Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-06-19
SAVING SUMNER FOODS
I. Canning Fruits and Vegetables
By Frederic j. Haskin
U1ASEINGTON, D. c., June

else live to regret 1t next winter WHICH,
the ground is covered with six inches of snow ana
there is no chance of harvesting anything Out d
big appetite.
years the apartment house, the canning factory
the bakery and the delicatessen have been doing
our housekeeping for us. Why bake bread Wheu
you buy it from city bakery why wear your
nerves out cooking when you can ouy cooked loou
at the corner delicatessen and why can FOOD wnen
your can buy canned goods at any grocery? AND
So every year, tons of fresh vegetables and 1rulIs
have rotted on the ground.
Now the war has changed all this. 1t is as
if suddenly plunged back to the times OF
our ancestors when the feeding of every tamlly
was the individual responsibility of its women
members. The modern woman has been made 10
realize her waste and extravaganza through the
bitter school OF high prices and she now stanus III
the same position as her grandmother, who baked
her bread, carefully planned the meals, and canned
every leftover product because food was scarce
and the chance of winter want was always In the
background. There is this difference, however.
Our grandmothers trained for It, while the
great majority of modern woman are not.
When the price of food started going up year
ago, for instance, the did not stop to think
the situation If they had to save, why the
sooner they started the better, and in their new
enthusiasm for food economy they made the mis-
take of becoming miserly. They bought DarrelS
Of -four and sugar and Irish potatoes and stored
them in the cellar for future 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 confused with boarding
It is one thing to can pershable products which
would otherwise go to waste, and quite another
to hoard alltheyear-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. The same thing Is true
If you dry apricots and string beans for winter use
or salt supply of fresh fish meat. But If you
store -four, sugar coffee tea, baking powder and
cereals in your cellar you boosting prices and
may now be breaking the law.
OF all the methods of conserving perishable
food, canning is the most satisfactory Through
the efforts of the department OF agriculture, thou-
sands of women and children have been taught how
to fruits vegetables and soups during the past
five years, so that part of the feminine popu!a-
ton is we'll able to meet the emergency. For the
rest of the the department is now establish
ing community canning kitchens, where represen-
tatives from the bureau of farm extension work
demonstrate the best methods Of canning.
In one respect, the modern woman has an ad-
vantage over her grandmother The factories have
developed the best methods of manufacturing
things, and she has the benefit of their expert
ments There is also modern working equipment
to facilitate work of all kinds. The clean,
err the electric iron and electric motor the reless
cooker and the gas stove were not heard of in our
grandmother's day. Neither the One-period
cold-pack method of canning nor the steam-pres-
cooker, which have reduced canning to a sim
pie process.
Our grandmothers used to sterilize their fruits
and vegetables three four times before they
packed them, and then lost great deal OF
the product through spoilage. By the modern
methods the housewife puts her fruit vegetables
I'm a pan and blanches them in boiling water. Then
she quickly dips them into cold water, removes
the skins and cuts them into the proper sizes for
glass jars She next puts them in the
jars containers pours hot syrup on the fruit and
hot water and little salt the vegetables, and
partially seals the jars. (In the case of tin
they are soldered.) The products sterilized
after they are in the jars the containers.
The boiling sterizing of the jars may be
done in an ordinary homemade outfit such as
wash boiler, tin pail, milk CAN washtub or lard
pail. If fitted with false bottom, lifting handles
and fiOhf IN IG m
more convenient. Then there manufactured
outfits costing anywhere from fifteen to twenty-five
dollars, which, like the cleaner, not
necessary to do the work, but are much more eff
cient. One Of these is the steam pressure cooker,
and the water-seal outfit is another.
The steam pressure cooker Is large Kettle
with rack in the middle to hold the jars, and
lid that screws tightly on, supporting a pressure
gauge a safety valve and steam petcock. Before
putting in the jars, the kettle should be filled with
water half way up to the rack. The lid is then
screwed on and the water bOs steam
pressure is created the amount Of which may be
gagged by the thermometer the lid. From five
to thirty pounds of steam pressure may be gener-
ated by this steam-tight sterlizing kettle The
water-seal outfit is of different construction, but
it works on the same principle-steam.
These outfits not necessary. This point the
department of agriculture takes great trouble to
emphasize; no woman should forego canning this
year simly because she has not a manufactured
outfits which, like the vacuum cleaner are not
chief advantage of the manufactured outfits is the
shorter time required to sterilize the product and
saving in gas. In canning strawberries, for in
stance, the homemade outfit takes eight minutes
to sterilize the fruit, while under a steam pressure
of fifteen pounds in the steam-pressure kettle only
four minutes is necessary.
The next question is the type of jars to be
used. There three of these which the depart
ment of agriculture advocates for canning-the
top, Mason jar; the suction top and the
spring clamp. Great should be taken in seal
ing the jars, as a poorly sealed jar is of the
most frequent causes of spoilage. Before packing
food in the jars, they should be tested, to be
sure they not defective In the first place, put
the top on the jar without the rubber. Screw 1t
on tight. Then if you insert thumb nail
between the top and the glass. If you can the
top Is usually defective. In the case of glass tops,
the glass top should first be placed the jar
without the rubber. Then tap around the edge
of the top with a pencil the finger If the top
rocks you will know it is defective. Be sure that
the wire bail is tight enough to hold the top firm
ly in place. too.
Jars and containers of all kinds this year are