptical ones. And here I must make a confession. It was
much easier for my sister, unversed in any phase of canning, to master
this new method than it was for me with my four years' training course
and my five years of teaching canning behind me. And this is the
reason. She had nothing to "unlearn," she knew no other method whereas
I had to "unlearn" all my previous methods.
The one period, cold-pack method is so entirely different from the old
hot pack or open kettle method that to be successful you must forget
all you ever knew and be willing to be taught anew. And right here is
where many women "fall down"--they are not willing to admit that they
know nothing about it and so do not get accurate information about it.
They are so afraid of appearing ignorant. This false feeling is the
greatest obstacle in woman's way.
I still go into small towns on my lecture trips and women will say,
"Oh, that cold-pack canning isn't new to me. I have used it for thirty
years." And when I show my surprise, they further enlighten me with,
"and my mother used it before me, too." With a little tactful
questioning I usually get these answers: "Of course, I do not hot dip
and cold dip. I never heard of that before. I pack the products into
the cold jars and for all vegetables I use a preserving powder because
there is no way on earth to keep corn and peas and such things unless
you put something into them to keep them. Fruit will keep all right.
Then I cook them in my wash boiler until they are done." And when I
ask, "How do you know when they are done," I invariably get the
answer, "Oh, I take out a jar once in a while and try it." It seems
like such a hopeless task to change all these old-fashioned,
out-of-date methods of cooking but with a great amount of patience and
much actual canning it can usually be done. Not always, of course, for
there are some women who seem to delight in sticking to the old rather
than try the new.
The present book is therefore designed for all interested in greater
efficiency in the home, including not only students of home economics
but all persons who have charge of homes and are interested in
learning new, efficient, time and labor saving methods.
In the preparation of this book I have received much help from Mr.
O.H. Benson, Agriculturist in charge of the government Boys' and
Girls' Club Work, and my first instructor in Cold-Pack Canning. I also
wish to acknowledge my appreciation to those who have helped to make
this book possible by contributing information, advice and
encouragement.
GRACE VIALL GRAY.
October, 1919.
CONTENTS
I. GETTING READY TO CAN
II. SOFT FRUITS AND BERRIES
III. HARD FRUITS
IV. VEGETABLES
V. SOUPS
VI. JELLIES, JAMS, PRESERVES, MARMALADES, FRUIT JUICES AND SIRUPS
VII. MEAT
VIII. FISH
IX. EASY METHODS OF CANNING IN TIN
X. INTERMITTENT CANNING OR FRACTIONAL STERILIZATION
XI. WHY CANNED GOODS SPOIL
XI. I GETTING READY TO DRY
XIII. HOW TO DRY FRUITS
XIV. HOW TO DRY VEGETABLES
XV. EVERY STEP IN BRINING
XVI. CURING, SMOKING AND PRESERVING MEAT
XVII. PRESERVED OR "CANNED" EGGS
XVIII. HOME STORAGE OF VEGETABLES
XIX. HOW TO MARKET HOME CANNED PRODUCE
EVERY STEP IN CANNING
CHAPTER I
GETTING READY TO CAN
Before the World War, housewives had lost the good habit of canning,
preserving and pickling. It was easier to buy California fruits by the
case and canned vegetables by the dozen or half dozen cans, according
to the size of the family. There is no doubt it was cheaper and
decidedly easier to purchase canned fruits, vegetables, greens, soups
and meats than to take time and strength in the very hottest season of
the year to do our own canning.
But what was true then is not true now. The war taught us thrift. The
crime of wasting even a few tomatoes or berries has sunk into our
minds to stay forever; scientific canning methods have been adopted by
the modern woman. Women who had never canned in days before the war
had to can during war days. Food was so scarce and so high in price
that to buy fancy or even plain canned products was a severe strain on
the average housewife's purse. The American woman, as was to be
expected, came quickly and eagerly to the front with the solution and
the slogan: "More gardens and more canning and preserving at home."
A great garden and canning movement swept the whole country. As I have
just said, women who had never canned before became vitally interested
in putting up not merely a few jars of this and that, but jars upon
jars of canned fruits, vegetables and greens; and so great was their
delight in the finished products that again and again I heard them
say: "Never again shall we depend upon the grocery to supply us with
canned goods."
If these women had been obliged to use the same methods that their
grandmothers used before them, they would have canned just the same,
because it was their patriotic duty to do so; but they would have
canned without the enthusiasm and zeal that was so apparent during the
summers of 1917 and 1918. This enthusiasm was a result of new canning
methods, methods unknown to our grandmothers. The women of to-day were
forced into a new field and learned how satisfying and well worth
while the results were. It is safe to guarantee that every
home-canning recruit will become a home-canning veteran.
The fascination of doing one's own canning after one has learned how
simple and economical it is will be lasting. No one need fear that
home canning is going to suffer because the war ended the immediate
necessity for it. Home canning has come into its own because of the
war, and it has come to stay because of its many merits.
There are four methods of canning that are employed by women all over
the United States. They are the "open-kettle," the "intermittent," the
"cold-water" and the "cold-pack" methods.
DRAWBACKS OF THE OLD METHODS
The "open-kettle," or "hot-pack," method is the oldest. It was largely
used in the pre-war days. The food is completely cooked in the
preserving kettle, and is then packed into hot, sterilized jars, after
which the jars are sealed. As the packing into the jar is done after
the sterilization has been completed, there is always a possibility of
bacteria and spores entering the jar with the cooked food and the air.
Fruits can be handled successfully in this way, but this method cannot
be used for vegetables, greens and meats. It is a very laborious, hot
and hard way to can. Modern housewives are discarding it more and more
every year and are beginning to place their trust in the newer and far
more scientific methods of canning.
The "intermittent," or fractional sterilization, method is still
beloved by some people who cling to the sure and hate to venture into
the new. Vegetables can be handled by this method as can all fruits
and meats. It is used rather extensively in the South, where they say
the conditions do not favor "cold-pack." The great objection to this
method of canning is that it requires three periods of sterilization
on three different days and three liftings of jars in and out of the
sterilizer.
What is sometimes called the "cold-water" method of canning should not
be confused with the "cold-pack" method. The "cold-water" is often
used in connection with the canning of rhubarb, green gooseberries and
a comparatively few other sour berry fruits. If the "cold-water"
method is used we would suggest that the product be thoroughly washed,
placed in a strainer, scalding water poured over it, and the product
then packed at once, in practically a fresh state, in the jars, and
clean, cold water applied until the jars are filled. If these steps
are taken carefully and quickly the method in most cases will be
successful with such acid products as I mentioned. As the products
will have to be cooked before they can be used many housewives do not
consider it any saving of time or labor to follow this method.
THE COLD-PACK METHOD
The method of to-day that came into its own during the war is known as
the "cold-pack" method of canning. It fought a long fight to prove
that it was a very efficient, economical and satisfactory process for
busy housewives to can everything that grows.
This is the method that I shall mostly refer to in this book, and if I
should omit the phrase "cold-pack" you will know that I am referring
to it. "Cold-pack" simply means that the products are packed cold in
their fresh and natural state in the glass jars or containers. To the
fruits hot sirup is applied; to the vegetables hot water and a little
salt are added. The sterilization is done in the glass jars or tin
containers after they are partly or entirely sealed, making it
practically impossible for bacteria or spores to enter after the
product has once been carefully sterilized or cooked. In following
this method vegetables should first be blanched in boiling water or
live steam, then quickly plunged into cold water and the skins
removed. The products are then packed in containers and sterilized
according to the instructions and recipes given later.
When we use the term sterilizing we simply mean cooking the product
for a certain period of time after the jar has been filled with food.
It is sometimes called processing. Sterilizing, processing, boiling
and cooking are all interchangeable terms and mean one and the same
thing.
By this "cold-pack," or cold-fill, method of canning, all food
products, including fruits, vegetables and meats, can be successfully
sterilized in a single period with but one handling of the product in
and out of the canner.
All the flavor is retained, the product is not cooked to a mushy pulp,
and the labor and time needed for the canning are less than in any
other method. The housewife's canning enemy, mold, is eliminated and
all bacteria and bacterial spores which cause vegetables and meat to
spoil are destroyed.
EXPENSIVE OUTFITS NOT ESSENTIAL
For this "cold-pack" method you can use whatever equipment you have in
the kitchen. Complicated equipment is not essential. Many of us have
purchased commercial outfits, for we know we can turn out more at the
end of a day and have found it well worth while to invest a few
dollars in equipment that enabled us to be more efficient. But if you
are a beginner and do not care to put any money in an unknown venture
use the available things at hand, just to prove to yourself and others
that it can be done.
Every type of glass jar manufactured can be used except those which
are sealed with wax. So dig into your storerooms, attics and basements
and bring forth all your old jars. If a top is in good condition and
will make a perfect seal when adjusted with a good rubber you can use
that jar.
If the tops cannot be restored to good condition it is poor economy to
use them. Imperfectly sealed jars are probably responsible for more
spoiled canned goods than any other cause. Good tops and good rubbers
are requisites for good canning.
For your canner, or sterilizer, you may use a wash boiler or a
galvanized bucket, such as is used for a garbage pail--a new one, of
course. Either is excellent where the family is small and the canning
is accordingly light. Some use the reservoir of the cookstove while
others employ a large vat. If you should have to buy the wash boiler
or pail see that it has a tight-fitting cover and be sure the pail
does not leak. Then all you have to do is to secure what we call a
false bottom, something that will keep the jars of fruit from touching
the direct bottom of the boiler or pail. This false bottom, remember,
is absolutely necessary, for without it the jars will break during the
boiling.
For this false bottom use a wire netting of half-inch mesh and cut it
to fit the bottom of the sterilizer, whether boiler, pail or bucket.
If you haven't any netting and do not care to purchase it a wooden
bottom can be made to fit the sterilizer, or if that is not available
put thin pieces of wood in the bottom--anything to keep the jars from
coming in direct contact with the bottom of the sterilizer.
If you have only a small quantity of berries or fruit to can use a
deep saucepan with a tight-fitting cover and a few slats of wood. This
rack is absolutely necessary to keep the contents of the jars from
becoming overheated. Even if they should not break there is a tendency
for part of the contents to escape under the cover and be lost. Do not
use hay, old clothes, newspapers or excelsior for a false bottom; they
are unsatisfactory because they do not allow proper circulation of
water.
Individual jar holders are very convenient and are preferred by many
women to the racks. Inexpensive racks with handles are on the market
and are worth what they cost in saved nerves and unburned fingers.
Some hold eight jars, others hold twelve. So it just lies with you,
individual housekeeper, whether you want a rack that will hold all
your jars or a set of individual holders that handles them separately.
To return to the subject of the canner, let me add that no matter what
kind you use, it must be at least three inches deeper than the tallest
jar. This will give room for the rack and an extra inch or two so that
the water will not boil over.
Besides the canners, the jars, the rubber rings and the rack you will
need one kettle for boiling water, into which the product may be put
for scalding or blanching; another kettle for water--if you haven't
running water--for the "cold dip."
If you use a homemade rack without handles you should have a jar
lifter of some kind for placing in and removing jars from the canner.
If individual holders are used this is not necessary, as they contain
an upright bail. Some women use a wire potato masher for lifting the
jars out of the canners. Other kitchen equipment, such as scales,
knives, spoons, wire basket or a piece of cheesecloth or muslin for
blanching or scalding the product, and the kitchen clock play their
part in canning.
No canning powder or any preservative is needed. If the product is
cooked in closed jars in the hot-water bath as directed the food will
be sterilized so that it will keep indefinitely. If it is desired to
add salt, sugar, sirup, vinegar or other flavor this may be done when
the product is packed in the jar.
A great many people have been led to believe through advertising
matter that it is both safe and practical to use canning compounds for
the preserving of vegetables which have proved hard to keep under the
commonly known methods of canning. The first argument against the use
of a canning compound is that it is unnecessary. It is possible to
sterilize any fruit or vegetable which grows on tree, vine, shrub or
in the ground by this cold-pack, single-period method of canning,
without the use of a compound. The second argument against it is that
many of the canning compounds are positively harmful to health. Some
of them contain as high as ninety-five per cent of boric acid.
Directors of county and state fairs should exclude from entry all
fruits and vegetables that have been preserved in any canning
compound. Perfect fruit can be produced without any chemical
preservative. The third argument is that they are expensive.
There are many modifications of the original wash boiler and garbage
pail cookers. These are all known as the hot-water-bath outfits. In
these outfits the products are all cooked in boiling water.
There are condensed-steam cookers under various names, where the
product is cooked in condensed steam. These steamers are generally
used for everyday cookery.
The water-seal outfit, the steam-pressure outfit and the aluminum
pressure cooker follow in order of efficiency as regards the time
required to sterilize food.
Following the hot-water canner in simplicity of construction and
manipulation is the water-seal cooker. The temperature of the
hot-water-seal outfit is a little higher than the homemade or
hot-water-bath outfit; so time is saved in the sterilizing.
The steam-pressure and the pressure cookers are more complicated but
more efficient. Some prefer the aluminum pressure cooker because it
can be used for everyday cooking in the home.
Pressure cookers are expensive, but they are worth their price, as
they are used daily and not just during the canning season.
Here are examples of how they rank as to time required: In a
hot-water-bath outfit soft fruits must be sterilized sixteen minutes;
in a steamer, sixteen minutes; in a water-seal outfit, twelve minutes;
in a steam-pressure-outfit under five pounds of steam, ten minutes; in
an aluminum pressure cooker outfit with ten pounds of steam, five
minutes.
It takes longest to can with a homemade or hot-water-bath outfit; the
shortest and quickest method is with the pressure cooker that has a
pressure of ten pounds or more. Each housewife has different financial
problems, different hours of working and different ways of working.
Where quick work is desired and expense is no item the pressure cooker
is advisable; where money is scarce and time is no object the homemade
outfit answers. Each one must decide which outfit is best for her own
particular case. It matters not which outfit you have--they have all
been thoroughly tested and approved by experts. Each one does the
work.
This equipment for canning should be in all kitchens: four-quart
kettle for blanching; steamer for steaming greens; colander; quart
measure; funnel; good rubber rings; sharp paring knives; jar opener;
wire basket and a piece of cheesecloth one yard square for blanching;
pineapple scissors; one large preserving spoon; one tablespoon; one
teaspoon; one set of measuring spoons; measuring cup; jar lifter;
either a rack for several jars or individual jar holders; and a clock.
The manufacturers, realizing that boys and girls must be kept busy
during the vacation months, have made some wonderful devices for
outdoor canning. Would it not be a good plan to buy one for the young
people of your family and give them something definite and worth while
to do in summer? You know little brains and hands must be kept
busy--if not usefully employed they are often inclined to mischief.
This type of cooker furnishes its own heat; so it can be used in the
back yard, in the orchard or under the trees in the front yard.
Remember that the higher the altitude the lower the degree of heat
required to boil water. Time-tables given in instructions for canning
are usually based upon the requirements of an altitude of 500 feet
above sea level. Generally speaking, for every 4000-foot increase in
altitude it will be well to add twenty per cent to the time required
as given in recipes or time schedules for the canning of all kinds of
fruits, vegetables, greens and meats.
CHAPTER II
SOFT FRUITS AND BERRIES
Having decided on your canning outfit, whether you are going to can in
boiling water, in a condensed steam cooker, or in steam under
pressure; having gathered together the necessary tools, such as
spoons, knives and a funnel; having raided the storeroom and collected
some jars, you are now ready for the actual work of canning.
It is rather unfortunate that strawberries should be one of the very
hardest products to can with good results. The canning itself is
simple--all berries are quickly and easily canned--but strawberries
always shrink, are apt to turn a little brown, and, what distresses us
most of all, they float to the top of the jar.
The berry's tendency to shrink is responsible for loss of color as
well as its floating qualities. However, if you will be exceedingly
careful to remove the berries from the canner the minute the clock
says the sterilizing period is over, you will have a fairly good
product. Two minutes too long will produce a very dark, shrunken
berry. So be careful of the cooking time. Another thing that makes a
good-looking jar is to pack a quart of berries--all kinds of berries,
not merely strawberries--into a pint jar. If you will get that many in
you will have a much better-looking jar, with very little liquid at
the bottom. It does not hurt the berries at all to gently press down
on them with a silver spoon while you are packing them into the jar.
We know we are going to get a quart of berries into every pint jar,
so we know just how many quarts of berries we will need to fill the
necessary jars for the next winter's use.
The first thing to do is to test each jar to see that there are no
cracks, no rough edges to cut the rubber, and to see whether the cover
and clamp fit tightly, if a clamp type of jar is used. The bail that
clamps down the glass tops should go down with a good spring. If it
does not, remove the bail and bend it into shape by taking it in both
hands and pressing down in the middle with both thumbs. Do not bend it
too hard, for if it goes down with too much of a snap it will break
the jar. This testing of the bails should be done every year. The
bails on new jars are sometimes too tight, in which case remove the
bail and spread it out. After the bail has been readjusted, test it
again. The chances are it will be just right. Of course all this
testing takes time, but it pays.
If you are using some old Mason jars put a rubber on each jar, fill
the jar with hot water, and then put the cover on tight and invert.
This is a sure test for leakage. Never use a Mason cap twice unless
the cover and collar are separate so that both can be completely
sterilized. Fortunately the old-fashioned Mason jar metal cover to
which a porcelain cap is fastened is going out of style.
If you still have some of these old covers it will be economy to throw
them away. You will be money ahead in the end. After these tops have
been used once it is impossible to make a fastening between the
porcelain and the metal so tight that it is not possible for the
liquid to seep through and cause the contents to spoil. This accounts
for many failures when old tops are used. For this reason never use
the old-fashioned, zinc-topped covers.
The new and safe Mason jar covers consist of two parts, the metal
collar and the porcelain cap. They are for sale at all grocery or
hardware stores.
If you are using the vacuum-seal jars which have a composition
attached to the lacquered tops, carefully examine this rubber
composition to see that it is perfect. This composition should go
entirely round the top and should not be cut or broken in any place.
If it is the top must be discarded for a perfect one.
Of course with this type of jar no rubber rings are necessary, as the
rubber composition on the lacquered top does the sealing.
It is a wise plan to go round the tops and over the inside of all new
glass jars with a heavy and dull knife to scrape off any slivers of
glass or bursted blisters that may be still clinging to the jars.
Those on the tops cut through the rubber and cause leakage. Those in
the jars may get into the product. I often find these splinters,
particularly on new straight-sided jars.
It matters not what type of jar you use. Use what you have at hand,
but if you are buying new jars consider the following things before
making your selections: No metal, unless it is enameled or lacquered,
should come in contact with the food. The jars should be of smooth,
well-finished glass. The color of the jar does not affect the keeping
qualities of the food. The top or part of the top that comes in
contact with the contents should be all in one piece, so as not to
offer a place for the accumulation of organisms and dirt. The jars
which have nearly straight sides and a wide mouth or opening are
easier to wash and facilitate better, quicker and easier packing of
the product.
Wash the jars in soap and water. Rinse in boiling water. Some people
temper new jars so they will stand the shock of hot water or hot sirup
without breaking. If you wish to take this extra precaution put the
jars in a dishpan or kettle of cold water after they have been washed
in soapy water; bring the water slowly to a boil and let it boil
fifteen minutes. After the jars are ready test the rubber rings. This
may seem a useless precaution, but it is a necessary one, for there is
no one detail in the business of canning that is more important. Even
in the best boxes of rubbers there is occasionally a black sheep, and
one black sheep may cause the loss of a jar.
Test each rubber before you use it by pressing it firmly between the
thumbs and forefingers, stretching it very slightly. If it seems soft
and spongy discard it. All rubbers fit for canning should be firm,
elastic, and should endure a stretching pull without breaking. A good
rubber ring will return promptly to place without changing the inside
diameter.
A great many women are laboring under the wrong impression that color
affects the quality of a ring. Some women insist on red, and others on
white. Color is given to rings by adding coloring matter during the
manufacturing process. The color of the ring is no index to its
usefulness in home canning.
Use only fresh, sound strawberries or other berries. There is a little
knack about preparing the strawberries that few housewives know. Hull
the berries by _twisting the berries off the hull_, instead of pulling
the hull from the berry as most women do. You will have a
better-looking berry if you will be careful about this. Place the
berries in a strainer and pour cold water over them to cleanse them.
HOW TO ADJUST THE COVERS
Never allow the berries or any fruit to stand in water, as the flavor
and color are destroyed by water-soaking. Pack in glass jars, pressing
the berries down tightly, but without crushing them. Put the rubber on
the jar if you are using a jar requiring a rubber. Pour hot sirup over
the berries. Put the top of the jar in place, but only partially
tighten it.
If using the screw-top jars, such as the Mason, screw down with the
thumb and little finger, not using force but stopping when the cover
catches.
If using vacuum-seal jars put the cover on and the spring in place.
The spring will give enough to allow the steam to escape.
In using glass-top jars with the patent wire snap, put the cover in
place, the wire over the top and leave the clamp up.
The cover on a glass jar must not be tight while the product is
cooking, because the air will expand when heated, and if the cover is
not loose enough to allow the steam to escape the pressure may blow
the rubber out or break the jar.
The product is now ready for the canner.
STERILIZING
If you are using the homemade outfit, such as wash-boiler or garbage
pail, all berries and soft fruits are sterilized sixteen minutes; in
all commercial hot-water-bath outfits and in condensed steam, sixteen
minutes; in the water-seal, twelve minutes; in the steam pressure
under five pounds of steam, ten minutes; and in the pressure cooker
under ten pounds of steam, five minutes. Do not allow the pressure to
run above ten pounds for soft fruits; fifteen pounds makes them mushy.
If you use any type of hot-water-bath outfit be sure the water is
boiling when the fruit is lowered into the canner, and _keep it
boiling_ vigorously for the entire sixteen minutes. At the end of the
sterilizing time, _immediately_ remove the jars from the canner.
In taking canned goods from boiling water care is needed to see that
they are protected from drafts. If necessary close the windows and
doors while lifting the jars out, as a sudden draft might break them.
Examine rubbers to see that they are in place. Sometimes if a cover is
screwed down too tight the pressure of the steam from the inside
causes the rubber to bulge out. Simply loosen the cover a thread or
two, push the rubber back into place and then tighten.
In case the rubber does not seem to fit well or seems to be a poor
rubber it should be replaced by a new one, and the jar returned to the
cooker for five minutes.
The jars should be sealed tight--covers screwed down, clamps put in
place--immediately after they are removed from the cooker.
Invert the jar to test the joint, then let it cool. If the seal is not
perfect correct the fault and return the jar to the cooker for five
minutes if hot, ten minutes if the jar is cold.
Do not invert vacuum-seal jars. These should be allowed to cool, and
then be tested by removing the spring or clamp and lifting the jars by
the cover only. Lift the jar only half an inch, holding it over the
table, so that in case the lid does not hold the jar and contents will
not be damaged. Or, better still, tap round the edge of the cover with
a rule. An imperfect seal will give a hollow sound.
As light injures delicately colored fruits and vegetables, it is wise
to store them in dark places, such as cupboards, or basement or attic
shelves protected from the light. Black cambric tacked to the top
shelf and suspended over the other shelves is a sufficient protection
from light. A discarded window shade can be rolled down over the
shelves and easily pulled up when you desire to take a jar from the
shelves.
Canned goods are best kept at a temperature below seventy degrees
Fahrenheit, where that is at all possible.
STEPS IN CANNING SOFT FRUITS AND BERRIES
It might be well to enumerate the steps in berry and soft-fruit
canning, or do what we called in our schooldays "review it":
1. Get the canner and all its accessories ready.
2. Test and wash jars and tops and put in water to sterilize.
3. Test rubber rings.
4. Make sirup and put in double boiler to keep hot
5. Prepare the product--hull, seed, stem.
6. Place berries or fruit in strainer or colander.
7. Rinse by pouring cold water over product.
8. Pack from strainer into hot jar.
9. Use big spoon to get a firm pack.
10. Dip rubber in hot water to cleanse it and put it in place on the
jar.
11. Pour the hot sirup over the fruit at once.
12. Put top of jar on, but not tight.
13. Ready for canner.
14. Sterilize for the necessary length of time, according to the
outfit you are using:
MINUTES
Hot-water-bath outfit 16
Condensed-steam outfit 16
Water-seal outfit 12
Steam pressure, 5 pounds, outfit 10
Pressure cooker, 10 pounds, outfit 5
15. Remove from canner.
16. Tighten cover, except vacuum-seal jar, which seals automatically.
17. Test joint.
18. Three or four days later, if perfectly air-tight, label and store
in a dark place.
These steps are followed for strawberries, blackberries, blueberries,
dewberries, huckleberries, gooseberries, raspberries, and for all soft
fruits, such as cherries, currants, grapes and figs.
The other soft fruits, such as peaches and apricots, which have a
skin, are scalded or "hot dipped" for one to two minutes in boiling
water or steam and are then plunged into cold water. These two steps
of hot-dipping and cold dipping make the removal of skins a very
simple operation. After the skins are removed the fruit is put into
the hot jars and the process continued from Step 8, as with
strawberries.
SIRUPS
Of course you are wondering about the sirups for the different fruits.
There is no set rule for making sirup. It is not necessary to use
sirup in canning fruits. The amount of sugar used in the sirup will
depend upon the individual taste. In a first-class product there
should be enough sirup to improve its flavor, but not enough to make
it take the place in the diet of a sweet preserve rather than a fresh
fruit.
The sirups are made either with varying proportions of sugar and water
or with the same proportions boiled different lengths of time. What is
known as the California sirup is made with three parts of sugar to two
parts of water, boiled gently to different concentrations.
Thin Sirup. For a thin sirup take three cups of sugar and two cups
of water. Mix sugar and heat until the sugar is dissolved. This is
used for all sweet fruits not too delicate in texture and color, as
apples, cherries, pears, or for fruits in which more sugar will be
added in preparation for the table.
Medium Thin Sirup. The sugar and water should be boiled about four
minutes, or until it begins to be sirupy. This is used for
raspberries, peaches, blackberries, currants, etc.
Medium Thick Sirup. Boil the sugar and water until it will pile up
over the edge of the spoon when it is tipped. This is used for sour or
acid fruits, as plums, gooseberries, apricots, sour apples, and some
of the delicately colored fruits, as strawberries.
Thick Sirup. The sugar and water are boiled until it will form a
ball in the spoon and cannot be poured from the spoon. This is used
for preserves.
It is possible to get more, sometimes almost twice as much, sirup
into a quart jar containing large fruits, as apples and pears, than
into a quart jar containing small fruits, as currants or blackberries.
There is a little knack worth knowing about combining the sugar and
water for the sirup. If the sugar is sifted into the boiling water
just as fine-grained cereals are sifted into water, there will be no
scum formed. This is a saving of sugar.
If you wish to can strawberries for the market or to win a prize at
the county or state fairs, can them as follows:
Canned by this recipe, strawberries will not rise to the top of the
sirup. Use only fresh, ripe, firm and sound berries. Prepare them, and
add eight ounces of sugar and two tablespoonfuls of water to each
quart of berries. Boil slowly for fifteen minutes in an enameled or
acid-proof kettle. Allow the berries to cool and remain several hours
or over-night in the covered kettle. Pack the cold berries in hot
glass jars. Put rubbers and caps of jars in position, not tight.
Sterilize for the length of time given below for the type of outfit
used:
MINUTES
Water bath, homemade or commercial 8
Water seal, 214 degrees 6
5 pounds steam pressure 5
10 pounds steam pressure. Do not use.
Remove the jars, tighten the covers, invert the jars to cool and test
the joints. Wrap the jars with paper to prevent bleaching.
CHAPTER III
HARD FRUITS
PINEAPPLES
The object of canning citrus fruits is, first, to save the surplus and
by-products; second, to furnish wholesome fruits at reasonable cost to
more of our people; third, to help the producer to transform
by-products into net profits.
Almost every one likes canned pineapple, but some housewives stopped
canning this fruit because they found that when cooked in sirup it
seemed to get tough and less palatable. Vegetable and fruit fibers are
toughened when cooked with sugar for any length of time, so in all
cases where you desire to keep the product as Nature grew it avoid
this form of cooking.
When the product is put into the jars with a sirup and cooked in the
jar you will have a product superior to the one that is cooked over
the direct fire in the kettle with the sirup.
But pineapple slices or pieces are so hard they cannot be put directly
into the jars as berries are. Pineapples must undergo a preliminary
process to make them palatable and soft. This preliminary process is
known in canning as "blanching."
After the pineapple has been prepared by paring and removing the eyes,
it can be left in slices or cut into cubes. In cutting hold the
pineapple at the top and use a sharp knife. It is then placed in a
wire basket or a piece of cheesecloth for the blanching. Blanching
means to immerse the product in boiling water for a certain length of
time to reduce its bulk and soften it.
Pineapples are blanched for five minutes. We scald peaches and
apricots, which are soft fruits; but we blanch pineapples, apples and
quinces, the hard fruits.
Scalding means to immerse the product in boiling water for a very
short time--just long enough to loosen the skins. Blanching is just a
longer period of scalding.
When you blanch pineapples use only enough water to cover them. This
same blanching water can be used for making the sirup. It contains
much of the pineapple flavor and there is no reason for discarding it.
But this is absolutely the only blanching water that is ever used. All
other blanching water, particularly that in which vegetables are
blanched, is full of objectionable acids that we want to get rid of,
so under no circumstances must it be used. But with pineapples the
object of blanching is primarily to soften the hard fiber, so there is
no objection to using the blanching water.
After the pineapple has been in the covered kettle of boiling water
for five minutes, it is held under cold water until cool enough to
handle. Never let it soak in cold water, as that will impair its
delicate flavor. After this it is packed into hot sterilized jars.
Rubber rings are put on the jars, the covers are put in place--not
tight--and the jars are put in the canner.
Pineapple is sterilized for thirty minutes in a hot-water-bath outfit;
thirty minutes in a condensed steam outfit; twenty-five minutes in the
water-seal; twenty-five minutes in the steam pressure under five
pounds of steam, and eighteen minutes in the pressure cooker under ten
pounds of pressure. At the end of the sterilizing period the jars are
removed, the covers completely tightened and the joints carefully
tested for leakage.
A thin or medium-thin sirup is best for pineapples. Measure the
blanching water and to every two cups of it add three cups of sugar.
If you wish the sirup thin heat until the sugar is dissolved. If
medium-thin sirup is desired, boil it about four minutes or until it
begins to be sirupy.
STEPS IN CANNING PINEAPPLE
1. Cut the pineapple into slices of desired thickness.
2. Pare the slices. It is easier to pare the slices than to pare the
whole pineapple.
3. Remove the eyes, using pineapple scissors to facilitate the work.
4. Blanch pineapple for five minutes in a small amount of boiling
water, using a wire basket or cheesecloth.
5. Cold-dip the pineapple.
6. Make a sirup, using the blanching water. Make a thin or medium-thin
sirup.
7. Pack the pineapple into hot sterilized jars, with good rubbers on
them.
8. Pour the sirup over the pineapple.
9. Put the tops of the jars on--not tight.
10. Sterilize for 30 minutes in hot-water-bath outfit, 30 minutes in
condensed-steam outfit, 25 minutes in water-seal outfit, 25 minutes in
steam pressure (5 pounds), 18 minutes in pressure cooker (10 pounds).
11. Remove from canner, tighten covers and inspect rubber and joints.
APPLES
Here are six ways in which canned apples may be used: as a breakfast
dish, with cream and sugar; baked like fresh apples; in apple salad,
often served for lunch or supper; as a relish with roast pork--the
apples may be fried in the pork fat or the cores may be cooked with
roast pork for flavoring; and for apple dumplings, deep apple pie and
other desserts in which whole apples are desirable. The sirup of
canned whole apples can be used for pudding sauces or fruit drinks.
Apples are another hard fruit which require blanching, as it greatly
improves their texture and appearance.
Apples and some other fruits, such as pears and quinces, have a
tendency to turn brown when allowed to stand after they are cut. To
prevent their discoloring the pieces may be dropped into mild salt
water as they are pared and sliced. Let them stand for five minutes,
then wash them in clear water and pack. Use a thin sirup for canning
apples.
Summer apples are not firm enough to keep well when canned. They cook
up and lose flavor. They may, however, be canned to be used in a short
time. Windfall apples may be pared, cored and sliced, using water, and
only a small quantity of that, instead of sirup, and canned for pies.
To be able to can windfall and cull apples and thus have them for home
use through the entire year is a great advantage to all farmers who
grow them. They can be sold on the market canned when they would not
bring a cent in the fresh state.
The windfall and cull apples may be divided into two grades. The
first grade would include the whole reasonably sound fruit; the second
grade the worm-eaten, partially decayed and injured fruit. Do not can
any injured or decayed part nor allow apples to become overripe before
canning.
Canning Whole Reasonably Firm Apples. Wash the apples. Remove cores
and blemishes. Place whole apples in blanching tray or blanching cloth
and blanch in boiling hot water for one or two minutes. Remove and
plunge quickly into cold water. Pack in large glass jars. Pour over
the product a hot thin sirup. Place rubber and top in position. Seal
partially--not tight.
Sterilize jars twenty minutes in hot-water-bath outfit and in
condensed steam, fifteen minutes in water-seal, ten minutes in
steam-pressure outfit with five pounds of steam pressure, five minutes
in aluminum pressure-cooker outfit, under ten pounds of steam
pressure. Remove jars, tighten covers, invert to cool and test joints.
Firm and tart apples may be cored and peeled first, then canned by the
above recipe.
Canning Apples for Pie Filling. Use second grade of windfalls or
culls. Wash, core, pare and remove all decayed spots. Slice apple
quickly into a basin containing slightly salted cold water--about one
tablespoon of salt per gallon--to prevent discoloring. Pack fresh cold
product in glass jars. Add one cupful of hot thin sirup to each quart
of fruit. Put on the rubbers and screw on tops, but do not seal
completely. Sterilize twelve minutes in hot-water bath or
condensed-steam outfit; ten minutes in water-seal outfit; six minutes
under five pounds of steam pressure; four minutes in aluminum
pressure cooker. Remove jars, tighten covers, invert to cool and test
joint. Store.
This filling can be used for making apple pies in the same way that
fresh apples would be used, with the exception that the sirup must be
poured off and less sugar should be used. Since the apples have
already been cooked, only enough heat is needed to cook the crust and
to warm the apples through. Pies may be baked in seven minutes. The
apple pies made with these apples are, in the opinion of many
housekeepers, as good as those made with fresh fruit, and they can be
made in less time and are less expensive.
The only difference between canning apples for pies and salads or
whole is that when wanted for pies the apples should be sliced
immediately after placing in cold slightly salted water.
Canning Quartered Apples for Fruit Salads. Select best-grade culls
of firm and rather tart varieties. Core, pare and quarter. Drop into
basin containing slightly salted cold water. Pack these quartered
pieces tightly in jars. Add a cup of hot thin sirup to each quart.
Place rubber and top in position, partially seal--not tight. Sterilize
twelve minutes in hot-water bath and condensed-steam outfits; ten
minutes in water-seal outfit; six minutes under five pounds of steam
pressure; four minutes in aluminum pressure cooker. Remove jars,
tighten covers, invert to cool and test joints. Store.
ORANGES
Canning Whole Oranges and Other Citrus Fruits. Select windfall or
packing-plant culls. Use no unsound or decayed fruit. Remove skin and
white fiber on surface. Blanch fruit in boiling water one and a half
minutes. Dip quickly in cold water. Pack containers full. Add boiling
hot thin sirup. Place rubber and cap in position and partially
seal--not tight.
Sterilize twelve minutes in hot-water-bath and condensed-steam
outfits; eight minutes in water-seal outfit; six minutes in
steam-pressure outfit under five pounds of steam; four minutes in
aluminum pressure-cooker outfit. Remove jars, tighten covers, invert
to cool and test joints. Wrap glass jars with paper to prevent
bleaching, and store.
Canning Sliced Oranges for Salad Purposes. The oranges may be
divided into their natural sections or sliced with a knife. Pack jars
or containers full. Pour over product hot thin sirup. Place rubber and
cap in position. Partially seal--not tight. Sterilize ten minutes in
hot-water-bath and condensed-steam outfits; six minutes in water-seal
outfit; five minutes in steam-pressure outfit with five pounds of
steam; four minutes in aluminum pressure-cooker outfit under ten
pounds of steam. Remove jars, tighten covers, invert to cool and test
the joints. Wrap jars with paper to prevent bleaching, and store.
PEARS, QUINCES AND RHUBARB
Pears are prepared and canned just as the whole firm apples are, being
blanched a minute and a half, cold-dipped and sterilized for the same
length of time as apples.
Quinces are so very hard they must be blanched like pineapples, but
for a longer time. Six minutes' blanching is usually sufficient for
quinces. The sterilizing period can be determined by looking at the
chart.
If skins are left on rhubarb it keeps its pink color. The hot dip is
not necessary and may be omitted. It removes some of the excessive
acid in the rhubarb which makes it objectionable to some people. Be
very careful not to hot-dip the rhubarb more than one minute, for it
gets mushy. An advantage of the hot dip is that more rhubarb can be
packed in a jar after it has been hot-dipped.
WHAT A BUSHEL OF FRUIT WILL YIELD
A great many women have no conception of how many jars of fruit they
will get from a bushel or half bushel of produce. It is wise to have a
little knowledge along this line, for it aids in planning the winter's
supply of canned goods as well as at marketing time.
From one bushel of the various fruits you will get on the average the
following:
PRODUCTS, 1 BUSHEL PINT JARS QUART JARS
Windfall apples 30 20
Standard peaches 25 18
Pears 45 30
Plums 45 30
Berries 50 30
Windfall oranges--sliced 22 15
Windfall oranges--whole 35 22
CANNING WITHOUT SUGAR
Though all instructions indicate that sugar is necessary for the
canning of all kinds of fruits, it is not necessary for their proper
sterilization and preservation. Any fruit may be successfully
sterilized by simply adding boiling water instead of the hot sirup. It
is a well-known fact, however, that most fruits canned in water will
not retain so well their natural flavor, texture and color as fruit
canned in sirup. When the product is to be used for pies, salads, and
so on it is not necessary to can in sirup. When fruits canned in water
are to be used for sauces, the products should be sweetened before
use. In many instances it requires more sugar to sweeten a sauce after
canning than it does when the product is canned in the hot sirup.
However, during the World War we had a good chance to test the fruits
which we canned without sugar, when that commodity was scarce and, in
fact, impossible to get in very large quantities. We used our fruits
just as they were and considered them very good. This all goes to show
that we can easily adjust ourselves to prevailing conditions. In
canning without the sugar sirup, you would follow these directions:
Cull, stem or seed, and clean fruit by placing in a strainer and
pouring water over it until clean. Pack product thoroughly in glass
jars until full; use table knife or tablespoon for packing purposes.
Pour over the fruit boiling water from kettle, place rubbers and caps
in position, partially seal glass jars and place produce in canner.
If using hot-water-bath outfit sterilize from twenty to thirty
minutes. After sterilizing remove packs, seal glass jars, wrap in
paper to prevent bleaching, and store in a dry cool place.
When using a steam-pressure canner instead of the hot-water bath
sterilize for ten minutes with five pounds of steam pressure. Never
allow the pressure to go over ten pounds when you are canning soft
fruits.
WHEN TO CAN
Inexperienced canners may not know when certain fruits are in season
and at their prime for canning. The list below is necessarily subject
to change, as seasons vary from year to year; but in normal years this
table would hold true for the Northern States.
Apples September
Apricots August
Blackberries August
Cherries July
Currants July
Gooseberries July
Grapes September
Huckleberries July
Peaches August-September
Pears September
Pineapple June
Plums August
Quinces September
Raspberries July
Rhubarb All summer
Strawberries May-June
For your canning you will need as your guide the charts on the pages
which follow. They are very simple and will tell you how to prepare
all the various fruits, whether or not they are to be blanched, and if
so exactly how many minutes, and how long to cook or sterilize the
products, according to the outfit you are using.
