The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1914-07-25
VEGETABLE CANNING
FAILURES EXPLAINED
BY mrs, A. D. COBB
Popular Fallacies About Veg
etable Preserving Describ-
ed and Sure Methods Out
{ lined by Household Expert.

Time was when man did not try
to put away foods in time OF plenty
for future and winter use, and those
were the days of famine and want.
The drying Of grains and berries on
the plant probably first suggested
that foods might be saved to use at
less plentiful season. Later, and,
no doubt, accidentally. methods of
preserving foods by picking in brine
and vinegar, smoking and sailing
we're discovered.
Canning was discovered as means
Of preservation years and years before
1t was understood why heating and
sealing prevented spelling. Since
the how of the canning process came
before the why, many erroneous ideas
were handed down from generation to
generation and are still current
among housekeepers today.
1t is a popular theory that the spoil
ing of fruits and vegetables is due
to the presence of air, and many min
utes are wasted in running q silver
knife up and down along the inside
Of the jar to let out any air bubbles
that might have formed there. That
1t is the plants that live in the air
that are responsible for the spelling
rather than the air, itself has been
proved conclusively.
Test for Germs.
For instance, If a can of any ordi-
nary vegetable Is plugged with a piece
of cotton instead of the usual lid, and
is then heated until all germs are
killed, the vegetables will keep with
out spelling although the air circu-
lates freely, but the plants that usual
ly cause the damage are strained out
by being caught in the meshes of the
cotton.
These little plants, bacteria, yeasts
and molds are everywhere about us,
in the ground, in the water, in the
air. Some of them are the friends of
man and work him much good. Others
are harmful only, and still others are
all right in their place and all wrong
in any other place. They vary in size
and shape (most of them being micro
scopic, however) and vary also in
their requirements for life. Some do
we'll In one place, others demand en-
tirely different surroundings. The
fact that they are so small as not to
be seen with the naked eye leads
many people to believe that it is the
air itself that is the enemy of canned
goods.
Value Of Fruits.
Fruits and vegetables should form
b large part of the diet in winter as
well as in the summer. They add
starch and sugar to the more limited
bill of fare, furnish woody material
that acts as a conditioner and pre-
vent digestive disturbances, and fur
Their supply matter and acids that are
needed to keep the body in healthy
condition.
Molds are about the largest of the
plants that destroy canned foods and
are commonly seen on old leather,
bread or on top of spoiled food in
most Of the spoiled fruits and vege-
tables as their tiny seeds, or spores,
float about in the air and settle on
familiar mold appears.
There are several different kinds
of yeasts. but they all prefer living on
sugar to any other food The gas
that yeast forms In bread spoAge is
one Of its good uses, but this same gas
introduced into a can of fruit works
udVOC. ALCOHOL Is given OIL anu we
say that the food is sour or work
ing"
Bacteria are smaller and harder to
kill than molds or yeasts, and the
spores even require twenty minutes Of
boiling before they are destroyed, and
one spore left in can will, when CIV
en- the opportunity for growth, pro-
duce millions of full-grown plants
They grow more rapidly and thrive
better in vegetables than in fruits, and
are the main reason for their spoil
ing. This explains why it is easier to
can fruits than vegetables.