The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-06-13
I.-Canning Fruits and Vegetables.

I.-Canning Fruits and Vegetables.
Washington, June 13.-Every wom-
an can serve her country this summer
by canning as much food as possible.
1t is her duty to the nation as well as
to her family. We can't afford to
waste a bean or a raspberry-else we
may live to regret it next winter when
the ground is covered with six inches
of snow and there is no chance of
harvesting anything but a big ap-
petite.
1t is a commonplace to repeat that
in recent years the apartment house,
the canning factory, the bakery and
the delicatessen have been doing our
bread when you can buy it from a
city bakery; why wear your nerves
out cooking when you can buy cooked
food at the corner delicatessen, and
why can food when you can buy
canned goods at any grocery? And
so, every year, tons of fresh vegetables
and fruits have rotted on the ground.
Now the war has changed all this.
1t is as if we were suddenly plunged
back to the times of our ancestors
when the feeding of every family was
the individual responsibility of its
women members. The modern wom-
an has been made to realize her waste
and extravaganza thru the bitter
school of high prices, and she now
grandmother, who baked her bread,
carefully planned the meals, and
canned every leftover product be-
cause food was scarce and the chance
OF winter want was always in the
background. There is this difference,
however. Our grandmothers were
trained for it. while the great major
ity of modern women are not.
When the price of food started go
ing up a year ago, for instance, the
NurrN \ n Ill.
alton over. If they had to save, why
the sooner they started the better, and
in their new enthusiasm for food econ
omy they made the mistake of becom-
ing miserly. They bought barrels of
flour and sugar and Irish potatoes and
use. The result of all this enormous
buying was to send the price of these
staples up.
Under no circumstances must the
legitimate preservation of food be con-
fused with "hoarding" 1t is one
thing to can perishable products which
would otherwise go to waste, and quite
another to hoard all-the-year-round
staples in the attic or the cellar. If
you want to put some lima beans or
sweet corn away in jars for the next
winter when they will be out of season,
you will not only be practicing the very
wisest economy, but be doing your
country a service.S The same thing is
true if you dry apricots and string
beans for winter use or salt a supply
of fresh fish or meat. But if you store
flour, sugar, coffee, tea, baking pow
der and cereals in your cellar, you are
boosting prices. and may now be
breaking the law.
OF all the methods of conserving
perishable food canning is the most
satisfactory. Thru the efforts of the
department of agriculture, thousands
of women and children have been
taught how to can fruits, vegetables
and soups during the past five years,
so that a part of the feminine popula-
ton is we'll able to meet the emer-
gency For the rest of the women
the department is now establishing
community canning kitchens, where
representatives from the Bureau of
Farm Extension Work demonstrate the
best methods of canning.
In one respect, the modern woman
has an advantage over her grand
mother The factories have developed
the best methods of manufacturing
things, and she has the benefit of
their experiments. There is also mod
ern working equipment to facilitate
work of all kinds. The vacuum clean
er, the electric iron and electric mo-
tor, the fireless cooker and the gas
stove were not heard of in our grand
mothers day. Neither was the one
period cold-pack method of canning
nor the steam pressure cooker. which
have reduced canning to a simple
process.
Our grandmothers used to sterilize
their fruits. and vegetables three or
four times before they packed them,
, and even then lost a great deal of the
product thru spoilage. By the modern
methods, the housewife puts her fruit
or vegetables in a pan and blanches
them in boiling water. Then she
quickly dips them into cold water, re-
moves the skins and cuts them into
the proper sizes for glass jars or cans.
She next puts them in the jars or con-
| tanners, pours hot syrup on the fruit
and hot water and a little salt on the
vegetables, and partially seals the Jars.
| I'm the case of tin cans they are SOL
dered.) The products are sterilized
after they are in the jars or the con-
| tanners.
! The boiling or sterilizing of the jars
may be done in an ordinary home
| made outfit, such as a wash boiler.
tin pail, milk can, washtub or lard
| pail. If fitted with a false bottom,
lifting handles and a tight-fitting
| cover, such an outfit is much more
| convenient. Then there are manufac-
' tured outfits, costing anywhere from
| fifteen to twenty-five dollars, which,
| like the vacuum cleaner. are not nee
essary to do the work but are much
more efficient. One of these is the
steam pressure cooker. and the water
seal outfit is another.
The steam pressure cooker is a large
kettle, with a rack in the middle to
hold the jars, and a lid that screws
tightly on, supporting a pressure
gauge a safety valve and a steam pet
! eek. Before putting in the jars. the
kettle should be filled with water half
way up to the rack. The lid is hen
screwed on, and as soon as the water
boils steam pressure is created, the
amount of which may be gagged by
the thermometer on the lid. From
five to thirty pounds of steam pres
sure may be generated by this steam
tight sterilizing kettle. The water
sal outfit is of different construction
but it works on the same principle