Every Step in Canning Part 4

WHAT A BUSHEL OF FRUIT WILL YIELD

A great many women have no conception of how many jars of fruit they will get from a bushel or half bushel of produce. It is wise to have a little knowledge along this line, for it aids in planning the winter's supply of canned goods as well as at marketing time.

From one bushel of the various fruits you will get on the average the following:

PRODUCTS, 1 BUSHEL PINT JARS QUART JARS

Windfall apples 30 20

Standard peaches 25 18

Pears 45 30

Plums 45 30

Berries 50 30

Windfall oranges--sliced 22 15

Windfall oranges--whole 35 22

CANNING WITHOUT SUGAR

Though all instructions indicate that sugar is necessary for the canning of all kinds of fruits, it is not necessary for their proper sterilization and preservation. Any fruit may be successfully sterilized by simply adding boiling water instead of the hot sirup. It is a well-known fact, however, that most fruits canned in water will not retain so well their natural flavor, texture and color as fruit canned in sirup. When the product is to be used for pies, salads, and so on it is not necessary to can in sirup. When fruits canned in water are to be used for sauces, the products should be sweetened before use. In many instances it requires more sugar to sweeten a sauce after canning than it does when the product is canned in the hot sirup.

However, during the World War we had a good chance to test the fruits which we canned without sugar, when that commodity was scarce and, in fact, impossible to get in very large quant.i.ties. We used our fruits just as they were and considered them very good. This all goes to show that we can easily adjust ourselves to prevailing conditions. In canning without the sugar sirup, you would follow these directions:

Cull, stem or seed, and clean fruit by placing in a strainer and pouring water over it until clean. Pack product thoroughly in gla.s.s jars until full; use table knife or tablespoon for packing purposes.

Pour over the fruit boiling water from kettle, place rubbers and caps in position, partially seal gla.s.s jars and place produce in canner.

If using hot-water-bath outfit sterilize from twenty to thirty minutes. After sterilizing remove packs, seal gla.s.s jars, wrap in paper to prevent bleaching, and store in a dry cool place.

When using a steam-pressure canner instead of the hot-water bath sterilize for ten minutes with five pounds of steam pressure. Never allow the pressure to go over ten pounds when you are canning soft fruits.

WHEN TO CAN

Inexperienced canners may not know when certain fruits are in season and at their prime for canning. The list below is necessarily subject to change, as seasons vary from year to year; but in normal years this table would hold true for the Northern States.

Apples September Apricots August Blackberries August Cherries July Currants July Gooseberries July Grapes September Huckleberries July Peaches August-September Pears September Pineapple June Plums August Quinces September Raspberries July Rhubarb All summer Strawberries May-June

For your canning you will need as your guide the charts on the pages which follow. They are very simple and will tell you how to prepare all the various fruits, whether or not they are to be blanched, and if so exactly how many minutes, and how long to cook or sterilize the products, according to the outfit you are using.

CHART FOR CANNING SOFT FRUITS AND BERRIES

[A] NUMBER OF MINUTES TO BLANCH OR HOT-DIP [B] IN HOT WATER BATH OUTFIT AT 212F [C] IN CONDENSED STEAM OUTFIT [D] IN WATER-SEAL OUTFIT 214F [E] IN STEAM PRESSURE 5 TO 10 POUNDS [F] IN PRESSURE COOKER 10 POUNDS

NUMBER OF MINUTES TO STERILIZE KIND OF [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] REMARKS FRUIT/PREPARATION -------------------------------------------------------------------- APRICOTS: To remove 1 to 2 16 16 12 10 5 Use skins hot-dip and medium-thick cold-dip. Can be sirup canned with the skins. Pits give a good flavor BLACKBERRIES: Pick None 16 16 12 10 5 Use medium-thin over, wash and stem sirup BLUEBERRIES: Pick None 16 16 12 10 5 Use medium-thin over, wash and stem sirup CHERRIES: Wash, None 16 16 12 10 5 Use medium-thin remove stems, and sirup if sour; remove pits if thin sirup if desired. If pitted sweet save the juice CURRANTS: Wash and None 16 16 12 10 5 Use medium-thin pick from stems sirup CRANBERRIES: Wash None 16 16 12 10 5 Use medium-thin and stem sirup DEWBERRIES: Wash None 16 16 12 10 5 Use medium-thin and stem sirup FIGS: Wash and stem None 16 16 12 10 5 Figs can be hot- dipped for a minute or two if desired.