CHART FOR CANNING SOFT FRUITS AND BERRIES
[A] NUMBER OF MINUTES TO BLANCH OR HOT-DIP
[B] IN HOT WATER BATH OUTFIT AT 212°F
[C] IN CONDENSED STEAM OUTFIT
[D] IN WATER-SEAL OUTFIT 214°F
[E] IN STEAM PRESSURE 5 TO 10 POUNDS
[F] IN PRESSURE COOKER 10 POUNDS
NUMBER OF MINUTES TO STERILIZE
KIND OF | [A] |[B] |[C] |[D] |[E] |[F] |REMARKS
FRUIT/PREPARATION | | | | | | |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
APRICOTS: To remove|1 to 2| 16 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 5 |Use
skins hot-dip and | | | | | | |medium-thick
cold-dip. Can be | | | | | | |sirup
canned with the | | | | | | |
skins. Pits give a | | | | | | |
good flavor | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
BLACKBERRIES: Pick | None | 16 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 5 |Use medium-thin
over, wash and stem| | | | | | |sirup
| | | | | | |
BLUEBERRIES: Pick | None | 16 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 5 |Use medium-thin
over, wash and stem| | | | | | |sirup
| | | | | | |
CHERRIES: Wash, | None | 16 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 5 |Use medium-thin
remove stems, and | | | | | | |sirup if sour;
remove pits if | | | | | | |thin sirup if
desired. If pitted | | | | | | |sweet
save the juice | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
CURRANTS: Wash and | None | 16 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 5 |Use medium-thin
pick from stems | | | | | | |sirup
| | | | | | |
CRANBERRIES: Wash | None | 16 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 5 |Use medium-thin
and stem | | | | | | |sirup
| | | | | | |
DEWBERRIES: Wash | None | 16 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 5 |Use medium-thin
and stem | | | | | | |sirup
| | | | | | |
FIGS: Wash and stem| None | 16 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 5 |Figs can be
| | | | | | |hot- dipped for
| | | | | | |a minute or two
| | | | | | |if desired.
| | | | | | |Hot-dipping
| | | | | | |shrinks the
| | | | | | |figs so more
| | | | | | |can be packed
| | | | | | |in a jar
| | | | | | |
GOOSEBERRIES Wash | None | 16 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 5 |Use
and snip off stems | | | | | | |medium-thick
and blossom ends | | | | | | |sirup
| | | | | | |
GRAPES Wash and | None | 16 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 5 |Use medium-thin
pick from stems | | | | | | |sirup
| | | | | | |
HUCKLEBERRIES Wash | None | 16 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 5 |Use medium-thin
and stem | | | | | | |sirup
| | | | | | |
PEACHES Blanch and | 1-2 | 16 | 16 | 12 |*10 | X |*Use only 5
cold-dip, then | | | | | | |pounds
remove skins. | | | | | | |pressure. If
| | | | | | |peaches are
| | | | | | |canned under
| | | | | | |more than 5
| | | | | | |pounds of
| | | | | | |pressure they
| | | | | | |become
| | | | | | |flavorless and
| | | | | | |
PLUMS Wash; stones | 1-2 | 16 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 5 |For sweet plums
may be removed if | | | | | | |use thin or
desired. | | | | | | |medium-thin
| | | | | | |sirup; for sour
| | | | | | |plums use
| | | | | | |medium-thin
| | | | | | |sirup
| | | | | | |
RASPBERRIES pick | None | 16 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 5 |Use medium-thin
over, wash and stem| | | | | | |sirup
| | | | | | |
RHUBARB Wash, cut | 1 | 16 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 5 |Be very careful
into ½ inch pieces.| | | | | | |not to hot-dip
Use sharp knife | | | | | | |the rhubarb
| | | | | | |more than one
| | | | | | |minute, for it
| | | | | | |gets mushy
| | | | | | |
STRAWBERRIES Pick | None | 16 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 5 |Use
over, wash and hull| | | | | | |medium-thick
| | | | | | |sirup
--------------------------------------------------------------------
HARD FRUITS | | | | | | |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
| | | | | | |
APPLES Pare, core |1½ to | 20 | 20 | 15 | 10 | 5 |Use thin sirup
and cut into halves| 2 | | | | | |
or smaller pieces | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
PEARS Wash, pare or| 1½ | 20 | 20 | 15 | 10 | 5 |Use thin sirup
not as desired. | | | | | | |
Small pears may be | | | | | | |
canned whole or | | | | | | |
quartered | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
PINEAPPLE Cut into | 5 | 30 | 30 | 25 | 25 | 18 |Use thin or
slices or inch | | | | | | |medium-thin
cubes. The cores | | | | | | |sirup
can be removed | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
QUINCES Remove | 6 | 40 | 40 | 30 | 25 | 20 |Apples, pears
skins and cores. | | | | | | |and quinces
Cut into convenient| | | | | | |should be
slices | | | | | | |dropped into
| | | | | | |salt water to
| | | | | | |keep fruit from
| | | | | | |turning brown.
| | | | | | |Use salt in the
| | | | | | |proportion of
| | | | | | |one
| | | | | | |tablespoonful
WINDFALL APPLES FOR| | | | | | |to one gallon
| | | | | | |of water. Use
| | | | | | |thin
| | | | | | |
PIE FILLING Cut | None | 12 | 12 | 10 | 6 | 4 |Can in water
into halves | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
QUARTERED APPLES | None | 12 | 12 | 10 | 6 | 4 |Can in water
FOR SALAD | | | | | | |and save the
| | | | | | |sugar for other
| | | | | | |purposes
| | | | | | |
CRAB APPLES Pare | None | 16 | 16 | 8 | 5 | 5 |Can in water or
and core | | | | | | |use thin sirup
| | | | | | |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
CITRUS FRUITS | | | | | | |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
ORANGES, WHOLE | 1½ | 12 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 4 |Add boiling
Remove skins and | | | | | | |thin sirup
white fiber or | | | | | | |
surface, then | | | | | | |
blanch | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
LEMONS, WHOLE | 1½ | 12 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 4 |Add boiling
Remove skins and | | | | | | |thin sirup
white fiber or | | | | | | |
surface, then | | | | | | |
blanch | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
GRAPEFRUIT, WHOLE | 1½ | 12 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 4 |Add boiling
Remove skins and | | | | | | |thin sirup
white fiber or | | | | | | |
surface, then | | | | | | |
blanch | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
ORANGE AND OTHER | None | 10 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 4 |Use thin sirup
CITRUS FRUITS, | | | | | | |
SLICED Slice with a| | | | | | |
sharp knife | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
FRUITS CANNED IN | 30 | 30 | 20 | 12 | 10 | |
WATER WITHOUT SUGAR| | | | | | |
SIRUP | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE.--When cooking products in pint or half-pint jars deduct three or
four minutes from the time given above. When cooking in two-quart jars
add 3 or 4 minutes to time. The estimates given are for quart jars.
CHAPTER IV
VEGETABLES
It is practical to can all vegetables, even such difficult ones as
corn, peas and beans, by the cold-pack method of canning without using
any preservatives, if you will follow all directions, instructions and
the time-table accurately. Vegetable canning is a little more
complicated than fruit canning.
TOMATOES
Every one likes canned tomatoes. In many homes more tomatoes are
canned than any other product. The housewife uses them for soups, for
sauces and for seasoning many meat dishes. Some women say: "I can
preserve everything but tomatoes. They always spoil. What do I do
wrong?" If the following directions are followed tomatoes will not
spoil.
Tomatoes really are the easiest vegetable to can, because the period
of sterilization is short, and many jars may be canned in a day, or if
one is very busy a few jars may be canned daily without the
expenditure of a great deal of time.
The best tomatoes for canning are those of moderate size, smooth and
uniformly ripe. When a tomato ripens unevenly or when it is misshapen,
it is difficult to peel, and the percentage of waste is high. Tomatoes
should not be picked when they are green or partly ripe, for the
flavor will not be so good as when they are allowed to remain upon
the vines until fully ripe. Care should be taken, however, not to
allow them to become overripe before canning.
In no instance should a tomato with a rotten spot be canned, even
though the spot is cut out, for the occasional spoiled jar resulting
from this attempted saving will cost more than the partly spoiled
tomatoes are worth. If the housewife will can only uniformly ripe,
sound tomatoes, saving the small, uneven but sound fruit for tomato
_purée_, she will have a much better-looking pack and greater food
value at the close of the season. Yellow tomatoes may be canned in the
same manner as are the more common red varieties, except that it is
not necessary to remove the cores.
First of all, grade for ripeness, size and quality; this is to insure
a high-grade product. We could, of course, can different sizes and
shades together, but uniform products are more pleasing to the eye and
will sterilize much more evenly. If the products are of the same
ripeness and quality, the entire pack will receive the proper degree
of cooking.
Wash the tomatoes. Have ready a kettle of boiling water. Put the
tomatoes in a wire basket, or lay them on a piece of cheesecloth or a
towel, twist the ends together to form a sack, and let this down into
the kettle. It is a good plan to slip a rubber band round the neck of
this sack to hold the ends in place. The ends should be long enough to
stand up out of the water and so avoid danger of burning the fingers
when removing the product.
Have the water boiling hard. Lower the tomatoes into the boiling
water. This is called scalding the tomatoes. We scald the tomatoes to
loosen the skin. If the tomatoes are very ripe, one minute scalding
will be sufficient. The average length of time for tomatoes, just
perfect for canning, is one and a half minutes. Do not leave the
tomatoes in the hot water until the skins break, as this gives them a
fuzzy appearance.
The scalding kettle always should be covered, to keep in all the heat
possible. Begin to time from the minute the product is immersed in the
boiling water. If you wait until the water comes back to a boil, you
will scald the product too long and have mushy tomatoes.
Lift the tomatoes out of the hot water and plunge them immediately
into cold water, or hold them under the cold-water faucet. The
cold-dip makes them easier to handle, separates the skin from the
pulp, firms the texture, and coagulates the coloring matter so it
stays near the surface, giving them a rich, red color. Then the shock
due to the sudden change from hot to cold and back to hot again seems
to help kill the spores. Do not let the product stand in the cold-dip.
The water becomes lukewarm, softens the product and allows bacteria to
develop.
Take the tomato in the left hand and with a sharp knife cut out the
core. Be careful not to cut into the fleshy portion or seed cells, for
this will scatter the seeds and pulp through the liquid, injuring the
appearance of the product. Cut out the core before removing the skin,
for the skin will protect the pulp and there will be less danger of
breaking the tomato. If the tomatoes are ripe and have been scalded
properly, the skin can be slipped off with the fingers.
The jars, rubbers and tops should be ready. Glass jars should be hot,
so there will be no danger of breakage in setting them in the hot
water, and so they will not cool the water in the cooker below the
boiling point.
Pack the tomatoes whole, pressing and shaking them well down together,
but not using force enough to crush them.
Now we come to a point where tomatoes are different from most
vegetables. Beans, carrots, peas, and so on, have hot water added to
them. But as a large part of the tomato is water, no more is needed.
Another exception where no water is needed is with the "greens
family." So with tomatoes we add no water, but add one teaspoonful of
salt and one teaspoonful of sugar, just for seasoning, to every quart
jar. I think that tomatoes always are improved by the addition of a
little sugar, but this is not necessary and can be omitted, as also
can be the salt.
The salt in canning does not act as a preservative, but as seasoning;
so if for any reason you forget the salt, do not be alarmed. Your
products will keep perfectly without the salt.
THE WAY TO SEAL
The products are in the hot jars now. The jars do not need to be full
in order to keep. If you were canning by the "open-kettle" method, the
air in the partly filled jar would not have been sterilized, and might
contain the bacteria which cause the product to ferment or mold. But
by the cold pack, the air in the can is sterilized while the product
is being sterilized; and if the can is closed immediately after
cooking, a single spoonful may be canned in a two-quart jar and the
product will keep indefinitely.
Place Rubber and Cover on Jar. Fit the rubber. Use good rubbers and
see that they lie flat and fit close up to the can. Put the covers in
place.
Do Not Seal Glass Jars Tight. If using screw-top jars screw each
cover down until it catches, then turn a quarter of a round back; or
screw down with the thumb and little finger, not using force but
stopping when the cover catches.
If using vacuum-seal jars put the cover on and the spring in place.
The spring will give enough to allow the steam to escape.
If using glass-top jars, with the patent wire snap, put the cover in
place, the wire over the top and the clamp up.
The cover on a glass jar must not be tight while processing, because
the air will expand when heated, and if the cover is not loose enough
to allow the steam to escape, the pressure may blow the rubber out or
break the jar.
When canning in tin we cap and tip the cans at once. The tin will
bulge out, but is strong enough to withstand the pressure, and when
the contents cool the can will come back into shape.
The jars are now ready for the canner. Tomatoes sterilized under
boiling water require twenty-two minutes; in condensed-steam cooker,
twenty-two minutes; in water-seal, eighteen minutes; in
steam-pressure, with five pounds, fifteen minutes, and in the pressure
cooker, at ten or fifteen pounds, ten minutes.
If you use the homemade outfit or any water-bath outfit be sure the
water is boiling when the jars of tomatoes are lowered into the
canner. Time lost in bringing the contents to the point of
sterilization softens the tomatoes and results in inferior goods. Use
the ordinary good sense with which you have been endowed in handling
the jars and you will have no breakage. At the end of the sterilizing
period, remove the jars.
In taking canned goods from boiling hot water, care is needed to see
that they are protected from drafts. If necessary close the windows
and doors while lifting the jars out, for a sudden draft might break
them.
Examine rubbers to see that they are in place. Sometimes, if the
covers are screwed down too tight, the pressure of the steam from the
inside causes the rubber to bulge out. Simply loosen the cover a
thread or two, push the rubber back into place and then tighten. In
case the rubber does not seem to fit well or seems to be a poor
rubber, it should be replaced by a new one and the jar returned to the
cooker for five minutes.
The jars should be sealed tight--covers screwed down, clamps put in
place--immediately after they are removed from the cooker.
Invert to test the joint and cool. If the seal is not perfect, correct
the fault, and return the jar to the cooker for five minutes if hot,
ten minutes if jar is cold.
Do not invert vacuum-seal jars. These should be allowed to cool and
then tested by removing the spring or clamp and lifting the jars by
the cover only. Lift the jar only a half inch, holding it over the
table so that, in case the lid does not hold, the jar and contents
will not be damaged. Or, better still, tap round the edge of the
cover with a ruler. An imperfect seal will cause a hollow sound.
Tomato Purée. Small, misshapen, unevenly ripened tomatoes may be
converted into tomato _purée_. The tomatoes should be washed, run
through a colander to remove skins and cores, concentrated by cooking
to about half the original volume, and packed in the jars. Rubbers and
tops should then be placed in position and the product sterilized for
the same length of time as for canned tomatoes. _Purée_ even may be
kept in bottles sealed with sterilized corks and dipped several times
in paraffin.
HOW OTHER VEGETABLES ARE CANNED
All other vegetables are canned exactly like tomatoes, with two
exceptions. Tomatoes are scalded. All other vegetables are blanched.
We scald tomatoes to loosen the skins and to start the flow of the
coloring matter, which is later arrested or coagulated by the
cold-dip.
Blanching is scalding, only for a longer time. Scalding is never for
more than two minutes. Blanching covers from three to thirty minutes.
We blanch beans, peas, corn, cabbage, carrots, beets, turnips, and so
on, for three to ten minutes. We blanch these vegetables to eliminate
any objectionable acids or bitter flavors which may be present, and
thus improve the flavor; to reduce the bulk so we can pack closer; to
start the flow of the coloring matter; to improve the texture of the
vegetables by making them more tender, and to improve the appearance
by helping to make clear the liquid in the jar. Blanching is what
makes for success in the cold-pack method of canning. Blanching is
_very_ important and must be carefully and accurately done.
Let me repeat about blanching: Have the kettle of blanching water
_boiling vigorously, completely immerse_ the product in the boiling
water, cover the kettle _immediately_ and begin to time the product.
Do not stand with the cover in hand and wait for the water to come
back to the boil, for, of course, it stopped boiling for a second when
you lowered into it the cold product. If you cover the kettle the
water will quickly reboil. Do not keep wondering if it is boiling and
take off the cover to see. All these may seem foolish precautions, but
it is necessary to follow directions accurately.
And remember, all things that are scalded or blanched must be followed
immediately by a cold plunge or "cold-dip." The scalding or blanching
is the "hot-dip," and this must be followed by the "cold-dip." You may
be asking, what is the point of this "cold-dip"? It is a very logical
question.
We "cold-dip" a product to harden the pulp under the skin and thus
permit the removal of the skin without injury to the pulp; to
coagulate the coloring matter and make it harder to dissolve during
the sterilization period and to make it easier to handle the products
in packing, and to subject the product to a sudden shock by quick
change in temperature.
STEPS IN CANNING VEGETABLES
If you will follow these steps for all vegetable canning you cannot
help but be successful:
1. Clean jars and test rubbers. If rubbers do not return to normal
shape after stretching, do not use.
2. Prepare material to be canned, according to directions given on
chart.
3. Hot-dip--blanch or scald--the prepared food. This process consists
of immersing the prepared product in boiling water for different
lengths of time, according to the material to be canned. See chart.
Hot-dipping shrinks the product and enables one to pack more material
in a jar.
4. Cold-dip the material. This process consists of plunging the
blanched or scalded food into cold water, which makes it more easily
handled. Be sure the water is cold; the colder the better.
Take the product out immediately and let it drain. _Don't let any food
soak in the cold water._
From this point on, speed is highly important. The blanched vegetables
which are slightly warm must not be allowed to remain out of the jars
a moment longer than is necessary.
Remove skins when required, and as each article is pared cut it into
pieces of proper size and
5. Pack directly into the clean, scalded cans or jars. Pack as solidly
as possible, being careful not to bruise or mash soft products. Pack
the product to within three-eighths of an inch of the top. Lima beans,
navy beans, peas, corn, pumpkin and sweet potatoes swell, so pack them
within only one inch of the top of the jar.
6. Add seasoning. One teaspoonful salt to every quart jar of
vegetables, and an equal amount of sugar to tomatoes, corn and peas if
desired.
7. Add boiling water to within a quarter inch of top to all
vegetables, except tomatoes and greens. Tomatoes contain ninety-four
per cent water, so none should be added. Tomato juice can be used if
desired. Greens are canned in just the water that clings to the
leaves after the cold-dip.
8. Adjust rubber rings and the covers of the jars; partially seal.
9. Sterilize--see time-table on pages following.
10. Remove from canner and completely seal. Test for leaks. Cool jars
as rapidly as possible, without drafts striking them.
Rapid cooling of the product prevents overcooking, clarifies the
liquid and preserves the shape and texture of the product.
SPECIAL DIRECTIONS FOR VARIOUS VEGETABLES
Greens. No water is added to greens. Ninety percent of greens is
water. They are high in mineral matter and we must preserve that.
Asparagus. Remove string before packing in jar. Can or dry tough ends
for soup. If asparagus is packed in jars as whole stalks, pack with
the tips up.
Tomatoes. Remove skins before packing. Tomatoes may be canned whole or
in pieces. Skin, cook and strain imperfect tomatoes. Use this for
liquid; as 94 per cent of the tomato is water, no water is needed.
Eggplants. Make slices about ½ to ¾ of an inch thick. Do not add salt,
as it causes eggplants to turn dark.
Pumpkin and squash. If you do not wish to scrape out of the shells you
can remove seeds, pare and cut into small blocks of uniform size. Then
blanch.
Sweet corn. Corn expands a little in processing, and for this reason
jars should not be filled quite full. Corn that has reached the dough
stage before being packed will have a cheesy appearance after
canning. Corn should never be allowed to remain in the cold-dip water.
Field corn. This product is commonly known as corn-club breakfast
food. The corn should be selected between the milk and the dough
stage. Wide-mouthed glass jars or tin cans should be used for canning
this product. Avoid packing container too full, as the product swells
during the sterilization period. The corn should be canned the same
day it is picked from the field if possible. After this product has
been sterilized and cooked and stored away it will form a solid,
butter-like mass which may be cut into convenient slices for toasting,
frying and baking purposes.
Mushrooms. Do not fail to blanch and cold dip. After opening
containers remove the mushrooms immediately and use them as quickly as
possible.
Sweet peppers. Place the peppers in the oven and bake them until the
skins separate from the meat. Remove the skin. Pack in hot jars. Add 1
teaspoonful of salt to a quart. Add boiling water.
Lima beans. Lima beans can be either blanched or steamed. If blanched
allow 5 minutes; if in live steam allow 10.
Wax or string beans. Beans can be canned whole or cut into uniform
pieces.
Cabbage and cauliflower. Cabbage and cauliflower should be soaked in
cold brine (½ lb. salt to 12 quarts water) for one hour before
blanching.
Brussels sprouts. Use small solid heads.
Peas. A cloudy or hazy appearance of the liquid indicates that the
product was roughly handled in blanching and cold dipping, or that
broken peas were not removed before packing.
Carrots and parsnips. Carrots can be packed whole, in slices or in
cross-section pieces. Skin of parsnips can be scraped off after
blanching and cold dipping.
Beets. Small beets that run 40 to a quart are the most suitable size
for first-class packs. Well-canned beets will show a slight loss of
color when removed from the canner, but will brighten up in a few
days.
Turnips. Scrape skin after blanching and cold dipping.
Corn and tomatoes. Add 1 teaspoonful of salt to every quart of
mixture. Mix 2 parts of tomatoes with 1 part corn. One teaspoonful of
sugar improves the flavor.
Corn, tomatoes and string beans. Use 1 part of corn, 1 part of green
string beans and 3 parts of tomatoes. Add 1 teaspoonful of salt and 1
teaspoonful of sugar to every quart jar.
CHARTS FOR CANNING ALL VEGETABLES AND GREENS
[A] SCALDING OR BLANCHING MINUTES
[B] IN BOILING WATER OR HOMEMADE OUTFIT (212°F.)
[C] IN CONDENSED STEAM OUTFIT
[D] IN WATER-SEAL OUTFIT 214°F
[E] IN STEAM PRESSURE 5 TO 10 POUNDS
[F] IN PRESSURE COOKER 10 POUNDS
VEGETABLES/ NUMBER OF MINUTES TO STERILIZE
PREPARATION | [A] | [B] | [C] | [D] | [E] | [F]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class 1--Greens, Domestic and Wild
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ALL GREENS--SPINACH, |Steam in | 120 | 120 | 90 | 60 |40, at
BEET TOPS, CHARD, |colander or | (2 hr)| (2 hr)|(1½ hr)| (1 hr)|10 lbs.
DANDELIONS, ETC. |in steamer | | | | |
Pick over; wash in |until wilted| | | | |
several waters. |Takes about | | | | |
|15 minutes. | | | | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class 2 --Special Vegetables
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASPARAGUS |Blanch tough| 90 | 90 | 60 | 50 |25, at
Wash, remove woody |ends 4 |(1½ hr)|(1½ hr)| (1 hr)| |10 lbs.
ends; cut to fit |minutes, tip| | | | |
jar; tie in bundles.|ends 2 | | | | |
| minutes. | | | | |
| | | | | |
TOMATOES Select | Scald 1½ | 22 | 22 | 18 | 18 |10, at
fresh, ripe, firm | | | | | |10 lbs.
tomatoes. Skins | | | | | |
will slip off after| | | | | |
scalding and cold | | | | | |
dipping. | | | | | |
| | | | | |
EGGPLANTS Remove skin| Blanch 3 | 60 | 60 | 50 | 45 |30, at
after blanching | | (1 hr)| (1 hr)| | |10 lbs.
and cold dipping. | | | | | |
Slice crosswise and| | | | | |
pack. | | | | | |
| | | | | |
PUMPKIN AND SQUASH | Blanch 5 | 120 | 120 | 90 | 60 |40, at
Cut into sections; | | (2 hr)| (2 hr)|(1½ hr)| (1 hr)|10 lbs.
remove seeds; | | | | | |
scrape shells after| | | | | |
blanching and cold | | | | | |
dipping. | | | | | |
| | | | | |
CORN--SWEET | 5 on cob | 180 | 180 | 120 | 90 |60, at
Cut corn from cob, | | (3 hr)| (3 hr)| (2 hr)|(1½ hr)|10 lbs.
blanch immediately | | | | | |
after and cold dip.| | | | | |
| | | | | |
CORN--FIELD | 10 | 180 | 180 | 120 | 60 |50, at
Remove husk and | | (3 hr)| (3 hr)| (2 hr)| (1 hr)|10 lbs.
silk. Cut the corn | | | | | |
from the cob after | | | | | |
it has been blanched| | | | | |
and cold dipped. | | | | | |
Feed the corn to a | | | | | |
food chopper and | | | | | |
grind to a pulp. | | | | | |
Cook this product | | | | | |
in a kettle, add | | | | | |
2/3 teaspoonful | | | | | |
sugar and 1/3 | | | | | |
teaspoonful salt to| | | | | |
each quart. Cook | | | | | |
(stir while cooking)| | | | | |
until the product | | | | | |
has assumed a | | | | | |
thickened or | | | | | |
pastelike mass. | | | | | |
| | | | | |
MUSHROOMS If small, | 5 | 90 | 90 | 80 | 50 |30, at
can them whole; if | |(1½ hr)|(1½ hr)|(1-1/3 | |10 lbs.
large they may be | | | | hr) | |
cut into sections. | | | | | |
| | | | | |
SWEET PEPPERS Use | .. | 90 | 90 | 75 | 60 |40, at
either green or red| |(1½ hr)|(1½ hr)|(1¾ hr)| (1 hr)|10 lbs.
peppers. | | | | | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class 3--Pod Vegetables and Other Green Products
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEANS--LIMA | 5 to 10 | 180 | 180 | 120 | 60 |40, at
Shell and wash. | | (3 hr)| (3 hr)| (2 hr)| (1 hr)|10 lbs.
| | | | | |
BEANS--WAX OR STRING | 5 to 10 | 120 | 120 | 90 | 60 |40, at
Wash and string. | | (2 hr)| (2 hr)|(1½ hr)| (1 hr)|10 lbs.
| | | | | |
CABBAGE Use small | 5 to 10 | 120 | 120 | 90 | 60 |40, at
solid heads of | | (2 hr)| (2 hr)|(1½ hr)| (1 hr)|10 lbs.
cabbage. | | | | | |
| | | | | |
CAULIFLOWER Use | 3 | 60 | 60 | 40 | 30 |20, at
flowered portion of| | (1 hr)| (1 hr)| | |15 lbs.
cauliflower. | | | | | |
| | | | | |
BRUSSELS SPROUTS | 5 to 10 | 120 | 120 | 90 | 60 |40, at
Cut into sections | | (2 hr)| (2 hr)|(1½ hr)| (1 hr)|10 lbs.
and remove core. | | | | | |
| | | | | |
PEAS | 5 to 10 | 180 | 180 | 120 | 60 |40, at
Shell and wash. Add| | (3 hr)| (3 hr)| (2 hr)| (1 hr)|10 to
1 teaspoonful of | | | | | |15 lbs.
salt and 1 tea- | | | | | |
spoonful of sugar | | | | | |
toevery quart. | | | | | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class 4--Roots and Tuber Vegetables
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
CARROTS, PARSNIPS, | 5 | 90 | 90 | 80 | 60 |40, at
SALSIFY | |(1½ hr)|(1½ hr)| (1-1/3| (1 hr)|10 lbs.
Remove skin by | | | | hr) | |
scraping after | | | | | |
blanching and cold | | | | | |
dipping. | | | | | |
| | | | | |
BEETS | 5 | 90 | 90 | 80 | 60 |40, at
To retain the color| |(1½ hr)|(1½ hr)| (1-1/3| (1 hr)|10 lbs.
of beets leave 3 or| | | | hr) | |
4 inches of the | | | | | |
stem and all the | | | | | |
root on while | | | | | |
blanching. After | | | | | |
cold dipping, the | | | | | |
skin may be removed| | | | | |
Scrape the skin. | | | | | |
| | | | | |
TURNIPS | 5 | 90 | 90 | 80 | 60 |40, at
Wash thoroughly | |(1½ hr)|(1½ hr)| (1-1/3| (1 hr)|10 lbs.
with a vegetable | | | | hr) | |
brush. | | | | | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class 5--Vegetable Combinations
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CORN AND TOMATOES | | 120 | 120 | 120 | 60 |45, at
Prepare individual | | (2 hr)| (2 hr)| (2 hr)| (1 hr)|10 lbs.
vegetables and then| | | | | |
combine and pack. | | | | | |
| | | | | |
CORN, TOMATOES AND | | | | | |
STRING BEANS | | | | | |
Corn | 3 | | | | |
Tomatoes | 1½ | 120 | 120 | 120 | 60 |45, at
String beans | 5 | (2 hr)| (2 hr)| (2 hr)| (1 hr)|10 lbs.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Count from time when water begins to boil (bubbles all over). This
time schedule is for both pint and quart jars. Add 30 minutes to time
of sterilizing for 2-quart jars.
CHAPTER V
SOUPS
After one has learned how to can fruits and vegetables successfully,
the next thing to attempt is the canning of soups.
Soups may be canned with or without meat. We make one variety which is
a pure vegetable soup. We use no stock or meat, and can it in its own
juice or liquor, thus using no water.
When we wish to use it we dilute it three or four times and serve it
as a vegetable soup or, more frequently, when we have chicken bones or
any meat bones on hand, we add a can of this concentrated vegetable
mixture to the bones and make a delicious stock soup.
I will give this recipe as I have given it to many friends, all of
whom have pronounced it excellent:
1 Peck ripe tomatoes
1 Head cabbage
1 Dozen carrots
1 White turnip
3 Pounds string beans
1 Pound okra
3 Red peppers
1 Peck spinach
2 Pounds asparagus
6 Small beets
6 Ears sweet corn
Scald the tomatoes by placing them in a wire basket and plunging them
into boiling water for one and a half minutes. Cold-dip them
immediately. After removing the core and stem end of the tomato, the
skin slips right off. Save all the tomato juice. Cut the tomatoes into
quarters. Put into a large pail or bucket with the juice. Blanch the
cabbage, carrots, turnip, string beans, okra and sweet red peppers
five minutes. Cold-dip. Of course you blanch and cold-dip each product
separately. Cut each vegetable after it is blanched and cold-dipped
into small cubes and add to the tomatoes.
Spinach must be carefully washed to remove all grit and sand. All
greens must be washed through several waters to cleanse them
thoroughly.
Instead of blanching the spinach in a kettle of boiling water, as we
do the other vegetables, we steam it by placing it in a colander over
boiling water or in a regulation steamer with tightly fitting cover,
such as is used for steaming suet puddings and brown bread. If you can
with a steam-pressure canner or a pressure cooker, then steam the
spinach there. If we boiled the spinach for fifteen or twenty minutes
we would lose a quantity of the mineral salts, the very thing we aim
to get into our systems when we eat spinach, dandelion greens, Swiss
chard and other greens. After the blanching or steaming comes the cold
dip.
There is something about blanching asparagus, either for soups or when
canned alone, that is worth knowing. Instead of blanching the whole
stalk of asparagus for the same length of time, we use a little
discretion, giving the tougher, harder ends a full four minutes'
blanching, but allowing the tender tip ends only two minutes. You are
possibly wondering how that is done.
Tie the asparagus stalks in bunches and put the bunches with all the
tips standing one way on a piece of cheesecloth. Tie the cloth or snap
rubber bands round it, and then stand the asparagus in boiling water
in an upright position for two minutes; next lay the asparagus
lengthwise in the blanching water for another two minutes, and you
have accomplished your purpose. You have given the tougher parts two
minutes' more blanching than the tender parts. Use a deep enough
kettle so the asparagus will be completely covered when laid
lengthwise. After the blanching, cold-dip the asparagus.
Wash the beets. Leave two inches of the top and all the tail on the
beets while blanching. Blanch for five minutes, then cold-dip. Next
scrape off the skin, top and tail. The tops can be put right into the
soup too. Any surplus tops can be steamed with the spinach and can be
treated similarly.
Blanch corn on the cob five minutes. Cold-dip. Cut the corn from the
cob, cutting from tip to butt end. Add the corn to the other
vegetables. Add no water. Pack the mixed vegetables into clean glass
jars; add one level teaspoonful of salt to every jar; partially seal;
cook one hour and a half in wash-boiler or other homemade outfit. At
the end of that period remove jars from canner, seal tight, and the
work is done.
Of course you are interested in the cost of this soup. Most of the
ingredients came right from our garden. We had to buy the okra and the
red peppers, but I figured everything just as if I had to buy it from
the market; and on this basis, the cost of our soup would have been
only seven and a half cents a can. We canned it in tin, using size
Number Two, which is the same as pint size in glass jars.
Another vegetable soup without stock, dried beans and peas being used,
is made as follows:
Soak six pounds of Lima beans and four pounds of dry peas over night.
Boil each thirty minutes. Blanch sixteen pounds of carrots, six pounds
of cabbage, three pounds of celery, six pounds of turnips, four pounds
of okra, one pound of onions, and four pounds of parsley for three
minutes and dip in cold water quickly. Prepare the vegetables and chop
into small cubes. Chop the onions and celery extra fine. Mix all of
them thoroughly and season to taste. Pack in glass jars or tin cans.
Fill with boiling water. Partially seal glass jars. Cap and tip tin
cans. Process ninety minutes if using hot-water-bath outfit or
condensed-steam outfit; sixty minutes if using water-seal outfit or
five-pound steam-pressure outfit; forty-five minutes if using pressure
cooker.
In many homes cream of tomato soup is the favorite. To make this soup
the housewife uses a tomato pulp and combines it with milk and
seasonings. You can can a large number of jars of this pulp and have
it ready for the cream soup. To make and can this pulp follow these
directions:
Tomato Pulp. Place the tomatoes in a wire basket or piece of
cheesecloth and plunge into boiling water for one and a half minutes.
Plunge into cold water. Remove the skins and cores. Place the tomatoes
in a kettle and boil thirty minutes. Pass the tomato pulp through a
sieve. Pack in glass jars while hot and add a level teaspoonful of
salt per quart. Partially seal glass jars. Sterilize twenty minutes if
using hot-water-bath outfit or condensed-steam outfit; eighteen
minutes if using water-seal, or five-pound steam-pressure outfit;
fifteen minutes if using pressure-cooker outfit.
Soup Stock. To make the soup stock which is the foundation of all
the stock soups, use this recipe:
Secure twenty-five pounds of beef hocks, joints and bones containing
marrow. Strip off the fat and meat and crack bones with hatchet or
cleaver. Put the broken bones in a thin cloth sack and place this in a
large kettle containing five gallons of cold water. Simmer--do not
boil--for six or seven hours. Do not salt while simmering. Skim off
all fat. This should make about five gallons of stock. Pack hot in
glass jars, bottles or enameled or lacquered tin cans. Partially seal
glass jars. Cap and tip tin cans. Sterilize forty minutes if using
hot-water-bath outfit or condensed-steam outfit; thirty minutes if
using water-seal or five-pound steam-pressure outfit; twenty-five
minutes if using pressure-cooker outfit.
Soups made with soup stock are many and varied. One can utilize the
things at hand and change the distinctive flavor from year to year. I
will give you a few good specimen recipes which if followed will give
good results:
Vegetable Soup. Soak a quarter pound dried Lima beans and one pound
unpolished rice for twelve hours. Cook a half pound pearl barley for
two hours. Blanch one pound carrots, one pound onions, one medium-size
potato and one red pepper for three minutes and cold-dip. Prepare the
vegetables and cut into small cubes. Mix thoroughly Lima beans, rice,
barley, carrots, onions, potato and red pepper. Fill glass jars or the
enameled tin cans three-fourths full of the above mixture of
vegetables and cereals. Make a smooth paste of a half pound of wheat
flour and blend in five gallons soup stock. Boil three minutes and add
four ounces salt. Pour this stock over vegetables and fill cans.
Partially seal glass jars. Cap and tip tin cans. Sterilize ninety
minutes if using hot-water-bath outfit or condensed-steam outfit;
seventy-five minutes if using a water-seal or five-pound
steam-pressure outfit; forty-five minutes if using pressure-cooker
outfit.
Cream of Pea Soup. Soak eight pounds of dried peas over night. Cook
until soft. Mash fine. Add the mashed peas to five gallons of soup
stock and bring to boil. Pass the boiling liquid through a fine sieve.
Make a smooth paste of a half pound flour and add paste, ten ounces of
sugar and three ounces of salt to the soup stock. Cook until soup
begins to thicken. Pack in glass jars or tin cans. Partially seal
glass jars. Cap and tip tin cans. Process ninety minutes if using
hot-water-bath outfit or condensed-steam outfit; eighty minutes if
using water-seal outfit; seventy minutes if using five-pound
steam-pressure outfit; forty-five minutes if using pressure-cooker
outfit.
Cream of Potato Soup. Boil one and a half pounds of potatoes, sliced
thin, and five gallons of soup stock for ten minutes. Add three ounces
of salt, a quarter teaspoonful of pepper and a half pound of butter
and boil slowly for five minutes. Make three tablespoonfuls of flour
into smooth paste and add to the above. Cook three minutes and pack in
glass jars or tin cans while hot. Partially seal glass jars. Cap and
tip tin cans. Sterilize ninety minutes if using a hot-water-bath
outfit or condensed-steam outfit; seventy-five minutes if using a
water-seal outfit; sixty-five minutes if using a five-pound
steam-pressure outfit; forty-five minutes if using a pressure-cooker
outfit.
Bean Soup. Soak three pounds of dried beans twelve hours in cold
water. Cut two pounds of ham into quarter-inch cubes and place in a
small sack. Place beans, ham and four gallons of water in kettle and
boil slowly until the beans are very soft. Remove the ham and beans
from the liquor and mash the beans fine. Return ham and mashed beans
to the liquor, add five gallons of soup stock and seasoning, and bring
to boil. Pack into jars or cans while hot. Partially seal jars. Cap
and tip tin cans. Process two hours if using hot-water-bath or
condensed-steam outfit; ninety minutes if using water-seal outfit;
seventy-five minutes if using five-pound steam-pressure outfit; sixty
minutes if using pressure cooker.
Okra Soup. Slice eight pounds okra into thin slices the round way.
Blanch ten minutes and cold-dip. Boil one and a half pounds rice for
twenty-five minutes. Mix okra and rice and fill cans or jars half
full. To five gallons soup stock add five ounces salt, a quarter
teaspoonful of coriander seed and a quarter teaspoonful of powdered
cloves, and bring to boil. Fill remaining portion of jars or cans.
Partially seal glass jars. Cap and tip tin cans. Process two hours if
using hot-water-bath outfit or condensed-steam outfit; ninety minutes
if using water-seal outfit; seventy-five minutes if using five-pound
steam-pressure outfit; sixty minutes if using pressure-cooker outfit.
Chicken-Soup Stock. Place thirty pounds chicken in ten gallons of
cold water and simmer for five hours. Remove meat and bones, then
strain. Add sufficient water to make ten gallons of stock. Fill glass
jars or tin cans with hot stock. Partially seal glass jars. Cap and
tip tin cans. This stock is used to make soup where the term
"chicken-soup stock" is used. Process ninety minutes if using
hot-water-bath outfit or condensed-steam outfit; seventy-five minutes
if using water-seal outfit; sixty minutes if using five-pound
steam-pressure outfit; forty-five minutes if using pressure-cooker
outfit.
Chicken Broth With Rice. For each gallon of soup stock use twelve
ounces of rice. Boil rice thirty minutes. Fill jars or tin cans
two-thirds full of rice and the remainder with soup stock. Partially
seal glass jars. Cap and tip tin cans. Process ninety minutes if using
hot-water-bath outfit or condensed-steam outfit; seventy-five minutes
if using water-seal outfit; sixty minutes if using five-pound
steam-pressure outfit; forty-five minutes if using pressure-cooker
outfit.
Chicken Gumbo. Cut two pounds ham into small cubes and boil thirty
minutes. Mince three pounds chicken and chop half a pound of onions
fine. Make a smooth paste of a half pound flour. Add above to five
gallons of chicken-soup stock. Then add a half pound butter and a
quarter pound salt and boil ten minutes. Next add three ounces
powdered okra mixed with one pint water. Pack into glass jars or tin
cans while hot. Partially seal glass jars. Cap and tip tin cans.
