Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-27
CANNING VEGETABLES IN
AN APARTMENT KITCHENETTE

In all that has been said and written
concerning the general conservation
Of food through individual effort, little
or no thought has been given to the
serious problem that confronts thou
sands of housekeepers in small apart
ments where working space and stor-
age room are so limited that the can
ming of vegetables and preserving of
fruit seems impossible.
The number of families living under
these conditions is SO great that their
influence upon the country's food con-
ditions during the coming winter is go
ing to be equally great and very serious.
1t is for this reason that the writer
submits the results of an experiment
IN canning vegetables under the most
adverse conditions in two room and
kitchen apartment during the hottest
week thus far of the summer in Wash
1ngton and finds that dozens of quarts
can be successfully and easily canned
In the smallest kind of an apartment
that at first thought would seem hope
lessly impossible
:. The need of this experiment came
about through the many housewives
one hears saying: "Of course, I would
like to put up fruits and vegetables.
but how can I? My kitchen is too
small my stove not large enough for
the necessary working apparatus. the
materials too expensive, and no stor-
age room for it after it is done"
Here is an actual account Of how
were worked out and successfully over
come amid the worst possible condi-
tions- First, the small and breathless
kitchenette; in an extreme case, if a
housewife must get three meals day
IN kitchen that will permit of no ex-
tras. the crate of produce sent up in
the morning may be covered with pa
per and set in the narrow hall Then,
II "the family" which in a two-room
apartment might and often does consist
Of three, could be persuaded to take
luncheon and dinner out for one day or
to be considerate enough to take bread
and milk Just for once" the work of
canning may begin in the late morning
or the early afternoon and at least six
teen jars repay ones effort by night
The first difficulty to cope with is the
heat Of the kitchenette- This can be
eliminated by the renting of a little
eight-inch electric fan for use during
: e1e canning days. 1t must be placed as
near the top of the room as possible;
let it face the ventilator. If there is one.
The writer canned two and one-half
dozen quart jars Of vegetables In
kitchen small that two people could
not pass between the stove and the
sink at the same time. and the little
fan, facing the yentilator near the cell
ing, made the room fairly comfortable.
Problem No. was the gas stove. 1t Is
possible to can and preserve on three
burner gas stove with an ordinary
new or steriliZed garbage pail that
covers but one burner. used as the
boiler or water bath for the Jars, only
three of which can be done at time.
Thus, the other two burners are left
for the blanching and heating kettles.
But a stove SO small is hardly economi-
cal of time. gas or strength, whereas
the four-burner stove, that is usually
In two-room apartment, is under the
following plan quite suitable for large
amount of work.
In this experiment the smallest four
dollar water bath or boiler that even
the lecturers or government bulletins
suggested was found quite impossible
in the experimental work. It was even
fmpracticable on a four-burner gas
stove In the first place, II is so broad
as to cover more than two burners,
leaving no space for the other two ket-
ties needed in the work.
This principal obstacle Is overcome by
the purchase of an ordinary copper
bottom washboiler. size No. Z, which
should measure nineteen and half
inches in length and ten and half in
breadth. at a cost of s2.s5. This long,
narrow boiler will take eight quart
lars and an upper layer of eight pint
lars. The only accessory needed to
make the washboiler even more desir-
able than the four-doliar water ba IN is
three mats of the coarsest wire net
ting, cut nineteen inches in length and
ten inches in width, with the corners
rounded off. These were purchased at
a cost of rs cents, making the entire
cost OF the sixteen-jar water bath $40,
as against the four-dollar water bath
that viii accommodate but eight quarts.
Two of the wire mats must be laid in