Hot-dipping shrinks the figs so more can be packed in a jar GOOSEBERRIES Wash None 16 16 12 10 5 Use and snip off stems medium-thick and blossom ends sirup GRAPES Wash and None 16 16 12 10 5 Use medium-thin pick from stems sirup HUCKLEBERRIES Wash None 16 16 12 10 5 Use medium-thin and stem sirup PEACHES Blanch and 1-2 16 16 12 *10 X *Use only 5 cold-dip, then pounds remove skins. pressure. If peaches are canned under more than 5 pounds of pressure they become flavorless and PLUMS Wash; stones 1-2 16 16 12 10 5 For sweet plums may be removed if use thin or desired. medium-thin sirup; for sour plums use medium-thin sirup RASPBERRIES pick None 16 16 12 10 5 Use medium-thin over, wash and stem sirup RHUBARB Wash, cut 1 16 16 12 10 5 Be very careful into inch pieces. not to hot-dip Use sharp knife the rhubarb more than one minute, for it gets mushy STRAWBERRIES Pick None 16 16 12 10 5 Use over, wash and hull medium-thick sirup -------------------------------------------------------------------- HARD FRUITS -------------------------------------------------------------------- APPLES Pare, core 1 to 20 20 15 10 5 Use thin sirup and cut into halves 2 or smaller pieces PEARS Wash, pare or 1 20 20 15 10 5 Use thin sirup not as desired. Small pears may be canned whole or quartered PINEAPPLE Cut into 5 30 30 25 25 18 Use thin or slices or inch medium-thin cubes. The cores sirup can be removed QUINCES Remove 6 40 40 30 25 20 Apples, pears skins and cores. and quinces Cut into convenient should be slices dropped into salt water to keep fruit from turning brown.

Use salt in the proportion of one tablespoonful WINDFALL APPLES FOR to one gallon of water. Use thin PIE FILLING Cut None 12 12 10 6 4 Can in water into halves QUARTERED APPLES None 12 12 10 6 4 Can in water FOR SALAD and save the sugar for other purposes CRAB APPLES Pare None 16 16 8 5 5 Can in water or and core use thin sirup -------------------------------------------------------------------- CITRUS FRUITS -------------------------------------------------------------------- ORANGES, WHOLE 1 12 12 8 6 4 Add boiling Remove skins and thin sirup white fiber or surface, then blanch LEMONS, WHOLE 1 12 12 8 6 4 Add boiling Remove skins and thin sirup white fiber or surface, then blanch GRAPEFRUIT, WHOLE 1 12 12 8 6 4 Add boiling Remove skins and thin sirup white fiber or surface, then blanch ORANGE AND OTHER None 10 10 6 5 4 Use thin sirup CITRUS FRUITS, SLICED Slice with a sharp knife FRUITS CANNED IN 30 30 20 12 10 WATER WITHOUT SUGAR SIRUP --------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE.--When cooking products in pint or half-pint jars deduct three or four minutes from the time given above. When cooking in two-quart jars add 3 or 4 minutes to time. The estimates given are for quart jars.

CHAPTER IV

VEGETABLES

It is practical to can all vegetables, even such difficult ones as corn, peas and beans, by the cold-pack method of canning without using any preservatives, if you will follow all directions, instructions and the time-table accurately. Vegetable canning is a little more complicated than fruit canning.

TOMATOES

Every one likes canned tomatoes. In many homes more tomatoes are canned than any other product. The housewife uses them for soups, for sauces and for seasoning many meat dishes. Some women say: "I can preserve everything but tomatoes. They always spoil. What do I do wrong?" If the following directions are followed tomatoes will not spoil.