Process ninety minutes if using hot-water-bath outfit or
condensed-steam outfit; seventy-five minutes if using water-seal
outfit; sixty minutes if using five-pound steam-pressure outfit;
forty-five minutes if using pressure-cooker outfit.
TOMATO ACID CHECKS BACTERIA
Some women who have canned soup tell me it spoiled or tasted "sourish
and smelled sourish too." This is what we call "flat sour." It may
happen to any vegetable you can, as well as to the soups. "Flat sour"
affects peas, beans, asparagus and corn more than other vegetables. If
the vegetables have been picked for some time and the bacteria have
had a chance "to work," and you are not exceedingly careful about your
canning, you may develop "flat sour" in the soup. If you let one
little spore of this bacteria survive all is lost. Its moist growing
place is favorable to development, particularly if not much acid is
present. One little spore left in a jar will multiply in twenty hours
to some twenty millions of bacteria. This twenty million can stand on
the point of a needle, so a can could acquire quite a large population
in a short time. Bacteria do not like acids, so it is always a good
idea to have tomatoes in your soup mixture, and get the tomatoes into
the stone crock early in the game. The tomato acid will safeguard the
other vegetables which lack acid.
If you are careless about the blanching and cold-dipping--that is, not
doing these full time--if you work too slowly in getting the products
into jars and then let the full jars stand in the warm atmosphere, you
are pretty sure to develop "flat sour."
Place each jar in the canner as it is packed. The first jars in will
not be affected by the extra cooking. Have the water just below the
boiling point as you put in each jar. When you have the canner full
bring the water to the boiling point as quickly as possible and begin
to count cooking or sterilizing time from the moment it does boil.
Some women make the mistake at the end of the cooking period of
letting the jars remain in the boiling water, standing on the false
bottom of the canner until they are cool enough to handle with no
danger of burning the hands. This slow method of cooling not only
tends to create "flat sour," but it is apt to result in cloudy-looking
jars and in mushy vegetables.
For this reason you should have in your equipment a lifter with which
you can lift out the hot jars without the hands touching them. If you
use a rack with wire handles this answers the same purpose.
This "flat sour," which is not at all dangerous from the standpoint of
health, must not be confused with the botulinus bacteria, which is an
entirely different thing.
"Flat sour," perfectly harmless, appears often with inexperienced
canners. Botulinus, harmful, appears rarely. You need not be at all
alarmed about eating either "flat sour" or botulinus, because the odor
from spoiled goods is so distasteful--it really resembles rancid
cheese--that you would never get a spoon of it to your mouth.
If you are debating whether this jar or that jar of soup or vegetables
is spoiled, do not _taste_ the contents of the jar. _Smell_ it.
Tasting might poison you if you happened on the botulinus bacteria,
which is so rare it need alarm no one; whereas smelling is perfectly
safe.
TIME-TABLE FOR SOUPS
GRAY SOUP WITHOUT STOCK
NUMBER OF
INGREDIENTS MINUTES OTHER PREPARATION
TO BLANCH
1 Peck ripe tomatoes Scald 1½ Remove core and stem end.
1 Head cabbage 5}
1 Dozen carrots 5}
1 White turnip 5} Cut into cubes after blanching
2 Pounds string beans 5}
1 Pound okra 5}
3 Red peppers 5}
1 Peck spinach Steam 15 minutes or until
thoroughly wilted.
2 Pounds asparagus 4 Cut into small pieces after
blanching.
6 Small beets 5 Cut into slices after blanching.
6 Ears sweet corn 5 Cut from cob after blanching.
Salt
NUMBER OF MINUTES TO STERILIZE
In boiling water or homemade outfit, 212 degrees Fahrenheit, 90.
In condensed steam outfit, 90.
In water-seal outfit, 214 degrees Fahrenheit, 60.
In steam-pressure outfit, 5 pounds, 60.
In pressure-cooker outfit, 10 to 15 pounds, 45.
VEGETABLE SOUP WITHOUT STOCK, USING DRY LEGUMES
6 Pounds dried Lima beans} { Soak over night, then boil
4 Pounds dried peas } { for one half hour.
16 Pounds carrots 3}
6 Pounds cabbage 3} Cut into small cubes after
3 Pounds celery 3} blanching.
6 Pounds turnips 3}
4 Pounds okra 3 Cut into slices after blanching.
1 Pound onions 3 Chop fine after blanching.
4 Pounds parsley 3 Cut into pieces after blanching.
Salt
NUMBER OF MINUTES TO STERILIZE
In boiling water or homemade outfit, 212 degrees Fahrenheit, 90.
In condensed steam outfit, 90.
In water-seal outfit, 214 degrees Fahrenheit, 60.
In steam-pressure outfit, 5 pounds, 60.
In pressure-cooker outfit, 10 to 15 pounds, 45.
SOUP STOCK (Foundation of All Stock Soups)
NUMBER OF
INGREDIENTS MINUTES OTHER PREPARATION
TO BLANCH
25 Pounds beef hocks,
joints and bones Simmer for 6 or 7 hours.
5 Gallons water Should make 5 Gallons
stock.
NUMBER OF MINUTES TO STERILIZE
In boiling water or homemade outfit, 212 degrees Fahrenheit, 40.
In condensed steam outfit, 40.
In water-seal outfit, 214 degrees Fahrenheit, 30.
In steam-pressure outfit, 5 pounds, 30.
In pressure-cooker outfit, 10 to 15 pounds, 25.
VEGETABLE SOUP WITH STOCK
¼ Pounds dried Lima beans Soak 12 hours.
1 Pound rice Soak 12 hours.
¼ Pound pearl barley Cook 2 hours.
1 Pounds carrots 3}
1 Pounds onions 3} Cut into small cubes after
1 Potato 3} blanching.
1 Red Pepper 3}
½ Pound flour } { Make paste of flour and soup stock.
5 Gallons soup stock } { Boil 3 minutes and add salt
4 Ounces salt } { Pour over vegetables and fill cans.
NUMBER OF MINUTES TO STERILIZE
In boiling water or homemade outfit, 212 degrees Fahrenheit, 90.
In condensed steam outfit, 90.
In water-seal outfit, 214 degrees Fahrenheit, 75.
In steam-pressure outfit, 5 pounds, 75.
In pressure-cooker outfit, 10 to 15 pounds, 45.
CREAM OF PEA SOUP
8 Pounds dried peas { Soak over-night and cook until soft.
{ Mash peas fine.
5 Gallons soup stock Add stock and boil. Put through sieve.
½ Pound flour } { Make paste of flour, sugar and salt
10 Ounces sugar } { and add to stock. Cook until thick.
3 Ounces salt } { Can.
NUMBER OF MINUTES TO STERILIZE
In boiling water or homemade outfit, 212 degrees Fahrenheit, 90.
In condensed steam outfit, 90.
In water-seal outfit, 214 degrees Fahrenheit, 80.
In steam-pressure outfit, 5 pounds, 70.
In pressure-cooker outfit, 10 to 15 pounds, 45.
CREAM OF POTATO SOUP
NUMBER OF
INGREDIENTS MINUTES OTHER PREPARATION
TO BLANCH
1½ Pounds potatoes } { Boil potatoes and stock
sliced thin } { 10 minutes. Add salt,
5 Gallons soup stock } { pepper, butter and boil
3 Ounces salt } { 5 minutes. Make flour
¼ Teaspoonful pepper } { into paste and add.
½ Pound butter } { Cook 3 minutes and can.
3 Tablespoonfuls flour }
Boil potatoes and stock }
NUMBER OF MINUTES TO STERILIZE
In boiling water or homemade outfit, 212 degrees Fahrenheit, 90.
In condensed steam outfit, 90.
In water-seal outfit, 214 degrees Fahrenheit, 75.
In steam-pressure outfit, 5 pounds, 65.
In pressure-cooker outfit, 10 to 15 pounds, 45.
BEAN SOUP
3 Pounds dried beans Soak 12 hours.
2 Pounds ham Cut ham into ¼ inch cubes.
4 Gallons water } { Boil beans, ham and water
5 Gallons soup stock } { until beans are soft.
Salt } { Mash beans fine. Add
{ stock and salt. Can.
NUMBER OF MINUTES TO STERILIZE
In boiling water or homemade outfit, 212 degrees Fahrenheit, 120.
In condensed steam outfit, 120.
In water-seal outfit, 214 degrees Fahrenheit, 90.
In steam-pressure outfit, 5 pounds, 75.
In pressure-cooker outfit, 10 to 15 pounds, 60.
CHICKEN SOUP STOCK (Foundation of All Chicken Soups)
30 Pounds chicken }
10 Gallons cold water. }
Should make 10 gallons } Simmer 5 hours. Can.
stock when finished }
NUMBER OF MINUTES TO STERILIZE
In boiling water or homemade outfit, 212 degrees Fahrenheit, 90.
In condensed steam outfit, 90.
In water-seal outfit, 214 degrees Fahrenheit, 75.
In steam-pressure outfit, 5 pounds, 60.
In pressure-cooker outfit, 10 to 15 pounds, 45.
CHICKEN GUMBO
2 Pounds ham Cut ham into small cubes
and boil 30 minutes.
3 Pounds chicken Mince chicken.
½ Pound onions Chop onions.
½ Pound flour Make paste of flour.
5 Gallons chicken soup
stock Add all this to soup stock.
½ Pound butter }
¼ Pound salt } { Add butter and salt. Boil
3 Ounces powdered okra } { 10 minutes. Then add
mixed with pint of } { okra mixed with water.
water } { Can.
NUMBER OF MINUTES TO STERILIZE
In boiling water or homemade outfit, 212 degrees Fahrenheit, 90.
In condensed steam outfit, 90.
In water-seal outfit, 214 degrees Fahrenheit, 75.
In steam-pressure outfit, 5 pounds, 60.
In pressure-cooker outfit, 10 to 15 pounds, 45.
CHAPTER VI
JELLIES, JAMS, PRESERVES, MARMALADES, FRUIT JUICES AND SIRUPS
For jelly making select firm, slightly underripe fruit that is fairly
acid and contains a large amount of pectin. Fruit that is just a
little underripe contains more pectin than the mature or overripe
fruits. Pectin is the substance that makes jelly harden. This
fundamental jelly-making quality does not exist in all fruits. Such
fruits as currants, crab apples and grapes contain much pectin and
are, therefore, considered excellent jelly-making fruits.
The white inner skin of grapefruit is also a prolific source of
pectin, but as it has a bitter taste we seldom use it for jellies,
though we find it valuable in making orange, grapefruit and other
marmalades.
Rhubarb, strawberries and cherries all lack pectin, but can be made
into good jellies if we add the white skins of oranges and lemons to
them while cooking.
So the very first thing we must know about jelly making is whether or
not a fruit contains pectin. There will be no tears shed over jelly
that will not "jell" if all young housewives will learn the simple
test for pectin; to find out whether a juice contains pectin or not is
a very easy matter.
Take one tablespoonful of grain alcohol--90 to 95 per cent.--and add
to it one tablespoonful of _cooked_ juice that has been cooled. The
effect of the alcohol is to bring together the pectin in a jelly-like
mass. If a large quantity of pectin is present it will appear in one
mass or clot which may be gathered up on a spoon. You will notice I
said _cooked_ juice. It is peculiar that this pectin frequently is not
found in the juices of raw fruits, though it is very plentiful in the
cooked juices. Therefore the test must be made with cooked juice.
There is little pectin in the juice of raw apples, raw quince, raw
grapes, and yet the cooked juices are full of pectin.
This test not only indicates the amount of pectin present, but it also
gives some idea of the proper proportions of sugar to juice. If
three-fourths or more of the juice forms a gelatinous mass or clot
this indicates that you should use three-fourths as much sugar as
juice. If the pectin is slightly gelatinous or is less than
three-fourths of the whole volume of juice, use less sugar. If the
pectin is less than one-half add some form of pectin to make the
jelly, or can the juice for use as a beverage, for flavoring ice cream
or some form of cooking.
By employing this test, sugar can often be reduced, and thus the jelly
texture will be fine, less rubbery and the flavor will be better.
After the fruit has been selected and prepared as usual by washing,
stemming, and so forth, it is ready to be heated in an acid-proof
kettle. With juicy fruits use just enough water to prevent
burning--about one cup of water to every four or five quarts of fruit.
The juicy fruits are currants, raspberries, and so forth. With less
juicy fruits, as apples or quinces, use enough water to cover, or
follow the rule, half as much water as fruit. Use the cores, skins and
seeds; these improve the flavor and color of the jelly.
Berries can be mashed. Heat the fruit slowly in a covered kettle,
stirring once in a while to obtain an even cooking. When the simmering
point is reached, crush the fruit with a well-soaked wooden masher.
When the fruit is tender or has a transparent appearance, it is ready
to strain.
The jelly bag must be of closely woven material; one with a large
mouth is advisable. If cheesecloth is used double it and tie opposite
corners together. When a very clear jelly is desired use a flannel or
felt bag for straining the juice.
What drips into the dish or pan is called Extraction One. When this
Extraction One is fairly drained out, which takes about thirty
minutes, do not squeeze the pulp for a second grade jelly as so many
housewives do; instead, make another juice extraction. To do this,
empty the contents or pulp in the bag into the preserving kettle,
cover with water, and stir until thoroughly mixed; then cover, bring
slowly to a boil as before and drain again. The juice that drips out
is called Extraction Two.
The pectin-alcohol test can be used here again to find out whether
there is much or little or no pectin left. If much pectin is present,
you can repeat the operation and get Extraction Three.
Three extractions usually exhaust the pectin, but sometimes you can
get as many as five extractions.
You may say, "Why bother with extractions--why not squeeze the juice
and be done with it?" You will get clearer, better-flavored and more
glasses of jelly if you will make the extractions than if you squeeze
the jelly bag.
I always make the jelly from Extraction One by itself, but usually
combine Extraction Two and Three.
The next step in jelly making is vitally important--that is, how much
sugar to use to a given amount of fruit juice. This is where many
housewives "fall down" on jelly making. They use the same proportion
of sugar to all juices.
To make jelly that does not crystallize the right proportion of sugar
must be added to the juice. To make jelly that is not tough or
unpleasantly sour, the right proportion of sugar and juice must be
used.
Currants and unripe or partly ripened grapes are so rich in pectin
that they require equal amounts of sugar and juice--that is, to every
cup of extracted currant and grape juice we add one cup of sugar.
Red raspberries and blackberries require three-fourths of a cup of
sugar to every cup of juice. All fruits which require much water in
the cooking take three-fourths of a cup of sugar to every cup of
juice. Crab apples and cranberries are examples.
It is harder to make jellies from the fruits to which a large amount
of water is added than from the juicy fruits.
I am frequently asked, "When should you add the sugar to the fruit
juice in jelly making? Do you add it at the beginning of the boiling,
in the middle of the process, or at the end, and should the sugar be
hot when added to the juice?" It is better to add the sugar in the
middle of the jelly-making process than at the beginning or the end.
Skim the juice well before adding the sugar, so as to lose as little
sugar as possible.
If the sugar is hot when added it will not cool the juice, and thus
the cooking time will be shortened. To heat the sugar put it in a
granite dish, place in the oven, leaving the oven door ajar, and stir
occasionally. Be careful not to scorch it.
After the juice is put on, the jelly making should be done as quickly
as possible. No simmering should be allowed and no violent boiling. A
steady boiling, for as few minutes as possible, will produce good
results.
Currant, blueberry and grape jelly usually can be made in from eight
to ten minutes. The hot sugar is added at the end of four or five
minutes.
Raspberry, blackberry and apple jelly take from twenty to thirty
minutes. The sugar is added at the end of ten or fifteen minutes.
The jellying point is hard to determine. If you have a cooking
thermometer or candy thermometer always use it when making jelly. It
is the one sure, reliable test.
The temperature for jellies is 221 degrees Fahrenheit. If you want a
very soft jelly, boil it 220 degrees. If you want to use it
immediately, then boil it to 222 degrees.
If you do not have a thermometer the next best test is to pour the
boiling sirup from the side of a clean, hot spoon, held horizontally.
If the sirup is done two drops will break simultaneously from the side
of the spoon.
Another test is to take a little jelly on a cold plate and draw a path
through it with the point of a spoon; if the path stays and the juice
does not run together, the jellying point has been reached.
When the jellying point has been reached, remove the kettle from the
fire, skim the jelly and pour immediately into hot, sterilized
glasses, which have been set on a cloth wrung out of hot water to
prevent breaking. Fill the glasses not quite full.
Never attempt to make more than six to eight glasses of jelly at one
time. If new at the game make only four, because there is danger of
the juice jellying in the kettle before it can be removed.
When the jellies are well set cover them with _hot_, not merely
melted, paraffin. The paraffin if hot will kill any germs that may
fall on the surface of the jelly. Then cover with the clean tin or
aluminum covers and store the jelly in a dry, cool place after proper
labeling.
STEPS IN JELLY MAKING
1. Select firm, slightly underripe fruit that is fairly acid and
contains a large amount of pectin.
2. Prepare fruit as usual by washing, stemming, and so forth.
3. Heat slowly in acid-proof kettle until fruit is tender. Mash
berries before beginning to cook them. A little water may be added if
necessary to keep from burning. Cut hard fruits into small pieces; add
half as much water as fruit.
4. Pour into dampened bag.
5. Drain through closely woven bag.
6. Make alcohol test for pectin to determine minimum amount of sugar
to use, also the character of the fruit. The amount of pectin, the
fundamental jelly-making property, varies in different fruits. To
make the pectin test add to one tablespoonful of cold cooked fruit
juice one tablespoonful of grain alcohol. Shake gently. Allow to stand
one-half hour. If three-fourths or more of the juice forms a lump add
three-fourths as much sugar as juice in making jelly. If the
precipitate--pectin--is not held together in a lump or is less than
three-fourths of the whole volume of juice, add less sugar in
proportion to juice. If less than one-half forms a lump, add pectin to
make the jelly, or can the juice for use as a beverage, flavoring, and
so forth.
7. If fruit juice meets jelly-making test put on to cook.
8. Add required amount of sugar after juice begins to boil or midway
in the process.
9. Stir until sugar is dissolved.
10. Cook rapidly, but not hard.
11. Test to determine when jelly stage is reached by dipping a clean
spoon into boiling juice. Remove and allow juice to drip from it. If
done, two drops will break simultaneously from side of spoon. Some
prefer to wait until mass sheets off from side of spoon. Better still,
use thermometer.
12. Remove from fire and skim.
13. Pour immediately into hot, sterilized glasses.
14. When cool add hot melted paraffin. Melt the paraffin in a little
coffeepot or pitcher with spout, so it will pour easily.
15. Cover, label and store.
No time can be given for jelly making, for several things enter into
consideration: The proportion of pectin in the juice, the amount of
water used in cooking the fruit and the proportion of sugar to juice;
the more sugar used, the less time needed.
JAMS AND BUTTERS
Jams and butters are not so difficult to make as jellies.
1. Carefully wash berries and fruits.
2. Weigh the fruit on standard scales or, if scales are not
convenient, use measuring cup.
3. Mash berries. Cut large fruits into several pieces.
4. Add enough water to prevent sticking.
5. Stir to keep from burning.
6. Cook gently until the mass begins to thicken.
7. Measure sugar, using three-fourths part of sugar to one part fruit.
That is, for every pound of fruit use three-fourths of a pound of
sugar, or to every cup of fruit use three-fourths of a cup of sugar.
8. Continue cooking, allowing the jam to simmer gently.
9. Cook the mixture until the desired consistency is reached. When a
little of the jam falls in heavy drops from the spoon, it is thick
enough.
10. A small amount of mixed ground spices, vinegar or crystallized
ginger can be added if desired.
11. Pour into hot, sterilized glasses to within one-half inch of the
top.
12. Allow to cool, seal with paraffin, cover, label and store.
Fruit butters are always softer than jam. Marmalades are made much as
are jams. The rind is usually used in lemon, orange and grapefruit
marmalades.
Conserves consist of a combination of several fruits. Nuts and raisins
are often added to conserves.
Preserves are thick mixtures containing sugar equal to at least
three-fourths of the weight of the fruit.
If you wish to eliminate the necessity of using paraffin or other wax
tops for jellies, jams and preserves, you can use the cold-pack method
of canning. You may have containers with screw or bail tops which you
wish to use in this way. The following is one recipe showing how to
proceed.
Cherry Preserves. Place one gallon of water in a kettle and add ten
pounds of pitted cherries. Boil slowly for eighteen minutes. Add
twelve pounds of granulated sugar and cook until product is boiling at
a temperature of 219 degrees. Cool quickly in shallow pans. Pack into
glass jars. Put rubber and cap in position, not tight. Cap and tip if
using enameled tin cans. If using a hot-water-bath outfit, sterilize
twenty minutes; if using a water-seal outfit, a five-pound
steam-pressure outfit or a pressure-cooker outfit, sterilize fifteen
minutes. Remove jars. Tighten covers. Invert to cool and test the
joints. Wrap jars with paper to prevent bleaching and store. When
using pressure-cooker outfits on preserves, keep the valve open during
period of sterilization.
Fruit Juices. Fruit juices furnish a healthful and delicious drink
and are readily canned at home. Grapes, raspberries and other small
fruits may be crushed in a fruit press or put in a cloth sack, heated
for thirty minutes, or until the juice runs freely, and allowed to
drip.
Strain through two thicknesses of cotton flannel to remove the
sediment, sweeten slightly, bottle, close by filling the neck of the
bottle with a thick pad of sterilized cotton, heat to 160 degrees, or
until air bubbles begin to form on the bottom of the cooker, and keep
at this temperature one hour and a half to two hours; or heat to 200
degrees, or until the bubbles begin to rise to the top of the water,
and hold at this temperature for thirty minutes. The hot water comes
up to the neck of the bottle. Cork without removing the cotton. If
canned in jars close the jar partly, and seal tight after cooking.
Fruit juices should never be heated above 200 degrees, as a higher
temperature injures the flavor.
Strawberry Preserves. 1. Add thirty-five ounces of sugar to one-half
pint of water; bring to a boil and skim.
With this amount of sirup the berries can be packed attractively
without floating and no sirup will be left over.
To this amount of sirup add exactly two and three-fourths pounds of
washed, capped and stemmed strawberries. Boil the fruit until it
registers 222 degrees Fahrenheit on a candy or chemical thermometer.
If no thermometer is available boil until the sirup is very
heavy--about as thick as molasses. Remove the scum.
Fill the sterilized jars full of hot berries. Pour in enough of the
hot sirup to fill the jar, leaving as little air space as possible.
Put sterilized rings and caps on at once, but do not fasten tightly.
Stand the sealed jars in tepid water up to their necks if possible.
Bring this water to a boil. Let pint jars stay in the boiling water
for at least fifteen minutes and quart jars at least twenty-five
minutes; then close caps tightly at once. At the conclusion of the
operation, stand each jar for a moment on its cap to make sure that
the seal is absolutely tight.
Recipe Number 2. The following method is preferred by some because
it leaves more of the natural color in the preserves:
To two pounds of washed, capped and stemmed strawberries add
twenty-six ounces sugar; let stand over-night. In the morning pour
juice thus obtained into a preserving kettle, add berries and cook to
222 degrees Fahrenheit, or until the sirup is very heavy. Pack and
sterilize, as in Recipe Number 1. These recipes can be used for all
other berries.
When wet weather makes strawberries too soft or sandy for the table,
they are still useful for making "strawberry acid," a thick sirup
which, mixed with water, ice and perhaps spearmint, makes a cooling
summer drink.
Strawberries--Sun Preserves. Select firm ripe berries; hull and
rinse. Place them in a shallow platter in a single layer; sprinkle
sugar over them. Pour over them a thick sirup made of one quart of
water and eleven pounds of sugar, boiled until very thick.
Cover them with a glass dish or a plain window glass. Allow them to
stand in the hot sun eight to twelve hours. Pack them in jelly glasses
and cover with paraffin or put in regular glass jars or tin cans. Put
the rubber and cap in position, not tight. Cap and tip or seal if
using enameled tin cans. Sterilize for the length of time given below
for the particular type of outfit used:
MINUTES
Hot-water bath, homemade or commercial 20
Water seal, 214 degrees 15
Steam pressure 10
Remove the jars, tighten the covers, invert the jars to cool, and test
the joint. Wrap the jars in paper to prevent bleaching.
When using steam-pressure or pressure-cooking outfit on preserves,
remember to keep the valve open during the sterilizing.
SPECIAL DIRECTIONS FOR JELLY AND JAM MAKING
Apples vary in the percentage of sugar and acid they contain; a fine
flavored acid apple should be used when possible. Winter apples are
best for jelly making. If necessary to make apple jelly in the spring,
add juice of 1 lemon to every pint of apple juice.
Apricots are delicious combined with pineapple.
Blackberries, elderberries and loganberries make delicious juices and
shrubs for summer beverages.
The total time of making blueberry jelly need not exceed 10 minutes.
Cranberries are not always put through a jelly bag, but are rubbed
through a sieve.
Cherries are most delicious if preserved in the sun. A good
combination for preserves is equal parts of cherries and strawberries.
Crab apples can be combined with some juices, such as peach, pear and
pineapple, to furnish necessary pectin.
One-half currants and one-half raspberries make a delicious jelly;
currants are in best condition for jelly making from June 28 to July
3.
Black currant jam is considered quite a delicacy these days.
Acid grapes are best for jelly; sweet, ripe grapes contain too much
sugar. Equal portions ripe and green grapes are satisfactory.
If gooseberries are fully ripe they make finer-flavored jam than do
green-as-grass gooseberries.
Some women are successful in making peach jelly, but be sure to test
for pectin before completing the process, to save time and effort.
Pineapple is best canned alone or used as foundation for conserves.
An underripe, acid plum is best.
Plums and apples combined make an excellent tasting jelly.
Quince parings are often used for jelly, the better part of the fruit
being used for preserving.
Raspberries and other berries should not be gathered after a rain, for
they will have absorbed so much water as to make it difficult, without
excessive boiling, to get the juice to "jell."
Rhubarb is an excellent foundation for the more expensive fruit. It
will take the flavor of other fruits and thus we can make an otherwise
expensive jam "go a long way."
Strawberries combine well with other fruits and can be utilized in
many ways.
Select sour, smooth-skinned oranges.
Lemon Marmalade. After the 9 oranges and 6 lemons are sliced, put in
kettle; add 4 quarts water, cover and let stand 36 hours; then boil 2
hours. Add 8 pounds sugar and boil one hour longer.
Grapefruit used alone is bitter. Oranges or lemons or both are
usually combined with grapefruit.
All wild fruits or berries used for jelly making must be fresh and not
overripe. Barberry jelly is firmer and of better color if made from
fruit picked before the frost comes, while some of the berries are
still green.
CHART FOR JELLY AND JAM MAKING
KIND OF FRUIT|CHARACTER OF| HOW TO | AMOUNT OF | AMOUNT OF
| FRUIT | PREPARE |WATER NEEDED| SUGAR NEEDED
| | |FOR COOKING | FOR JELLYING
-------------------------------------------------------------------
APPLES, SOUR | Excellent | Wash, |One-half as | ¾ cupful of
| for jelly |discard any | much water | sugar to 1
| making | unsound | as fruit | cupful of
| | portions, | | juice
| | cut into | |
| | small | |
| | pieces. | |
| | Include | |
| | | |
APRICOTS |Not suitable|Leave a few |For jam use | ¾ cupful of
| for jelly | stones in |just enough | sugar to 1
| making. |for flavor. | water to | cupful of
| Excellent | | keep from | apricots for
| for jam. | | burning | jam
| | | |
BLACKBERRIES | Excellent | Wash |1 cupful of | ¾ cupful of
| for jelly | | water to 5 | sugar to 1
| making | | quarts of | cupful of
| | | berries | juice
| | | |
BLUEBERRIES | Excellent | Wash |1 cupful of | 1 cupful of
| for jelly | | water to 5 | sugar to 1
|making; make| | quarts of | cupful of
| a sweet | | berries | juice
| jelly | | |
| | | |
CRANBERRIES | Excellent | Wash |One-half as | ¾ cupful of
| for jelly | | much water | sugar to 1
| making | | as berries | cupful of
| | | | juice
| | | |
CHERRIES |Pectin must | Pit the |For jam, use| ¾ cupful of
|be added for|cherries for|just enough | sugar to 1
|jelly making| jam | water to | cupful of
| | | keep from | cherries for
| | | burning | jam
| | | |
CRAB APPLES | Excellent | Same as |One-half as | ¾ cupful of
| for jelly | apples | much water | sugar to 1
| making | | as apples | cupful of
| | | | juice
| | | |
CURRANTS, RED| Excellent | Do not |1 cupful of | 1 cupful of
| for jelly |remove stems| water to 5 | sugar to 1
| making | for jelly | quarts of | cupful of
| | | currants | juice
| | | |
CURRANTS, | Better for |Remove stems|Enough water| ¾ cupful of
BLACK | jam | |to keep from| sugar to 1
| | | sticking | cupful of
| | | | currants
| | | |
GRAPES, | Excellent |Wash, do not|1 cupful of | 1 cupful of
UNRIPE | for jelly | stem; use | water to 5 | sugar to 1
| making | stems | quarts of | cupful of
| | | grapes | juice
| | | |
GOOSEBERRIES | Excellent | "Head and |1 cupful of | 1 cupful of
| for jelly |tail," using| water to 5 | sugar to 1
| making | scissors | quarts of | cupful of
| | |gooseberries| juice
| | | |
PEACHES |Pectin must | Peaches, |Just enough | ¾ cupful of
|be added for| apples and | water to | sugar to 1
|jelly making|raisins make| keep from | cupful of
| |a delicious | burning | juice
| | conserve | |
| | | |
PINEAPPLES |Pectin must | Prepare as | For jams, | ¾ cupful of
|be added for| for table |enough water| sugar to 1
|jelly making| use |to keep from| cupful of
| | | burning | juice
| | | |
PLUMS, |Suitable for| Mash fruit | 1 quart of | ¾ cupful of
GREENGAGE |jelly making| and remove | water for | sugar to 1
| |stems; cook |each peck of| cupful of
| |stones with | fruit | juice
| | fruit | |
| | | |
PLUMS, DAMSON|Suitable for| Wipe and | 1 quart of | ¾ cupful of
|jelly making| pick over; | water for | sugar to 1
| | prick | every peck | cupful of
| | several | of plums | juice
| | times with | |
| | large pin | |
| | | |
QUINCES | Excellent |Cut out the |One-half as | ¾ cupful of
| for jelly |blossom end.| much water | sugar to 1
| making, if |Mash and cut| as quinces | cupful of
| not too |in quarters | | juice
|ripe. If so,| | |
| add crab | | |
| apple | | |
| | | |
RASPBERRIES | Excellent | Wash them |1 cupful of | 1 cupful of
| for jelly |thoroughly, | water to 5 | sugar to 1
| making | but do not | quarts of | cupful of
| | let them | berries | juice
| |soak in the | |
| | water | |
| | | |
RHUBARB |Pectin must |Wash and cut| For jam, | ¾ cupful of
|be added for| into small |half as much| sugar to 1
| jelly | pieces | water as | cupful of
| making. | | fruit. | juice
| Better for | | |
| jam. | | |
| | | |
STRAWBERRIES |Pectin must | Wash and | For jam, | ¾ cupful of
|be added for| remove |just enough | sugar to 1
| jelly | hulls. | water to | cupful of
| making. | | keep from | pulp.
| | | burning. |
CITRUS FRUITS| | | |
| | | |
ORANGES | Excellent | For orange | Cook in |Three-quarters
| for jelly | marmalade | water to | their weight
| making and | weigh | cover. | in sugar.
| marmalade | oranges | |
| |slice cross-| |
| | wise with | |
| |sharp knife | |
| | as thin as | |
| | possible; | |
| |remove seed.| |
| | | |
LEMONS | Excellent | For | | 8 pounds of
| for jelly |marmalade 9 | | sugar
| making and |oranges and | |
| to supply |6 lemons are| |
| pectin to | a good | |
|other fruits|combination | |
| | | |
GRAPEFRUIT | Best for | Grapefruit | |Three-quarters
| marmalades | is sliced | | their weight
| | very thin, | | in sugar.
| | seed | |
| | removed. | |
WILD FRUITS | | | |
| | | |
RASPBERRIES, | All | Prepare as |Just enough | 1 cupful of
BLACKBERRIES,| excellent | other | water to | sugar to 1
BARBERRIES, | for jelly | fruits. | keep from | cupful of
GRAPES, BEACH| making. | | burning. | juice.
PLUMS. | | | |
| | | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER VII
MEAT
Canned meat adds variety to the diet in the winter-time and makes a
pleasant change from the cured and smoked meats. You put meat into
jars in the raw state and extend the sterilizing period or you can
cook the meat partially or completely and then sterilize for a shorter
period of time. Of course a reliable method of canning meat must be
used, such as the cold-pack process, where the sterilizing is done in
the tin or jar in either boiling water or steam under pressure. We
usually recommend the partial cooking, roasting or boiling of the meat
before canning especially for beginners. If you are a beginner in the
business of cold-pack canning then by all means cook the meat before
putting it in cans. If you have canned peas, beans and corn
successfully for years then you are ready for all kinds of raw meat
canning.
To save criticism of the cold-pack method of canning meat and to guard
against any danger from eating poorly prepared and improperly
sterilized meat we do not urge beginners to experiment with meat,
although the meat can be safely canned by any one whether new at the
canning game or a veteran in it if directions are carefully followed.
But it is the big "If" that we have to watch.
Many farmers and farmerettes are canning meats of all kinds all over
the country and there is never a can lost. We need more meat canning
done at home and you can do it if you will practice cleanliness in all
your work and follow directions.
The fear of getting botulinus bacteria from eating canned meat is just
a "bug-a-boo." It should be clearly understood that botulism is one of
the very rare maladies. The chances for getting it by eating canned
goods, say the experts, is rather less than the chances from dying of
lockjaw every time you scratch your finger. To regard every can as a
source of botulism is worse than regarding every dog as a source of
hydrophobia. Moreover, for the very timid, there is the comforting
certainty that the exceedingly slight danger is completely eliminated
by re-cooking the canned food for a short time before eating it.
There are always a few cases of illness traceable to bad food, not
only to canned food but to spoiled meats, fish, bad milk, oysters and
a number of things. There are also cases of injury and death by street
accidents, but we do not for that reason stop using the streets. If
you put good meat into the can and do your canning right then you will
have good results. Never put into a can meat that is about ready to
spoil, thinking thereby to "save it."
If you want to be absolutely sure, even if the jar of meat seems
perfectly fresh when it is opened, you can re-cook the meat, thus
insuring yourself against any possibility of botulinus poisoning. So
you see, there is nothing at all alarming about that frightful
sounding word "botulinus." Using fresh products, doing the canning
properly and reheating before serving eliminates all danger.
For canning meat, tin cans are in most respects superior to glass, as
they eliminate all danger of breakage, preserve the meat just as well
as glass, and by excluding the light prevent any change of color. If
you use glass jars be sure to get the best brand of jar rubbers on the
market. This is very important.
If, as I have said, you are a beginner--cook the meat first by frying,
roasting, broiling, baking or stewing--just as you would prepare it
for immediate use. The meat is usually seasoned according to taste and
is cooked until thoroughly heated through, before putting in the cans.
Do not cook until tender as that will be too long with the additional
sterilizing. If too tender it will fall apart and be unappetizing
although perfectly good. See that nothing is wasted in the canning. If
you are canning a young steer or a calf you would go about it as
follows:
Select the meat that you would ordinarily want. Slice the meat wanted
for steak. What is not suited for either of these can be used for
stews, or be put through the meat grinder and made into sausage meat,
formed into little cakes, fried and canned. What meat is left clinging
to all bones will be utilized when the bones are boiled for soup
stock. The sinews, the head and the feet, after being cleaned may be
used for soup stock also.
The liver should be soaked in water, the coarse veins cut out and the
liver skinned and prepared any way that is desired before canning it
or it may be made into liver sausage. The heart can be used for
goulash. The kidneys should be soaked in salt water, split open and
the little sack removed; then they can be either stewed or fried and
then canned. The sweetbreads may be prepared in various ways and then
canned.
The brain is soaked in water to remove the blood, and the membrane
enclosing it is removed. It can be fried or prepared in any favorite
way and then canned. The ox tail is used for soup. The tongue is
soaked in water, scrubbed, cleaned, salted, boiled, skinned and packed
in cans with some soup stock added.
If you do not care to use the head for soup stock and if it comes from
a young animal, split it open and soak in cold water. Use a brush and
scrub thoroughly. Remove the eyes and mucous membrane of the nostrils
and then boil it. After it is boiled, remove all meat and make a mock
turtle stew or ragout. Prepare the tripe as for table use and then
can.
After the soup stock is made and the bones are cracked for a second
cooking, the bones need not be thrown away. You can dry them, run them
through a bone crusher and either feed them to the chickens or use
them for fertilizer. In this way not a particle of the dressed animal
is wasted.
Here are a few ways to utilize the cuts that are really "left-overs."
GOULASH
2 Pounds of meat scraps which can consist of beef, veal or pork.
2 Ounces of any fat.
2 Onions chopped fine.
1 Stalk celery, cut in small pieces.
2 Carrots.
2 Cups tomatoes either canned or fresh.
1 Bay leaf.
6 Whole cloves.
6 Peppercorns.
1 Blade mace or a little thyme or both.
A little flour.
1 Tablespoonful chopped parsley.
Salt and paprika to taste.
Cut the meat into one inch squares and roll in flour. Melt the fat in
the frying pan, add the vegetables (onions, celery, carrots) and brown
lightly: add the meat and brown. Stir with a spoon or fork to prevent
burning. When browned empty into a pan.
Put the bay leaf, cloves, peppercorns, mace and thyme into a
cheesecloth bag and add to the meat, add tomatoes. Cover with soup
stock or water and simmer 45 minutes if it is going to be canned. If
for immediate use, 2 hours will be necessary to thoroughly cook it.
Remove the spices, season with salt, paprika and the chopped parsley.
You can add Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce if desired. Use only
small quantities as these sauces are very strong in their distinctive
flavor. Put hot mixture into cans and sterilize.
If the different spices are not at hand a good goulash can be made by
using the meat, fat, onions, tomatoes, flour, salt and pepper and
omitting the rest of the recipe.
LIVER SAUSAGE
Beef, veal, or hog liver. Remove the membrane and cut away the large
blood vessels. Soak in water 1 to 2 hours to draw out blood. Boil
until done. When cooled put through a food chopper or grate finely.
Take half as much boiled fat pork as liver. Divide this fat into two
portions; chop one portion into one-quarter inch cubes; pass the other
portion through the food chopper; mix all together thoroughly; add
salt, ground cloves, pepper, and a little grated onion to taste. A
little thyme and marjoram may be added to suit taste. (For a liver
weighing 1½ pounds add ¾ pounds fat pork, 3 to 4 teaspoonfuls salt, ½
teaspoonful cloves, ½ teaspoonful pepper, 1 small onion, ¼ teaspoonful
thyme, and pinch of marjoram.) This mixture is stuffed into large
casings. (If no casings are available, make casings of clean white
muslin.) Cover with boiling water, bring to a boil, and boil for 10
minutes. Pack into cans, fill in with the water in which the sausages
were boiled. Sterilize.
This liver sausage may also be made from the raw liver and raw pork,
but in that case the sterilizing is for a longer period, as the
time-table indicates. This recipe is recommended by the United States
Department of Agriculture.
HEAD CHEESE
Cut a hog's head into four pieces. Remove the brains, ears, skin,
snout and eyes. Cut off the fattest parts for lard. Put the lean and
bony parts to soak over night in cold water in order to extract the
blood and dirt. When the head is cleaned put it over the fire to boil,
using water enough to cover it. Boil until the meat separates readily
from the bones. Then remove it from the fire and pick out all the
bones. Drain off the liquor, saving a part of it for future use. Chop
the meat up finely with a chopping knife. Return it to the kettle and
pour on enough of the liquor to cover the meat. Let it boil slowly for
fifteen minutes to a half-hour. Season to taste with salt and pepper
just before removing it from the fire. Bay leaves, a little ground
cloves and allspice may be added and boiled a short time in the soup.
