The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1912-08-23
Canning Vegetables.

enclose clipping from the House
hold Journal If you have not already
published something similar, will you
please print it? l have not tried the
plan.
Canning vegetables has been al
most entirely confined to canning fac
tories. The process calls for appli-
canes which cannot we'll be comprised
in the average home The factory
product, while to ascertain extent de-
sirable, has not been entirely satisfac-
tory to people who grow their own
vegetables and can place them on
their own tables freshly gathered from
the field or garden.
"If fruit is heated throughout to the
boiling point, put into properly pre-
pared cans and Theoretically sealed, it
will keep almost indefinitely. This is
not true of vegetables. Vegetable
bacteria are more numerous and more
tenacious of life than fruit bacteria;
their vitality must be entirely Destroy
ed or disaster is certain to result. We
are assured by the agricultural bureau
of chemistry that the work of sterili-
cation can be done as perfectly with
ordinary appliances as at the factory.
The process is comparatively new, the
experiments only recently concluded,
as the bulletin was issued in 1909.
When the method becomes more
widely disseminated, the housewives
store of canned vegetables will be
second only to that of fruit.
The process of Gaming vegetables is
more elaborate, more time and labor
are required, and yet it is simple and
the directions are easily followed.
With the recurring seasons crop of
luscious sweet corn, butter beans,
Limas, delicious squash and golden
pumpkin, we have desired to pass
some of it on into the late winter and
early spring and have been blindly
cropping and experimenting, hoping
we might learn to can some of them.
The vitality of fully developed veg
etable bacteria, as in fruit, is destroy
ed by heating to the boiling point, but
unlike fruit, spores or germs remain,
even if the can is made air-tight.
AS the contents of the can cool these
spores begin to produce a new crop of
bacteria. A second boiling kills these
before they have time to fully develop
and a third boiling insures perfect
:
august is the month to can vege-
tables-beets, green corn, beans, etc,
Boil the beets until tender, slip off the
skins, slice, and pack in jars, cover
with cold water, adjust rings and
| covers and screw on loosely. In a
kettle with a fiat bottom put some
hay, straw or wire netting to prevent
the cans from touching the kettle, or
else they may crack; also allow little
space between the cans. Fill the ket-
tie half full of cold water, set over the
fire and watch closely. When water
boils, keep it boiling for an hour. Re-
move the kettle from the fire, screw
covers on tight, and leave until next
| morning. Loosen covers, set kettle
over fire; when water boils, let it boil
for another hour Set the kettle off,
and repeat the third day. Beets will
keep if boiled, sliced, put in cans and
covered with hot spiced and sweet
| vinegar, but they do not retain their
natural flavor.
1t is imperative that canned vege-
tables be kept from the light. Put
each can in paper bag and store it
in dark corner of the cellar. Some
keep all canned goods in boxes of kiln
or oven-dried sand
Green corn should be picked in the
morning (never let it remain over
night when the kernels are we'll de-
veloped, but before in the least hard
Immediately husk, silk and cut care
fully from the cobs. Fill cans, and
sprinkle over a tablespoonful of salt
to quart. Fill to brim with cold
water and proceed as in canning OF
beets.
Butter Bean Pods-Youn and ten
der, should be broken off into short
lengths, after taking off the ends; il
II they string very much, discard them
pack closely in jars, cover with cold
water, add a tablespoonful of salt to
each quart of beans and follow the
same directions as in canning corn.
| Green lima beans should be shelled
as soon as gathered and can as above
Succotash, mixture of corn and
beans, is more difficult to keep than
| either of the ingredients separately
Boil an hour and half instead of ar
hour.
Summer squash should be pared
unless very young and tender, cooked
soft, the water pressed out, seasoned
with salt, packed in cans ,and boiled
an hour and half, instead of an hour
on three successive days. Pumpkins
and hard-shelled squash can be put
up at any time during the winter be.
fore they began to decay. Pare the
pumpkins, cook soft, mash and fill
the cans. Steam the squash in the
shell, scoop out. mash, salt to taste
and proceed with both pumpkin and
squash as with summer squash
Cabbage will keep with one boiling.
Cook tender in sailed water, drain
quickly. put in cans, cover with boil
ing liquor and seal The above direc-
tons are for pint or quart cans. 1t is