River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1897-09-02
HOW TO CAN FRUIT.
Az Easy ia Preserve Natural FiaFO
to Produce = watery stew.

As Easy "a Preserve Natural Flavor
to Produce = Watery stew.
Although canning is the commonest
and easiest method of putting up fruit
for winter use, there is great need of
John-the-Baptist sort of reform &c
show the majority of housewives how
little of il comes anywhere near being
as good as il might be, or as that which
is put up at first class factories.
Now. there isn't any mystery about
canning fruit. 1t is a plain cause and
effect every time, and il is Just as easy
TO have il delicate and natural-fiavored
as it is TO have an insipid, watery stew
or sort OF half-made form that is sick
eningly sweet.
To begin with. it won't do to use
half-grown, green or dead-ripe fruit.
nor coffee sugar, nor tin dishes and iron
spoons. The fruit must be large, ripe
and fresh; the cans sound and sweet,
and the rubbers soft; and every vessel,
ladle and spoon must be porcelain
lined, agate or of some metal that is
proof against the acid in fruitjuice.
Pare and core fruits with a silver
knife for the last-named reason, and
take off as thin pairing as possible, be-
cause the richest part lies close to the
skin.
Plums and pruues are richer if the
skins are left on. or else they should be
sealded and then quickly plunged into
cold water to loosen them. Scalding is
apt to soften peaches before il loosens
the skin. so il is better to pare them.
Strawberries should be washed be-
fore they are stemmed, and then only 4
few at a time, and put them il a
colander or soup strainer, so the water
cannot stand on them.
More sugar should be used for straw
berries than for raspberries and buckle
berries. Cherries, plums and pears
need about a teacupful of sugar for a
pint can, and peaches quarter of
cup less. GRADUATED sugar should al
ways be used.
Now comes the most important oper-
alton of all-namely, the cooking-and
why so many women who make de-
licious coffee and know that the choic-
est mixture is no better than Rio and
peas if half its aroma is lost in steam,
will persist in boiling fruit in an open
vessel and wasting its delicate natural
flavor when it is just IS easily and
quickly cooked in the cans, is beyond
me.
The latter IS no new-fangled. unre-
I liable way. 1t is The one used in all
canning factories. Indeed. it is the
/ very foundation of their success, and
the one and only reason why they can
make inferior fruit equal the choicest
kinds put up in the ordinary way OF
I home canning.
Don't stick in the old rut any longer.
/ Test the two methods side by side, and
/ prove my words true.
/ Put the fruit in the cans as fast as
I it is prepared, and immediately fill with
sirup to the neck. Put on the covers
/ and rubbers, but do not screw down
l the former. Use hat-bott,med kettle
or a clothes boiler to COOL them in;
/ put a tcw Stats of wood across the bot
I tom, :, better yet, have wire rack
/ or boar I'd fitted to the bottom. bored
thick with augur holes; fill the vessel
with warm water TO the necks of the
| jars, cover closely and bring to boil
Ten AiiuuttS II iotlS ChbuEh ~ JUL btA =
ries; peaches need IS or 20, according
/ to their ripeness, and other fruits ac-
/ cordingly. There can b no definite
rule. Cook until you can easily run a
/ fork into the fruit. \ little experience
will teach you how much the strip soft
ems them in cooling. etc. Better, by all
/ odds, to cook too little than too much.
+ Take a can out on TO a hot plate: fill to
overlooking with boiling water and
screw down the cover. Tighten the lat
/ ter now, and as it cools be sure to keep
/ in a dark closet.-St. Louis Post-Dis-
patch.