Pack while hot in cans to within ½ inch of top. Sterilize. This head
cheese is always served cold.
CORNED BEEF
After beef has been properly corned for three weeks, remove the meat
from the brine. Soak for two hours in clear water, changing water
once. Place in a wire basket and boil slowly for half an hour. Remove
from the boiling water, plunge into cold water, and remove gristle,
bone and excessive fat. Cut into small pieces and pack closely into
cans. Add no salt and proceed as in other canning.
CANNED PORK
After the animal has been killed, cool quickly and keep the pork cool
for at least 24 hours. Can only lean portions, using the fat to make
lard. Place meat in a wire basket or cheesecloth and boil 30 minutes,
or roast in the oven for 30 minutes. Cut into small sections and pack
closely into cans. Add salt and proceed with remainder of process.
Other pieces of beef and pork: Hamburg steak, sausage, venison,
squirrel, raccoon, opossum, lamb, are canned as follows:
After cleaning, season and fry, roast, stew, or bake in oven as though
preparing for serving directly on the table. Cook until meat is about
three fourths done. Pack while hot into sanitary tin cans or glass
jars. Pour over the meat the hot liquids, gravies, dressings, etc., or
hot water. Add salt and proceed as in any other cold-pack canning.
HOW TO CAN POULTRY AND GAME WITH THE BONES REMOVED
Kill bird and draw immediately; wash carefully and cool; then cut into
convenient sections. Boil until the meat can be removed from the
bones; remove from the boiling liquid and take out all bones; pack
closely into glass jars or enameled cans; fill jars with the hot
liquid after it has been concentrated one half; add 1 level
teaspoonful salt to every quart of meat for seasoning; put rubbers and
top of jars in place but not tight. If using enameled cans completely
seal. Sterilize the length of time given in the time-table on page
108 of this book. After the sterilizing remove the jars; tighten the
covers if glass was used; invert to cool and test joints. Wrap with
paper to prevent bleaching.
FRIED SPRING CHICKEN
After cleaning and preparing the chickens, season and fry as though
for serving directly on the table. Cook until the meat is about
three-fourths done. If a whole spring chicken, break the neck and both
legs and fold around body of chicken. Roll up tight, tie a string
around the chicken and drop this hot, partially fried product into
sanitary tin cans or glass jars. A quart tin can (No. 3) will hold two
to four small chickens. Pour liquid from the griddle or frying pan
into the can over the chicken. Proceed, as in any other canning, with
the sealing, sterilizing and removing of the jars. Chicken fries
canned in the late fall preserve the meat at the most delicious stage
and furthermore we avoid the expense of feeding the chickens
throughout the winter.
HOW TO CAN COCKERELS
When cockerels reach the point in their growth where it is no longer
profitable to feed them, and when they are wanted for home use during
the winter months they should be canned. This method of handling the
cockerel not only saves money by cutting down the feed bill, but it
places in the pantry or cellar the means of a delicious chicken dinner
at a time of the year when the price of poultry is high.
The bird should not be fed for at least twenty-four hours before
killing. It should be killed by the approved method and picked dry.
When the feathers have been removed and the pin feathers drawn the
bird should be cooled rapidly. This rapid cooling after killing is
essential to a good flavor in canned meat. As soon as the bird has
been properly cooled it should be singed and washed carefully with a
brush.
CUTTING UP AND DRAWING CHICKENS
Mr. George Farrell, a most expert canner, tells us how to go about
this job of canning chicken.
In preparing the bird for canning, care should be taken in drawing it
so that the contents of the digestive tract do not come in contact
with the meat.
1. Remove the tops of the wings, cutting at the first joint.
2. Remove the wings.
3. Remove the foot, cutting at the knee joint.
4. Remove the leg, cutting at the hip or saddle joint.
5. Cut the removed portion of the leg into two parts at the joint.
6. Place the bird so the back of the head is toward the operator, cut
through the neck bone with a sharp knife but do not cut the windpipe
or gullet.
7. With the index finger separate the gullet and windpipe from the
skin of the neck.
8. Cut through the skin of the neck.
9. With a pointed knife cut through the skin from the upper part of
the neck, thus separated, to the wing.
10. Leave the head attached to the gullet and windpipe and loosen
these from the neck down as far as the crop.
11. With a sharp pointed knife cut around the shoulder blade, pull it
out of position and break it.
12. Find the white spots on the ribs and cut through the ribs on these
white spots.
13. Cut back to the vent; cut around it, and loosen.
14. Begin at the crop and remove the digestive tract from the bird,
pulling it back toward the vent.
15. Remove the lungs and kidneys with the point of a knife.
16. Cut off the neck close to the body.
17. Cut through the backbone at the joint or just above the diaphragm.
18. Remove the oil sack.
19. Separate the breast from the backbone by cutting through on the
white spots.
20. Cut the fillet from each side of the breastbone.
21. Cut in sharp at the point of the breastbone, turning the knife and
cutting away the wishbone with the meat. Bend in the bones of the
breastbone.
PACKING CHICKEN
Use a one quart jar. Caution: Do not pack the giblets with the meat.
1. Have the jar hot.
2. Pack the saddle with a thigh inside.
3. Pack the breastbone with a thigh inside.
4. Pack the backbone and ribs with a leg inside.
5. Pack the legs large end downward, alongside the breastbone.
6. Pack the wings.
7. Pack the wishbone.
8. Pack the fillets.
9. Pack the neck-bone.
10. Pour on boiling water to within one inch of the top; add a level
teaspoonful of salt; place the rubber and cap in position, partially
seal, and sterilize for the length of time given below for the
particular type of outfit used:
Water bath, home made or commercial (pint or quart jars) 1 hour
Water seal, 214° 3 hours
5 pounds steam-pressure 2 hours
10 to 15 pounds steam-pressure 1 hour
Remove jars; tighten covers; invert to cool, and test joints. Wrap
jars with paper to prevent bleaching.
PIGEONS
_Young_ pigeons. Dress pigeons, wash well, and roast for 30 minutes
basting frequently. Some pieces of fat bacon put over the breasts will
prevent them getting too dry.
_Old_ pigeons. Dress, wash, and fry pigeons.
Brown some onions in the fat with the pigeons, using a pound of onions
to a dozen birds. Cover with hot water after pigeons and onions are a
golden brown; simmer until the meat is tender and can be removed from
the bones. Add from time to time boiling water, if necessary, in order
to keep the birds covered. When tender, take meat from bones. Return
the meat to the liquor, salt to taste and pack while boiling into cans
or jars, fill with liquor to within one-half inch of top.
All small game birds may be canned like pigeons. Blackbirds may be
treated like pigeons. They make an excellent stew.
PLAIN CANNING OF TENDER COTTON-TAILS OR TWICE-SKINNED JACK-RABBITS
1. Blanch in boiling water until the meat is white.
2. Cold dip.
3. Pack tightly in sterilized jars.
4. Add boiling water and 1 teaspoonful salt to quart.
5. Adjust rubber and lid.
6. Sterilize in hot water bath for three hours.
7. Remove from bath and complete the seal.
Rabbit meat thus canned, may be served in various appetizing ways.
RABBIT SAUSAGE
For rabbit sausage and mince-meat only the backs and legs of the
carcass are used, discarding the sinews.
Grind together equal parts of rabbit and fat pork (or at least ¼ fat
pork). The pork may be salt pork if all salt is omitted from the
mixture.
To every ten pounds of the above add 6 teaspoonfuls salt, 1
teaspoonful of pepper, 2 teaspoonfuls powdered sage. Mix thoroughly.
Shape in flat cakes and fry till nicely browned. Pack tightly in jars,
pour over the fat in which the sausage was fried, and sterilize.
RABBIT MINCE-MEAT
Rabbit mince-meat is used a great deal on the plains and large
quantities of it are canned. The mince-meat may be made by simply
substituting the rabbit meat for beef in your favorite recipe. The
following is an inexpensive recipe:
1 Cup of rabbit meat which has been parboiled in salted water and
drained, then chopped finely.
1 Cup chopped apple.
½ Cup finely chopped suet.
½ Cup seeded raisins.
½ Cup currants.
1 Cup molasses or syrup.
2 Tablespoonfuls sugar.
1 Tablespoon cider, lemon juice, fruit juice or vinegar.
¼ Cup chopped watermelon pickles or green tomato pickles.
1 Teaspoon of cinnamon or nutmeg.
1 Teaspoon of salt.
½ Teaspoon cloves, mace or other spice.
Mix together all ingredients except the meat, add the meat broth and
simmer for about 1 hour. Add the meat. Pour into jars, and sterilize.
Remove and seal.
STEPS IN CANNING MEAT AND GAME
For all meat, poultry or game canning the following general
instructions should be kept in mind.
1. Sterilize the jars, caps and rubbers.
2. Grade the meat for size.
3. Cut up into convenient portions for cooking or canning.
4. Sauté, fry or bake, broil or stew as desired. This step can be
omitted if you are an experienced canner.
5. Pack in sterilized, hot jars or tin cans.
6. Add 1 level teaspoonful salt per quart of meat for seasoning if not
already seasoned.
7. If glass jars put on rubber and seal, not too tight. Seal tin cans.
8. Process in boiling water or steam under pressure.
9. Remove, completely seal the jar.
10. Invert to cool and test the joint.
11. Label and store.
If you can in tin use the enamel or lacquered cans. A slight amount of
water in the bottom of the jars of prepared meat will insure quicker
sterilization of the air remaining in the jar. Where meat has been
stewed the liquor can be poured into the jar for filling. If you use a
steam-pressure cooker outfit of course the time of cooking will be
much shorter than if you use a wash-boiler or some other homemade
outfit. If you cook in boiling water we call that the water-bath
method.
The following data will be of interest to those who contemplate
canning meat.
Hog on foot--weight 500.
Liver, heart and a part of the ribs were eaten at the time of
butchering, therefore, not canned. The remainder of the ribs canned
six No. 3 cans:
Ham 18, No. 3 cans
Shoulder 18, No. 3 cans
Roast 18, No. 3 cans
Sausage 26, No. 3 cans
Hash 4, No. 3 cans
Gravy 5, No. 3 cans
(which is also called stock)
The sausage weighed 52 lbs. before it was canned, making 2 lbs. to the
can.
There were 200 lbs. of fat for lard. After it was rendered there were
176 lbs. of lard and 20 lbs. of cracklings.
TIME-TABLE FOR CANNING MEAT, POULTRY AND
GAME
[A] IF USING HOT WATER BATH OUTFIT AT 212°F
[B] IF USING WATER-SEAL OUTFIT AT 214°F
[C] IF USING STEAM PRESSURE 5 POUNDS
[D] IF USING PRESSURE COOKER 15 POUNDS
TIME TO STERILIZE
PRODUCTS | [A] | [B] | [C] | [D]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
PARTIALLY COOKED MEAT OF ALL KINDS
Roast beef | | | |
Corned beef | | | |
Sweetbreads | | | |
Tongue | | | |
Brains | | | |
Headcheese | | | |
Spareribs | 1½ hrs. | 1 hr. | 40 min. | 30 min.
Kidneys | | | |
Sausages and | | | |
other meats | | | |
Rabbits | | | |
Pigeon | | | |
Chicken | | | |
UNCOOKED OR RAW MEAT
Beef | | | |
Pork | 3 hrs. | 3 hrs. | 2 hrs. | 1 hr.
Veal and all | | | |
other meats | | | |
Poultry and game | | | |
All meat stocks | | | |
with or without | 1½ hrs. | 75 min. | 1 hr. | 40 min.
vegetables and | | | |
cereals | | | |
NOTE.--This time-table is for No. 2 and No. 3 tin cans or pint and
quart glass jars. If larger cans or jars are used more time must be
allowed for the sterilizing. If canning in tin, scratch on the can at
the time of sealing the initial of the contents. For instance--S.R.
means spareribs; G. means goulash; R.B. means roast beef. You can make
out your list and mark accordingly.
CHAPTER VIII
FISH
People in some sections of the country are interested in canning
mountain trout and others live where there is an abundant supply of
either fresh-water fish or salt-water fish. Heretofore we have been
wasteful and lax about the fish supply. But as we have learned to can
vegetables and meats so we are going to learn to can fish. Fish is
really canned the same in every step after preparation as peas and
corn are canned.
In order to have a good product, fish must be fresh when canned. No
time should be lost in handling the fish after being caught.
Putrefaction starts rapidly, and the fish must be handled promptly.
The sooner it is canned after being taken from lake, stream or ocean,
the better. Never attempt to can any fish that is stale.
PREPARATION OF FISH FOR CANNING
As soon as fish are caught it is advisable to kill them with a knife
and allow the blood to run out. Scale fish. This is easily done if the
fish is dipped in boiling water. For canning, most varieties of fish
need not be skinned. If the fish is very large and coarse, the large
back fin may be cut out and the backbone removed, but with most
varieties this is unnecessary. Cut off the head and tail, being
careful to leave no more meat than necessary on the parts removed.
Remove the entrails and the dark membrane that in some fish (e.g.,
mullets) covers the abdominal cavity. Thoroughly clean the inside. The
head may be cleaned and used for fish chowder.
If you wish to be sure that all blood is drawn out before canning,
place the fish in a brine made of one ounce of salt to one quart of
water. Allow the fish to soak from 10 minutes to 1 hour according to
the thickness of the fish. Never use this brine but once. If the meat
of the fish is very soft or loose, it may be hardened by soaking in a
brine (strong enough to float an Irish potato) for from 15 minutes to
an hour, depending on the thickness of the pieces and the softness of
the flesh.
CANNING THE FISH
1. Remove the fish from the brine where it has been placed in order to
draw out all the blood and to harden the texture of the fish.
2. Drain well.
3. Cut into can lengths.
4. Place fish in a piece of cheesecloth or in a wire basket and blanch
in _boiling water_ from three to five minutes. Three minutes for the
soft flesh fish, such as suckers, crappies, whitefish. Fish with a
firmer flesh, as pike, muskalonge and sunfish require 5 minutes
blanching. The blanching removes the strong fish flavor and cleans the
outside of the fish.
5. Cold-dip the fish by plunging into cold water immediately. This
makes the flesh firm.
6. Pack in hot jars or cans to within ½ inch from top. Add 1
teaspoonful salt per quart. Put on a good rubber and partially seal
the jar, completely seal tin cans.
7. Place jars or cans in canner and process in _boiling_ water for
three hours. Three hours sterilization will insure the keeping of all
varieties of fish, providing fresh products are used and the blanching
and other work is carefully done. If canning with a steam-pressure
canner or a pressure cooker sterilize for one hour and a half under 10
to 15 lbs. pressure.
8. At the end of the sterilizing period cool the jars quickly after
sealing completely. The tin cans may be cooled by immersing them in
cold water.
9. Store for future use.
SOFTENING OF BONES IN FISH
This can be done satisfactorily under pressure. The bones of fish are
composed of large quantities of harmless lime, bound by a matrix of
collagen, which is insoluble under ordinary conditions. When subjected
to a high temperature under pressure this collagen is converted into
gelatin and dissolved, leaving the bones soft and friable and even
edible. Bony fish, such as herring and shad, which are too small to
use otherwise are greatly improved when subjected to steam under
pressure.
The bones in herring are softened in 37 minutes at a temperature of
240 degrees; shad in 1 hour; flounder 1 hour. Other fish are fully
cooked and the bones softened in times approximately proportionate to
the size of the bones.
The following table was made after many experiments and gives the time
required to soften the bones in many common species of fish.
The term "softening" means the point in cooking when the small bones,
ribs, etc., are soft, but when the large vertebrae are not yet
sufficiently soft to be consumed along with the meat. In some of the
larger fishes where the large bones could scarcely be eaten, even if
they were softened, it would appear to be a waste of time and fuel to
carry them to a point of complete cooking, and in such cases it ought
to be sufficient to soften the small bones and sterilize the contents
of the can. For such a purpose, the "softening" rather than the "soft"
point, may be used.
The time periods are measured from the point when the given pressure
and temperature are reached (at the top of the cooker) to the time
when the heat is shut off. The heating-up and cooling-off period of
time are therefore not included. The fish were salted, but no water
was added.
Samples of fish canned during the course of these experiments were
kept six weeks at room temperature (about 68° F.) and were then
incubated at 98° F. for 48 hrs. All were sterile.
TIME REQUIRED TO SOFTEN THE BONES OF
VARIOUS SPECIES OF FISH IN QUART JARS
OR NO. 3 TIN CANS, 10 LBS. PRESSURE,
240° F.
|WEIGHT |SOFTENING|SOFT
|(LBS.) |(MINUTES)|(MINUTES)
| | |
BLACK BASS | | |
| | |
Large | 5-6 | 100 | 120
Small | ¾ to 1 | 100 | 110
| | |
BLUEFISH | | |
| | |
Large | 6-9 | 90 | 100
Small | 1-2 | 80 | 90
| | |
BUTTERFISH | | |
| | |
Average | ¼-½ | 60 | 80
| | |
CATFISH | | |
| | |
Large | 1½-2 | 70 | 80
Small | ¾ | 60 | 70
| | |
CERO | | |
| | |
Average | 10-13 | 80 | 90
| | |
COD | | |
| | |
Large | 6-16 | 80 | 90
Small | 1-2 | 50 | 60
| | |
FLOUNDER | | |
| | |
Large | 1-1¾ | 70 | 80
Small | ½-1 | 50 | 60
| | |
HADDOCK | | |
| | |
Large | 3-5 | 60 | 70
Small | 1-2 | 50 | 60
| | |
HALIBUT | | |
| | |
Average | 50-90 | 70 | 80
| | |
HICKORY SHAD | | |
| | |
Average |1½-2 | 60 | 70
| | |
KINGFISH | | |
| | |
Average | ½-1 | 60 | 70
| | |
LEMON SOLE | | |
| | |
Large | 2½-3½ | 80 | 90
Small | ¾-2 | 60 | 70
| | |
MACKEREL | | |
| | |
Average | ¾-1½ | 60 | 70
| | |
MACKEREL, SPANISH | | |
| | |
Average | 1½-2½ | 100 | 110
| | |
PERCH, WHITE | | |
| | |
Average | ¼-¾ | 100 | 110
| | |
PERCH, YELLOW | | |
| | |
Average | ¼-¾ | 90 | 100
| | |
POLLACK | | |
| | |
Average | 5-7½ | 60 | 70
| | |
SALMON | | |
| | |
Average | 13-19 | 90 | 100
| | |
SEA BASS | | |
| | |
Average | 1-1½ | 60 | 70
| | |
SQUETEAGUE | | |
| | |
Large | 2½-4 | 80 | 90
Small | ¾-2 | 50 | 60
| | |
SMELTS | | |
| | |
Large, per lb. | 5-7 | 60 | 70
Small, per lb. | 15-20 | 50 | 60
| | |
SNAPPER, RED | | |
| | |
Large | 10-15 | 110 | 120
Small | 5-6 | 90 | 100
| | |
SUCKER | | |
| | |
Average | ½-1½ | 80 | 90
| | |
TILEFISH | | |
| | |
Average | 6-12 | 90 | 100
| | |
WHITING | | |
| | |
Average | ½-1 | 50 | 60
FRIED FISH
1. Clean the fish and remove entrails. Split along the back and remove
backbone.
2. Place in brine strong enough to float an Irish potato. Allow fish
to remain in this brine from 10 minutes to 1 hour according to the
thickness of the flesh. This draws out the blood and hardens the meat.
3. Draw, wipe dry.
4. Cut in pieces that can go through jar or can openings.
5. Roll in cornmeal or other flour, dip into beaten egg and roll in
flour again.
6. Then put into frying basket and fry in deep fat until nicely
browned, or it can be sautéd in bacon or other fat until well browned.
7. Drain well by placing pieces on coarse paper to absorb excessive
fat.
8. Pack into hot jars or enameled tin cans.
9. Add 1 teaspoonful salt per quart. Add no liquid.
10. Partially seal glass jars. Completely seal tin cans.
11. Process 3 hours in hot water bath outfit. Process 1½ hours in
steam pressure (10 to 15 lbs. pressure).
12. Remove from canner. Seal glass jars. Cool quickly as possible.
BAKED FISH
Prepare and bake fish same as for table use until half done. Pack in
hot jars, add salt and sterilize three hours in hot-water-bath outfit
or 1½ hours in steam pressure or pressure cooker, 10 to 15 lbs.
pressure.
ANOTHER FORMULA FOR MISCELLANEOUS FISH
Rub the fish inside and out with a mixture made as follows: to 50
pounds fish, mix 2½ pounds salt, 2½ pounds brown sugar and 2½ ounces
saltpeter. Let the fish stand in a cool place for 48 to 60 hours with
the mixture on, then wash and drain. Fill into glass jars or enamel
lined tin cans and add the following sauce until cans are nearly
filled: ¼ pound whole black pepper, 1½ pounds salt, 1 pound of onions
chopped fine, ½ ounce bay leaves, ¼ pound whole cloves, 2 quarts cider
vinegar and 25 quarts of water. Soak the pepper, cloves and bay leaves
for 48 hours in the vinegar. Put the water, salt and onions in a
kettle. Bring to a boil and cook 30 minutes, then add the vinegar and
spices. Let boil for one minute. Strain and it is ready for use.
Sterilize for 3 hours in hot-water-bath outfit.
Sterilize for 1½ hours in steam pressure or pressure cooker (10 to 15
lbs. pressure).
CANNED FISH IN OIL
Rub fish with salt, brown sugar and saltpeter as above directed. Wash
and dry thoroughly in the sun. Spread on wire screens and dip in oil
heated to a temperature of 300 degrees. Use a strap handle plunge
thermometer to determine heat of oil. Cottonseed oil may be used for
this purpose, although olive oil is best. As soon as the fish are
cool enough to handle, pack tightly in cans, filling up with the hot
oil.
Sterilize 3 hours in hot-water-bath-outfit; 1½ hours in steam pressure
or pressure cooker (10 to 15 lbs.).
CANNED FISH IN TOMATO SAUCE
Handle same as specified under "Another Formula for Miscellaneous
Fish," except pour in the following sauce instead of pepper, cloves,
onions, etc.: Ten gallons of tomato pulp (mashed tomatoes and juice
with cores, seeds and skins removed); 1 gallon cider vinegar, 1 pint
Worcestershire sauce; 2½ pounds red sweet peppers; 2½ pounds sugar, 2
cups salt, 2 pounds onions (chopped fine); 1 pound West India peppers
and 1 ounce Saigon cinnamon. The fish are processed same as "Fish in
Oil." Enamel lined cans or glass jars must be used.
FISH CHOWDER
The cleaned heads of any fish, the backbones cut out of large fish
with what meat adheres to them and all other fish scraps may be used
for fish chowder. Put all these parts in cold water (to cover) and
cook until all the meat can be easily removed from the bones. Pick all
the meat from the bones, strain the fish liquor and return it with the
picked fish meat to the kettle. Add the following ingredients: To
every two pounds of fish picked from bones and the liquor in which
fish was cooked add 6 onions, diced or sliced thin; 6 potatoes, diced
or sliced thin; 2 tablespoonfuls fat; 1 teaspoonful paprika; 2
teaspoonfuls salt or salt to taste.
Cook vegetables, fat and seasonings until vegetables are half done.
Pack hot in cans and sterilize same as all other fish. When the
chowder is opened, heat and add milk according to taste.
FISH ROE
For canning be sure to use roe of freshly caught fish and only such
roe as is known to be good to eat. The roe of some fishes, such as the
garfish, is not eaten.
Clean the roe by removing the shreds and strings adhering to it and
wash well in cold water, being careful not to break the roe. Soak for
2 hours in a brine made of 6 quarts of water and 6 ounces of salt.
Drain and pack in hot glass jars or enameled tin cans. Can for the
same length of time as other fish.
OYSTERS
Be sure all oysters that are to be canned are absolutely fresh, have
not "soured" and contain no spoiled oysters. Oysters are opened by
hand. All oysters should be rejected that have partly open shells, as
this is a sign that the oyster is dead and consequently not fit to
eat.
Rinse the oysters to prevent any pieces of shell or grit from getting
into the cans. Blanch 5 minutes. Cold-dip. If the canned oysters are
to be sold it is required by law to mark on each can the net weight of
solids or meat exclusive of liquids.
There have been a number of standard grades of oysters recognized on
the Baltimore market. They are given as follows: "Standard Oysters"
(four kinds).
No. 1 cans, containing respectively 1½, 3, 4 and 5 ounces of meat,
after being processed in the cans.
No. 2 cans, containing respectively 3, 6, 8 and 10 ounces of meat.
"Select" and "Extra Select" Oysters contain respectively 6 ounces and
12 ounces for No. 1 and No. 2 cans. The above are the net weights of
meats only that have been drained over a strainer with a wire bottom
of ½ inch mesh. These are the only grades that have so far been
recognized by the trade. An even balance scale, with one platform for
graduated weights and another for articles to be weighed, is used to
weigh oysters or clams. It is suggested that those who are going to
can clams or oysters find out from their prospective customers just
what requirements are as to weights and then make their pack meet the
occasion. Under no circumstances is it advisable to make any
misstatements or misbrand in any respect.
After oysters have been packed in the can, fill with boiling brine
made of 5 quarts of water to ¼ lb. salt to within ½ inch from top of
can. Sterilize as other fish.
CLAMS
If clams are received in a muddy condition, it is advisable, though
not necessary to wash them before opening. After opening, discard
broken or discolored clams. Do not can any clams unless absolutely
fresh. Blanch. Cold-dip. Weigh out the amount of solid meat, after
draining, that is to go into each can. Weigh and label just as oysters
are weighed and labeled.
Fill can to within ½ inch from the top with boiling brine made of 5
gallons of water and 1 pound of salt. Sterilize.
CLAM BROTH AND CHOWDER
Place the clams, after being opened, in a kettle with enough cold
water to cover. Add a few stalks of celery. Boil for 10 minutes.
Season with salt, and pepper to taste and add 1 tablespoon butter to
every 50 or 60 large clams. Can. Clam chowder can be made according to
any recipe and then canned.
SHRIMPS
Shrimps when first caught are a grayish white color. They are very
delicate and spoil quickly if allowed to stand for any length of time
in a warm place. There are two general methods of canning shrimp--the
"dry pack" and "wet pack." Nearly all the trade now calls for "wet
pack" because the other always has a rather offensive odor and the
meat is never so fresh and sweet of flavor as the "wet pack." Canned
shrimp is very pleasing to the taste and is preferred by many to
lobster for salads and stews.
Wet Pack. Medium sizes are preferable as very large shrimps are apt
to be too tough and too dry. Put the shrimps into a wire scalding
basket and lower into a boiling hot salt water solution made by mixing
one pound of salt to each gallon of water. Allow the shrimps to remain
in this bath for about five minutes, then remove and drain thoroughly.
Peel and remove viscera (entrails). The boiling and the salt will
harden the meat and make the peeling comparatively easy. Pack into
enameled tin cans or glass jars. Nos. 1 and 1½ cans are used almost
exclusively. These sizes should contain 4½ oz and 9 ounces of meat
respectively. It is unsafe to put in more meat than above directed,
for it might cake and become solid when processed.
Add a very mild brine to within ½ inch from top of can. For the brine
use 1 teaspoonful salt to 1 quart of boiling water. Sterilize.
Dry Pack. Handle same as above, except do not pour into the cans any
brine. The fish is packed in the cans and processed as follows without
the addition of any liquor.
Drying of Shrimps. After shrimps are boiled and peeled they may be
dried. Spread on a drier of any kind and dry at a temperature of from
110°F. to 150°F. When thoroughly dry pack in dry clean glass jars or
in parchment-paper lined boxes.
SALMON
Scale fish, clean and wipe dry. Do not wash. If the fish are large cut
in lengths to fill the cans and in sizes to pass through can openings
easily. Salmon is usually packed in No. 1 cans or in flat cans. Fill
cans with fish after it has been blanched 5 minutes and cold dipped.
Sterilize as other fish.
Many salmon packers lacquer the outside of their cans to prevent
rusting. This is a very advisable point. The test for unsound salmon
is the nose. If the contents issue an offensive odor, it is unsound.
Freezing does not hurt canned salmon.
AMERICAN OR DOMESTIC SARDINES
The fish taught and used for packing domestic sardines belong to the
herring family and are said to be of the same species as the sardines
of France, Portugal and Spain. There are two methods generally used in
canning sardines. First, when the fish are put in a sauce such as
mustard dressing or tomato sauce, and secondly where they are packed
in oil.
CANNING SARDINES IN SAUCE
The heads are cut off, the scales taken off and the fish cleaned.
Blanch 5 minutes; cold dip; drain and pack into the cans dry. Cover
with sauce, either mustard or tomato.
SARDINES IN OIL
The fish are prepared in the same manner as above described but
instead of blanching them, they are put in wire baskets and immersed
in boiling peanut or cottonseed oil until tender. Olive oil might be
used, but is rather expensive. When cooked, they are drained, packed
into cans in order, and the cans filled with olive oil. It is often
advisable to salt the fish while fresh and before cooking as it
improves the flavor.
CRAB MEAT
Put 5 gallons of water in a large kettle. Add ¼ lb. of baking soda to
it. When boiling vigorously throw the live crabs in it and boil
quickly for 20 minutes. Remove crabs and wash them in cold water. Pick
out all meat. Wash the meat in a brine made of 1 ounce of salt
dissolved in three quarts of water. Drain and pack in enameled No. 1
flat cans. Sterilize. As soon as the time of sterilizing is up, plunge
the cans immediately into cold water, otherwise crab meat discolors.
For this reason, glass jars are not so well adapted to crab meat
canning as tin cans.
FLAKED CODFISH
The fish are first cleaned and the entrails removed, then the fins are
cut off. The fish are then soaked for about two hours in a salt brine
to remove the blood. This brine is made with about 10 lbs. of salt to
8 gallons of water. The brine is then rinsed off and the fish are
cooked, either boiled or cooked by steam. When codfish are thoroughly
cooked, the meat will drop off of the bone in pieces, and it is very
white in color and crisp in texture. These pieces are then broken in
suitable sizes and are ready to place in the cans. The cans are filled
as full as possible, because after processing the fish will shrink
some.
CRAWFISH
The best way to can crawfish is to put it up in a bouillon as follows:
Water, 2 gallons; vinegar, 1 quart; cloves, 10; carrots in slices, 6;
onions in slices, 6; cloves of garlic, 3.
To the above should be added a good quantity of pepper to suit the
taste, a little salt and bunch of parsley and a little thyme. Boil
slowly for about an hour. Throw in the crawfish after the intestines
have been extracted; to do this take the live crawfish in your hand
and tear off the wing which is in the middle of the tail; it will pull
out at the same time a little black intestine which is very bitter.
Boil one or two minutes, never longer, put in cans and process.
TIME-TABLE FOR BLANCHING AND STERILIZING FISH
[A] SCALD OR BLANCH
[B] HOT WATER BATH OUTFIT 212°F
[C] CONDENSED STEAM OUTFIT 212°F
[D] WATER-SEAL OUTFIT 214°F
[E] STEAM PRESSURE 5 TO 10 POUNDS
[F] PRESSURE COOKER 10 POUNDS
NUMBER OF MINUTES TO STERILIZE
PRODUCT | [A] | [B] | [C] | [D] | [E] | [F]
------------------------------------------------------------------
Fish of all kinds |3 to 5| 3 hrs.| 3 hrs.|2½ hrs.|2 hrs. |1½ hrs.
| min. | | | | |
| | | | | |
Shell fish of all |3 min.| 3 hrs.| 3 hrs.|2½ hrs.| 2 hrs.|1½ hrs.
kinds | | | | | |
CHAPTER IX
EASY METHODS OF CANNING IN TIN
If the proper sanitary requirements are provided and instructions of
the cold-pack method of canning are followed, it is entirely safe and
practical to use tin cans for all kinds of fruits, vegetables and
other food products. Food poisoning--commonly called ptomaine
poisoning--and the effects ascribed to "salts of tin" result from
improper handling and improper preparation of the product before
packing, or from allowing the product to stand in the tin after it has
been opened. The raw food products used for canning in tin must be in
sound condition, just as they must be if put into glass containers.
It is true that canned foods may be rendered unfit for use by improper
handling of the product before packing and that decomposition may
occur after canning, owing to insufficient processing, improper
sealing or the use of leaky containers. This condition, however, is no
more likely to be encountered in foods put up in tin than in products
canned in other types of containers. You run no more danger of poison
from your own tin-canned products than from tin-canned food bought at
the store. Most canned foods if in a spoiled condition readily show
this condition by the swelling of the can or by odor or taste. Canned
foods showing such evidences of decomposition should not be used.
Certain foods which are high in protein, such as meats, peas, beans
and fish products, may undergo decomposition without making this
condition obvious to the senses. It is essential, therefore, that the
greatest care be taken to subject such products to proper preparation
and ample processing. It should be remembered that canned foods, after
opening the containers, should be treated as perishable products and
should be handled with the same precautions that are applied when
fresh products are being used.
ADVANTAGES OF CANS
Many housewives ask, "Why can in tin when we have always used glass
jars?" There are many advantages in canning in tin which we can well
consider. There is no breakage as in glass; you can handle the tin
cans as carelessly as you choose and you will not hear a snap or crack
indicating a lost jar. Furthermore, tin cans are easier to handle not
only in canning but in storing.
The expense each year of new tin covers or new tin cans is no more
than the purchase of new rubbers and the replacement of broken glass
jars. Furthermore, one big advantage of tin over glass is that tin
cans can be cooled quickly by plunging them into cold water
immediately upon removal from the canner, and thus the cooking is
stopped at the proper moment. The product is consequently better in
form and flavor than when the cooking is prolonged, as it must be in
glass jars. Many women like the large openings of cans because they
can make better packs than when using narrow-necked jars.
If you do not care to bother with the soldering you can purchase a
safe and simple device that will do the work for you. This device is
called a tin-can sealer. With a sealer no soldering is necessary.
Even an inexperienced person, by following directions carefully, can
seal a can as well as an experienced one. The sealed cans look exactly
like those purchased at the store. Two or three cans a minute can be
sealed with this device.
This is the way to operate a can sealer: Prepare the fruits and
vegetables as for any canning, following directions formerly given for
cold-pack canning.
After the fruits or vegetables have been properly prepared, blanched
and cold-dipped if necessary, place them in sanitary, solderless cans.
Put water or sirup on, according to directions. Put the top on the can
and place the can in the sealer.
Raise the can into the chunk by swinging the raising lever at the
bottom of the machine against the frame. Turn the crank, rapidly at
first, with the right hand, and at the same time push the seaming-roll
lever very slowly with the left hand until it will go no farther. This
is one of the most important steps in the use of the machine. Continue
to give the crank several turns after the seaming-roll lever has gone
as far as it will go. This completes the first operation or seam.
Continue turning the crank with the right hand, and with the left hand
pull the seaming-roll lever until it will go no farther in this
direction. After this has been done give the crank several more turns,
and the second and final operation is complete. Bring the seaming-roll
lever back to the middle position and remove the can. The can is then
ready for sterilization.
Before sealing a new lot of cans or after changing for a different
size of can, one or two of the cans about to be used should be tested
for leaks. If this is done and the cans stand the test it will be
unnecessary to test the remaining cans of that same lot. The following
is a simple and safe test:
Put one tablespoon of water into an empty can and seal. Have on hand a
vessel containing enough boiling water to cover the can. Set aside
and, as soon as bubbles disappear from the surface, immerse the can in
the hot water. This heats the water in the can and creates a pressure
within the can. Keep the can under the surface for two minutes, and if
by that time no bubbles rise from the can the can has been sealed
air-tight.
ADJUSTING THE SEAMING ROLLS
If bubbles rise from the can the seam is not sufficiently tight. If
this seam is not sufficiently tight the _second_ seaming roll needs
adjusting, provided the directions regarding seaming rolls given below
have been observed. To set the rolls proceed as follows: Loosen the
nut on the bottom of the seaming-roll pin. With a screw driver turn
the seaming-roll pin counter clockwise--that is, from right to left.
Turn very slightly and, while holding the seaming-roll pin with the
screw driver in the left hand, tighten nut with the right hand, and
test as before.
Occasionally it is well to compare the seam after the first operation
with the sample can which is sent with the machine.
If seaming rolls cut into the can they are set too close, and the
seaming-roll pin should be adjusted in the opposite direction from
above.
After adjusting, always test cans as suggested above before canning.
The seaming rolls are set before the machine leaves the factory and
should not require adjusting for some time, but I have found that
slight variations in cans may make adjusting necessary.
If for any reason the second seaming roll is brought into contact with
the can before the first operation is complete it may injure the can
seriously, thus preventing an air-tight seam.
If the first seaming roll is forced in too rapidly it may ruin the
seam. Push the seaming-roll lever gently and steadily, while turning
the crank with the right hand. This rolls the seam gradually. There is
no danger from bringing in the second seaming roll too quickly if the
first seaming roll has completed its work.
There are thus, as you see, two kinds of tin cans used in home
canning: The sanitary or rim-seal can, which is used with a sealer,
and the cap-and-hole can. The latter consists of a can, and a cover
which carries a rim of solder and is fastened on the can by the
application of heat.
The sanitary can has a cover a trifle larger than the diameter of the
can, thus leaving the full diameter of the can open for filling. That
part of the cover that comes into contact with the can is coated with
a compound or fitted with a paper gasket or ring which makes a perfect
seal when the cover is crimped on the can. Some mechanical device is
necessary for sealing this can, and this is the sealer.
Cans may be had with inside enamel or plain without any enamel. The
following fruits and vegetables should be canned in enamel-lined cans:
All berry fruits, cherries, plums, rhubarb, pumpkin, beets and squash.
All highly colored products should be canned in enamel-lined cans to
prevent the bleaching effect induced by their action upon the plain
tin. Some prefer to can fish and meat in the enamel-lined cans. Other
products not mentioned here may be canned in plain cans, since they
are less expensive than the enamel-lined cans.
Covers are lined in two ways, with the paper gasket and the compound
gasket. The compound gasket is merely a preparation, scarcely visible,
applied to the under side of the cover and is not easily damaged by
handling. The paper gasket is a ring placed on the under side of the
cover and must be handled carefully. If the paper gasket becomes
broken the cover must be discarded. To sterilize covers having the
paper gasket, place them in the oven for a few minutes, but _do not
wet them_, before sealing cans. Do not remove or handle paper gaskets.
When the cans are removed from the cooker the ends should be raised;
this is caused by the pressure within. If they are not raised at the
ends the cans should be carefully examined for defects. After the cans
are sterilized they should be cooled off in water. This will cause the
ends to collapse. If they do not collapse the reason is probably due
to overfilling. It must be remembered that peas, beans and corn swell
a certain amount after water is placed in the cans; therefore, in
canning these vegetables the cans should be filled only to within a
quarter of an inch of the top. If the pressure of the air from without
will not cause the end to collapse, it should be forced in by hand.
THE TINNING OUTFIT
Tin-can sealers are made to handle the regular Number 2, or pint
cans, and the Number 3, or quart cans. The sizes are interchangeable,
so that in a few minutes' time a Number 2 machine may be changed into
a Number 3 machine with the necessary attachments. So it is economy to
buy a machine with these attachments, as you can then use either pints
or quarts as you desire.
If you are selling to boarding houses and hotels you also will want
half-gallon and gallon cans. If you use these larger-size cans and
want the sealer you can get it for these sizes, but you must tell
exactly what you want when ordering.
The prices which I give are 1919 prices and are of course not
stationary. A sealer that will seal the Number 2 sanitary tin cans
costs $14. A sealer for Number 3 cans will cost the same amount. But
the ideal arrangement is the combination machine which can be used for
both the pints, Number 2, and the quarts, Number 3. This type of
sealer costs $16.50. A special machine is used for sealing the Number
10 or gallon cans, and its price is $35.
The price of the "winter can opener" is $17.00 for smaller size and
$19.50 for the larger one.