Tomatoes really are the easiest vegetable to can, because the period of sterilization is short, and many jars may be canned in a day, or if one is very busy a few jars may be canned daily without the expenditure of a great deal of time.

The best tomatoes for canning are those of moderate size, smooth and uniformly ripe. When a tomato ripens unevenly or when it is misshapen, it is difficult to peel, and the percentage of waste is high. Tomatoes should not be picked when they are green or partly ripe, for the flavor will not be so good as when they are allowed to remain upon the vines until fully ripe. Care should be taken, however, not to allow them to become overripe before canning.

In no instance should a tomato with a rotten spot be canned, even though the spot is cut out, for the occasional spoiled jar resulting from this attempted saving will cost more than the partly spoiled tomatoes are worth. If the housewife will can only uniformly ripe, sound tomatoes, saving the small, uneven but sound fruit for tomato _puree_, she will have a much better-looking pack and greater food value at the close of the season. Yellow tomatoes may be canned in the same manner as are the more common red varieties, except that it is not necessary to remove the cores.

First of all, grade for ripeness, size and quality; this is to insure a high-grade product. We could, of course, can different sizes and shades together, but uniform products are more pleasing to the eye and will sterilize much more evenly. If the products are of the same ripeness and quality, the entire pack will receive the proper degree of cooking.

Wash the tomatoes. Have ready a kettle of boiling water. Put the tomatoes in a wire basket, or lay them on a piece of cheesecloth or a towel, twist the ends together to form a sack, and let this down into the kettle. It is a good plan to slip a rubber band round the neck of this sack to hold the ends in place. The ends should be long enough to stand up out of the water and so avoid danger of burning the fingers when removing the product.

Have the water boiling hard. Lower the tomatoes into the boiling water. This is called scalding the tomatoes. We scald the tomatoes to loosen the skin. If the tomatoes are very ripe, one minute scalding will be sufficient. The average length of time for tomatoes, just perfect for canning, is one and a half minutes. Do not leave the tomatoes in the hot water until the skins break, as this gives them a fuzzy appearance.

The scalding kettle always should be covered, to keep in all the heat possible. Begin to time from the minute the product is immersed in the boiling water. If you wait until the water comes back to a boil, you will scald the product too long and have mushy tomatoes.

Lift the tomatoes out of the hot water and plunge them immediately into cold water, or hold them under the cold-water faucet. The cold-dip makes them easier to handle, separates the skin from the pulp, firms the texture, and coagulates the coloring matter so it stays near the surface, giving them a rich, red color. Then the shock due to the sudden change from hot to cold and back to hot again seems to help kill the spores. Do not let the product stand in the cold-dip.

The water becomes lukewarm, softens the product and allows bacteria to develop.

Take the tomato in the left hand and with a sharp knife cut out the core. Be careful not to cut into the fleshy portion or seed cells, for this will scatter the seeds and pulp through the liquid, injuring the appearance of the product. Cut out the core before removing the skin, for the skin will protect the pulp and there will be less danger of breaking the tomato. If the tomatoes are ripe and have been scalded properly, the skin can be slipped off with the fingers.

The jars, rubbers and tops should be ready. Gla.s.s jars should be hot, so there will be no danger of breakage in setting them in the hot water, and so they will not cool the water in the cooker below the boiling point.

Pack the tomatoes whole, pressing and shaking them well down together, but not using force enough to crush them.

Now we come to a point where tomatoes are different from most vegetables. Beans, carrots, peas, and so on, have hot water added to them. But as a large part of the tomato is water, no more is needed.

Another exception where no water is needed is with the "greens family." So with tomatoes we add no water, but add one teaspoonful of salt and one teaspoonful of sugar, just for seasoning, to every quart jar. I think that tomatoes always are improved by the addition of a little sugar, but this is not necessary and can be omitted, as also can be the salt.

The salt in canning does not act as a preservative, but as seasoning; so if for any reason you forget the salt, do not be alarmed. Your products will keep perfectly without the salt.