The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1931-10-22
SAVE SURPLUS
| PLANS URGED
BY BUREAU
Federal Home Economics
Department Supplies Bull
letins on Canning Processes
for Farm Homes

Tor Farm Homes
Assistance for housewives and
welfare organizations which are
centering their attention right
on saving the surplus fruit and
vegetable crops is offered by the
Bureau of Home Economics and
other bureaus of the u. S. De-
partment of Agriculture in the
form of information on canning,
preserving, picking, drying and
storing practically all native fruits
and vegetables.
With the passing of the day
when each family had to make
most of the preparations itself for
the winters supply of food, the
practice of home canning and pre-
serving has gradually declined.
During emergencies such as the
World War, and in the present
economic situation there is a re-
vival of individual and community
effort to put away foods, while
they are plenty, for winter use.
Encouraged by large crops and
attendant low costs, many persons
are working to save the surplus,
not only for their own personal
use, but for relief distribution.
Recipes for the various methods
of food preservation were form
erly matter of great family
pride. But with the shift to COM
mercially prepared foods, the
home has lost much of this sort OF
knowledge so that this season
when the "save the surplus" cam
paign got under way, Gamers had
to seek outside information. More
over, the Surplus savers" are
canning kinds of fruits and vege-
tables which they have never cam
ned before. And for some of
these there has been little or no
satisfactory canning information
in the homes.
In this category are included the
non-acid vegetables, such as peas,
beans, corn, okra, and squash,
which are difficult to sterilize.
They require temperatures of
240 to $50 F. that can be obtained
only in steam pressure cooker.
It is dangerous and wasteful to
take chances on inadequately ster-
ilized canned goods. Canned goods
that spoil waste the food itself,
and also the labor and expense of
canning. Spoiled food is danger
Gus. The saving of non-acid veg
etables should not be undertaken,
the bureau says, unless they can
be obtained fresh and held under
cold storage, if canning is to be
delayed even briefly. Many of
these vegetables, however, can be
dried successfully and some may
be preserved by sailing.
The Bureau Of Home Economics
has available to the public a bull
letin on canning fruits and vege-
tables at home, which was revised
this year, and which contains de-
tailed information on the various
methods of home canning. Other
publications of the bureau discuss
jelly making; pickles and relishes;
jellied grapefruit and lemon peel;
jams and conserves; and some
special ways of utilizing peaches.
Other bureaus of the Depart
ment of Agriculture have pub
lished bulletins on homemade
fruit buffers, which include plum,
peach and pear, as well as the
better known apple butter; home
drying of fruits and vegetables;
vinegar making; unfermented ap-
pie juice; unfermented grape
juice; home storage Of vegetables
and the making of fermented
| pickles, and commercial produc-
ton Of sauerkraut.
Any or all of these may be had
! free of charge upon request to
the Bureau of Home Economics,
or the Office Of Information of
the U. S. Department of Agricul-
ture.