Several standard sizes of tin cans are in common use for canning
purposes, as follows:
DIAMETER OF
NUMBER SIZE OPENING
INCHES INCHES
1 2-5/8 by 4 2-1/16
2 3-5/16 by 4-9/16 2-1/16 or 2-7/16
3 4-1/8 by 4-7/8 2-1/16 or 2-7/16
10 6/3/16 by 6-7/8 2-1/16 or 2-7/16
The cans are put up in crates holding 100 or 500 cans. If you are
canning for the ordinary market use Number 2 cans for berries, corn,
peas and cherries; Number 3 cans for tomatoes, peaches, apples, pears
and sweet potatoes.
In buying cans it is always necessary to state whether you desire
plain tin or lacquered--enameled--cans. In buying caps always ask for
the solder-hemmed caps and give the diameter of the can opening. For
whole fruits and vegetables, cans with two-and-seven-sixteenth-inch or
even larger openings are preferable. Since the size of the can opening
varies and it ordinarily will not be advisable to have more than one
capping iron, it is recommended that the larger
size--two-and-seven-sixteenth-inch--capping iron be purchased.
The tin cans come in lots of 100 or 500 cans. It is possible to buy as
few as two dozen cans, but that never pays. It is cheaper to buy a
larger quantity. Number 2 plain sanitary cans in 500 lots cost $3.45 a
hundred; in 100 lots, $3.65 a hundred. Number 2 sanitary
cans--enameled--in 500 lots cost $3.80 a hundred; in 100 lots, $3.95 a
hundred. Number 3, plain, in 500 lots are $4.50 a hundred; Number 3,
plain, in 100 lots are $4.70 a hundred. Number 3, enameled cans, in
500 lots, are $4.95 a hundred; Number 3, enameled cans, in 100 lots,
are $5.10 a hundred.
The gallons come twelve cans to a case. They are $1.40 a dozen if 100
cases are bought. If less than 100 cases are ordered they are $1.50 a
dozen.
The cans that you have to solder yourself run just about the same
price, Number 2 being $3.60 in 500 lots and $3.80 in 100 lots. Number
3 are $4.70 in 500 lots and $4.90 in 100 lots. The buyer must pay
express or freight charges on both sealers and tin cans.
PREPARING OLD CANS FOR REFILLING
Formerly, after using a tin can once we threw it away; but men with
brains, realizing this waste, have come to our rescue, and as a
consequence we can now use a can three times--that is, if we have a
sealer. The sealer that seals our cans will also open them for us, so
it becomes our winter can opener. With this can opener we can use our
tin cans three times, buying each year only new tops, which cost less
than good rubbers.
Cutting and Reflanging Tin Cans. Cutting off the can the first time.
First lift the spring pin in the top piece, push the lever from you,
drop the spring pin between the stop of the first operation roll and
the cutting-roll stop. Place the can in the sealer, push the
can-raising lever against opposite side of frame. Turn the crank and
gently push seaming-roll handle from you until you come against
cutting-roll stop, and the top of your can is cut off.
Reflanging. Remove standard can base and in its place put in the
reflanging base, lift the spring-pin and bring seaming-roll lever to
the original position. Drop the spring pin between the stops of the
first and second operation rollers, place the can in the sealer, open
end down, push raising lever round until the can engages with the
chuck, turn the crank and at the same time gradually push raising
lever round against the frame. The can is now ready for use again.
Resealing. The can is now three-sixteenths of an inch shorter than
originally. Remove the reflanging base, put one of the narrow washers
on the top of the can-raising lever, then the standard can base, and
the sealer is now ready. Proceed as with the original can.
Cutting the Can the Second Time. Proceed as at the first time, only
be sure to cut off the opposite end. The can may be cut open and
reflanged only twice, once on each end of the can body. In cutting and
reflanging the second time, leave the three-sixteenth-inch washer
under the can base and reflanging base.
Resealing the Second Time. Remove reflanging base and put the second
three-sixteenth-inch washer under the standard can base and proceed as
directed under resealing.
THE SOLDERING OUTFIT
The soldering equipment required includes a capping iron, a tipping
copper, soldering flux, a small brush, a porcelain, glass or stoneware
cup in which to keep the soldering flux: sal ammoniac, a few scraps of
zinc, solder, a soft brick and a file.
Soldering Flux. Soldering flux is a solution of zinc in crude
muriatic acid. It is used for cleaning the irons and for brushing the
tins and lead surfaces so as to make it possible for the melted lead
to adhere to the tin.
To Make the Flux. Purchase at the drug store ten cents' worth of
crude muriatic acid. Place this in a porcelain, stone or glass jar.
Add as much zinc in small pieces as the acid will thoroughly dissolve.
The flux is always best when it has stood from twelve to sixteen hours
before using. Strain through a piece of cloth or muslin. Dilute with a
little water, about half and half. This will make the soldering flux.
When using keep the flux well mixed and free from dust and dirt.
Tinning Capping Iron. Purchase five or ten cents worth of sal
ammoniac at the drug store; clean iron with file or knife. Mix a
little solder with the sal ammoniac. Heat the capping iron hot enough
so that it will melt the solder and convert it into a liquid. Place
the iron in the vessel containing the mixture of sal ammoniac and
solder. Rotate iron in the mixture until the soldering edge of the
iron has become bright or thoroughly covered with the solder. All
particles of smudge, burned material, and so forth, should be removed
from the iron before tinning.
Tinning the Tipping Copper. The tipping copper is tinned in very
much the same way as the iron. Sometimes it is desirable to file the
tipping copper a bit so as to make it smooth and to correct the point.
Heat the copper and rotate the tip of it in the mixture of sal
ammoniac and lead until it has been covered with the melted lead and
is bright as silver. The copper should be filed nearly to a sharp
point.
Capping a Tin Can. Use one tin can for experimenting. By capping and
tipping, heating the cap, and throwing it off and simply putting
another cap on the same can, you can use this one can until you become
proficient in capping.
When capping the full packs arrange the cans in rows upon the table
while the capping and tipping irons are heating in the fire. Take a
handful of solder-hemmed caps and place them on all cans ready to be
capped. Place a finger on the vent hole, hold cap in place, and run
the brush containing a small amount of flux evenly round the
solder-hemmed cap with one stroke of the hand. Do this with all cans
ready to be capped. Then take the capping iron from the fire. Insert
in center the upright steel. Hold the capping iron above the cap until
the center rod touches the cap and holds it in place. Then bring it
down in contact with all four points of solder-hemmed cap and rotate
back and forth about three strokes. Do not bear down on capping iron.
A forward and back stroke of this kind, if properly applied, will
perfectly solder the cap in place. Remove capping iron and inspect the
joint.
If any pin-holes are found recap or repair with copper. It may be
necessary to use a piece of wire lead or waste lead rim from a cap to
add more lead to the broken or pinhole places of a cap.
Tipping a Tin Can. Take flux jar and brush. Dip brush lightly in
flux and strike the vent hole a side stroke, lightly, with brush
saturated with flux.
Use the waste solder-hemmed cap rim or wire solder. Place point of
wire solder over vent hole. Place upon this the point of the hot,
bright, tipping copper. Press down with a rotary motion. Remove
quickly. A little practice will not only make this easy, but a smooth,
perfect joint and filling will be the result. The cans are now ready
for the canner. The handwork is all over, for the canner will do the
rest.
Precautions. Do not fill tin cans too full. Leave a one-eighth to
one-quarter inch space at the top of the can and see that the product
does not touch the cover. If any of the product touches the cover the
application of the hot iron produces steam, which may blow out the
solder, making it impossible to seal the can.
RULES FOR STERILIZING
Remember all fruits and vegetables are prepared for tin cans exactly
as they are for glass jars and the period of cooking or sterilizing is
the same. The following rules will help to avoid difficulties in the
operation of the various canning outfits:
For hot-water-bath outfits, whether homemade or commercial.
1. Support the cans off the bottom sufficiently to permit the
circulation of water under and round the cans.
2. Have the water cover the tops of the cans by at least one inch. The
heat and pressure must be equal on all parts of the cans.
3. Count time as soon as the water begins to jump over the entire
surface. Keep it jumping.
4. On removing the cans throw them into a sink with running cold water
or plunge them into a pail of cold water.
5. If the cans are laid on their sides the false bottom is not
necessary.
For steam-pressure and pressure-cooker canners the following
precautions should be observed:
1. Lower the inside crate until it rests on the bottom of the
steam-pressure canners. In the case of the pressure cooker put the
rack in the bottom of the cooker.
2. Have the water come to, but not above, the platform.
3. Tin cans can be piled one above the other.
4. When the canner has been filled fasten the opposite clamps
moderately tight. When this has been done tighten each clamp fully.
5. Have the canner absolutely steam-tight.
6. Allow the pet cock to remain open until live steam blows from it.
7. Close the pet cock.
8. After the gauge registers the correct amount of pressure, begin
counting the time.
9. Maintain a uniform pressure throughout the process.
10. When the process is completed allow the steam to escape gradually
through the pet cock. You can lift the pet cock slowly, using a pencil
or a knife. This can be done only with tin cans. If glass jars are
used the canner must be cooled before opening the pet cock. Blowing
the steam from the pet cock is likely to cause a loss of liquid from
the partly sealed glass jars.
11. Throw the tin cans into cold water.
12. If tin cans bulge at both ends after they have been completely
cooled, it indicates that they are spoiling and developing gas, due to
bacteria spores or chemical action. These may be saved if opened at
once and resealed or resoldered and processed again for ten minutes.
The following table will help you in estimating how many cans of fruit
and vegetables you will obtain from a bushel of product:
NUMBER OF CANS A BUSHEL FILLS
NO. 2 CANS NO. 3 CANS
Windfall apples 30 20
Standard peaches 25 18
Pears 45 30
Plums 45 30
Blackberries 50 30
Windfall oranges, sliced 22 15
Windfall oranges, whole 35 22
Tomatoes 22 15
Shelled Lima beans 50 30
String beans 30 20
Sweet corn 45 25
Peas, shelled 16 10
CHAPTER X
INTERMITTENT CANNING OR FRACTIONAL STERILIZATION
In some parts of the United States, particularly in the South, such
vegetables as corn, beans, peas, squash, spinach, pumpkin, etc., are
canned by what is known as the fractional sterilization, or the
so-called Three Days Process.
Southern canning experts have had trouble with certain vegetables,
such as those named, when they canned these vegetables in the wash
boiler by the cold-pack or one period method. They say that the
climatic conditions are so different in the South that what is
possible in the North is not possible in the South.
The vegetables are prepared, blanched, cold-dipped and packed as in
the cold-pack method and the filled cans or jars are processed in the
wash boiler or other homemade outfit a given length of time three
successive days.
After each day's processing the cans should be cooled quickly and set
aside, until the next day.
The method is as follows:
Process or sterilize glass jars for the required number of minutes on
the first day, remove from canner, push springs down tightly as you
remove the jar from the canner.
On the second day raise the springs, place the jar in the canner,
process or boil for the same length of time as on the first day.
Remove from the canner and seal tightly. Set aside until the third
day, when the process should be repeated.
For this canning a good spring-top jar is good, although the Mason jar
type of top will serve for one year; after one year of use it is
advisable to fit old Mason jars and similar types with new tops.
If using the screw-top jars, such as the Mason, do not disturb the
seal at the second and third processing unless the rubber has blown
out.
This method is only necessary when depending upon boiling water or
condensed steam to do the work.
A steam-pressure canner or pressure cooker is used in the South and
many other places to avoid bothering with vegetables three successive
days.
The steam canner or pressure cooker soon pays for itself in time,
energy, and fuel saved as the vegetables may be canned at high
pressure in one processing.
The following time-tables are those used in the South and will tell
you exactly how long to blanch and process all products. The
preparation of vegetables and fruits is the same as in the one-period
method, but the time of blanching and sterilizing differs as the
time-table indicates.
TIME-TABLE FOR PRODUCTS IN GLASS
(Hot-Water Canner)
Tomatoes | BLANCH | LIQUOR | SIZE | PROCESS OR
| | | JAR | BOIL
-----------------------------------------------------------
| 1 min. | No water |Quart | 30 min.
| | | |
Tomatoes | 1 min. | No water | Pint | 25 min.
| | | |
String beans | | | |
(very young |3-5 min. | Brine[1] |Quart |1 hr. 15 min.
and tender) | | | |
| | | |
Sweet potatoes| Cook ¾ | 2 |Quart | 3 hrs.
| done |tablespoonfuls| |
| | water | |
| | | |
Sauerkraut | | Brine[1] |Quart | 40 min.
| | | |
Baby beets | Cook ¾ | Hot water |Quart |1 hr. 40 min.
| done | | |
| | | |
Baby beets | Cook ¾ | Hot water | Pint |1 hr. 20 min.
| done | | |
| | | |
Soup mixture |Boil down| |Quart | 1½ hrs.
| thick | | |
| | | |
Apples | 1 min. | No. 1 sirup |Quart | 15 min.
| | | |
Berries | 1 min. | No. 1 sirup |Quart | 13 min.
| | | |
Figs | | No. 3 sirup |Quart | 30 min.
| | | |
Peaches |1-2 min. | No. 2 sirup |Quart | 25 min.
| | | |
Pears | 1 min. | No. 3 sirup |Quart | 25-35 min.
| | | |
Cherries | | No. 3 sirup |Quart | 30 min.
| | | |
[Footnote 1: Brine is made of 2½ ounces (1/3 cup) of salt to 1 gallon
of water. To make sirups recommended, boil sugar and water together in
proportions given below:
Sirup No. 1, use 14 ounces to 1 gallon water.
Sirup No. 2, use 1 pound 14 ounces to 1 gallon water.
Sirup No. 3, use 3 pounds 9 ounces to 1 gallon water.
One pint sugar is one pound.]
TIME-TABLE FOR PRODUCTS IN GLASS
The following vegetables should be processed the same length of time
on each of three successive days:
| | |SIZE |PROCESS OR BOIL ON
| BLANCH | LIQUOR |JAR | EACH OF THREE
| | | | SUCCESSIVE DAYS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Corn |2 min. on cob|Water, salt |Pint | 1½ hr.
| | and sugar | |
| | | |
Garden peas|1 to 4 min. |Water, salt |Quart| 1½ hr.
| | and sugar | |
| | | |
Asparagus |1 min. |Brine[1] |Pint | 1 hr. and 20 min.
| | | |
Asparagus |1 min. |Brine[1] |Pint | 1 hr.
| | | |
Lima beans |2 to 4 min. |Brine[1] |Pint | 1 hr. and 25 min.
| | | |
Okra |3 min. |Brine[1] |Quart| 1½ hr.
| | | |
Okra |3 min. |Brine[1] |Pint | 1 hr. and 15 min.
| | | |
Squash | |Cook done |Quart| 1¾ hr.
| | | |
Squash | |Cook done |Pint | 1 hr. and 25 min.
| | | |
Pumpkin | |Cook done |Quart| 1¾ hr.
| | | |
Pumpkin | |Cook done |Pint | 1 hr. and 25 min.
| | | |
Spinach |4 min. |Brine[1] |Quart| 1½ hr.
| | | |
Spinach |4 min. |Brine[1] |Pint | 1 hr. and 15 min.
[Footnote 1: Brine is made of 2½ ounces (1/3 cup) of salt to 1 gallon
of water.]
TIME-TABLE FOR PRODUCTS IN TIN
(Hot-Water Canner)
| | |NO.|EXHAUST|PROCESS
|BLANCH | LIQUOR |CAN|MINUTES|OR BOIL
Tomatoes |1 min. | No water | 3 | 3 | 25 min.
| | | | |
Tomatoes |1 min. | No water |10 | 5 | 1 hr.
| | | | |
String beans |3-5 min. | Brine[1] | 3 | 3 1 hr.
| | | | |
String beans |3-5 min. | Brine[1] |10 | 3 | 2 hrs. and
| | | | | 20 min.
| | | | |
Sweet potatoes |Cook ¾ |2 tablespoonfuls| 3 | 3 | 3 hrs.
| done | water | | |
| | | | |
Baby beets |Cook ¾ | Brine[1] | 3 | 3 | 1½ hrs.
| done | | | |
| | | | |
Soup mixture |Boil down| | 2 | 3 | 1 hr.
| thick | | | |
| | | | |
Apples |1 min. | No. 3 sirup | 3 | 3 | 8 min.
| | | | |
Berries |1 min. |No. 4 sirup | 3 | 3 | 10 min.
| | | | |
Berries |1 min. | No. 4 sirup |10 | 3 | 32 min.
| | | | |
Figs | | No. 4 sirup | 2 | 3 | 25 min.
| | | | |
Peaches |1 min. | No. 4 sirup | 3 | 3 | 20 min.
| | | | |
Pears |1 min. | No. 4 sirup | 3 | 3 | 20 min.
| | | | |
Pears |1 min. | No. 4 sirup |10 | 3 | 35 min.
[Footnote 1: Brine is made of 2½ ounces (1/3 cup) of salt to 1 gallon
of water. To make sirup recommended, boil sugar and water together in
proportions given below.
Sirup No. 1, use 14 ounces to 1 gallon water.
Sirup No. 2, use 1 pound 14 ounces to 1 gallon water.
Sirup No. 3, use 3 pounds 9 ounces to 1 gallon water.
Sirup No. 4, use 5 pounds 8 ounces to 1 gallon water.
Sirup No. 5, use 6 pounds 13 ounces to 1 gallon water.
One pint sugar is one pound.]
TIME-TABLE FOR PRODUCTS IN TIN
The following vegetables should be processed the same length of time
on each of three successive days:
| | |NO.|EXHAUST|PROCESS OR BOIL ON
| BLANCH | LIQUOR |CAN|MINUTES|EACH OF THREE
| | | | |SUCCESSIVE DAYS
Corn |2 min. on |Water, salt| 2 | 10 |1 hr. and 15 min.
| cob | and sugar | | |
| | | | |
Garden peas |1 to 4 min.|Water, salt| 2 | 3 | 1 hr. and 15 min.
| | and sugar | | |
| | | | |
Asparagus |1 min. | Brine[1] | 3 | 3 | 1 hr.
| | | | |
Asparagus |1 min. | Brine[1] | 2 | 3 | 50 min.
| | | | |
Lima beans |2 to 4 min.| Brine[1] | 2 | 3 | 1 hr. and 10 min.
| | | | |
Okra |3 min. | Brine[1] | 3 | 3 | 1 hr. and 10 min.
| | | | |
Okra |3 min. | Brine[1] | 2 | 3 | 50 min.
| | | | |
Squash | | Cook soft | 3 | 3 | 1½ hr.
| | and creamy| | |
| | | | |
Squash | | Cook soft | 2 | 3 | 1 hr. and 10 min.
| | and creamy| | |
| | | | |
Pumpkin | | Cook soft | 3 | 3 | 1½ hr.
| | and creamy| | |
| | | | |
Pumpkin | | Cook soft | 3 | 3 | 1 hr. and 10 min.
| | and creamy| | |
| | | | |
Spinach |4 min. | Brine[1] | 3 | 3 | 1 hr. and 15 min.
| | | | |
Spinach |4 min. | Brine[1] | 2 | 3 | 1 hr.
[Footnote 1: Brine is made of 2½ ounces (1/3 cup) of salt to 1 gallon of
water.]
You will notice in the time-table for tin, that there is a column for
"Exhausting." After the can is packed and capped it is placed in the
canner of boiling water to within 1 inch of the top of the can where
it remains the number of minutes, usually three, indicated on the
time-table. This is done to force the air from the can through the
little hole left open in the top, and is called exhausting. Cans that
are not exhausted frequently bulge after processing and are looked
upon with suspicion. Cans exhausted too long frequently cave in at the
sides. The time-table should be used carefully and followed strictly
in this part of the process. Tin cans do not require exhausting in the
Northern and Western states.
TIME-TABLE FOR CANNING VEGETABLES
STEAM PRESSURE
| | |TEMPERATURE,| |
|VEGETABLE |PROCESS,|DEGREES |PRESSURE|
| |MINUTES |FAHRENHEIT |POUNDS |
|Asparagus |30 |240 |10 |
|String beans, No. 2|45 |240 |10 |
|String beans, No. 3|55 |240 |10 |
|Beets |30 |228 | 5 |
|Corn |80 |250 |15 |
|Okra |30 |240 |10 |
|Peas |45 |240 |10 |
|Soup, concentrated | | | |
| vegetable |30 |228 |10 |
|Spinach |30 |228 |15 |
|Sweet potatoes |70 |250 |15 |
Corn, lima beans and peas should never be packed in larger container
than No. 2. Corn is cut from cob after blanching.
The brine used is made of 2½ ounces salt to 1 gallon of water, except
for asparagus, which contains 4 ounces to 1 gallon.
Beets and rhubarb when packed in tin must be put in enamel-lined cans.
Process pints as for No. 2 cans; quarts as for No. 3 cans, adding 10
minutes to each period.
String beans when more mature should be processed at 15 pounds
pressure for 30 minutes for No. 2, and 45 minutes for No. 3.
CHAPTER XI
WHY CANNED GOODS SPOIL
Every day brings letters to my desk saying, "Why did my jars of
vegetables lose water?" or, "When I looked into my canner I saw all
the beautiful dark sirup in the bottom of the canner instead of in the
jars," or, "What shall I do, my beets are all white?" etc., etc. In
this chapter I am going to try and tell you a few things you must and
must not do. A few "Do's" and "Don'ts" may help you a little in your
canning and food preserving.
I want to say right here that if you have failures do not blame the
method as we are always so apt to do. Experts have worked long enough,
carefully and thoroughly enough, to convince themselves and others
that the cold-pack method and the intermittent method, which methods
are employed for cooking the product in the jar, are sure, safe,
reliable and efficient methods. So if your food spoils convince
yourself it is not the method but something else. Spoilage is due to
imperfect jars, imperfect rubbers, imperfect sealing of tin cans,
careless blanching, insufficient cold dipping or poor sterilizing.
CAN-RUBBERS
Possibly your canning troubles are all due to using a poor grade of
rubber rings. This is poor economy. Rubbers are apt to give more
trouble than anything else to canners when using glass jars. Many of
the rubbers sold are of a very poor quality, disintegrating quickly
when subjected to heat and strain. My sister, canning in the hot
climate of India, has more trouble with the rubber proposition than
anything else.
You want good rubbers, are willing to pay for them, and here is what
you should know about rubber rings.
The one-period, cold-pack method and the intermittent method of home
canning require a rubber ring essentially different from that commonly
used in the old hot-pack method of home canning. Investigation shows
that many of the rings upon the market are unsuitable for these newer
methods, being unable to withstand the long periods of boiling
required in the canning of vegetables and meats.
Practical canning tests have indicated that rubber rings for use in
this method should meet the following requirements:
Inside Diameter. The ring should fit closely, requiring a little
stretching to get it around the neck of the jar. For standard jars the
ring should have an inside diameter of 2¼ inches.
Width of Ring and Flange. The width of the ring or flange may vary
from one-fourth of an inch to twelve thirty-seconds of an inch. Tests
which have been made show that fewer cases of "blow-out" occur when
the flange is ten thirty-seconds of an inch.
Thickness. Rubber rings as found on the market may vary from 1/18 to
1/10 of an inch in thickness. Tests show that 1/12 of an inch in
thickness is sufficient to take up the unevenness in the jar and still
not so thick as to make it difficult to place the cap or adjust the
bail.
Cold-pack and intermittent-canning require a rubber ring that is
tough, does not enlarge perceptibly when heated in water or steam, and
is not forced out of position between the top and the jar by slight
pressure within the jar. This we call a "blow-out."
Rubber rings should be capable of withstanding four hours of
sterilization in boiling water without blowing out on partially sealed
jars, or one hour under ten pounds of steam pressure. They should be
selected with reference to proper inside diameter, width of flange,
and thickness. Good rubber will stretch considerably and return
promptly to place without changing the inside diameter. They should
also be reasonably firm and able to stand without breakage. Color is
given to rings by adding coloring matter during the manufacturing
process. The color of the ring is no index to its usefulness in home
canning. Red, white, black or gray may be used.
Always use _new_ can-rubbers with each year's product of canned goods.
An old rubber may look like a new one but it has lost its elasticity
and its use may cause imperfect sealing and thus endanger the keeping
quality of the food. This is always a hard thing to impress upon
thrifty penny-saving housekeepers. The old rubber looks so good, so
why not use it? But be wise in this and remember it is _never safe to
use old rubbers_. New rubbers are expensive but what about the cost of
the product, the loss of your time and fuel! One jar lost due to an
old rubber is so much food, time and fuel lost.
And do not think yourself thrifty to use two old rubber rings instead
of one, thereby thinking to obtain a better seal, for you will not.
Two old rubbers are inferior in strength to one new good rubber. If
you use old rubbers and your canned goods spoil, blame the rubbers.
GLASS JARS
Next in importance to the rubbers are the glass jars you use. There
are many kinds of fruit jars on the market. The question is frequently
asked, "Which jars on the market are the best." The only answer to
that is to choose the jar which is simplest in construction, which
will seal perfectly and wash easily, which protects the contained food
against contact with metal, which has the fewest parts to lose or
misplace and which fits the shelves and receptacles planned to hold
it.
FLAT SOUR
Flat-sour often causes annoyance to beginners in canning some
vegetables, such as corn, peas, beans and asparagus. These canned
foods may show no signs of spoilage and yet when the can is opened the
product may have a sour taste and a disagreeable odor. This
"flat-sour" is not harmful and must not be confused with "botulinus,"
which is harmful. However, the taste and odor are so disagreeable you
will have no desire to eat "flat-sour" canned goods.
This trouble can be avoided if you will use fresh products, that is,
those which have not been allowed to wilt or stand around the shops
for several days, and will blanch, cold-dip, and pack one jar of
product at a time, and place each jar in the canner as it is packed.
The first jars in will not be affected by the extra cooking. When the
steam-pressure canner is used the jars or cans may be placed in the
retort and the cover placed into position but not clamped down until
the retort is filled.
TROUBLES WITH CORN
Corn seems to give the most trouble, but with a little care and study
this product may be canned as easily as any other grown in the garden.
A little experience in selecting the ears and ability to recognize
corn that is just between the milk and dough stage is important.
Blanch not longer than five minutes. A plunge in cold water is
sufficient. Cut the corn from the cob with a sharp knife and pack at
once in sterilized jars. Best results can be accomplished when two
people cut and one person fills. If it is necessary for one person to
work alone, cut off sufficient corn to fill one jar, pour on _boiling_
water, add salt, place rubber and cap in position and put the jar at
once in the canner. A little overcooking does not injure the quality
of canned corn. Corn should not be tightly packed in the jar; it
expands a little in processing and for this reason each jar should be
filled scant full. Corn that has a cheesy appearance after canning had
reached the dough stage before being packed. Corn should never be
allowed to remain in the cold dip and large quantities should not be
dipped at one time unless sufficient help is available to handle the
product quickly.
Some to be absolutely sure when canning corn, cook it for ten minutes
in hot water before packing into jars.
Leave fully one inch of space at the top when packing corn but enough
water may be poured into the jar to fill the can or jar, for when the
corn swells the water will be absorbed.
Corn Turning Dark. A dark color in canned corn is due to some of
the following causes:
1. Using water that contains too much iron.
2. Using corn that has reached the dough stage.
3. Blanching for too long a period--five minutes is sufficient for
corn.
Water-Logged or Soaked Corn. When canned corn becomes "water-logged"
or "soaked" it is due to such causes as the following:
1. Allowing the product to stand in the cold water too long after the
hot dip.
2. Allowing the jars to stand after they have been packed, and filled
with boiling water. The jars should be immediately placed in the
sterilizer after being packed.
3. Allowing ears of corn to stand in cold water after opening.
4. Heating corn in warm water over a slow fire.
BEETS, THEIR LOSS OF COLOR
The loss of color in canned beets is due to faulty methods of
preparation before packing them into the jars. To secure good results
3 or 4 inches of the top and all of the tail should be left on while
blanching. Beets should be blanched for five minutes and the skin
should be scraped but not peeled. Beets should be packed whole if
possible.
Small beets that run forty to a quart are less likely to fade and are
the most suitable size for first-class packs. The older the beets the
more chance there is for loss of color. Well-canned beets will show a
slight loss of color when removed from the canner, but will brighten
up in a few days.
CLOUDY PEAS
The condition of peas known as "cloudy" is due to such causes as the
following:
1. Cracking the skin of the pea.
2. Blanching for too long a period.
3. Use of water which is too hard or has too much mineral content.
SHRINKAGE OF PRODUCT DURING CANNING
Shrinkage may be due to one or more of the following:
1. Improper blanching and cold-dipping.
2. Careless packing and using variety of sizes.
3. Sterilizing for too long a period.
4. Lack of sizing whole products for the container.
Sometimes there is a natural shrinkage that cannot be prevented. This
is due to the fact that vegetables contain air in their tissues and
when this air is driven off by the heat, the boiling water in the jar
rushes in to fill its place. In consequence we have an apparent
shrinkage in the amount of water. So be careful to do the blanching as
correctly as possible to drive out the air; however, the product will
keep just as well in a jar half full of water as if entirely covered
with liquid. The contents of the jar whether food or air are sterile.
SHRINKAGE OF GREENS
Shrinkage of greens or pot herbs during the canning process is usually
due to insufficient blanching. The proper way to blanch all greens or
pot herbs is in a steamer or in a vessel improvised to do the
blanching in live steam above the water line. If this is not done
much of the mineral salts and volatile oil contents will be extracted
by the water and lost.
LOSS OF LIQUID DURING CANNING
A loss of liquid in canning with a hot-water-bath outfit may be caused
by one or more of the following:
1. Not having the water in the sterilizing vat cover the tops of the
jars by at least one inch.
2. Not providing a suitable platform to hold the jars off the bottom
of the sterilizing vat, permitting circulation of water under as well
as around the jars.
3. Not having the wire bail that goes over the glass tops of jars
sufficiently tight.
REASONS WHY JUICES ARE DRAWN FROM JARS WHEN CANNING WITH STEAM
PRESSURE
1. Open pet cock after pointer or gauge has reached zero; test for
pressure by opening pet cock slowly at first. The gauge does not
register pressure until about one pound of pressure has formed, hence
opening the pet cock before the pointer is at zero means that from one
to two pounds of pressure is being relieved and this will draw the
juices the same as allowing the boiler to stand and a vacuum to form.
2. Allowing the pressure to fluctuate during the time of sterilizing,
such as running the pressure up to fifteen, back to seven or eight and
then up again.
3. Wire bails can be and should be a little tighter when jars are put
in a steam pressure canner. The clamp should be left up as stated.
4. There may be an escape of steam around the seal of the boiler and
this would allow the pressure on the inside of the boiler to
fluctuate.
Any one of those four things will always cause loss of juice.
OPERATION OF HOT-WATER-BATH OUTFIT
These four rules will help in the operation of the hot-water-bath
canning outfit: Example, wash boiler.
1. Support the jars off the bottom sufficiently to permit the
circulation of water under and around the jars.
2. Have the water cover the tops of the jars by at least one inch. The
heat and pressure must be equal on all parts of the jars.
3. Count time as soon as the water begins to _jump_ over the entire
surface. Keep it jumping.
4. Remove jars from the water and tighten the covers as soon as the
time is up.
Rapid cooling of the products prevents overcooking, clarifies the
liquid and preserves the shape and texture.
Operation of steamers or "double-deckers" as they are sometimes
called. These have a small amount of water in a pan below two racks
and the products cook in steam instead of boiling water.
1. Have water boiling in pan when products are put in.
2. Use same time-table as for hot-water bath or wash boiler.
3. Remove jars from steam at the end of the sterilizing period. Do not
allow them to "cool off" in the steamer.
The operation of a water-seal canner is very simple.
1. Jars put on racks and lowered in water as in wash-boiler but due
to an extra jacket the temperature is higher than boiling water.
2. Follow time-table under water-seal.
OPERATION OF STEAM PRESSURE AND PRESSURE COOKER CANNER
1. Place each jar in the canner as soon as it is packed.
2. Have water come up to but not above the platform.
3. Have canner absolutely steam tight.
4. When canner has been filled fasten opposite clamps moderately
tight. When this has been done tighten each clamp fully.
5. Allow pet cock to remain open until live steam blows from it.
6. Close pet cock.
7. Force pressure to the required point before counting time.
8. Maintain a uniform pressure during the sterilizing period.
9. Allow canner to cool before opening pet cock.
10. Have pet cock completely closed during the cooling.
11. Open pet cock before vacuum forms. This is evidenced by a rush of
air into the canner when the pet cock is open. You can test this by
placing the finger over the end of the pet cock. If a vacuum forms it
will draw the flesh of the finger into the opening.
12. Remove jars from canner and tighten lids as soon as canner is
opened.
BREAKAGE OF JARS
When breakage of jars occurs it is due to such causes as these:
1. Overpacking jars. Corn, pumpkin and sweet potatoes swell or expand
in processing. Do not quite fill jars with these products.
2. Placing cold jars in hot water or vice versa. As soon as jars are
filled with hot sirup or hot water, place immediately in the canner.
3. Having the wire bail of glass top jars too tight.
4. In steam canner, having too much water in the canner. The water
should not come above the tray.
5. Cold draft striking the jars when they are removed from the canner.
6. Wire spring too tight, thus breaking jar when contents expand.
MOLD ON CANNED PRODUCTS
Mold may result from one or more of the following:
1. Leaky rubbers or defective joints.
2. Removing tops from the jars at the end of sterilizing period and
substituting new rubbers, without returning the jars to the canning
outfit for at least a few minutes.
3. If the jars are kept in a damp cellar where the rubbers may
decompose, mold may enter through these decomposed rubbers.
ACIDITY OF TOMATOES AFTER CANNING
Too great a degree of acidity in canned tomatoes may be due to
climatic conditions or overripe or underripe product. Such acidity
can be corrected by adding ¼ teaspoonful of baking soda to one quart
of tomatoes.
WATER REQUIREMENTS FOR HOME CANNING
The hardening of beans, peas and some other products after cooking or
processing, or the turning of green vegetables to a dark or russet
color usually indicates that the water contains too high a percentage
of mineral matter. Water used for canning purposes should be pure,
soft if possible or as free from objectionable and excessive qualities
of mineral matter as possible. If you are to can any large quantity of
food products and have difficulty with the water available, it would
be well for you to have the water analyzed and for you to secure the
advice of some one at your college of agriculture.
TOO MUCH SALT IN CANNED GOODS INJURIOUS TO QUALITY
Most vegetables as well as meats are injured in quality by an
excessive use of salt for seasoning in the canning process. A little
salt is very palatable and its use should be encouraged but it is
better to add no salt in canning than to use too much, as it can be
added to suit the taste when served.
ALTITUDE AND ITS EFFECT ON CANNING
Remember that practically all instructions on home canning are based
upon a time schedule for sterilization from sea level to an altitude
of 500 feet above sea level. When canning at an altitude of more than
500 feet above sea level, it will be necessary to use your judgment in
the increase of time for sterilizing on the basis of 20 per cent for
each 4,000 feet.
Blanching means _boiling_, not hot. In different directions for
canning we often find "hot" water mentioned when boiling water is
intended. Water should be _boiling at a gallop_ when vegetables are
blanched--berries and soft fruits are not usually blanched, though
some are scalded to loosen the skin.
BERRIES OR FRUIT RISING TO THE TOP
Some women are disturbed because berries and fruits have a tendency to
always rise to the top of the jar leaving a sirup space in the bottom.
To prevent this you can scald all berries and fruits which are not
ordinarily scalded, for one minute and then cold-dip them. They will
be softened some, but remain firm, and can be packed very closely in a
jar. They can be packed so closely that only a little sirup can be
added. When a jar thus packed comes from the sterilizer the berries or
fruit are not floating as they would be if they were not scalded.
Another method employed to prevent berries from floating is to put the
hot sterilized jar on its side while cooling and to roll it frequently
during the cooling period. The berries are then evenly distributed
through the sirup.
In canning mushrooms in tin, always use lacquered cans. Do not fail to
blanch and cold dip before packing, and remove the mushrooms
immediately after opening the tin cans.
In canning cabbage and other similar products always soak the product
in cold brine for one hour before sterilizing. Use ½ pound salt to 12
quarts water. This is believed to improve the flavor. Always wash
greens or other vegetables, to remove all dirt and grit.
TROUBLES WITH TIN CANS
To discover pin-holes or any leaks in a tin can, immerse it in boiling
water after sealing and if there is any bubbling from the can, you may
rest assured it needs resealing.
Swells in tin cans are caused by insufficient sterilization. The
action of bacteria causes gas to form in the can and as a result there
is a bulging at either end. If left alone long enough the cans will
explode. Watch carefully all bulging cans and use them first.
Sometimes a slight bulge occurs when a can has been filled too full.
If you have trouble sealing tin cans the chances are that the can is
too full. See that no particle of food touches the top or when
soldering, if you employ that method of sealing, small pin holes will
be blown in the seal by escaping steam which is generated by the hot
sealer coming in contact with the cold food. Another cause of sealing
trouble lies sometimes in a poorly heated capping steel or because it
is not kept brightly tinned. To make a proper seal the steel must be
kept bright, hot and clean.
Also, be sure you buy good solder as there are inferior grades that
are too poor to flow when properly heated.
FROZEN PRODUCTS
Watch all jars and cans that have been subjected to a freeze. If the
cans or jars do not burst the only harm done is a slight softening of
the food tissues. In glass jars after freezing there is sometimes a
small crack left which will admit air and consequently bacteria.
Sometimes cans and jars tip over in the wash boiler during
sterilizing. This is caused by using a false-bottom which is too low
or because it is not well perforated. Or it may be due to the fact
that the jar was not well packed and so may be too light in weight.
CHAPTER XII
GETTING READY TO DRY
For various reasons women have not taken so kindly to drying fruits
and vegetables as they have to canning these foods.
One woman said to me: "I like the canning because I can come to a
demonstration and see the whole process carried through from start to
finish. The drying of strawberries cannot be completed in sixteen
minutes as the canning is." And another woman said: "What I do not
like about drying is having the stuff standing round the house
somewhere for so many hours. I like to get things in the jars and out
of sight."
These two objections seem to be expressed more than any other. And in
addition there is a third objection to drying: "I want my prepared
food ready to use on a minute's notice. I can quickly open a can of my
fruit and vegetables and there it is ready. With my dried things I
have to allow time for soaking and cooking." This we will have to
admit is true. But what weight have these three arguments against the
many advantages of drying?
When we study the history of food preservation we find that drying was
practiced before canning, pickling or preserving. I know my
grandmother successfully dried quantities of things.
Vegetable and fruit drying have been little practiced for a
generation or more, though there have been some thrifty housekeepers
who have clung to their dried corn, peas, beans and apples. A friend
of mine says: "Why, dried corn has a much better, sweeter taste than
your canned stuff. I would rather have one little dish of my delicious
dried corn than two big dishes of your canned corn."
Drying, I think we will all admit, does not and cannot take the place
of canning fruits and vegetables in glass or tin. Drying and canning
are twin sisters, and always go hand in hand.
The ideal arrangement for all homes, whether on the farm, in the
village, in the town or in the city, is to have an ample supply of
canned food for emergencies and quick service, and an equally ample
supply of dried foods when meals are planned beforehand and there is
time enough for the soaking and cooking of the dried foods.
THE ADVANTAGES OF DRYING
When we come right down to facts, drying has many advantages over
canning.
The process is very simple, as you will see. The cost is slight. In
almost every home the necessary equipment, in its simplest form, is
already at hand. 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.
Of course any one of these may be used alone or two different methods
may be combined. You can start a product on the stove and finish it in
the sun, or _vice versa._
The simplest and yet the most effective drying may be done on plates
or dishes placed in the oven. It may be done on the back of the
kitchen stove with these same utensils while the oven is being used
for baking. In this way left-overs and other bits of food may be dried
with slight trouble while the stove is being used, and saved for
winter use. This method is especially effective for sweet corn. A few
sweet potatoes, apples or peas, or even a single turnip, may be dried
and saved.
To keep the heat from being too great, when drying in the oven leave
the oven door partly open. For oven use, a simple tray may be made of
galvanized-wire screen of convenient size, with the edges bent up for
an inch or two on each side. At each corner this tray should have a
leg an inch or two in length to hold it up from the bottom of the oven
and permit circulation of air round the product.
