Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1910-08-26
A SEASONABLE DUTY.
Time is at Hand to Can and Jar Fruit.

ting better every day. TIE time for
canning and ''jelling'' is at hand, and
these profitable operations may be
carried on without extra exertion or
extra heating up if the householder
is content to can a little fruit at a
time, say aquart or two at meal
time, when there has to be fire any,
way.
For the canning proper, the uten-
sis needed are n porcelain kettle, not
too large and rather. shallow, an
agate spoon and a wide .mouthed fun
mel.
Much time, trouble and temper
may be saved by having everything
ready beforehand-jars sterilized and
standing in the hot water ready to
fill, tops perfectly clean and free
from dents, and new rubbers. Jars
are steriized by washing them. then
filling them with warm water and
setting in a boiler or kettle of warm
water. which is put on the stove and
allowed to come to a boil.
Now, suppose you have bought
peaches-the cheaper ones are just as
good for slicing. pies, ice cream or
canning. AS matter of fact, small
peaches are usually sweeter than
large ones.
And suppose you don't want to
surfeit your family with peaches
right at the beginning of the season
Well, why not can those not needed
for immediate use You can take
your choice of two ways.
Way No. l, consists in washing
and pairing the fruit, which should
be of sound quality and not over
ripe. You see how it all fits in, for
the harder peaches are not good for
slicing. but better for canning.
For the syrup-and this applies to
any fruit that is to be canned-allow
for each pint jar four tablespoons
granulated sugar to three-quarters of
cup of water. Boil this mixture
ten to twelve minutes.
|. In the meantime fill your sterilized
jar with the peaches, which have
been halved, then pour the hot syrup
over them until the jar is filed even
with the top. Next put on the rub
Der and screw on lightly. Then set
the jar in kettle of hot water and
let boil for ten minutes, after which
screw top as tight as possible and
set away to cool.
No matter how tight you are able
to screw the top it will loosen bit
after the jar is cool, so always be
careful about giving it another twist
before putting in the cellar.
And when putting the filled jars in
the kettle to boil, prevent the posi-
bility of their cracking by placing q
few laths or small boards on the bot
tom OF the kettle.
Way No. 2 to can peaches is to
boil the sugar and water five minutes,
then add the halved peaches a few at
time, so as not to break them, and
let boil five to eight minutes, the for
mer time if the peaches are soft and
the latter if they are hard.
Then fill your jars. handling the
peaches with care so as to keep them
intact, and having screwed on the
tops set away to cool.
Another little point that ought al
ways be remembered when canning
fruit is the necessity for using new
rubbers each time. Some persons
think the old ones will do just as
well, if they are we'll cleaned, but
this is not the case. Rubber hard
ems, and when it has lost its resili-
ency it is not airproof.
With apples so high in price as
they have been the past few winters,
it is wise to can a few OF them for
pies. and sauce.
To can apples proceed in the same
manner as with peaches, washing.
pairing and quartering instead of
halving.
And when pears come along, they
can be done the same as apples. al
though pears are greatly improved
in flavor by adding little lemon
peel, stick of cinnamon or o small
piece of ginger root in the syrup.
Without these additions the canned
fruit is apt to be somewhat insipid.
For huckleberries and blackberries
the following method is suggested:
Pick over the berries, throwing
out all that are too soft, and wash
we'll. To each pint OF berries add a
quarter cup of water and a quarter
cur of granulated sugar and let them
boil until the fruit is soft, stirring
lightly meantime to keep from stick
ing to the bottom Of the pan.
A few grains of salt added to the
boiling mess adds greatly to the
flavor of the huckleberries, while the
blackberries are full-favOred enough
without any addition of this sort.
Put in hot sterilized jars at once
and set away to cool.
The careful housewife will label her
jars, using for this purpose little
stickers which may be bought for a
few cents and on which she should
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