Evening star., 1944-07-13
Canning Peaches

The luscious peach which prom
1ses abundance this year will be ripe
for canning in one part or another
OF the country from now until Oc-
tpber. Take advantage of the good
supply, canning specialists of the
United States Department of Agri-
ture urge.
Choose fresh, firm, ripe fruit. The
pink blush on many varieties of
peaches tells little about quality, but
the background color is important
If the background is green, the
peach is not ripe for canning, and
when it does ripen will likely have
a poor favor. Choose peaches with
yellow or whitish-yellow background
color. Never use one with a decayed
spot. Even when cut out bacteria
may be left on the peach to spoil
the rest.
When canning any food, play safe
and have full up-to-date directions,
based on scientific research. A free
copy of the United States Depart
ment Of Agriculture's leafet Home
Canning of Fruits and Vegetables"
may be had by addressing a post
card to Home Canning" Washing
ton 25, D. C.
These are the principal steps:
First, wash and peel the peaches.
Handle fruit gently so as not to
bruise, but wash well. Take no
more than canner load at one
time. For easy peeling. place in a
wire basket or cheesecloth, dip in
boiling water about minute or so,
then dip quickly in cold water, and
skin. Cut peaches in half and pit.
If desired, slice peaches for packing.
Darkening of peaches is one prob
lem in peach canning. To keep
them from spotting while being pre-
pared drop them as soon as skinned
and sliced into solution of l gal
lon water, tablespoons salt, 2
tablespoons vinegar. Drain when
ready to precook.
If peaches are not juicy, extra
juice may be needed in precooking
and packing the fruit For this set
aside sound peaches too soft for
canning Crush and heat to boiling
then strain.
Next step is to precook the fruit
When canning without sugar, cook
fruit in its own juice until heated
throughout but not soft. If fruit is
not juicy add just enough water to
keep it from sticking to pan.
When canning with sugar, precook
In one of two ways: l. If fruit is
Juicy, add sugar. cup to each
quart of uncooked peaches - and
heat to boiling. 2. For less Juicy
fruit, make a sirup of sugar and
either water or juice extracted from
extra peaches. boil together five
minutes. A thin, moderately thin,
or medium sirup may be made, de-
pending on the sugar supply and
family tastes. To make thin sirup
use cup sugar to cups juice or
water; for a moderately thin sirup
Use l cup sugar to of liquid, and
for a medium sirup use a cup each
of sugar and liquid. Then precook
fruit in sirup until it Is heated
throughout but not soft.
While peaches are precooking,
heat clean jars and jar tops. But do
not heat metal lids with sealing
compound; instead dip them into
boiling water just before putting on
jar.
Pack hot peaches evenly into hot
jars, leaving y inch headspace
Cover with boiling liquid, still leav-
ing Il inch at top. 1t usually takes
y to l cup liquid to each jar. TAX
ing care to have good proportion
of solid food and liquid, and leaving
right headspace help to keep the
peaches from losing liquid during
canning. They won't be left high
and dry. to turn dark.
Work out any air bubbles by run
ming knife blade down the jar
side, and if necessary add more
liquid. Wipe jar rim with a clean,
damp cloth. One sticky bit can keep
jar from sealing alright. Put on jar
top and adjust according to kind.
Next step is to n( cess the jars OF