Oven drying in a gas range is an effective method if the temperature
is kept even. An oven thermometer is a great convenience, otherwise
the temperature will have to be carefully watched and the burners
turned as low as possible. It is economy in the end to purchase an
oven thermometer, for then you can have the temperature just right. It
is best to start the temperature at 110 degrees Fahrenheit and dry at
130 degrees. Never go over 150 degrees.
If you wish to dry in the oven over the kerosene stove, place
soapstones over each burner to prevent the heat from becoming too
intense. Turn the burners very low until the stones are thoroughly
heated. You can turn off the burners completely after the desired
temperature is reached and it will be maintained from the heat of the
stones for five or six hours. If more time than that is required for
the drying, it may be necessary to light the burners again before the
end of the process. The products should be turned constantly, so that
they may dry evenly.
When using any oven for drying you can cover the oven racks with
cheesecloth and spread the products on them. Always have the racks two
or three inches apart to allow free circulation of air.
An effective dryer for use over a stove or range may easily be made at
home. For the frame use strips of wood a half inch thick and two
inches wide. The trays or shelves are made of galvanized-wire screen
of small mesh tacked to the supports. Separate trays sliding on strips
attached to the framework are desirable. This dryer may be suspended
from the ceiling over the kitchen stove or range or over an oil,
gasoline or gas stove, and it may be used while cooking is being done.
If an oil stove is used there must be a tightly fitting tin or
galvanized-iron bottom to the dryer, to prevent the fumes of the oil
from reaching and passing through the material which is to be dried. A
bottom of this kind may be easily attached to any dryer, homemade or
commercial. A framework crane makes it possible for this dryer to be
swung to one side when not in use.
A larger kind of homemade stove dryer can be made. This is a good
size: base, 16 by 24 inches; height, 36 inches. The lower part or
supporting framework, six inches high, is made of galvanized sheet
iron, slightly flaring toward the bottom, and with two ventilating
holes in each of the four sides. The frame which rests on this base is
made of strips of wood one or one and a half inches wide. Wooden
strips, an inch and a quarter wide and three inches apart, serve to
brace the sides and furnish supports for the trays.
In a dryer of the dimensions given there is room for eight trays. The
sides, top and back are of galvanized-iron or tin sheets, tacked to
the framework, though thin strips of wood may be used instead of the
metal. Small hinges and a thumb latch are provided for the door.
Galvanized sheet iron, with numerous small holes in it, is used for
making the bottom of the dryer. To prevent direct heat from coming in
contact with the product and also to distribute the heat by radiation,
a piece of galvanized sheet iron is placed two inches above the
bottom. This piece is three inches shorter and three inches narrower
than the bottom and rests on two wires fastened to the sides.
The trays are made of wooden frames of one-inch strips, to which is
tacked galvanized-wire screen. Each tray should be three inches
shorter than the dryer and enough narrower to allow it to slide
easily on the supports when being put in or taken out.
In placing the trays in the dryer push the lower one back as far as it
will go, leaving a three-inch space in front. Place the next tray even
with the front, leaving the space at the back. Alternate all the trays
in this way to facilitate the circulation of the heated air. It is
well to have a ventilating opening, six by two inches, in the top of
the dryer to discharge moisture. The trays should be shifted during
the drying process to procure uniformity of drying.
Several types of stove dryers are on the market. One of these has a
series of trays in a framework, forming a compartment. This is placed
on top of the stove. Another is a shallow metal box which is filled
with water. This is really a water-bath dryer. This dryer or
dehydrator can be used on either a gas or coal range. A thermometer is
necessary in order to maintain the right temperature. The slices of
vegetables or fruit are placed on the tray with the thermometer, and
the dryer does the work.
Commercial dryers having their own furnaces may be bought at prices
ranging from $24 to $120. Some of these, in the smaller sizes, may be
bought without furnaces and used on top of the kitchen stove. The cost
is from $16 upward.
Sun drying has much to recommend it. There is no expense for fuel, no
thermometer is needed, and there is no danger of overheating the
fruits or vegetables.
For sun drying of fruits and vegetables, the simplest way is to spread
the slices or pieces on sheets of plain paper or lengths of muslin and
expose them to the sun. Muslin is to be preferred if there is danger
of sticking. Trays may be used instead of paper or muslin. Sun drying
requires bright, hot days and a breeze. Once or twice a day the
product should be turned or stirred and the dry pieces taken out. The
drying product should be covered with cheesecloth tacked to a frame
for protection from dust and flying insects. If trays are rested on
supports placed in pans of water, the products will be protected from
crawling insects. Care must be taken to provide protection from rain,
dew and moths. During rains and just before sunset the products should
be taken indoors.
To make a cheap tray for use in sun drying, take strips of wood
three-quarters of an inch thick and two inches wide for the sides and
ends. To form the bottom, laths should be nailed to these strips, with
spaces of one-eighth of an inch between the laths to permit air
circulation. A length of four feet, corresponding to the standard
lengths of laths, is economical. Instead of the laths galvanized-wire
screen with openings of one-eighth or one-quarter of an inch, may be
used. In using wire the size of the tray should be regulated by the
width of wire screen obtainable. The trays should be of uniform size,
so that they may be stacked together for convenience in handling.
A small homemade sun dryer, easily constructed, is made of light
strips of wood, a sheet of glass, a small amount of galvanized-wire
screen and some cheesecloth. A convenient size for the glass top is
eighteen by twenty-four inches. To hold the glass make a light wooden
frame of strips of wood a half inch thick and one inch wide. This
frame should have legs of material one by one and a half inches, with
a length of twelve inches for the front legs and eighteen inches for
those in the rear. This will cause the top to slope, which aids in
circulation of air and gives direct exposure to the rays of the sun.
As a tray support nail a strip of wood to the legs on each of the four
sides, about four inches below the top framework and sloping parallel
with the top. The tray is made of thin strips of wood about two inches
wide and has a galvanized-wire screen bottom. There will be a space of
about two inches between the top edges of the tray and the glass top
of the dryer, to allow for circulation of air.
Protect both sides, the bottom and the front of the dryer with
cheesecloth, tacked on securely and snugly, to exclude insects and
dust without interfering with circulation. At the rear place a
cheesecloth curtain, tacked at the top but swinging free below, to
allow the tray to be moved in and out. Brace the bottom of this
curtain with a thin strip of wood, as is done in window shades. This
curtain is to be fastened to the legs by buttons when the tray is in
place. If you have a sunny, breezy attic you can hang your drying
trays there.
The use of an electric fan is an effective means of drying. As there
is no danger of the food scorching, the fan proves as effective as the
sun for drying.
Sliced vegetables or fruits are placed on trays one foot wide and
three feet long. These trays are stacked and the fan placed close to
one end, with the current of air directed lengthwise along the trays.
The number of trays to be used is regulated by the size of the fan.
Drying by this process may be done in twenty-four hours or less. With
sliced string beans and shredded sweet potatoes a few hours are
sufficient if the air is dry.
Of importance equal to proper drying is the proper packing and storage
of the finished product. Use baking-powder and coffee cans and similar
covered tins, pasteboard boxes with tight-fitting covers, strong paper
bags, and patented paraffin paper boxes, which may be bought in
quantities at comparatively low cost.
A paraffin container of the type used by oyster dealers for the
delivery of oysters will be found inexpensive and easily handled. If
using this or a baking-powder can or similar container, after filling
adjust the cover closely. The cover should then be sealed. To do this
paste a strip of paper round the top of the can, covering the joint
between can and cover for the purpose of excluding air. Pasteboard
boxes should be sealed by applying melted paraffin with a brush to the
joint.
If a paper bag is used the top should be twisted, doubled over and
tied with a string. Moisture may be kept out of paper bags by coating
them, using a brush dipped into melted paraffin. Another good
precaution is to store bags in an ordinary lard pail or can or other
tin vessel having a closely fitting cover.
The products should be stored in a cool, dry place, well ventilated
and protected from rats, mice and insects. In localities where the air
is very moist, moisture-proof containers must be used. It is good
practice to use small containers, so that it will not be necessary to
leave the contents exposed long after opening and before using.
A very good plan is to pack just enough fruit or vegetables for one or
two meals in each container. This will lessen the chance of large
quantities being spoiled. For convenience label all packages.
CHAPTER XIII
HOW TO DRY FRUITS
Having decided to add the accomplishment of drying to your other
housewifely arts, you have given some thought and study to the subject
of driers. You now know whether you prefer sun, artificial or fan
drying. You have either made or bought some kind of a drier. Little
other equipment is needed.
A few good paring knives, some plates, and if possible some cutting or
slicing device to lighten the work of preparation are all that are
necessary. A sharp kitchen knife will serve every purpose in slicing
and cutting fruits for drying, if no other device is at hand. The
thickness of all slices of fruit should be from an eighth to a quarter
of an inch. Whether sliced or cut into strips the pieces should be
small, so as to dry quickly. They should not, however, be so small as
to make them hard to handle or to keep them from being used to
advantage in preparing dishes for the table, such as would be prepared
from fresh products. Berries are dried whole. Apples, quinces, peaches
and pears dry better if cut into halves, rings or quarters.
Cleanliness is essential. A knife blade that is not bright and clean
will discolor the product on which it is used.
Winter apples should be chosen for drying when possible, as sweet
apples and early varieties are not so well adapted to the purpose.
The Northern Spy, the Baldwin and the Ben Davis give a good-flavored
dried product. Most early varieties lack sufficient firmness of
texture for the best results. On the other hand, some comparatively
early kinds, such as Gravenstein and Porter, are considerably prized
in some sections.
To prepare them for drying, apples are peeled, cored, trimmed and
sliced one quarter of an inch thick. Be sure to cut out all worm
holes, decayed spots and other blemishes. Defects are easily cut out
with an ordinary straight-back, sharp-pointed knife having a blade two
and a half to three inches long.
To prevent discoloration, as fast as the fruit is prepared dip it into
a weak salt solution--three level teaspoonfuls of salt to one gallon
of water. After all the apples are prepared, remove surplus moisture
and put on trays, water-bath drier or whatever device you are using.
HOW TO REGULATE THE HEAT
Start with the temperature at 110 degrees Fahrenheit, gradually raise
it to 130 degrees and do the drying at that temperature. It is
important to know the degree of heat in the drier, and this cannot be
determined very accurately except by using a thermometer. Inexpensive
oven thermometers can be bought or an ordinary thermometer can be
suspended in the drier. If a thermometer is not used the greatest care
should be given to the regulation of the heat. The temperature in the
drier rises rather quickly and the product may scorch unless close
attention is given to it.
The reason sun drying is popularly believed to give fruits and
vegetables a sweeter flavor probably is that in the sun they never are
scorched, whereas in the oven or over a stove scorching is likely to
happen unless one is very careful. An oven or dairy thermometer is a
good investment. If you do not have a thermometer test the heat by the
air feeling warm to the hand. The product should never be so hot that
it cannot be grasped in the hand. In order to prevent the fruit from
burning where artificial heat is used and to keep it from sticking to
the drier by remaining in contact with it too long, stir the fruit
occasionally. To insure the most uniform drying in sun drying, the
fruit also should be stirred occasionally.
Remember that if trays with metal bottoms are used for drying, they
should be covered with cheesecloth to prevent acid action. Oven racks
may be covered with either cheesecloth or heavy wrapping paper.
The interval between stirring varies with the type of drier used, with
the condition of the fruit and with the degree of heat maintained.
Make the first stirring within two hours after the drying is begun.
After that examine the product from time to time and stir often enough
to prevent scorching or sticking and to insure uniform drying. Use a
wooden paddle for stirring. Where several trays or racks are placed
one above the other, it is necessary to shift the trays from time to
time, so the upper tray goes to the bottom and the bottom tray to the
top.
The time necessary for drying fruit depends upon several factors: The
type and construction of the drier; the depth to which the fruit is
spread; the method of preparing, whether sliced, quartered or whole;
the temperature maintained; and weather conditions, whether bright
and sunny or cloudy and damp.
If the atmosphere is heavy and damp the drying is retarded. Under some
conditions it is hardly possible thoroughly to dry fruit.
There is possibly no step in the entire drying process that requires
better-trained judgment than the matter of knowing when the fruit is
sufficiently dried. A little experience will soon teach this.
The fruit should be so dry that when a handful of slices is pressed
together firmly into a ball the slices will be "springy" enough to
separate at once upon being released from the hand. No fruit should
have any visible moisture on the surface. As the dried apples, pears,
peaches and apricots are handled they should feel soft and velvety to
the touch and have a pliable texture. You do not want fruit so dry
that it will rattle. If fruits are brittle you have dried them too
much.
After the apples and all other fruits are dried they must go through
another process, called "conditioning." The best way to "condition"
fruits is to place them in boxes or cans and pour them from one
container into another once a day for three or four successive days.
By doing this you mix the fruit thoroughly and give to the whole mass
an even degree of moisture. Pieces that are too dry will absorb
moisture from those that are too moist.
You may lose a whole bag or jar of dried products if you neglect the
conditioning, for if one moist piece goes into that bag all is lost.
Moisture breeds mold and mold means decay.
Ask yourself these questions: "Do I ever lose any dried products? Are
my dried products when soaked and cooked as near like the original
fruit as possible?" If you lose products and if your dried fruits are
tasteless you had better start the conditioning process. For with this
one step added to your drying you need lose no dried products, and you
need not dry the fruits to the brittle stage, as you must of necessity
do when you put them away immediately.
After you have poured the dried products back and forth every day for
three or four days as an additional precaution, reheat the dried fruit
to 140 degrees just long enough--about thirty minutes--to allow the
heat to penetrate throughout the product.
Two kinds of moths stand out prominently among insects that attack
dried fruits and vegetables. They are much more likely to get into the
fruit during the process of drying than to find their way through
boxes into the stored products. This applies particularly to drying in
the sun. The Indian-meal moth is the most destructive of these
insects. It is about three-eighths of an inch long and has a cloaked
appearance, one-third gray and the rest copper-brown. The fig moth is
about the same size, but dark, neutral gray. A minute, flattened
chocolate-brown beetle usually accompanies these moths and does
considerable damage. Both of the moths deposit their eggs on fruit
when it is on the drying racks--usually at dusk or after dark, for
these insects are not fond of daylight.
It takes from three to ten days for the eggs to hatch into whitish or
pinkish grublike caterpillars, and from five to ten weeks from the
laying of the eggs before more moths appear to lay another lot of
eggs. A number of "broods" or generations are produced yearly, so if
a few of these moth eggs are stored away on dried fruits or vegetables
hundreds of caterpillars are produced and many pounds of valuable
material may be destroyed during the winter if the products are stored
in a warm room. Dried fruits stored in warm, dark bins or in sacks
offer especially favorable places for the development of these
destructive moths.
It is evident that the larger the package, the greater the chance of a
few eggs doing much damage. Small cartons or containers confine the
injury from these moths to small quantities of material; for if the
containers are closed tightly the insects cannot easily escape from
them and infest other packages which may not have been infested
previously.
If you are drying by sun and the products are not thoroughly dry at
night, finish the process on the stove. If you desire to carry it over
to the next day screen the drying racks early in the evening and
fasten down the cheesecloth. With these precautions and with proper
storage, no danger ordinarily need be feared from these insects. The
additional precaution of heating the dried product to 140 degrees for
thirty minutes sterilizes it if already infested.
Though not necessary, tin cans or glass jars make good receptacles for
storage of dried fruits or vegetables. Pasteboard boxes with tight
covers, stout paper bags and patented paraffin paper cartons also
afford ample protection for dried products when protected from insects
and rodents. The dried products must be protected from outside
moisture, and will keep best in a cool, dry, well-ventilated place.
These conditions, however, are difficult to obtain in the more humid
regions, and there moisture-tight containers should be used. If a
small amount of dried product is put in each receptacle, just enough
for one or two meals, it will not be necessary to open a container,
the contents of which cannot be consumed in a short time. If a paper
bag is used the upper part should be twisted into a neck, bent over
and tied tightly with a string. A further precaution is to place the
small bags in a tin container with a tightly fitting cover, such as an
ordinary lard can. All bags should bear a label.
Pears and quinces usually are prepared and dried exactly as are
apples. Pears are attractive when cut lengthwise into halves, with the
stem and calyx removed but the core left in. Or they may be quartered.
If sliced like apples the drying period is shortened.
Peaches usually are dried unpeeled, but they are better if peeled
before drying. The first step in the preparation of peaches is to
split them open to remove the pit. To do this, cut completely round
the peach in the line of the suture with a sharp knife. The cut must
be complete, for tearing of the flesh will make the finished product
less attractive. If the fruit is to be peeled the paring should be
done before it is cut open to remove the pit.
To facilitate the removal of the skin, dip the peaches in a kettle of
boiling water for one and a half minutes; then plunge directly into
cold water, after which the skins can be easily slipped off. After the
pit has been removed, lay on drier pit side up. The juice of the fruit
will collect in the pit or "cup" and will add to the flavor and
quality of the dried peaches. The peaches can be cut into smaller
pieces if you wish to lessen the drying period.
Plums and apricots are not peeled, but are cut into halves, the pits
removed and dried in the same way as peaches. Small, thin-fleshed
varieties of plums are not suitable for drying.
When drying cherries always remove the stems. The pits may or may not
be removed. The best product for later cooking or eating has the pit
removed, though large quantities of juices are lost in the pitting
unless you provide some way of saving and utilizing it.
A prune is simply a plum having certain qualities not possessed by all
plums. All prunes are plums, but not all plums are prunes. The final
test as to whether a plum is a prune is the ability to dry without
fermenting with the pit still remaining in the fruit. If a plum cannot
dry without fermentation unless the pit is removed, it is not a prune.
Prunes for drying, like other fruits, should be fully ripe.
Prunes are merely washed and then dried without removing the pits. The
fruit is dry when the skin is well shrunken. The texture should be
firm but springy and pliable enough to yield readily when pressed in
the hand. The drying should not be continued until the individual
prunes rattle as they are brought in contact with one another in
handling. Prunes must be conditioned before storing.
In drying, prunes shrink about two-thirds in weight--that is, for
every three pounds of fresh fruit you get one pound of finished
product.
Smaller fruits, such as red and black raspberries, blackberries,
huckleberries, dewberries, strawberries and blueberries, are simply
washed and then put to dry. Berries must not be dried too hard; if
too much moisture is removed they will not resume their original form
when soaked in water. But the material must be dried sufficiently or
it will mold. Haven't you often tasted extremely seedy dried berries?
They were dried until they rattled. Stop the drying as soon as the
berries fail to stain the hand when pressed.
To obtain the most satisfactory results soft fruits should be only one
layer deep on the drying trays.
Fruits contain about 80 to 95 per cent water and when dried
sufficiently still retain from 15 to 20 per cent of water, so it is a
good plan to weigh before and after drying. The product should lose
from two-thirds to four-fifths of its weight.
STEPS IN FRUIT DRYING
1. Thoroughly cleanse the product.
2. Prepare the product by slicing and so on.
3. Spread on trays; put in oven or put on commercial drier.
4. Stir occasionally.
5. Shift trays.
6. Test for completeness of drying.
7. "Condition" for three or four days. Sweet fruits may contain more
moisture without spoiling than those of low sugar content.
8. Heat to 140 degrees Fahrenheit for thirty minutes, to kill all
insects.
9. Pack immediately in available receptacles.
10. Label and store.
FRUIT PASTES
Fruit pastes are delicious and can be dried.
1. Select, wash, prepare fruit.
2. Cook until soft; stir.
3. Add sugar to sweeten.
4. Continue cooking until very thick.
5. Spread out flat by spoonfuls on oiled paper.
6. Dry in slow oven; finish drying over kitchen range.
7. Turn from time to time like griddle cakes.
Nuts of all kinds can be dried in these cakes, which may be left whole
or cut in strips with scissors.
CANDIED FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
1. Select product of uniform size and ripeness.
2. Wash; prepare in usual way.
3. Cut fruit in halves, quarters or smaller sections; cut vegetables
in narrow strips two and a half inches long.
4. Drop in a sirup cooked until it spins a thread. To prepare ginger
sirup, add a few roots of ginger to the sirup.
5. Cook until transparent.
6. Drain.
7. Dry in slow oven; Finish drying over kitchen range.
8. Roll in granulated sugar. (May be omitted for fruits.)
This method is recommended especially for candied apples, peaches,
pears and carrots.
In a properly constructed sun drier, all fruits will dry in from 3 to
12 hours, under normal summer conditions. Time depends on dryness of
atmosphere, sunshine and wind. Products dried in a sun drier, no
matter how crude, are superior to those dried in the open without
protection of some kind. Products dry more rapidly in high altitudes
than at sea level.
Racks in oven can be used. Plates or platters can be used in oven. A
stove drier hung over the stove can be used. A water-bath or other
commercial drier can be used with the stove.
TIME-TABLE FOR DRYING FRUITS
[A] ARTIFICIAL HEAT TIME IN HOURS TEMPERATURE 110° TO 130° F.
[B] FAN--NO HEAT APPROXIMATE TIME IN HOURS
PRODUCT | PREPARATION | [A] | [B]
| | |
Apples | Peel, core, trim and slice ¼" | 4-6 | 24-36
| thick. Drop in salt solution, 3 | |
|level teaspoonfuls to 1 gallon of | |
| water to prevent discoloration. | |
| | |
Apricots |Remove pits, but do not peel. Cut | 4-6 | 24-36
| into halves and dry, "cup" side | |
| up. | |
Berries, All| | |
Kinds | Wash; stem or hull. | 4-5 | 24-36
| | |
Cherries | Remove stems. Pit or not, as | 2-4 | 24-36
| desired. If pitted, save and | |
| utilize juice. | |
| | |
Pears | Peel, core, trim and slice ¼" | 4-6 | 24-36
| thick. Or peel, cut in halves | |
| lengthwise; remove stems and | |
| calyx. | |
| | |
Peaches |Peel, remove stones; cut in halves| 4-6 | 24-36
| or smaller pieces. If in halves, | |
|lay pit or "cup" side up to retain| |
| juice. | |
| | |
Plums |Do not peel, but remove pits. Cut | 4-6 | 24-36
|in halves and dry, "cup" side up. | |
| | |
Prunes | Wash; do not pit. | 5-7 | 24-36
| | |
Quinces | Peel, core, trim and slice ¼" | 4-6 | 24-36
| thick. | |
| | |
Rhubarb | Select young stems. Wash and cut | 6-8 | 24-36
| into ½" pieces, using very sharp | |
|knife. Do not remove skins, so the| |
| rhubarb will retain pink color. | |
| | |
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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 its original color, shape or size.
Follow the blanching time-table for drying just as carefully as you
follow the blanching time-table for canning.
After the blanching comes the cold-dip. For the benefit of new canning
and drying enthusiasts, let me explain that by "cold-dip" we mean
plunging the product immediately into a pan of very cold water or
holding it under the cold-water faucet until the product is thoroughly
cooled. Do not let the product stand in cold water, as it would then
lose more food value and absorb too much water.
You can cold-dip the product without removing it from the colander,
strainer or steamer in which it is steamed. Plunge the vessel
containing the product into the cold water.
The cold-dipping checks the cooking, sets the coloring matter which
was started to flowing in the blanching process, and it makes the
product much easier to handle.
Let us now see just exactly what we must do when we want to dry sweet
corn, more of which is dried than of any other vegetable. All other
vegetables are dried in the same way as is corn, the only difference
being in the length of the blanching and drying period.
All vegetables are prepared for drying just as they are prepared for
table use. When drying corn select ears that are young and tender, and
if possible freshly gathered. Products for drying should be in the
same perfect condition as you have them for table use. If wilted and
old it is not worth while drying them.
Remove the husks and the silk, and steam--on the cob--for fifteen
minutes. This sets the milk, besides doing many other things which
blanching by steam always does. After the steaming, cold-dip the corn,
and then cut it from the cob, using a very sharp and flexible knife.
Cut the grains fine, but only halfway down to the cob; scrape out the
remainder of the grains, being careful not to scrape off any of the
chaff next to the cob.
When field corn is used, the good, plump cooking stage is the proper
degree of ripeness for satisfactory drying.
The corn should be thoroughly drained as this facilitates drying. You
can easily remove all surface moisture by placing the corn between
two towels and patting them.
It is now ready for drying. The corn may be dried in the sun, but if
so, it is advisable first to dry it in the oven for ten or fifteen
minutes and then finish the drying in the sun. Never attempt sun
drying in moist weather. The corn may be dried by artificial heat,
either on top of the stove or in the oven, using either plates,
oven-racks properly covered, or any commercial dryer.
Work quickly after the blanching and cold-dipping and get the corn
heated as quickly as possible in order to prevent souring. You get
"flat-sour" often when canning if you do not work quickly enough, and
you will get sour vegetables in drying if you work too slowly.
Where artificial heat is used begin at a lower temperature and
gradually increase it. As the corn is drying, stir it from time to
time and readjust the trays if necessary.
After the drying comes the test to determine whether or not the corn
is sufficiently dry. Vegetables at this point differ from fruits.
Fruits are dried only until leathery, whereas vegetables are dried
until they are bone-dry. They must crackle and snap.
This test is sometimes used to see if the product is sufficiently dry:
Put some of it in a covered glass jar with a crisp soda cracker and
keep them there for a few hours. If the cracker loses its crispness
and becomes soft and damp there is still too much moisture in the
product and it should be dried a little longer to obtain the degree of
dryness required.
After the corn is bone-dry it should, like all other vegetables and
fruits, be conditioned. This means to pour them from one bag or box
to another, once a day for three or four days. This enables you to
notice any moisture that may be left in the dried food. Foods that
show any traces of moisture should be returned to the drying tray for
a short time.
Notice Lima beans particularly, as they require a longer conditioning
period than most vegetables.
After the conditioning, in order to kill all insects and destroy all
eggs, it is advisable to place the vegetables on trays and heat them
in an oven for half an hour at a temperature of 140 degrees
Fahrenheit. Store directly from the oven.
Dried vegetables are stored just as are dried fruits--in cans, cracked
jars that cannot be used for canning, fiber containers, cheesecloth,
paper bags or paraffin containers.
In storing your dried products keep in mind these things: Protection
from moisture, insects, rats, mice, dust and light. If you observe all
these things it is unnecessary to have air-tight containers.
All varieties of string beans can be dried, but only those fit for
table use should be used. Old, stringy, tough beans will remain the
same kind of beans when dried. There are two ways of preparing string,
wax or snap beans for drying:
1. Wash; remove stem, tip and string. Cut or break into pieces
one-half to one inch long; blanch three to ten minutes, according to
age and freshness, in steam; cold-dip. Place on trays or dryer. If you
have a vegetable slicer it can be used for slicing the beans.
2. Prepare as above, then blanch the whole beans. After cold-dipping,
thread them on coarse, strong thread, making long "necklaces" of
them; hang them above the stove or out of doors until dry.
Lima beans should be shelled from the pod and then blanched two to
five minutes if young and tender. If larger and more mature blanch
five to ten minutes.
Okra is blanched for three minutes. If the pods are young and small,
dry them whole. Older pods should be cut into quarter-inch slices.
Small tender pods are sometimes strung on stout thread and hung up to
dry.
Peppers may be dried by splitting on one side, removing the seed,
drying in the air, and finishing the drying in the dryer at 130
degrees Fahrenheit. A more satisfactory method is to place peppers in
a biscuit pan in the oven and heat until the skins blister; or to
steam them until the skin softens, peel, split in half, take out seed,
and dry at 110 to 130 degrees. In drying thick-fleshed peppers like
the pimento, do not increase heat too quickly, but dry slowly and
evenly.
Small varieties of red peppers may be spread in the sun until wilted
and the drying finished in the dryer, or they may be dried entirely in
the sun.
Peppers often are dried whole. If large they can be strung on thread;
if small the whole plant can be hung up to dry.
Shell full-grown peas and blanch three to five minutes; cold-dip and
then spread in a single layer on trays to dry.
When drying the very tender young sugar peas, use the pod also. Wash
and cut in quarter-inch pieces. Blanch six minutes, cold-dip and
remove surplus moisture before drying. When drying beets always select
young, quickly grown, tender beets. Steam twenty to thirty minutes, or
until the skin cracks. Dip in cold water, peel and slice into
one-eighth to one-quarter inch slices. Then dry.
Carrots having a large, woody core should not be dried. Blanch six
minutes; cold-dip. Carrots are often sliced lengthwise into pieces
about one-eighth inch thick. Parsnips, kohl-rabi, celeriac and salsify
are prepared in the same way as are carrots.
Onions should be held under water while peeling and slicing to avoid
smarting of the eyes. They should be sliced into one-eighth to
one-quarter inch slices. Blanch five minutes, cold-dip, remove
superfluous moisture and dry. Leeks are handled as are onions.
Select well-developed heads of cabbage and remove all loose outside
leaves. Split the cabbage, remove the hard, woody core and slice the
remainder of the head with a kraut slicer or cutter or with a large,
sharp knife. Blanch five to ten minutes and cold-dip; dry.
Spinach and parsley should be carefully washed. Steam, cold-dip and
dry. If the spinach is sliced the drying will be greatly facilitated.
Beet tops, Swiss chard and celery are prepared like spinach.
Select sound, well-matured Irish potatoes. Wash and boil or steam
until nearly done. Peel and pass through a meat grinder or a potato
ricer. Collect the shred in layers on a tray and dry until brittle. If
toasted slightly in an oven when dry, the flavor is improved somewhat;
or boil or steam until nearly done, peel, cut into quarter-inch
slices, spread on trays, and dry until brittle. Peeling may be
omitted, but the product will be very much inferior in flavor. Irish
potatoes cannot be satisfactorily dried unless they are first cooked;
otherwise they will discolor.
All root vegetables must be thoroughly cleaned, otherwise an earthy
flavor may cling to them. One decayed root may seriously affect
several pots of vegetable soup.
GENERAL SUGGESTIONS
1. All vegetables should be completely dried in from two to
twenty-four hours.
2. Materials should be turned or stirred several times to secure a
uniform product.
3. If heat is used guard against scorching. The door is left open if
an oven is used; the temperature should be about 110 degrees at the
beginning and usually should not exceed 130 degrees. Onions, string
beans and peas will yellow at more than 140 degrees.
4. A thermometer is essential to successful drying by artificial heat.
5. It is impossible to give definite lengths of times for the
completion of sun drying, as this varies not only with different
products but with the weather. A sultry, rainy day is the worst for
drying.
6. Vegetables should be stone dry.
7. Succulent vegetables and fruits contain from 80 to 95 per cent of
water, and when dried sufficiently still retain from 15 to 20 per
cent; so it is a good plan to weigh before and after drying as a
check. The product should lose from two-thirds to four-fifths of its
weight.
8. Work rapidly to prevent souring of vegetables.
9. Small vegetables, mature beans and peas and small onions may be
dried whole. Larger vegetables should be cut up so as to expose more
surface for drying.
10. The slicing, cutting and shredding should be done before
blanching, with the exception of corn, which is cut from the cob after
blanching.
TIME-TABLE FOR DRYING VEGETABLES
[A] BLANCHING BY STEAM, TIME ON MINUTES
[B] ARTIFICIAL HEAT TEMPERATURE 110° TO 130° F. APPROXIMATE TIME IN HOURS
[C] FAN--NO HEAT APPROXIMATE TIME IN HOURS
PRODUCT | PREPARATION | [A] | [B] | [C]
| |
ASPARAGUS |Wash and cut into pieces| 2 to 4 | 4 to 8 |12 to 24
| | | |
BEANS, | | | |
GREEN | Wash; remove stem, tip | | |
STRING | and string | 3 to 10 | 2½ to 3 |20 to 24
| | | |
BEANS, WAX | Wash; remove stem, tip | | |
| and string; cut into | | |
| pieces or dry whole | 3 to 10 | 2 to 4 | 5 to 8
| | | |
BEETS | Leave skin on while |[1]20 to 30| 2½ to 3 |12 to 16
| steaming | | |
BRUSSELS | | | |
SPROUTS |Divide into small pieces| 6 | 3 to 5 |12 to 16
| | | |
CABBAGE |Remove all loose outside| | |
| leaves; split cabbage | | |
| and remove woody core; | 5 to 10 | 3 to 5 |12 to 24
| slice or shred | | |
| | | |
CARROTS | Wash; slice lengthwise | | |
| into pieces 1/8-inch | 6 | 2½ to 3 |20 to 24
| thick | | |
| | | |
CAULIFLOWER|Clean; divide into small| | |
| bunches | 6 | 2 to 3 |12 to 16
| | | |
CELERY | Wash carefully and | | |
| remove leaves; slice | 3 | 3 to 4 |12 to 16
| | | |
CELERIAC |Clean; pare; slice into | | |
| 1/8-inch pieces | 6 | 2½ to 3 |20 to 24
| | | |
CORN, SWEET| Blanch on cob. From 12 | | |
|ears of corn you should | | |
| obtain 1 pound dried | 15 | 3 to 4 | 2 days
| corn | | |
| | | |
KOHL-RABI |Clean; pare; slice into | | |
| 1/8-inch pieces | 6 | 2½ to 3 | 8 to 12
| | | |
LEEKS | Cut into ½-inch strips | 5 | 2½ to 3 | 8 to 12
| | | |
LIMA BEANS | | | |
(YOUNG) | Shell | 2 to 5 | 3 to 3½ |12 to 20
| | | |
LIMA BEANS | | | |
(OLD) | Shell | 5 to 10 | 3 to 3½ |12 to 20
| | | |
MUSHROOMS | Wash; cut into pieces | 5 | 3 to 5 |12 to 24
| | | |
OKRA | Dry young pods whole. | | |
| Cut old pods in ¼-inch | 3 | 2 to 3 |12 to 20
| slices | | |
| | | |
ONIONS | Remove outside papery | | |
| covering; cut off tops | | |
| and roots; slice thin | 5 | 2½ to 3 |12 to 18
| | | |
PARSNIPS | Clean; pare; cut into | | |
| ½-inch slices | 6 | 2½ to 3 |20 to 24
| | | |
PEAS | Can be dried whole or | | |
| put through grinder | 3 to 5 | 3½ |12 to 20
| | | |
PEPPERS |Skin blistered in oven, | | |
|steamed or sun-withered | .. | 3 to 4 | 24
| | | |
POTATOES, | | | |
IRISH | Cook and rice them | .. | 2½ | 5 to 6
| | | |
POTATOES, | | | |
IRISH | Cook and slice them | | |
| ¼-inch thick | .. | 6 |12 to 20
| | | |
POTATOES, | | | |
SWEET | Cook and rice them | .. | 2½ |12 to 20
| | | |
POTATOES, | | | |
SWEET | Cook and slice them | | |
| ¼-inch thick | .. | 6 |12 to 20
| | | |
PUMPKINS | | | |
AND SQUASH | Cut into 1/3-inch | | |
| strips; peel; remove | 3 | 3 to 4 | 16
| seeds | | |
| | | |
SPINACH |Wash thoroughly; can be | | |
| sliced | 3 | 3 |12 to 18
| | | |
SALSIFY | Wash; cut into ½-inch | 6 | 2½ to 3 |20 to 24
| slices | | |
|
SWISS CHARD|Wash thoroughly; can be | | |
| sliced | 3 | 3 to 4 |12 to 18
| | | |
TOMATOES | Wash; slice after | | |
|steaming to loosen skin | 2 to 3 | 2½ to 3 |12 to 16
| | | |
TURNIPS | Pare and slice thin | 5 | 2½ to 3 |12 to 18
| | | |
---------------------------------------------------------------------
[Footnote 1: Till skin cracks.]
In a properly constructed sun drier vegetables will dry in from 3 to
12 hours under normal summer conditions. Products dried in a sun drier
are superior to those dried in the open without any protection.
Products dry more quickly in high altitudes than at sea level.
CHAPTER XV
EVERY STEP IN BRINING
We have learned how to preserve fruit and vegetables by canning and
drying and now we are going to learn another method to preserve foods,
in which salt is used. We use this salt method for vegetables. It is
not adapted to fruits. We may pickle apples, pears and peaches, but we
ferment, brine and dry-salt only vegetables.
This salt method is not a substitute for drying or canning, but just
an additional method we may employ. Every thrifty housewife of to-day
wants her shelves of canned foods, her boxes of dried foods and her
crocks of salted foods. Each kind has its proper function to perform
in the household. One cannot take the place of the other.
For women on the farm salting is a salvation. In busy seasons when
canning and drying seem an impossibility, a great many vegetables can
be saved by this method in a very short time. The labor required is
very small, as no cooking is necessary. A good supply of salt is the
one necessity.
Besides the saving of time, salting saves jars, which are absolutely
necessary in canning. Old containers can be used if they are
thoroughly cleansed. The vegetables can be put in any container, so
long as it holds water and is not made of metal. Metal containers
should not be used. Old kegs, butter and lard tubs if water-tight,
stoneware jars or crocks, chipped preserve jars, glass jars with
missing covers and covered enamel buckets can all be utilized. Avoid
using tubs made of pitch or soft pine unless coated with melted
paraffin, as they impart a flavor to the vegetables. Maple is the
best.
THREE METHODS OF SALTING FOOD
There are three ways of preserving food by salting: First,
fermentation with dry salting; second, fermentation in brine or
brining; and third, salting without fermentation, or dry salting.
Dry Salting. Fermentation with dry salting consists in packing the
material with a small amount of salt. No water is used, for the salt
will extract the water from the vegetables and this forms a brine.
This is the simplest process of all three and is used mostly for
cabbage. To make sauerkraut proceed as follows: The outside green
leaves of the cabbage should be removed, just as in preparing the head
for boiling. Never use any decayed or bruised leaves. Quarter the
heads and shred the cabbage very finely. There are shredding machines
on the market, but if one is not available use a slaw cutter or a
large sharp knife.
After the cabbage is shredded pack at once into a clean barrel, keg or
tub, or into an earthenware crock holding four or five gallons. The
smaller containers are recommended for household use. When packing
distribute the salt as uniformly as possible, using one pound of salt
to forty pounds of cabbage. Sprinkle a little salt in the container
and put in a layer of three or four inches of shredded cabbage, then
pack down with a wooden utensil like a potato masher. Repeat with
salt, cabbage and packing until the container is full or the shredded
cabbage is all used.
Press the cabbage down as tightly as possible and apply a cloth, and
then a glazed plate or a board cover which will go inside the holder.
If using a wooden cover select wood free from pitch, such as basswood.
On top of this cover place stone, bricks or other weights--use flint
or granite; avoid the use of limestone, sandstone or marble. These
weights serve to keep vegetables beneath the surface of the liquid.
The proportion of salt to food when fermenting with dry salt is a
quarter pound of salt to ten pounds of food. Do not use more, for the
product will taste too salty.
Allow fermentation to proceed for ten days or two weeks, if the room
is warm. In a cellar or other cool place three to five weeks may be
required. Skim off the film which forms when fermentation starts and
repeat this daily if necessary to keep this film from becoming a scum.
When gas bubbles cease to rise when you strike the side of the
container, fermentation is complete. If there is a scum it should be
removed.
As a final step pour very hot melted paraffin over the brine until it
forms a layer from a quarter to a half-inch thick, to prevent the
formation of the scum which occurs if the weather is warm or the
storage place is not well cooled. The cabbage may be used as soon as
the bubbles cease to rise. If scum forms and remains the cabbage will
spoil. You may can the cabbage as soon as bubbles cease to rise and
fermentation is complete. To can, fill jars, adjust rubbers and partly
seal. Sterilize 120 minutes in hot-water bath, or 60 minutes in
steam-pressure outfit at five to ten pounds pressure.
The vital factor in preserving the material by this method is the
lactic acid which develops in fermentation.
If the vegetables are covered with a very strong brine or are packed
with a fairly large amount of salt, lactic acid fermentation and also
the growth of other forms of bacteria and molds are prevented. This
method of preservation is especially applicable to those vegetables
which contain so little sugar that sufficient lactic acid cannot be
formed by bacterial action to insure their preservation.
In the well-known method of vinegar pickling the acetic acid of the
vinegar acts as a preservative like the lactic acid produced by
fermentation. Sometimes brining precedes pickling in vinegar, and
often the pickling is modified by the addition of sugar and spices,
which add flavor as well as helping to preserve the fruit or
vegetables. In some cases olive oil or some other table oil is added
to the vinegar, as in the making of oil cucumber pickles.
