Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-06-25
June Gamma and Preserving.


be in market, and the forehanded
housewife is already casting about her
for the best methods of preserving the
bounty against the winters needs.
Now scientists tell us that fruits-or,
indeed, any fcod-spoils for two rea-
sons-eitl1er bacteria, minute one-celled
animals, or yeasts, one-celled plant or
ganisms, of which the purest air con-
tains few, get into the food and there
develop, causing fermentation. Boiling
is therefore necessary to kill any of
these organisms that may already have
found access to the food, sugaring is
added because it forms an unfavorable
soil for the development of any BAG
terra that might have escaped in the
heating process, and air-tight sealing@is
finally resorted to by way of excluding
the further entrance Of the restrictive
organisms.
There is way of preserving fruit in
large quantities without cooking by
adding sugar of equal weight with the
fruit, and this method insures against
bacteria, because the sugary syrup is
unfavorable to their growth. This
same syrup, on the other hand, favors
the growth Of yeastS or mouldS, which,
while less dangerous than the bacteria,
do cause undesirable changes in the
quality of the fruit. The only safe
method, then, is to boil each jarful Of
! the fruit to be preserved for two hours,
or to subject it to a higher temperature
than that of boiling for Is minutes.
And not Only should the fruit itself be
SO sterilized, but the utensils used in
70 ch 7, will to
and boiled for Is minutes before being
used. The fruit should then be placed
in the stew kettles at the moment the
preliminary boiling of the latter ceases,
and the jars to be filled should be kept
under boiling water until the very in
slant the boiling fruit is to be trans
ferred to them. The sterilizing of both
food and utensils, finally, is more sat
isfactory when they are brought very
gradually TO the boiling point.
The preserving kettles should be
porcelain lined. enameled or of a metal
that will not form chemical combina-
tons with fruit juices. Iron and tin
should never be used, as they will give
a bad color and metallic taste to the
preserves. The vessels should be
broad rather than deep, as the fruit
may thus be kept at a more even tenn
perature all the way through The
utensils needed for canning and pre-
serving are as follows: Two preserv-
ing kettles. one colander, one fine
strainer. one skinner, one ladle one
large mouthed funnel. one wire frying
basket. one Wire sieve, four long han
died wooden spoons, one wooden mash
or lot
ed knives for pairing, clothes boiler,
wooden rack to put in the bottom of the
boiler, an iron tripod or ring, and some
squares of clean cheesecloth. In addi-
ton, one cam use flannel straining
bag and a frame to hang it on. a syrup
gauge, a glass cylinder and fruit
prickar. China or glass bowls and
stone jars may he used for holding the
pared fruit and the juice.
Most, if not all. of these utensils can
be used for other purposes than can
ming, SO that it will pay the young
housewife to lay in the supply enumer-
ated. The wire basket is great time
saver when peaches and other fruit
that needs to be peeled has to be
elnersed in boiling water for few
minutes. The sieve is used in making
purees, the masher in making jellies,
the syrup gauge for measuring off the
right amount of sugar, and the ring or
tripod for raising the kettle from the
hot, stove.
One can easily make the wooden
rack on which rest the jars to be filled
while in the wash boiler by Cheating
together latticeWnrk of ordinary laths
or of any inch-wide strips of wood that
will Just fit into the bottle The advan-
taSe of such a support for the jars is
that 1t permits the water to freely cir
culate under and around them.
To make the fruit pricker. press a
dozen large darning needles through
cork " inches deep, and tack the cork
on block of wood. Strike the fruit on
this Drickly he'd, and you have a dozen
holes at once. Be careful than no
needle point breaks off In the fruit.
When you wash the pricler and put it
away for any length of time, oil the
needles to prevent their rusting
The iron rings used under the llet-
ties may be taken off the wheels of an
old cart, or they may be picked up
around a blacksmith shop.
To make a straining bag, fold two