Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1916-09-05
Care Of Food In the Home.
From Farmers Bulletin s75, q. 8. Dept. Of
Agriculture)
CARE OF ICE CHESTS.


(From Farmers Bulletin s75, q. 8. Dept. Of
Agriculture)
CARE OF ICE CHESTS.
II on warm summer day you put
your hand into an ice box we'll filed with
Ice you may think that the temperature
IL very low, and yet 1t 10 In all PROBABLE
ity nearer 30 degrees than 40 degrees +.
As low Q temperature as 40 degrees or
IS degrees IL only to be obtained in .
very well-constructed box with large
receptacle for ice, and then only for .
short time after It is filed. A box that
maintains but 60 degrees is, however,
very useful in keeping food from day to
day.
The ice box, no matter how we'll
cooled, is and must be damp, and damp
ness is one of the requirements for bac-
terial growth. 1t must be remembered,
also, that some varieties of bacteria
grow at low temperatures. Therefore
the interior of An Ice chest should be
wiped every day with dry cloth and
once week everything should be re-
moved, so that sides, shelves, and drain
may be thoroughly scalded. The water
must be actually boiling when It is
poured in, and the process repeated sew.
eral times.
In the small ice chests, where all the
ice space must be utilized, the cube OF
ice will be tight fit, and 1t Is difficult to
lower 1t to the grating. If the Ice is put
on piece of stout cloth whose ends are
long enough to reach above the top,
1t may be lifted by these ends and easily
deposited in place. The cloth folded
about 1t serves also to protect the Ice
from the heat of the outside air, and
holds any bits of dirt that may have
been frozen into the Ice, thus preventing
them from settling to the floor of the
box or lodging In the drain pipe. The
cloth should be scalded after each using.
A folded newspaper laid on the floor of
the one-compartment ice box serves the
same purpose as to cleanliness. 1t must
be remembered that refrigerator Ice is
often dirty, and that it may bring In
putrefactive or even typhoid bacilli, for
most bacteria are resistant to low tenn
perature and are not destroyed by freez-
ing. On this account no food should be
brought into direct contact with 1t, nor
should It be put into drinking water,
unless its purity Is above suspicion.
All cooked food should be cooled az
soon as possible before being placed In
the Ice box. Butter may be kept from
taking up the favors OF other food by
keeping it in a tightly covered recepta.
Gle. Milk requires more access Of air,
but In clean ice box in which no strong
smelling food Is kept milk should re-
main uninjured in flavor for twelve to
twenty.four hours. If vegetables or
other foods of pronounced odor are kept
in glass jars with covers or in covered
earthenware receptacles there will be
fewer odors to be communicated. Por.
lions of canned food should never be put
into the ice box in the tin can. Such
food does not of necessity develop q
poisonous product, az has sometimes
been claimed, but experiments show that
ptomaines are particularly liable to de-
velop in such cases. Casting out this
somewh hat remote possibility, the "tinny"
taste acquired by such keeping Is enough
to condemn the practice.
Foods that are to be eaten raw, such
az lettuce and celery, should be carefully
cleaned before being placed in the Ice
box, and may with advantage be wrapped
in clean, damp cloth. If they are to
be kept for some days they should, how
ever, be put in without removing the
roots, the further precaution being taken
to wrap them carefully In clean paper or
to put them into grocers' bags.
THE KEEPING OF VEGETABLES, FRUITS,
AND MEATS.
The following hints regarding the
keeping of different kinds Of food may
be found useful:
Potatoes are kept without difficulty in
a cool, dry, and dark place. Sprouts
should not be allowed to grow In the
spring.
Such roots as carrots, parsnips, and
turBips remain plump and fresh II placed
in earth or sand fllled boxes on the Gel.
lar floor.
Sweet potatoes may be kept until Jan.
uary If cleaned, dried, and packed In
chaff 30 that they will not touch each
other.
Pumpkins and squash must be thor
oughly ripe and mature to keep we'll.
They should be dried from time to time
With cloth and kept, not on the cellar
floor, but on shelf, and we'll separated
from each other.
Cabbages are to be placed In barrels,
With the roots uppermost.
Celery should be neither trimmed nor
washed, but packed, beads up, In long,
deep boxes, which should then be filled
with dry earth.
Tomatoes may be kept until January,
II gathered just before frost, wiped dry,
and placed on straw.covered racks in the
cellar. They should be firm and we'll
grown specimens, not yet beginning to
turn. As they ripen they may be taken
out for table use, and any soft or decay.
ing ones must be removed.
Apples, If for use during the autumn,
may be stored in barrels without fur
Their precaution than to look them over
now and then to remove decayipg ones;
but II they are to be kept till late winter
or spring they must be OF q variety
known to keep well and they must be
hand picked and without blemish or
bruise. They should be wiped dry and
placed with little providing on shelves in
luo CoiloEs 40 luItuOi piOOoutiOu tu0y
may be wrapped separately in soft paper.
Pears may be kept for limited time
in the same way, or packed In sawdust
or chat, which absorbs the moisture
which might otherwise favor molding.
Oranges and lemons are kept in the
same way. Wrapping in soft paper is
here essential, as the uncovered skins If
bruised offer good feeding ground for
mold. Oranges may be kept fog q long
time in good condition IL stored where It
is very cold but where freezing is not
possible. Lemons and lines are often
kept in brine, an old-fasbioned household
Cranberries, after careful looking over
to remove soft ones, are placed In crock
or fir,iin and covered With water. A
plate or round board placed on top and
weighted serves to keep the berries un-
der water. The water should be changed
once month.
In winter large pieces OF fresh meat
may be purchased and hung In the cellar.
Thin pieces, as mutton chops, are some
times dipped In mutton suet. which