Besides sauerkraut, string beans, beet tops, turnip tops, greens, kale
and dandelions are adapted for fermentation with dry salting. String
beans should be young, tender and not overgrown. Remove the tip ends
and strings; cut or break into pieces about two inches long. Wash the
beet and turnip tops as well as all greens, in order to remove dirt
and grit. Weigh all products that are to be salted.
For salting, a supply of ordinary fine salt, which can be purchased in
bulk for about two cents a pound, is most satisfactory for general
use. Table salt will do very well, but it is rather expensive if large
quantities of vegetables are to be preserved. The rather coarse
salt--known in the trade as "ground alum salt"--which is used in
freezing ice cream can be used. Rock salt because of its coarseness
and impurities should not be used.
A weight must be used. The size of the weight depends on the quantity
of material being preserved. For a five-gallon keg a weight of ten
pounds will be sufficient, but if a larger barrel is used a heavier
weight will be needed. The weight should be sufficient to extract the
juices to form a brine, which will cover the top in about twenty-four
hours. If a brine does not form it may be necessary to add more stones
after the material has stood a while.
There always will be more or less bubbling and foaming of the brine
during the first stages of fermentation. After this ceases a thin film
will appear which will rapidly spread over the whole surface and
quickly develop into a heavy, folded membrane. This scum is a growth
of yeast-like organisms which feed upon the acid formed by
fermentation. If allowed to grow undisturbed it will eventually
destroy all the acid and the fermented material will spoil. To prevent
mold from forming it is necessary to exclude the air from the surface
of the brine.
Perhaps the best method is to cover the surface--over the board and
round the weight--with very hot, melted paraffin. If the paraffin is
hot enough to make the brine boil when poured in, the paraffin will
form a smooth, even layer before hardening. Upon solidifying, it forms
an air-tight seal. Oils, such as cottonseed oil or the tasteless
liquid petroleum, may also be used for this purpose. As a measure of
safety with crocks, it is advisable to cover the top with a cloth
soaked in melted paraffin. Put the cover in place before the paraffin
hardens.
After sealing with paraffin the containers should be set where they
will not be disturbed until the contents are to be used. Any attempt
to remove them from one place to another may break the paraffin seal
and necessitate resealing.
Some vegetables which do not contain sufficient water are better
fermented by covering them with a weak brine. Those which are the most
satisfactory when fermented in this way are cucumbers, string beans,
green tomatoes, beets, beet tops, turnip tops, corn and green peas.
The general directions for this brining are as follows:
Wash the vegetables, drain off the surplus water and pack them in a
keg, crock, or other utensil until it is nearly full--within about
three inches of the top of the vessel. Prepare a weak brine as
follows: To each gallon of water used add one-half pint of vinegar and
three-fourths of a cup of salt and stir until the salt is entirely
dissolved. The vinegar is used primarily to keep down the growth of
injurious bacteria until the lactic-acid ferment starts, but it also
adds to the flavor. Spices may be added if desired.
The amount of brine necessary to cover the vegetables will be equal to
about one-half the volume of the material to be fermented. For
example, if a five-gallon keg is to be packed, two and one-half
gallons will be needed. It is best to make up at one time all the
brine needed on one day. A clean tub or barrel can be used for mixing
the brine. Pour the brine over the vegetables and cover. Set the
vessel and its contents away in a moderately warm room to ferment.
When fermentation ceases, the container should be placed in a cool
cellar or storeroom and the surface of the liquid treated to prevent
mold. Before adding the paraffin or cottonseed oil, any scum or mold
which may have formed on the surface of the liquid should be removed
by skimming.
These general directions can always be followed with successful
results, but some modifications are desirable for certain vegetables.
Cucumbers--Dill Style. To pickle cucumbers wash the cucumbers and
pack into a clean, water-tight barrel, keg or crock. On the bottom of
the barrel place a layer of dill weed and a handful of mixed spice.
Add another layer of dill and another handful of spice when the barrel
is half full, and when almost full, add a third layer. If a keg or
crock is used, the amount of dill and spice can be reduced in
proportion to the size of the receptacle. When the container has been
filled to within a few inches of the top, add a layer of covering
material--beet leaves or grape leaves--about an inch thick. If any
spoilage should occur on the surface, this layer will protect the
vegetables beneath. Press down with a clean board weighted with bricks
or stone.
Make the brine as given in the general rules. Add sufficient brine to
cover the material and allow it to stand twenty-four hours. Then make
air-tight. The time necessary for complete fermentation to occur
depends upon the temperature. In a warm place five days to a week may
suffice; in a cool cellar three to four weeks.
The dill and spices may be omitted, in which case we then have plain
cucumbers.
String Beans. Remove the ends and strings from the beans and cut
into pieces about two inches long; pack in the container; cover with
brine and ferment.
Green Tomatoes. Green tomatoes should be packed whole and prepared
as cucumbers. The dill and spice may be added if desired.
Beets. Beets must be scrubbed thoroughly and packed whole. If peeled
or sliced before being fermented the beets lose considerable color and
flavor.
Beet Tops and Turnip Tops. These should be washed thoroughly and
packed into the container without being cut up.
Peas. Green peas should be shelled and packed in the same way as
string beans. It is advisable to use fairly small containers for peas,
so that the quantity opened up will be used before it has a chance to
spoil.
Corn. Husk and clean the silk from the corn; wash and place the ears
on end in the jar, packing the jar nearly full. Pour the brine over
the ears; add cover and weights. Fermented corn has a sour taste,
which may not be relished if the corn is eaten alone. For this reason
it will be preferable in most cases to preserve corn by canning,
drying or by salting without fermentation. Fermented corn, however,
may be used in the preparation of some dishes, such as chowders,
omelets, and so forth, where its flavor will be masked to some extent
by the other ingredients. To some people this peculiar acid taste of
fermented corn is not at all objectionable.
Salting Without Fermentation. In this method the vegetables are
packed with enough salt to prevent fermentation or the growth of
yeasts or molds. The vegetables preserved most satisfactorily by this
method are dandelions, beet tops, turnip tops, spinach, kale, chard,
cabbage, cauliflower, string beans, green peas and corn. The following
directions should be followed:
The vegetables should be washed, drained and weighed. The amount of
salt needed will be a quarter of the weight of the vegetables. Kegs or
crocks make satisfactory containers. Put a layer of vegetables about
an inch thick on the bottom of the container. Cover this with salt.
Continue making alternate layers of vegetables and salt until the
container is almost filled. The salt should be evenly distributed so
that it will not be necessary to use more salt than the quantity
required in proportion to the weights of the vegetables that are used.
Cover the surface with a cloth, and a board of glazed plate. Place a
weight on these and set aside in a cool place. If sufficient liquor to
cover the vegetables has not been extracted pour in enough strong
brine--one pound of salt to two quarts of water--to cover the surface
round the corner.
The top layer of vegetables should be kept under the brine to prevent
molding. There will be some bubbling at first. As soon as this stops,
set the container where it will not be disturbed until ready for use.
Seal by pouring very hot paraffin over the surface.
String beans should be cut in two-inch pieces. Peas should be shelled.
Cabbage should be shredded in the same way as for sauerkraut. Corn,
however, requires somewhat different treatment, and the directions for
salting it are as follows:
Salted Corn. Husk the ears of corn and remove the silk. Cook in
boiling water for about ten minutes to set the milk. Cut off the corn
from the cob with a sharp knife. Weigh the corn and pack in layers
with a quarter its weight of fine salt, as described above.
Some experts insist on blanching and cold-dipping all vegetables for
dry-salting without fermentation. They say that, though it is not
necessary, it makes the tissues softer and consequently they are more
easily penetrated by the salt. Furthermore, when preparing these
products for the table the salt soaks out more readily and the
products cook much more quickly if they have been blanched. So where
there is time it seems advisable to blanch for five minutes for
dry-salting.
If properly prepared and stored, fermented, brined and dry-salted
products will keep for a long time. It is absolutely necessary to
prevent mold from growing on the surface of the brine of fermented
vegetables, by the addition of paraffin or in some other way.
Protection of the surface of dry-salted vegetables is desirable, but
not necessary if the containers are covered to prevent the evaporation
of the brine. Most trouble with the fermented or salted products may
be traced to carelessness in protecting the surface of the brine.
POINTS TO REMEMBER
These are the special things to remember about fermentation, brining
and dry-salting:
1. For fermentation, such as in making sauerkraut, use a quarter pound
of salt to ten pounds of food material. For every 100 pounds of food
add two and a half pounds of salt.
2. For brining use three-quarters of a cupful of salt and one cupful
of vinegar to each gallon of water.
3. For dry-salting use one pound of salt to four pounds of food.
4. Do not use vinegar, pickle or pork barrels as containers for salted
foods unless they are very thoroughly scalded.
5. Thoroughly scald all containers, covers, weights and cloths before
using.
6. If using glass jars put a cork inside to press the food down. If
white vaseline is rubbed on the rubber rings the solution will not get
through rubber and be lost.
7. After adding salt or brine for fermented foods, cover the food
material with a piece of muslin or cheesecloth six inches larger in
diameter than the diameter of the container. Tuck this in round the
top of the food, cover with weight and adjust lid of container.
8. During fermentation keep the cover on loosely until all bubbles
cease. Test by slightly knocking container to see if any bubbles
appear on the surface.
9. When you have made this test and discovered that the bubbling has
ceased, then it is time to protect the food from all organisms which
destroy lactic acid.
10. To protect the food cover with hot melted paraffin or liquid oil.
11. If evaporation takes place, add water or brine to make up the
original amount of water.
12. When dry sealing is used let the product stand twenty-four to
thirty-six hours, then add strong brine to fill the containers. The
water from the vegetables usually only half fills the containers.
TABLE FOR PRESERVATION OF VEGETABLES BY SALT
METHODS |VEGETABLES ADAPTED| AMOUNT OF SALT | OTHER
| TO METHOD | | INGREDIENTS
| | | NEEDED
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I. Dry |Cabbage, which is |¼-lb. salt to 10 | No other.
salting with |converted by this | lbs. food or 2½ |
fermentation.| method into |lbs. salt to 100 |
|sauerkraut, string| lbs. food. |
|beans, beet tops, | |
| turnip tops, | |
| greens, kale and | |
| dandelions. | |
| | |
II. |Cucumbers, string | ¾-cup salt, 1 |Dill and spices
Fermentation | beans, green | gallon water, 1 |can be added. 1
with brine. | tomatoes, beets, | cup vinegar for |lb. dry dill or
| beet tops, corn |brine. Amount of | 2 lbs. green
| and green peas. |brine required is| dill and 1 oz.
| |equal to ½ volume| spices for a
| | of food. |4-gallon crock.
| | |
III. Dry | Dandelions, beet | 25 lbs. salt to | Blanch and
salting |tops, turnip tops,|100 lbs. of food.| cold-dip
without | spinach, kale, |Salt should be ¼ | vegetables for
fermentation.| chard, cabbage, | weight of | five minutes
| cauliflower, | vegetable. | before dry
| string beans, | | salting.
| green peas, and | |
| corn. | |
| | |
| | |
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CHAPTER XVI
CURING, SMOKING AND PRESERVING MEAT
Many farmers seem to have more trouble with the curing of meats than
with the slaughtering. This part of the work is indeed very important
as it determines whether one will have good tasting cured meat or meat
that is too salty or possibly that is far removed from the original
taste of the raw product.
It is worth every farmer or farmerette's attention to spend some time
on this problem as it pays so well in the resulting, good tasting
meat. Why not have a superior grade of home-cured meat as easily as a
poor grade? Work carefully and accurately done will produce good
results while work slovenly or carelessly done can produce nothing but
poor results. To cure meat so that it is not only delicious but has
good keeping qualities is an art and accomplishment worth striving
for. A pride in this work is just as fine and worth while as the
housewife's pride in her culinary skill or the pride of any other
professional in his or her line of work. To-day we are thinking of
food and its problems as never before and it behooves us all to put
more time, thought, care and skill on all things that pertain to
foods. And as meat is such an essential item in our diet, meat
problems should receive their due attention.
All meat that is to be cured should always be thoroughly cooled and
cut into the desired convenient sizes before it is put into the brine
or packed in dry salt.
The pieces most commonly used for curing are the ham, shoulder and
bacon pieces from pork. From beef we use the cheaper, tougher cuts
such as the plate, shoulder and chuck ribs. Mutton is seldom cured and
preserved.
The ham should be cut off at the hock joint, the spare ribs taken out
of the bacon, and the ragged edges trimmed off smooth. If ragged edges
or scraggy ends are left these portions will become too dry in the
curing and will practically be wasted.
After all the animal heat is removed from the meat and it is properly
cut it is then ready for the curing. If salt is put on the meat before
the animal heat is all removed, it will have a tendency to shrink the
muscles and form a coating on the outside which will not allow the
generating gases to escape. Meat should never be in a frozen condition
when the salt is added as the frost will prevent the proper
penetration of the brine and uneven curing will be the result.
METHODS OF CURING MEAT
The two most common methods of curing meat are first the brine or
sugar cure process and second the dry-curing process. For general farm
use the brine cured process is the better. It requires less time, less
effort and not such an exacting place for the work. On most farms it
is impossible to secure a desirable place in which to do the
dry-curing as the meat is exposed to rats, cats, flies and other
insects. The dry-curing requires considerable time to rub and salt the
meat at different times while the only attention that is necessary for
brine-curing is to properly prepare and pack the meat in the vessel
and prepare the brine for it.
UTENSILS FOR CURING
If possible use a round container for the curing. It is easier to put
the meat in tightly, and the space can be used to better advantage. A
hardwood barrel of some kind is excellent. Sirup, molasses or lard
barrels which have been thoroughly cleaned are very satisfactory. If
you use a vinegar or an oil barrel it should be well burned on the
inside before using. Stone crocks or jars are sometimes used but they
are expensive and cumbersome to handle besides the constant danger of
loss of brine from breakage.
PRESERVATIVES
For curing the meat the farmer usually uses salt, salt peter, white or
brown sugar or molasses. These are the necessary preservatives. The
others such as boracic acid, borax and soda are often used for
sweetening the brine and to keep it from spoiling but are not
absolutely essential. The salt extracts moisture and acts as a
preservative. The sugar or molasses imparts a nice flavor and has a
tendency to keep the muscle tissue soft in contrast to the salt, which
has a tendency to make it hard and dry. So the salt and sugar have two
distinct functions to perform, the one to harden and preserve, the
other to soften and sweeten. If you have a favorite recipe that has
proved satisfactory and you want to use sorghum or molasses instead of
sugar add one pound more of the molasses. If you have been accustomed
to using 2 pounds of sugar then use 3 pounds of the other sweetening.
Salt peter is not absolutely necessary as far as the preserving is
concerned but it helps to hold the red color of the lean meat. If salt
peter is not used the lean meat will be gray in color. It may possibly
be a little tenderer if the salt peter is not used as the salt peter
tends to harden the meat. Chili salt peter can be substituted in place
of salt peter, if only four-fifths as much is used.
THE SUGAR BRINE CURE
All formulas for the sugar brine cure are practically the same varying
only a little in the proportions of sugar, salt and salt peter. If you
have a formula that you have tried for years and have found it to be
satisfactory there is no reason you should attempt a new one. But for
those who want to try a different formula or recipe I will give you
this reliable one that is widely used and indorsed by several
agricultural colleges.
The container should be scalded thoroughly. Sprinkle a layer of salt
over the bottom and over each layer of meat as it is packed in, skin
down. When full, cover meat with boards and weight down with a stone
so that all will be below the brine, which is made as follows:
Weigh out for each 100 pounds of meat, 8 pounds of salt, 2 pounds of
sugar (preferably brown) or 3 pounds of molasses, and 2 ounces of salt
peter. Dissolve all in 4 gallons of water. This should be boiled, and
when thoroughly cooled, cover the meat. Seven days after brine is put
on, meat should be repacked in another barrel in reverse order. The
pieces that were on top should be placed on the bottom. The brine is
poured over as before. This is repeated on the fourteenth and
twenty-first days, thus giving an even cure to all pieces. Bacon
should remain in the brine from four to six weeks, and hams six to
eight weeks, depending on the size of the pieces. When cured, each
piece should be scrubbed with tepid water and hung to drain several
days before smoking; no two pieces should come in contact. For all
curing always use dairy salt and _not table_ salt, as the latter
contains starch to keep it dry and this starch may cause the meat to
spoil. If you carefully follow these directions you will have
delicious sugar-cured hams and bacon.
CORNED BEEF
It is desirable to have an ample supply of corned beef on hand. For
this any part of the beef may be used but the parts usually selected
are the plate, rump, cross-ribs and brisket, which are the tougher
cuts of the meat. The brisket and plate are especially good because of
the character of the fat, which is somewhat like a tissue. Cut all
around the meat to about the same thickness, so that it will make an
even layer in the barrel. It is best to remove the bone, although this
is not necessary. Be sure to start the pickling or curing while the
meat is perfectly fresh, but well chilled. Do not wait like some
farmers do until they think the meat is beginning to spoil and then
salt it down just to save it. Allow ten pounds of dairy salt to each
100 pounds of meat. Sprinkle a layer of the salt in the bottom of the
crock, barrel, or whatever container is used. Have the salt about
one-fourth of an inch in depth. After the layer is in the bottom of
the container put the cuts of meat in as closely as possible, making
the layer five or six inches in thickness, then put on another layer
of salt, following that with another layer of meat. Repeat until the
meat and salt have all been packed in the barrel, care being taken to
reserve salt enough for a good layer on the top. Cover the meat with a
board and weight down with a stone and _not_ an _iron_ weight. Do not
allow any meat to project from the salt or mold will start and the
brine will spoil in a short time. Let the meat stand over-night.
Prepare a brine by boiling 7 pounds salt, 3 pounds brown sugar or 6
pounds molasses, 2 ounces baking soda, 2 ounces salt peter and 4
gallons water for every 100 pounds of meat. This quantity of brine
should be sufficient to cover that amount.
Remove any scum that rises to the surface and filter the hot brine
through muslin. Set the brine aside, best over-night, to become
perfectly cold before using. In the morning tip the container in which
the meat is packed so that all liquor which has separated from the
meat over night may drain off. Cover the meat with the cold brine. Put
the container in a cool place. The curing will be more satisfactory if
the meat is left at a temperature of about 38 degrees F. Never let the
temperature go above 50 degrees F. and there is some risk with even a
temperature of 40 degrees F. if it is continuous. The sugar or
molasses in the brine has a tendency to ferment in a warm place.
After about five days the meat should be overhauled and repacked,
putting the pieces which were previously on the bottom on top. Pour
back the same brine, and five days later repeat the overhauling. This
may seem like some trouble and possibly look like a useless waste of
time but it is well worth while as it insures a more rapid and uniform
curing of the meat.
When unpacking the meat watch the brine to see that it is not ropy or
moldy. If you find either condition existing remove the meat and rinse
each piece with cold water and after scalding the container pack the
meat as at first with a little salt. Scald and skim the brine and
after it is cold pour it on the meat as before. You can use corned
beef if necessary after a week in the cure, but it is not thoroughly
cured until it has been from 20 to 30 days in the brine. If kept for
sixty days it will be salty enough to need freshening before cooking.
If the meat has been corned during the winter, and is to be kept until
summer, watch the brine closely during the spring as it is more likely
to spoil then than at any other time.
PLAIN SALT PORK
Rub each piece of meat with dairy salt, and pack closely in a
container. Let stand over-night. The next day weigh out ten pounds of
salt and two ounces of salt peter for each 100 pounds of meat, and
dissolve in four gallons of boiling water. Pour this brine, when cold,
over the meat, cover, and weight the meat down to keep it under the
brine. The pork should be kept in the brine until used.
SMOKING CURED MEATS
Of course many farmers never attempt to smoke their cured meats but
use them directly from the brine but if possible it is more
satisfactory to smoke them before using for several reasons. First,
the process of smoking helps to preserve the meat. The creosote formed
by the combustion of the wood closes the pores of the meat to a great
extent thus excluding the air and helping it to keep and at the same
time makes the meat objectionable to insects. In the second place,
pickled or cured meats taste better and are more palatable if smoked.
Of course the smoking must be properly done and the right kind of fuel
must be used.
The Smokehouse and the Smoke. It is not necessary to have a regular
smokehouse--although it is a delightful addition to any farm. Here
again a community meat ring is of great advantage. One smokehouse will
answer for many families. This is the ideal arrangement and it can
easily be managed if you are progressive and anxious enough to supply
your family with delicious meat the year around saving time and money.
If, however, you have to do your own smoking and smoke only a small
quantity at a time a barrel or box will answer. Overheating of the
meat must be guarded against.
Green hickory or any of the hardwoods or maple should be used for the
smoking. Pine or any other resinous woods should not be used as they
give a disagreeable flavor to the meat. If it is impossible to get
hardwood use corncobs rather than soft wood. The corncobs will leave a
dirty deposit on the meat, which is carbon. It is not objectionable
only from the standpoint of "looks." The meat which you are going to
smoke should be removed from the brine the day before the smoking. A
half hour soaking in cold water prevents a crust of salt from forming
on the outside. Do not hang the meat so that any two pieces touch as
this would prevent uniform smoking.
Always start with a slow fire so as to warm the meat up gradually.
Thirty-six to forty-eight hours of heat as near 120 degrees F. as
possible will be sufficient under most circumstances.
How to Store Smoked Meats. A dry, cool cellar or attic where there
is good circulation is a good place for storage. If the meat is to be
used soon the meat can hang without coverings but for long keeping you
will have to wrap it when cold in waxed paper and then in burlap,
muslin or canvas bags and then hang it, after it is tied very tightly
to prevent insects from getting in, in a room with a cool uniform
temperature.
Some farmers get satisfactory results by wrapping the meats in strong
bags and then burying them in oat bins.
SAUSAGE
Frequently when animals are butchered on the farm there are often
wholesome portions of the carcass that are not used. All trimmings,
cheeks, liver, tongue, breast and other pieces can be made into
bologna, headcheese or some other form of sausage. Sausage making is
an art worth acquiring. There is always a good demand for fresh and
smoked country sausage, so if you wish to sell some you will have no
trouble in finding a market for your product if it is a good one.
To make sausage you should have a meat grinder, which is an absolute
essential on every farm. If you do not have one already then buy a No.
22 or No. 32.
In addition to the grinder you will need a stuffer attachment which
costs very little. A knife, cord, string, a clean tube and casings or
muslin bags will complete your equipment. The muslin bags can be of
any size but the easiest to handle are 12 inches long and 2 inches in
diameter. If the sausage is stuffed into these bags they must be
paraffined for home use. If you do not want to bother with casings or
bags put the sausage in stone crocks or tin pans with a layer of lard
or paraffin on top.
The best sausage is made by using 3 parts of lean meat to one of fat.
When using the grinder, distribute the lean and fat meat as uniformly
as possible.
You are not necessarily limited to pork sausage, for there are many
other delicious varieties you can make. They vary in the different
kinds of meat used and in the different seasonings and spices.
Breakfast sausage has bread added to it; frankfurters are smoked pork
sausage in casings; liver sausage has pork and beef or veal and bread
in it; and blood sausage, as its name suggests, has blood (preferably
from a hog) added to it. Then there is tomato sausage which is made of
pulp from fresh tomatoes, pork sausage and crackers. Summer sausage is
made in the winter and kept for use during the summer. After being
dried and cured it will keep for months. Brain sausage is delicious.
To make it calves' brains are mixed with lean pork. Cambridge sausage
has rice added to it.
Headcheese is usually made from the hog's head but odds and ends also
can be used not only from pork but from beef and veal.
Scrapple usually means the head and feet of hogs but it can be made
from any hog meat. It is a good food as it uses cornmeal. It makes a
change from fried mush and most men working on a farm relish it.
Sausage can be made from mutton mixed with pork in much the same way
as beef is used for similar purposes. A general formula would be 2
parts of mutton to 3 parts pork with seasonings.
With a plentiful supply of good home-cured and home-smoked meats,
together with several varieties of sausages, you can feel you are well
equipped to feed your family with its share of meat. Everything will
have been utilized, nothing will have been wasted. You produced your
own meat, you slaughtered and cured and smoked it and put all
trimmings and other "left-overs" into appetizing food for your family
and you have saved money. You have utilized things at hand and
required no transportation facilities. And best of all, you have the
very finest in the land for your family and that gives one a perfectly
justifiable pride in the work accomplished.
CHAPTER XVII
PRESERVED OR "CANNED" EGGS
As one-half of the yearly egg crop is produced in March, April, May
and June consumers would do well to store enough at that time to use
when production is light. Fifty dozen eggs should be stored for a
family of five to use during the months of October, November, December
and January, at which time the market price of eggs is at the highest.
When canning them _the eggs must be fresh_, preferably not more than
two or three days old. This is the reason why it is much more
satisfactory to put away eggs produced in one's own chicken yard or
one's neighbor's.
Infertile eggs are best if they can be obtained--so, after the
hatching exclude the roosters from the flock and kill them for table
use as needed.
_The shells must be clean._ Washing an egg with a soiled shell lessens
its keeping quality. The protective gelatinous covering over the shell
is removed by water and when this is gone the egg spoils more rapidly.
Use the soiled eggs for immediate use and the clean ones for storage.
_The shells also must be free from even the tiniest crack._ One
cracked egg will spoil a large number of sound eggs when packed in
water glass.
Earthenware crocks are good containers. _The crocks must be clean and
sound._ Scald them and let them cool completely before use. A crock
holding six gallons will accommodate eighteen dozen eggs and about
twenty-two pints of solution. Too large crocks are not desirable,
since they increase the liability of breaking some of the eggs, and
spoiling the entire batch.
It must be remembered that the eggs on the bottom crack first and that
those in the bottom of the crock are the last to be removed for use.
Eggs can be put up in smaller crocks and the eggs put in the crock
first should be used first in the household.
METHOD OF STORING
There are many satisfactory methods of storing eggs. The commercial
method is that of cold storage and if it were not for this method
winter eggs would be beyond the average purse.
The fact that eggs have been held in cold storage does not necessarily
mean that they are of low quality. Carefully handled cold-storage eggs
often are of better quality than fresh local eggs that have been
improperly cared for.
In the home they may be packed by several methods: Salt, oats or bran;
covering them with vaseline, butter, lard, paraffin or prepared
ointments; immersion in brine, salicylic acid, water glass (sodium
silicate) or limewater.
Any of these methods will keep the eggs for short periods if stored in
a cool place. The salt, oats and bran are very satisfactory. The
ointments also are satisfactory. The water glass and limewater will
keep eggs without loss for a year. However, it is not wise to put down
more eggs than is necessary to tide over the period of high price.
WATER GLASS METHOD
"Water glass" is known to the chemist as sodium silicate. It can be
purchased by the quart from druggists or poultry supply men. It is a
pale yellow, odorless, sirupy liquid. It is diluted in the proportion
of one part of silicate to nine parts of distilled water, rain water,
or other water. _In any case, the water should be boiled and then
allowed to cool._ Half fill the vessel with this solution and place
the eggs in it, being careful not to crack them. The eggs can be added
a few at a time until the container is filled. Be sure to keep about
two inches of water glass above the eggs. Cover the crock to prevent
evaporation and place it in the coolest place available from which the
crock will not have to be moved. Wax paper covered over and tied
around the top of the crock can be used. Inspect the crock from time
to time and replace any water that has evaporated with cool boiled
water.
LIMEWATER METHOD
Limewater is also satisfactory for preserving eggs and is slightly
less expensive than water glass. A solution is made by placing two or
three pounds of unslaked lime in five gallons of water, which has been
boiled and allowed to cool, and allowing the mixture to stand until
the lime settles and the liquid is clear. The eggs should be placed in
a clean earthenware jar or other suitable vessel and covered to a
depth of two inches with the liquid. Remove the eggs as desired, rinse
in clean, cold water and use immediately.
If using the limewater method add a little of the lime sediment to
insure a constantly saturated solution. If a thin white crust appears
on the limewater solution it is due to the formation of calcium
carbonate coming in contact with the air and consequently does no
harm.
CANDLING EGGS AT HOME
If you purchase the eggs that are to be stored it is safer to candle
them. Examining eggs to determine their quality is called "candling."
Every one knows that some eggs are better than others, but the ease
with which the good ones can be picked out is not generally
understood. The better the quality of eggs, the surer the housewife
can be that they will keep satisfactorily.
HOMEMADE CANDLER
The equipment for candling usually consists of either a wooden, a
metal, or a cardboard box and a kerosene lamp or an electric light. A
very inexpensive egg candler for home use can be made from a large
shoe-box or similar cardboard box. Remove the ends of the box, and cut
a hole about the size of a half-dollar in one side. Slip the box over
the lamp or electric bulb, darken the room, hold the egg, with the
large end up, before the opening in the box and its quality can easily
be judged.
SIGNS OF A GOOD EGG
When held before the opening of the candle, good eggs will look clear
and firm. The air cell (the white spot at the large end of the eggs)
should be small, not larger than a dime, and the yolk may be dimly
seen in the center of the egg. A large air cell and a dark, freely
moving yolk indicate that the egg is stale.
If the shell contents appear black or very dark, the egg is
absolutely unfit for food. If you are in doubt about the quality of
any eggs you are candling break a few of them into a dish and examine
them. This is an excellent way to learn to know how good and bad eggs
look when they are being candled.
Discard all eggs that have shrunken, loose contents, a watery
appearance, cracked and thin shells. Eggs of this description will not
keep and are apt to spoil the eggs close around them. Any egg that
floats in the solution should be discarded.
When packing eggs whether in salt, oats, or in solution place them
with small end down. When packing them in salt, oats, etc., do not
allow any two eggs to touch.
PACKING THE EGGS
One gallon of water glass as purchased will make enough preservative
to preserve from 75 to 100 dozen eggs.
Three gallons of either water glass solution or limewater solution
will preserve from 200 to 240 dozen eggs according to the size of the
eggs and the shape of the container.
The cost of preserving eggs by the water glass method is about one
cent per dozen eggs, not considering the cost of the container. The
lime water method is still cheaper.
The following gives the sizes of jars with approximate capacity for
eggs and the amount of water glass solution required to cover the
eggs:
1 gallon jar--40 eggs, 3½ pints of solution or 1¾ qt.
2 gallon jar--80 eggs, 8 pints of solution or 2 quarts.
3 gallon jar--120 eggs, 11 pints of solution or 5½ quarts.
4 gallon jar--160 eggs, 14½ pints of solution or 7¼ quarts.
5 gallon jar--200 eggs, 18 pints of solution or 9 quarts.
6 gallon jar--216 eggs, 22 pints of solution or 11 quarts.
10 gallon jar--400 eggs, 36 pints of solution or 18 quarts.
HOW TO USE PRESERVED EGGS
When the eggs are to be used, remove them as desired, rinse in clean,
cold water, and use immediately.
Eggs preserved in water glass can be used for soft boiling or poaching
up to November. Before boiling such eggs prick a tiny hole in the
large end of the shell with a needle to keep them from cracking, as
the preservative seals the pores of the shell and prevents the escape
of gases, which is possible in the strictly fresh egg.
They are satisfactory for frying until about December. From that time
until the end of the usual storage period--that is until March--they
can be used for omelettes, scrambled eggs, custards, cakes and general
cookery. As the eggs age, the white becomes thinner and is harder to
beat. The yolk membrane becomes more delicate and it is
correspondingly difficult to separate the whites from the yolks.
Sometimes the white of the egg is tinged pink after very long keeping
in water glass. This is due, probably, to a little iron which is in
the sodium silicate, but which apparently does not injure the eggs for
food purposes.
CHAPTER XVIII
HOME STORAGE OF VEGETABLES
Towards the end of the canning season most housewives have used every
available glass jar and tin can and hesitate about purchasing a new
supply. They have dried and brined many products and yet they feel,
and rightly so, that they would like still more vegetables for winter
use. There still remains another method that they may employ to
provide themselves with a plentiful supply of vegetables and these
vegetables can be in the fresh state too. Neither canned, dried,
pickled or salted but fresh.
Canning, drying, pickling and salting are essential and necessary but
they can not take the place of storage. To keep vegetables in their
natural state is the easiest and simplest form of food preservation.
Of course, you must take proper precautions against freezing and
decay. If you do this you can have an abundant supply of many kinds of
fresh vegetables all winter, where climatic and living conditions will
permit. Storage costs but little money and little effort and yet it is
very satisfactory.
There are many vegetables that can be stored to good advantage. They
are: Beets, Brussels Sprouts, Beans, Celery, Carrots, Chicory or
Endive, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Kohl-rabi, Lima Beans, Onions, Sweet
Potatoes, Squash (Winter), Salsify or Vegetable Oyster, Tomatoes,
Turnips.
To get good results in any kind of storage, you must observe four
things:
1. Proper ventilation.
2. Proper regulation of temperature.
3. Sufficient moisture.
4. Good condition of vegetables when stored.
There are six different ways to store vegetables. They are: cellar
storage, pit storage, outdoor cellar or cave storage, attic storage,
sand boxes and pantry storage.
CELLAR STORAGE
We will first of all consider cellar or basement storage. One of the
most convenient places for the storage of vegetables is a cool,
well-ventilated and reasonably dry cellar underneath the house. This
cellar must have windows or some method of ventilation, must not be
too warm and not so cold that food will freeze. If there is proper
ventilation there can be some dampness without injury to the
vegetables. If your cellar or basement floods easily or has water
standing in it anywhere it should not be used for vegetable storage.
If there is a furnace in the cellar or basement a small room as far as
possible from the heating plant should be partitioned off. Do not
build a room in the middle of the cellar, for two sides of the room
should consist of outside walls.
If possible have two outside windows for proper regulation of the
temperature and for good ventilation. If you cannot have two windows
have one.
A very good arrangement for constant circulation of air consists in
having a stove-pipe inserted through one of the lower panes of the
window to admit cold air. One of the upper panes of the window can be
removed to allow for the escape of warm air. That is, of course, if
the window is made of nine or twelve small panes of squares of glass.
In severely cold weather this upper pane can be replaced or the
opening stuffed up in some way.
If you do not have an old stove-pipe you can make a wooden flue of old
boards or old discarded boxes.
Most cellars and basements are now made with concrete floors. The
ideal floor for storage purposes is an earth floor. However, we can
put two or three inches of sand on our concrete floors and get good
results. Sprinkle the sand with water from time to time.
Put the vegetables that are to be stored in boxes, baskets, barrels or
crates. Use containers that hold only two or three bushels apiece. If
larger boxes or barrels are used there is always danger of heating and
decay. Of course, proper precautions should be taken against mice.
An excellent way to prevent wilting of crops and shrinkage is to put
moist leaves, oak or maple, in the containers with the vegetables.
Moist sand is sometimes used but it is much heavier to handle than the
leaves. It is no difficult matter to rake the lawn when you are ready
to store the vegetables.
The vegetables that are adapted for cellar storage are beets, cabbage,
carrots, celery, parsnips, potatoes, salsify and turnips.
PIT STORAGE
There are two kinds of pits that may be used for storage. Those that
are not frost-proof and those which are frost-proof.
Some vegetables are not injured by being held in a frozen condition
during the winter months. Cabbage is not injured by moderate frost.
Cabbage and parsnips will stand freezing and a little thawing, so they
can be put in pits or better still, boxes or barrels set into the
ground may be used. Make the pit mound shaped. If the earth is mounded
around the box, barrel or pit, surface water cannot run in.
If using this kind of storage do not store the products until both the
ground and the products are frozen solid. The idea is to keep the
vegetables frozen or to have very few freezings and thawings, and
those few should be gradual.
After the pit has been made or the box or barrel has been set into the
ground and filled with vegetables, it should be covered first with a
piece of burlap or carpet, then with a mouse-proof board cover and
finally with straw or similar material. When taken from the pit, the
vegetables can be thawed out over night in cold water, after which
they can be kept in the cellar for a short length of time.
The pits for keeping vegetables free from frost must be carefully and
thoughtfully made, but they are cheap and are very useful and
practical when caves or cellars are not convenient.
The frost-proof pit for storing vegetables should always be placed in
as well-drained a place as possible. A shallow excavation should be
made from one to two feet deep, four feet wide and as long as
desired. Line the pit with straw, hay or leaves, then place the
vegetables in a conical pile on the straw. Cover the vegetables with
six inches of the material used in making the lining. This is covered
with three or four inches of earth. The straw is allowed to extend up
through the earth at the top of the pile, thus assuring ventilation.
When it becomes colder add more covering to the pit by another layer
of straw and a layer of earth. In very cold climates a layer of manure
or corn stalks will afford protection against frost.
It is well to make several small pits rather than one larger one for
the reason that when a pit has once been opened it is difficult to
protect the remaining vegetables from frost.
It is advisable to store several varieties of vegetables in one pit so
that when each pit is opened you have a variety of vegetables. If you
follow this plan separate the various crops by using straw or leaves.
Pits are entered by chopping a hole through the frozen earth at one
end, large enough to reach into or crawl into. After the vegetables
have been obtained keep the hole stuffed and covered most carefully
and deeply with old sacks and straw.
If the smaller pits are used, a decidedly better arrangement, take out
all the vegetables in the pit and those that are not needed for
immediate consumption can be placed in the cellar storage room, or
other cool place, until needed. Do not use those pits if you live
where winter rains are abundant as the pits will become water soaked
and the vegetables will suffer more or less decay.
OUTDOOR CELLAR STORAGE
Outdoor cellars or caves may be cheaply built for more or less
temporary use or they may be very expensively built of concrete,
brick, or clay blocks. Of course, the latter are permanent storing
places and offer perfect storage for potatoes, carrots, cabbages,
parsnips, beets, turnips and salsify.
The objectionable features of indoor cellar storage is that such
storage does not furnish ideal conditions for keeping the vegetables
fresh for any great length of time.
The objectionable feature to the pit storage is the inaccessibility to
these pits during severe weather.
The outdoor cellar or cave overcomes both these objections. The
outdoor cellar or cave is an underground structure, preferably built
in a hillside and fully covered with earth except at one end only
where the entrance is located. If there are doors at both ends it is
almost impossible to prevent freezing in very cold weather. The cave
door should fit perfectly and there should be a hatchway or door over
the steps leading down to the cave door.
A very satisfactory inexpensive cellar can be made by digging an
excavation about 5 ft. deep and in this erecting a frame by setting
posts in rows near the dirt walls. Saw these posts off at uniform
height and place plates on their tops. On these plates place rafters.
Board up completely with the exception of the entrance. Cover the
whole with dirt or sod and in cold climates add a layer of straw or
fodder.
A ventilation must be provided in the roof at the back end. A sewer
tile with the bell end up makes a very good flue. A dirt floor is
satisfactory as it contains moisture. If there is any seepage use a
drain tile to carry it off.
The more pretentious permanent cellars are provided with air spaces to
furnish insulation; are provided with large ventilation shafts through
the roof and cold air intakes under the floor. Thorough drainage is
obtained by placing a line of tile around the outside wall and also by
having the air intake serve as a drain for surplus water that might
get into the cave. The floor is cement or concrete. Such a cave is
expensive but is a permanent structure and a good addition to any farm
or estate. If properly made it is possible to maintain a temperature
of 34 to 38 degrees without much fluctuation during the winter months.
This kind of storage is not only adapted for vegetables but apples as
well. It is better adapted to the Northern, Eastern and Western States
than to the Southern States, where it is likely to be warm at the time
the vegetables are ready for storage. When making the cave, have it as
near as possible to the kitchen door. Sometimes caves are made so that
they can be entered from the house, cellar or porch.
ATTIC STORAGE
Some vegetables such as onions, squashes, sweet potatoes and pumpkins
can be stored in the attic in crates which allow free circulation of
air. They must be absolutely free from bruises and must be well
ripened and cured. To cure the vegetables expose them to the air for a
few days in the shade. Remove the tops of onions before storing. The
attic is much better for storing onions than the basement. Squashes
are susceptible to cold and moisture, so are suitable for the attic.
Be very careful in handling the squashes to prevent breaking the
stems off. Watch pumpkins and squash carefully and at the first sign
of decay, use immediately or can.
