San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-08-23
FRUIT CANNING.
Few Hints That the Housewife VIII Do
Well to Remember.

Well to Remember.
In canning fruit remember that it is
hard and disagreeable work at best, and
unless you can come within sight of its
highest possibilities "the game is not
worth the candle" Whether it is good,
bad or Indifferent depends upon your
own knowledge and skill. Excluding
the air to prevent fermentation is only
the A B G of success. Fruit must look
as we'll as taste delicious, and in order
to do this it must retain its natural
flavor and appearance and be sweetened
with granulated sugar. Fruit for can
ming must be freshly picked and lit
tie under rather than over ripe. The
pits of peaches and the cores of pears
improve the flavor of their respective
fruits. If removed, distribute few
peach pits in every jar and put little
muslin bag filled with cores in the CEN
ter of pear jars.
The skins of green gage plums should
be left on and pierced with a fork be-
fore they are cooked. The skins Of all
other common varieties should be re-
moved. If plums and peaches are i'm
mersed in boiling water to loosen the
skins, only few should be treated at
once, and these should first be put in O
wire basket or Sieve After remaining
two minutes or SO dip in cold water and
gently rub off the skins. A silver knife
should be used to shred pineapple and
to pare pears and ounces.
Peaches should be put in strip as soon
as pared, and pears and ounces into
cold water. to prevent discoloration.
Peaches are firmer and richer if allowed
to remain overnight In the strip before
they are cooked. Five or six pits should
be distributed through each quart jar.
The most delicate and natural flavor
Is obtained by cooking the fruit in the
jars This method also does away with
the breakage from handling and adds.
greatly to its appearance. Pears and
ounces are no exception to this rule.
but a. both are more quickly cooked
tender in clear water it is more conven-
lent to do so before they are put in sirup
All old Jars should be thoroughly
cleansed with soda and boiling water.
and the airtightness Of every jar should
be tested with water before it is
filed with the fruit which should be
placed in the jar as fast as it is pre-
pared, and the jar filed to the neck
with strip. sy .F e- =
A fiat bottomed kettle or an ordinary
clothes boiler is convenient for cook
ing, and board fitted to the bottom
loosely and closely filed with inch au-
ger holes obviates all danger of breakage.
Put the rubber and cover in position,
leaving the latter loose. Fill the boiler
with warm water to the neck of the
jars and boil gently until the fruit can
be easily pierced with fork. No def
mite rule for cooking can be given. Ten
minutes is usually long enough for ber-
ries, while the time required for larger
and more solid fruits depends upon
their ripeness. Experience soon makes
one expert. Take each jar out on to
hot plate, fill to OVERLOOKING with boil
ing water and screw down the top.
Tighten us it cooks and invert to be
sure that 1t is alright.
The jars should be wrapped in paper
to exclude the light, which is more in
furious than one is apt to think, and
kept in a cool, dry place. The flavor of
fruit is much improved if the oxygen is
restored by removing the cover an hour
or two before it is needed.
If rich fruit is desired, the following |
quantities of sugar for each pint jar
will be satisfactory, but as sugar is not
the keeping power" much less or even
none may be used: Raspberries, four
ounces; whortleberries, four ounces; /
peaches, five ounces; Bartlett pears, six
ounces; sour pears, eight ounces; plums,
eight ounces; ounces, eight ounces.
These hints are from the New York