SAND BOX STORAGE
Sand boxes in cellars, pits or caves are desirable for beets, turnips,
kohl-rabi, carrots, winter radishes and rutabagas. The sand keeps them
cold and prevents evaporation. Kohl-rabi should be tender when stored.
PANTRY STORAGE
Where there is no attic or where it is inconveniently reached, the
products that are adapted to a very dry place can be stored on the
pantry shelves or in a dry cellar near the furnace. They are onions,
squashes, pumpkins and sweet potatoes.
The keeping qualities of all these vegetables, no matter what storage
is used, depends chiefly upon their condition when placed in storage.
All products to be stored must be mature, but not overgrown. Root
crops should be dry while the ground is in good working condition. All
vegetables should be allowed to become surface dry before placing them
in storage.
White or Irish potatoes, especially, should not be exposed to bright
sunlight any length of time. Only vegetables free from disease or
injury should be stored. Any that are damaged can be used immediately,
or can be canned or dried.
Further particulars for the storing of fresh vegetables are given in
the following tables.
TABLE FOR VEGETABLE STORAGE
VEGETABLES
|HOW BEST STORED
| |PREPARATION FOR STORAGE
| | |AMOUNT FOR FAMILY OF TWO
| | | |REMARKS
| | | |
Irish Potatoes
|Must be kept cool with a slight degrees of moisture. Use
|either cellar or cave methods. No potato should be more than
|four ft. from air if stored in barrels, boxes, crates or
|bins.
| |Potatoes must be dug before the ground is crusted with
| |frost. Frosted potatoes will spoil, one after another.
| |Impossible to sort out frosted potatoes.
| | |10 to 15 bus.
| | | |Remember Irish potatoes are ruined by
| | | |freezing. Potatoes should be kept absolutely
| | | |dark to prevent greening by light. Never buy
| | | |potatoes in sacks that show wet places due to
| | | |a frosted potato.
| | | |
Sweet Potatoes
|Require warmth and dryness. In crates or on shelves in warm
|dry room. Can be spread on the floor in the room above the
|kitchen where they will have plenty of heat, especially for
|the first 2 or 3 weeks after they are dug.
| |When the sweet potatoes are dug they should be allowed
| |to lie in the sun and wind for 3 or 4 hours so as to
| |become perfectly dry. They must be well ripened and free
| |from bruises. Can be kept on shelves in a very dry place
| |and they need not be kept specially cold. Sweet potatoes
| |keep best when they are showing just a little
| |inclination to sprout. However, if they start growing
| |the quality is greatly injured.
| | |2 to 3 bus.
| | | |If you are in doubt as to whether the sweet
| | | |potatoes are matured enough for storage, cut
| | | |or break one end and expose it to the air for
| | | |a few minutes. If the surface of the cut or
| | | |break dries, the potato is mature. But if
| | | |moisture remains on the surface, it is not
| | | |fully ripened. In places where there are early
| | | |frosts, sweet potatoes should be dug about the
| | | |time the first frost is expected, without
| | | |considering maturity.
| | | |
Carrots
|Are best stored in sand in cellars, caves or pits; or in
|tightly covered boxes or crocks. Must be kept cold and
|evaporation must be prevented, for otherwise they become
|wilted.
| |Can remain in the ground until the weather is quite
| |cool; then be pulled, the tops cut off and then stored.
| | |1 to 3 bus.
| | | |If you store carrots in the cellar and it is
| | | |extremely dry cover them with a little
| | | |moistened sand.
| | | |
Celery
|May be rooted in earth in a cellar or cave and if watered
|occasionally will keep fresh until Christmas. The soil, earth
|or sand, in which the celery is set should be 2 or 3 inches
|deep. This soil must not be allowed to become dry.
| |Can remain in the ground until the weather is quite
| |cool.
| | |5 dozen good plants or bunches.
| | | |Another way to store celery is to bank it to
| | | |the top with earth; cover the tops with
| | | |boards, straw, or leaves and allow it to
| | | |remain where it has grown until wanted for
| | | |use. Another way is to dig a trench 12 inches
| | | |wide and deep enough to correspond with the
| | | |height of the celery, then lift the celery and
| | | |pack it in this trench with some soil about
| | | |the roots. When the weather becomes colder,
| | | |cover the trench with boards nailed together
| | | |in the form of a _V_ shaped trough and over
| | | |this inverted trough put a layer of soil. The
| | | |ends of this trough should be left open for
| | | |ventilation until freezing sets in, then close
| | | |these openings with straw, old bags or soil.
| | | |If the freeze ceases and there is a spell of
| | | |warmer weather open the ends slightly for
| | | |ventilation. When the celery is first stored
| | | |in the trenches the soil about the roots of
| | | |the celery should be watered and and if the
| | | |weather is dry after the celery is put in the
| | | |trenches, pour some water around the roots to
| | | |keep the celery crisp and fresh.
| | | |
Cabbage
|Can be wrapped in paper with the outer leaves left on for
|immediate use and stored in ventilated barrels or large
|crates in the cellar. But as few cellars are cool enough to
|keep cabbage in good condition it is more advisable to store
|it in a long shallow pit in the garden.
| |Is not injured by moderate frost while in the pit but
| |should not be disturbed while frozen. The pit should be
| |long and narrow. Pull the cabbage, stem, root and all,
| |and then laid with heads down about 3 heads in width can
| |be placed in the pit. Cover lightly with soil and as the
| |weather becomes colder add a little more soil until
| |there is a layer 6 or 7 inches thick over the cabbage.
| |Keep the ends of the pit partially open for ventilation
| |until the weather becomes very cold.
| | |25 heads.
| | | |Late varieties of cabbage are the only ones
| | | |fit for storage. It is advisable to dig a
| | | |shallow ditch around the pit so that all
| | | |surplus water can be carried off.
| | | |
Chickory or Endive
|Store in a box or bed of moist sand in the cellar. Put roots
|in an upright position with the sand coming just to their
|tops. Water the sand occasionally. Sometimes a covering of
|straw is added to blanch the tender growth of shoots, which
|is the part used as food.
| |Late in the fall lift the roots out and carefully trim
| |off the leaves without injury to the heart.
| | |5 doz. roots.
| | | |Chickory or endive is grown the same as
| | | |carrots or salsify. It is useful in the winter
| | | |for it furnishes the needed green that is so
| | | |scarce in winter.
| | | |
Beets
|Must not be placed in too large piles in the cellar as they
|are inclined to mold. Can also be buried in pits in open
|ground.
| |Can remain in the ground until very cool weather; then
| |should be pulled, the tops cut off and then stored in
| |the cellar.
| | |1 bushel.
| | | |Beets are not so much inclined to shrivel as
| | | |carrots.
| | | |
Salsify or Vegetable Oyster
|Pack roots in box with moist sand in cellar or as they are
|not injured by remaining in the ground all winter they can be
|left there. Enough for immediate use may be dug in the autumn
|and the others dug as desired.
| |When stored in the cellar after the salsify is pulled,
| |trim off the tops and then stand them in an upright
| |position with the sand even with the tops.
| | |75 to 100 roots.
| | | |Is injured by too much freezing and thawing,
| | | |so should remain frozen.
| | | |
Parsnips
|Can be stored just as salsify or be allowed to remain in the
|ground until wanted.
| |Those that are to be stored in the cellar can remain in
| |in the garden until the weather is quite cool, then
| |prepare and store like salsify.
| | |1 bushel in the cellar and one in the garden.
| | | |Parsnips are best kept frozen or fresh in the
| | | |cellar as too much freezing and thawing
| | | |destroys them.
| | | |
Turnips
|Must be stored where temperature is low or sprouting will
|result. Moderate freezing does no harm while in the storage
|pit but they must not be disturbed while frozen.
| |Pull; cut tops off and store in sand in cellars or
| |caves, or in pits, or in tightly covered boxes or
| |crocks.
| | |1 to 3 bus.
| | | |The object is to keep them cold and prevent
| | | |evaporation. It is a good plan to store a
| | | |portion in the cellar so as to be available
| | | |during the time that those buried in the pit
| | | |are "frozen in" and not so easily accessible.
| | | |
Onions
|Require a cool dry place. Attic excellent.
| |Before storing, cure them by exposing to the air for a
| |few days in the shade. Dryness is absolutely essential.
| |A well cured onion should be firm and not readily dented
| |at the base of the tops by the tip of the thumb when
| |held in the hand.
| | |3 bushels.
| | | |Onions are best for storage if topped about 1½
| | | |inches long.
| | | |
Cauliflower
|Planted in shallow boxes of soil in light place in the
|cellar.
| |Must not be too mature.
| | |Store as many as possible.
| | | |If kept well watered they will mature for
| | | |winter use.
| | | |
Brussels Sprouts
|Planted in soil in cellar.
| |Must not be too mature.
| | |According to family tastes.
| | | |Keep watered and will mature.
| | | |
Ground Cherries or Husk Tomatoes
|May be stored for some weeks in the husk in their layers in a
|dry place free from frost.
|
Kohl-rabi, Winter Radishes, Rutabagas
|Best stored in sand in cellars, cares or pits.
| |Must be kept cold to prevent evaporation.
| | |According to the family tastes.
| | | |Kohl-rabi must be tender when stored.
| | | |
Horse-radish
|May be kept in the ground where grown all winter. Must be
|kept frozen as thawing injures it.
|
Pumpkins
|Best kept on shelves in a very dry place. Can be kept on
|shelves in furnace room.
| |Must be ripened and cured and free from bruises.
| | |5 ordinary sized pumpkins.
| | | |Need not be kept especially cold.
| | | |
Squashes
|Susceptible to cold and moisture, so store in a dry place
|where temperature will be between 50 and 60 degrees.
| |Care must be taken that stem is not broken.
| | |10 ordinary sized hubbard squashes.
| | | |Whenever squashes or pumpkins in storage show
| | | |signs of decay, the sound portion should be
| | | |immediately canned.
| | | |
Tomatoes
|Cool cellar or cave; can be wrapped in any absorbent paper
|preferably without printing upon it, and laid upon shelves to
|ripen. The paper absorbs the moisture given off by the
|tomatoes and causes them to ripen uniformly. If cellar is dry
|or well ventilated, tomatoes can be kept a month or six weeks
|in this manner.
| |May be kept until Christmas if vines with the green
| |tomatoes hanging on them are pulled and hung in the
| |cellar. Pull the vines before they are frosted.
| | |All that you can put away.
| | | |Most of the tomatoes that are put into storage
| | | |will ripen and be most acceptable as soon as
| | | |they color up. If these tomatoes, when cooked,
| | | |are found to be very acid, the acidity may be
| | | |overcome by using baking soda.
| | | |
Parsley
|Transplant into flower pots late in the fall.
| |Keep in windows where they will receive plenty of
| |sunshine.
| |
Garlic
|Should be thoroughly cured as are onions.
| |Or it may be braided by the tops into strings which are
| |hung up in dry places for curing and storing.
| |
Head Lettuce
|Rooted in earth in a cellar or cave.
| |Water occasionally.
| | |All you have in the garden.
| | |
Dry beans and peas
|Stored where protected from weevils.
| |Should be fully ripened before shelling. Pick pods by
| |hand as they ripen and spread pods to become thoroughly
| |dry. May be shelled by spreading pods on a sheet and
| |beating them with a stick. Can be cleaned by pouring
| |them from a height of 4 or 5 ft. upon a sheet and
| |allowing the wind to blow the particles of pod out of
| |them as they fall.
| | |As many as you can gather.
| | |
Apples
|Must be kept in a dry, cool place and so stored as to be in
|no danger of absorbing odors from vegetables stored nearby.
|Apples absorb odors from potatoes, onions, turnips and other
|strong vegetables.
| |Sort apples carefully removing and using at once all
| |fruit that is bruised and shows signs of decay. The best
| |results are obtained by wrapping each apple in half a
| |sheet of newspaper and storing in barrels, boxes, crates
| |or bins. The wrapping prevents apples from touching and
| |thus prevents decay. It also protects apples from odors
| |of vegetables stored nearby.
| | |As many barrels of apples as possible. Remember
| | |that "An apple a day will keep the doctor away."
| | | |The cellar or other storage place must be kept
| | | |cool. 32° F. is ideal. Never allow temperature
| | | |to go above 40° F. They can be stored
| | | |unwrapped in barrels, boxes, crates, bins,
| | | |etc., if proper attention is paid to sorting,
| | | |to providing a cool place for storage, to
| | | |occasional sorting during the winter and for
| | | |the immediate removal of all decayed fruit.
| | | |Even if you do not raise apples, but have a
| | | |good storage place, meeting the requirements
| | | |as regards temperature, you will find it
| | | |advantageous to buy a winter's supply in the
| | | |autumn, when prices are low.
CHAPTER XIX
HOW TO MARKET HOME CANNED PRODUCE
You have some delicious jellies, jams, canned fruits and vegetables
that you wish to sell and you do not know just how to go about it.
There are at your disposal several means of selling:
1. Through advertising.
2. Through personal letters to desirable shops, delicatessens,
boarding-houses, colleges, etc.
3. By direct salesmanship; that is, by making personal visits to the
buyers, either homes or stores.
4. Through jobbers to whom you pay a commission on all sales.
5. Through coöperative selling.
Perhaps the cheapest and easiest way for you to handle your problem is
to employ the method so much used to-day and that is wayside
advertising. Wayside advertising costs practically nothing and yet it
pays.
Autos are everywhere these days. You cannot take a country ride
without seeing many signboards at the farm entrances advertising
chickens, fresh eggs, vegetables, honey, apples and canned goods. I
have a friend who drives 50 miles every fall for her honey. She first
found it by seeing the sign in front of the farm and now she returns
year after year because she thinks no other honey is just like it. She
would never have discovered it if that farm woman had not been clever
enough to think of advertising her goods in this cheap way. My friend
told all her other "auto" friends, so the country woman has a splendid
outlet for her product now. If you live on a good road that is
patronized at all by autoists you ought to get your signboard up at
once.
We often pass a farm where the sign "Fresh Home-Made Candy" always
tempts us to stop and buy. What autoist could resist that sign? And
here miles from town this clever woman is carrying on a profitable
side trade, which is netting her a nice little yearly income. Her
candy is good; we go often and so do many others. She has turned her
profession into a paying proposition. She could send her candy away by
parcel post or by some other means, but she would not be so far ahead
as she is now.
In addition to your wayside advertising you could advertise in papers,
magazines, etc. Many producers believe strongly in advertising in
daily and weekly papers. You can quickly find out whether this kind of
advertising pays. Give it a trial at least. After you have spent ten
or fifteen dollars in advertising you ought to know whether it pays.
Use one or two of the city papers near you, taking the publisher's
advice as to the best day of the week on which to run the
advertisement, the size and the position of the "ad." The first cost
of getting your customers may seem high, but with good products you
could soon build up a list of people to whom sales can be made year
after year.
This form of advertising has many advantages. If your advertising copy
is clever and you have some novelty to offer, you ought to receive
many orders. If orders come, you get the full retail price, the
shipping charges are paid by the customer, and cash comes with every
order. And it means, if your customers are pleased, that you have
permanent customers. The initial cost is great and there is a risk,
but remember "it pays to advertise."
There are millions of city women who never can a jar of fruit or put
up a single glass of preserves or jelly who will be glad to have you
send your goods direct to them by parcel post. But you must get in
touch with these women either through wayside advertising, magazine
and paper advertising or by direct salesmanship, although very few
women have the time for personal calls.
Considerable business can be done by letter writing to stores,
restaurants and boarding-houses in distant cities. It may be
impossible for you to go personally, in which case letters often bring
the desired results. Make your letters business-like and typewrite
them. Do not be discouraged if you do not get many replies at first as
there are at least fifty per cent who pay no attention to such
letters. But this form of advertising usually pays.
Another method followed by many home canners is that of marketing
direct to the retail grocers, care being taken, of course, to protect
these grocers by not selling to more than one member in a community.
One of the great advantages, of this direct salesmanship is that
little selling effort is required on your part after the first
arrangements have been made. The nearby market plan is greatly to be
recommended because you can keep in touch with your selling concern,
build up a line of desirable goods and promote its sale by
advertising.
Of course you can get more money for your goods if you have time and
the opportunity to sell _direct to_ the consumers. You will of
necessity have to sell cheaper to the grocers because they too must
make their profit. Marketing direct to the consumer has a special
appeal to many people. Where time is available and the community
accustomed to purchasing in this manner, this method offers great
possibilities. The profits are of course higher but the results more
uncertain, for it is somewhat difficult to gauge the demands of the
public, and the canner must assume the risk ordinarily taken by the
merchant.
It takes time and patience to develop a list of customers but if you
have time in the winter to do this you will find it will pay you well.
If you can get customers who are willing to pay good prices for
quality, scrupulous cleanliness and the homemade flavor, you will get
a larger gross return than if you sold through merchants, but if your
time is valuable it would scarcely pay you to take individual orders
and deliver goods.
There is still another way and that is to market your home-canned
products in large lots to jobbers, but if this plan is to be pursued
successfully there must be a reasonably large pack and wholesale
rates. This method produces more uniform profits year by year, for
after a reputation is established the home-canner would not experience
great difficulty in thus disposing of her entire output by contract,
providing the quality was high and the price demands not excessive.
But the greatest and best way of all to find a profitable market for
your things is to coöperate with other canners in your own
neighborhood and find a market for quantity as well as quality.
Delicatessens, club houses, tea shops, college dormitories,
restaurants and hotels, all pay good prices for fine quality. No big
buyer will bother to purchase one or two dozen of this or that. He
wants dozens of things. One of the very best profitable ways to sell
with little trouble is through quantities. Get all the women in your
community to bring together cans of fruit and preserves, etc., to some
marketing place. Find out how many jars of currant jelly you have, how
many cans of peas and corn, how many of cherries, etc., and then
notify your buyer or prospective buyer.
Coöperative selling has been undertaken and found profitable. In some
cases, especially in localities frequented by the summer boarder or
the automobile tourist, sales are made direct to customers who come to
the salesrooms of the organizations or to their special sales; in
other cases goods are sent by parcel post and other means. The women
in the community can hire or beg a room where all the women of the
community can sell their products for individual profit. This room
should be located on the direct automobile road in order to attract
tourists and automobile parties. An annual membership fee of from 50
cents to $1 generally is required for these organizations, and a
charge of from 10 to 15 per cent of the selling price usually is made
to cover the cost of selling. In a few instances the managing board
has been able to secure an efficient person to take charge of the
enterprise for a specified percentage on the sales.
Wholesale grocery concerns are interested in big things--orders can
be placed with them. Soda fountains in towns and cities are excellent
customers for the freshest eggs they can get. They are encroaching
more and more on the trade of the restaurants and lunch rooms. Many
serve light luncheons and would be interested in good butter,
preserves and jams. When you get a list of names and addresses write
to several dozen places, tell what your organization has in the way of
guaranteed eggs, homemade products and what kind of service you could
offer in the way of regular shipments. When orders come it is an easy
matter to look up at your local bank the responsibility of any
customer, so there is little risk. Or cash can be insisted upon with
every order, although large concerns prefer to pay after receipt of
goods and bill.
Each woman in this coöperative organization must keep her goods up to
a certain standard, for an inferior lot of goods sent to a large firm
might ruin a reputation.
Three things govern the sale of canned products--appearances, quality
and price. So many things enter into consideration of prices
obtainable that it is difficult to set a standard which will be
applicable to different sections. The quality of the pack, its
neatness, the method of marketing and many other matters must be
considered in deciding this all-important point. As a general
proposition, however, if the products are uniformly high grade, prices
may be obtained which are somewhat in excess of factory-made products
marketed in the same manner.
Like any other new industry, the selling should be developed slowly in
order to minimize the possibility of loss and to assure stable
business. One should study the situation carefully both from the
manufacturing and marketing standpoints. Plan the season's campaign
before taking up the work, and do not let the enthusiasm of the
beginner interfere with good business judgment.
The selling when rightly managed can be made a successful business or
it can be turned into a liability through careless, unbusinesslike
methods and insufficient or unwise planning. Properly handled it will
pay well for the investment of time and money, and offer opportunity
for the disposal of surplus home-canned, home-grown, homemade and
home-prepared products of all kinds.
LIVING UP TO CONTRACTS
Care must be taken not to contract for more than can be delivered.
This would be bad business, and business principles must govern in
selling home products just as in other enterprises if one is to be
increasingly successful from year to year.
Occasionally a quantity of fruit which will not meet the rigid
requirements of the canning business can be turned into preserves,
jellies or fruit juices. Preserves and jellies should be marketed in
glass, and fruit juices in bottles, although some manufacturers are
now marketing some of these products in fiber cups. This line of
products will require some additional equipment, but there is a steady
demand for such homemade things and many women are deriving profits
through the sale of their tastily prepared jellies, just as pickles
and condiments have lined the pocketbooks of ambitious housewives
before now.
Home canning for the market is essentially a matter of specializing
and of giving the consumer a better product than he is accustomed to
purchase. Too much emphasis cannot be placed upon the maintenance of a
high standard for home-canned goods. Care should be taken that every
jar measures up to a rigid standard, for a single one which falls
below grade will neutralize the reputation and standing obtained by
the sale of a dozen jars of perfect product. A quality is necessary
which will warrant a money-back guarantee on every jar.
THE USE OF LABELS IN CANNING
Labels for both tin cans and glass jars should tell the truth as to
the quality, weight and kind of product within the pack. Before
adopting a trade-mark and label, consult the Bureau of Chemistry, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., as to label requirements
for canned goods prepared for the market.
It pays to show samples of all your canned goods at county and state
fairs. You may win many premiums. Goods which are canned with
preservatives should be debarred from all exhibits.
PACKING GLASS FOR SHIPPING
Wrap each glass or jar separately in rumpled newspapers or excelsior
and pack in barrels or boxes. Line these containers with papers or
excelsior.
Strong corrugated parcel post boxes can be obtained for this purpose.
Wrap each jar with excelsior or paper before putting it in its proper
section. If sending large amounts send all boxes or all barrels, do
not mix them,--sending half barrels and half boxes--as large concerns
like uniform packages.
PACKING TIN FOR SHIPPING
Two dozen cans is the regulation shipping case. Have the shipping
boxes of uniform size. Put the two dozen cans in the box and nail on
the top. Be exceedingly careful not to drive nails into the cans. On
both ends of the box paste labels such as are on the cans, telling
what the contents of the box are.
Address the box carefully using marking ink or a regulation tag. If a
tag, tack with small tacks on the top of the box. Write your own name
and address on the tag _distinctly_ as the sender. Be as careful of
the tacks as you were of the nails. Always get a receipt from your
express agent if shipping by express as this will be necessary in case
of non-receipt of goods.
Send to the concern or individual to whom you are sending the goods a
list of the things you have sent. This is called an invoice. Keep a
copy of the invoice for yourself so if any question arises you will
know what you are talking about.
SHIPPING TERMS
C.O.D. means collect on delivery. The purchaser pays the price of the
products to the transportation company before they are delivered.
F.O.B. means free on board. For instance: if you send a shipment of
canned goods to Chicago at $6.00 per case f.o.b. Charles City it means
that you deliver the canned goods to the freight depot at Charles City
and the purchaser pays both the price per case and the freight. If you
deliver them f.o.b. Chicago it means you deliver them to the freight
depot at Charles City and also pay the freight to Chicago.
Bill of Lading with Sight Draft Attached is a call for the money
before the purchaser can take the products from the freight office.
Drop Shipment. If a wholesale firm requests that you ship direct to
another firm buying from him, thus avoiding two shipments, this is
called a drop shipment.
Lot Shipment. If you ship two or more barrels or cases as a "lot
shipment" to the same destination they may be sent at a cheaper rate
than if each were shipped separately.
LIST OF FIRMS FURNISHING SUPPLIES FOR CANNING, DRYING, PRESERVING, ETC
HOME AND CLUB COÖPERATIVE CANNING OUTFITS AND DEVICES
Butler Manufacturing Co. Kansas City, Mo., and Hot water and steam
Minneapolis, Minn. pressure canners.
Carolina Metal Products Co. Wilmington, N.C. " " "
H.P. Chandlee Sons Co., Baltimore, Md. Hot water canners.
Farm Canning Machine Co. Meridian, Miss. " " "
Favorite Manufacturing Co. Tamps, Florida Water-seal canners.
Florida Metal Products Jacksonville, Fla. Water-seal canners.
Griffith & Turner Co. 205-207 N. Pace St., Steam canners.
Baltimore, Md.
Halftime Cooker Co. 7556 Oglesby Avenue, Pressure canners.
Chicago, Ill.
Hall Canner Co. Grand Rapids, Mich. Hot water bath
canners.
Henninger & Ayes Mfg. Co 80-82 N. 5th Street, Steam pressure
Portland, Ore. canners.
Home Canner Manufacturing Hickory, N.C. Hot water canners.
Co.
E.F. Kirwan & Co. Baltimore, Md. " " "
Modern Canner Co. Chattanooga, Tenn. " " "
Monarch Manufacturing Co. Chattanooga, Tenn. " " "
Northwestern Steel & Iron Eau Claire, Wis. Steam pressure
Wks. canners.
Phillips & Buttorff Mfg. Nashville, Tenn. Hot water canners.
Co.
Pressure Cooker Co. Denver, Colo. Aluminum steam
pressure cookers
and canners.
T.H. Raney Chapel Hill, N.C. Hot water canners.
A.K. Robins & Co. Baltimore, Md. Steam pressure
canners
Royal Supply Co. Cincinnati, Ohio Steam process
canners.
Southern Canner and Chattanooga, Tenn. Hot water canners
Evaporator Co.
Sprague Canning Machinery 222 No. Wabash Ave., Steam pressure
Co. Chicago, Ill. canners.
F.S. Stahl 212 N. 4th Street, Hot water canners.
Quincy, Ill.
Standard Water-Seal Canner 17 N. 2nd Street, Water-seal canners.
Co. Philadelphia, Pa.
Utility Company Hickory, N.C. Hot water canners.
Willson Canner Company Louisville, Ky., and Water-seal and
No. 8 G St., N.W. pressure canners.
Washington, D.C.
HOME EVAPORATORS, DRYERS, AND EQUIPMENT FOR DRYING
American Paring Machine Co 1231 Callowhill St.,
Philadelphia, Pa. Peeler
Harry Bentz Engineering Co. 90 West St., New York City Dryer
G.S. Blakekslee & Company, 2806 Quinn St., Chicago, Ill. "
H.P. Chandlee Sons Co., Baltimore, Md.
Enterprise Mfg. Co., 3rd and Dauphin Sts.,
Philadelphia, Pa. Slicer
Edw. B. Fahrney, Waynesboro, Pa.
Gordon Engineering Corporaton 39 Cortlandt St., New York City "
The Grange Sales Association, Lafayette Bldg., Philadelphia, Pa.
Hunter Dry Kiln Co. Indianapolis, Ind. Dryer
Imperial Machine Company, 108 West 34th St., N.Y. City Cuber
Lake Breeze Motor Co., 564 W. Monroe St., Chicago Dryer
Philadelphia Drying Machinery Stekley St., above Westmoreland,
Co. Philadelphia, Pa. "
Philadelphia Textile Machinery Sixth St. and Tabor Road, "
Co. Philadelphia, Pa.
Phillips & Buttorff Mfg. Co., Nashville, Tenn.
John E. Smith's Sons Co., Buffalo, N.Y. Cuber
Southern Evaporator Co., Chattanooga, Tenn.
F.S. Stahl, 212 N. 4th St., Quincy, Ill.
N.R. Streeter Company, Rochester, N.Y. Dryer
N.R. Streeter & Co., Rochester, N.Y. "
B.F. Sturtevant Company, Hyde Park Dist., Boston, Mass. Peeler
Stutzman Mfg. Company, Ligonier, Ind.
H.G.W. Young Co., 61 Hanover St., Boston, Mass. Cuber
MECHANICAL SEALS AND SEALERS FOR TIN AND GLASS
American Metal Cap Co.,
Summit St. and Commercial
Wharf, Brooklyn, N.Y. Metal bottle caps.
American Pure Food Process Co.,
Greenmount Avenue and Preston
St., Baltimore, Md. Mechanical sealer for glass jars.
Bowers Can Seal Company,
146 Summer St., Boston, Mass. Automatic can sealers for tin cans.
Burpe Can Sealer Co.,
215 W. Huron St., Chicago. Tin can sealer and opener.
Columbia Specialty Co.,
Baltimore, Md. Metal bottle caps.
Crown Cork and Seal Co.,
Baltimore, Chicago, San
Francisco, and other cities Sanitary metal bottle caps and sealers.
The Enterprise Mfg. Co.,
Philadelphia, Pa. Bottle cappers from 3 in. to 14 in.
Frazer & Co., Mechanical hand sealer for sanitary
50 Church Street, New York City cans.
Henninger & Ayes Mfg. Co.,
47 1st Street, Portland, Ore. Automatic can sealers for tin cans.
States Metals Co., Hand sealers for sanitary cans.
30 Church Street, New York City
STEAMERS
Aluminum Cooking Utensil Co. New Kensington, Pa.
Toledo Cooker Co. Toledo, Ohio.
Wilmot, Castle & Co. Rochester, N.Y.
HEATING DEVICES, LIFTING CRATES, AND OTHER LABOR-SAVING DEVICES
L.B. Allen Co. 4517 No. Lincoln St.,
Chicago, Ill. Commercial flux.
Biddle-Gaumer Co. Philadelphia, Pa. Patent canners.
H.P. Chandlee Sons Co. Baltimore, Md. " " "
Fagley & Halpen Philadelphia, Pa. " " "
Handy Mfg. Co. Maritime Bldg.,
Seattle Wash., and Individual jar holders.
208 No. Wabash Ave.,
Chicago, Ill.
Kerr Glass Mfg. Co. Sand Springs, Okla. Duplex fork.
Manning, Bowman & Co. Meriden, Conn. Alcholite stoves.
Parker Wire Goods Co. Worcester, Mass. Lifting tray for jars.
Pearce Co. Albion, Mich. Racks and lifters.
W.H. Schaefer Co. Toledo, Ohio. Fruit jar wrench.
LABELS, STICKERS, SHIELDS AND BADGES
Camden Curtain and
Embroidery Co Camden, New Jersey.
R.P. Clarke & Co. Washington, D.C.
Dennison Mfg. Co. Boston, Mass.
U.S. Printing and
Lithograph Co. Cincinnati, Ohio.
TIN CANS AND GLASS JARS
American Can Co. New York City. Tin cans.
Ball Bros. Glass
Mfg. Co. Muncie, Ind. Screw top and glass-top jars
Ben Schloss San Francisco, Cal. Glass jars.
Buck Glass Co. Baltimore, Md. Glass jars.
Chesapeake Glass Co. Baltimore, Md. Glass jars.
Continental Can Co. Chicago, Ill. Tin cans.
Frazer & Co. 50 Church St., N.Y.C. Sanitary cans.
Hazel-Atlas Glass Co. Wheeling, W. Va. Glass-top jars.
Johnson-Morse Can Co. Wheeling, W. Va. Tin cans.
Kearns-Gorsuch Bottle
Co. Zanesville, Ohio. Glass jars.
Kerr Glass Mfg. Co. Sand Springs, Okla. Suction seal and Mason
jars.
E.F. Kirwan Co. Baltimore, Md. Tin cans.
A.K. Robins & Co. Baltimore, Md. Tin cans and general
equipment.
Schramm Glass Mfg. Co. St. Louis, Mo. Suction seal and screw
top jars.
Smalley Fruit Jar Co. 26 Dock Sq., Boston, Glass-top jars.
Mass.
Southern Can Co. Baltimore, Md. Tin cans.
F.S. Stahl Quincy, Ill. " "
Staunton Jar Corporation Ellicott Sq, Buffalo, Vacuum seal jars.
N.Y.
United States Can Co. Cincinnati, Ohio Tin cans.
Virginia Can Co. Buchanan, Va. " "
Wheeling Can Co. Wheeling, W.Va. " "
RUBBER RINGS FOR COLD-PACK CANNING
Acme Rubber Co. Trenton, N.J.
Boston Woven Hose &
Rubber Co. Boston, Mass.
United States Rubber Co. Cleveland, Ohio.
GLASS BOTTLES AND OTHER CONTAINERS FOR FRUIT JUICES, CATSUP,
ETC.
Adams Brothers Co. Chicago, Ill.
Atlantic Bottle Co. 90 West Broadway, N.Y. City.
Berney-Bond Glass Co. Bradford, Pa.
Cape May Glass Co. Cape May Court House, N.J.
Cumberland Glass Mfg. Co. Bridgeton, N.J.
The Federal Glass Co. Columbus, Ohio
C.L. Flaccus Glass Co. Pittsburgh, Pa.
Glenshaw Glass Co. Glenshaw, Pa.
C.C. Goss Glass Co., Mfg. Agts. 172 Fulton St., New York City.
Hocking Glass Co. Lancaster, Ohio.
Imperial Glass Co. Charleroi, Pa.
Indiana Glass Co. Dunkirk, Ind.
D.C. Jenkins Glass Co. Kokomo, Ind.
Kearns-Gorsuch Bottle Co. Zanesville, Ohio.
North Wheeling Glass Bottle Co. Wheeling, W.Va.
Ripley & Co. Connellsville, Pa.
Schramm Glass Mfg. Co. St. Louis, Mo.
Sheffield Glass Bottle Co. Sheffield, Pa.
The Sterling Glass Co. Lapel, Ind.
Turner Brothers Co. Terre Haute, Ind.
United States Glass Co. Salem, N.J.
Upland Flint Bottle Co. Upland, Ind.
Western Bottle Mfg. Co. West end Randolph St. Bridge,
Chicago, Ill.
Whitall-Tatum Co. 410-416 Race St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Wightman Bottle & Glass Mfg. Co. Parkers Landing, Pa.
Williamstown Glass Co. Williamstown, N.J.
Woodbury Glass Co. Winchester, Ind.
GLASS BOTTLES SEALED WITH CORKS AND METAL CAPS
Acme Glass Co. Olean, N.Y.
Binghamton Glass Co. Binghamton, N.Y.
C.L. Flaccus Glass Co. Pittsburgh, Pa.
Hazel-Atlas Glass Co. Wheeling, W.Va.
Imperial Glass Co. Charleroi, Pa.
Jeanette Glass Co. Jeanette, Pa.
Kearns-Gorsuch Bottle Co. Zanesville, Ohio.
North Baltimore Bottle Glass Co. Terre Haute, Ind.
Turner Brothers Co. Terre Haute, Ind.
Whitney Glass Works Glassboro, N.J.
EARTHENWARE AND STONEWARE CONTAINERS
Buckel Pottery Co. White Hall, Ill.
Buckeye Pottery Co. Macomb, Ill.
Burley and Winter Pottery Co. Crooksville, Ohio.
Hawthorn Pottery Co. Hawthorn, Pa.
Logan Pottery Co. Logan, Ohio
Louisville Pottery Co. Louisville, Ky.
Muskingum Pottery Co. White Cottage, Ohio.
Nashville Pottery Co. Nashville, Tenn.
Nelson McCly Sanitary Hardware Co. Roseville, Ohio.
Paducah Pottery Co. Paducah, Ky.
Pfaltzaraff Pottery Co. York, Pa.
Ransbottom Bros., Pottery Co. Roseville, Ohio.
Red Wing Union Stoneware Co. Red Wing, Minn.
Star Stoneware Co. Crooksville, Ohio.
Uhl Pottery Co. Evansville, Ind.
Western Stoneware Co. Monmouth, Ill.
White Hall Sewer Pipe & Stoneware Co. White Hall, Ill.
FIBRE AND PAPER CANS AND BOTTLES
American Can Co. 447 W. 14th, New York City, and
Chicago, Ill.
The American Paper Can Co. Washington, D.C.
The Canister Company of New Jersey Phillipsburg, N.J.
Continental Paper Bag Co. 17 Battery Place, New York City.
Cordley & Hayes 7-9 Leonard St., New York City.
The Empire Paper Tube and Box Co. 155 Bank St., New York City.
The Hygeia Paper Container Co. 2106 Auburn Ave., Toledo, Ohio.
Moisture Proof Fibre Can Co. Detroit, Mich.
Mono-Service Co. Newark, N.J.
Samuel W. Moore & Sons 95 Liberty St., New York City.
National Paper Can Co. 576 Clinton St., Milwaukee, Wis.
National Paper Products Co. San Francisco, Cal.
Pure Food Package Co. 200 Devonshire St., Boston, Mass.
The Purity Paper Bottle Co., Inc. 1341 S. Capitol St., Washington,
D.C.
W.C. Ritchie & Co. 400 S. Green St., Chicago, Ill.
Sanitary Paper Bottle Co. Sandusky, Ohio.
Single Service Package Corp. of
America 326 Hudson St., New York City.
St. Louis Paper Can & Tube Co. 4400 Union Boulevard, St. Louis, Mo.
The Standard Package Co. 50 State St., Boston, Mass.
Washington Paper Can Co. 425 12th St., N.W., Washington, D.C.
Weis Fibre Container Corporation Monroe, Mich.
FOIL-LINED PAPER BAGS
Thomas M. Royal & Co. Bryn Mawr, Pa.
DELIVERY CONTAINERS FOR EGGS, VEGETABLES, DRIED FOOD PRODUCTS,
ETC.
Bloomer Bros. Co. Newark, New York.
Doane Carton Co. 920 N. Market St., St. Louis, Mo.
Hinde & Dauch Paper Co. Sandusky, Ohio.
Mono-Service Co. Newark, N.J.
National Paper Products Co. San Francisco, Cal.
Thomas M. Royal & Co. Bryn Mawr, Pa.
W.A. Schurmann & Co. 365 E. Ill. St., Chicago, Ill.
Sefton Mfg. Co. 1301 W. 35th St., Chicago, Ill.
Thompson & Norris Co. Brooklyn, N.Y.
United States Corrugated Fibre
Box Co. Roosevelt Ave., Indianapolis, Ind.
Weis Fibre Container Corporation Monroe, Mich.
PARCEL POST EGG CONTAINERS
O.B. Andrews Co. Chattanooga, Tenn.
H.K. Brunner 45 Harrison St., New York City.
J.C. Bulis Mfg. Co. 1122-28 S. 12th St., St Louis, Mo.
Continental Paper Bag Co. 17 Battery Place, New York City.
Cummer Mfg. Co. Cadillac, Mich.
Day Collapsible Box Co., Inc. Washington Grove, Md.
Empire Printing & Box Co. Atlanta, Ga.
F.B. Foster & C o. 2447 Locust St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Robert Gair Co. Brooklyn, N.Y.
Hinde & Dauch Paper Co. Sandusky, Ohio.
Ohio No-Break Carrier Co. 702 Mercantile Library Bldg.,
Cincinnati, Ohio.
Sefton Mfg. Corporation 1301 W. 35th St., Chicago, Ill.
Self-Locking Carton Co. 437 E. Illinois St., Chicago, Ill.
Thompson & Norris Co. Concord & Prince Sts., Brooklyn,
N.Y.
Boston, Mass., and Brookville, Ind.
U.S. Safety Egg Carrier Co. Newark, N.Y.
Wallace Egg Carrier Co. 451 3rd St., San Francisco, Cal.
MISCELLANEOUS CORRUGATED BOARD CONTAINERS
American Can Co. New York City and Chicago, Ill.
J.C. Bulis Mfg. Co. 1122-28 S. 12th St., St. Louis, Mo.
Empire Printing & Box Co. Atlanta, Ga.
Federal Glass Co. Columbus, Ohio
Robert Gair Co. Brooklyn, N.Y.
Hinde & Dauch Paper Co. Sandusky, Ohio
National Paper Products Co. San Francisco, Cal.
Sefton Mfg. Corporation 1301 W. 35th St., Chicago, Ill.
Thompson & Norris Co. Concord and Prince Sts., Brooklyn,
N.Y.
Boston, Mass., and Brookville, Ind.
U.S. Corrugated Fibre Box Co. 1315 Martindale Ave., Indianapolis,
Ind.
THERMOMETERS FOR OVEN, CANDY AND SUGAR
Taylor Instrument Companies Rochester, N.Y.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Every Step in Canning" ***
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