VOL. LIV.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., JULY 22, 1899.
NO. 29
'gxpzxizutz Sjepattmstrt.
How Do You Can  Fruit?   Why  Does So
Much   Canned   Fruit  Spoil?    What
Vegetables are Best Canned?
1st Premium,—In the firet place all fruit
should be fresh If it is to be canned, and lt
should not be overripe. A boiling sirup of
coflee A or granulated sugar and water should
be made firet, and tbe fruit put into that.
Berriea, cherries and currants require but a
few moments cooking. Peaches, pears, and
plume Bhould be cooked until tender, but not
bo they will fall to pieces. The quantity of
sugar used muet depend upon the family's
taste, for eome people prefer things much
eweeter than others. Two cups of water and
one cup of sugar will make a good eirup for
one quart of cherries. In canning peaches allow one pound of sugar and one quart of
water for the sirup to four pounds of the
fruit. The fruit must always be put into the
cans hot, and enough juice added to come
clear to the top, then the tops ghould be screwed on tightly. Turn the cans on their heads
for a fewJioure, or over night, and if they
leak, no matter how little, or if there ie any
sign of a sizzling noise, they will not keep
and ehould be immediately heated over and
either a new top, rubber or ean used. There
is no need of canned fruit spoiling If housekeepers will be exact and thorough. Mrs.
Rorer, the famous cooking teacher and chemist, says that the chief rssason why eo much
canned fruit spoils is because the can covers
are not properly cleaned, or are too old.
They ehould be boiled in Boda (baking soda)
water, until absolutely clean and then In
clear boiling water. Never wipe them or
touch them with a dish cloth, however clean,
but take them out of the boiling water and
screw them on. Too often rubbers are imperfect and will cause the air to get into a
can. New rubbers will be required often. After washing cans let them stand for ten or
or fifteen minutes before filling. In regard
to vegetables; tomatoes etand first and are the
easiest to can. The writer has canned
thirty and thirty-five quarts of them at a
time and had them keep perfectly. They are
canned ae you would anything only a little
salt being added. They require no sugar or
anything else. Long beets are very nice
canned. Oabhm M. A.
Rockford, 111.
2d Premium—To get ready to can, apples,
Peaches, pears, etc., muet be peeled and quartered or halved to BUit the notion, and berries must be well looked over to be sure .there
'« no trash left in them. Then wash and dry
™e jars and place them where they will get
warm through. Then put your fruit to cook
in porcelain, braes or granite vessels. Allow
one cup of eugar and a little water to each jar
°f fruit. Let the fruit get hot through, and
0 «ep it from cooking unevenly it ehould be
«lrred often with a wooden epoon. Any
other spoon chops the fruit so. When it Is
r"e ' heated remove from the etove and put
jnto the jars Immediately. A large mouthed
. nel u fery useful for this purpose. The
>*«• ehould be well filled, leaving no room for
r> as air ie what causes eo much of the
canned fruit to epoll. As soon as the jar is
""ed put the lid on and eeal air tight-
~et    the  fruit   remain    where   it  ia   till
id, then wrap the jars (if glass) in
Paper and carry to to the cellar.   If fruit is to
frul»mne'i 'n lt8 °*n 3u,co' fiU the jttr ful1 of
and Tlth nothlnBelse, then seal air tight
rile      . a bo»er of cold  water.   Have a
anrt V WO0d in the bolIer t0 8et the Jara on>
then n  th6fire-   ^t it boil one hour,
the   remoTe from the stove and let stand till
wa.^u    ,8  cold'   Frul*  Bhould   never be
ned bef0«> Jt is canned, as it will not keep
bo well. It does not hurt apples, peaches,
etc., to wash them before they are peeled.
The reason why so much canned fruit spoils
Ib becauee the fruit is too ripe when canned,
or gets air after it ie canned, or Is not cooked
enough. If fruit gets too cold during the
winter it gets soft. I find tin cans are better
than glass or stone to keep apples and peaches
from getting soft. Why it is I cannot tell but
we have kept fruit in tin cans until late in the
spring, and even for a year or two without its
becoming soft. If the stones are removed from
peaches,etc., it is well to throw a few Into the
fruit as it gives it a better flavor. A friend
tells me she has euccese in canning fruit when
she places her jars ln warm water and leaves
them on the stove till they boil In the water.
Then while they are in the water she fills
them. She says it drives all the air out of the
jars and fruit and it keeps better. Tomatosss,
corn, beet and cucumber pickles are good
canned. Gather your tomatoes before they
are over ripe. Scalding them burets the
skin and they are easily peeled. Save tbe
pieces in ae large pieces as will go in the can,
put them on to cook the eame as fruit. Very
little water is needed and no sugar. Let them
get warm through, then remove from the
stove and can. Oorn should be well cooked
before it Is canned, or it will not keep. A
pint of ealt to a gallon of corn keeps it nicely,
also a teaspoonful of tartaric acid to a quart
of corn. Cucumber pickles ehould be placed
in strong salt water, and let remain in it till
the salt strikes through them. Put vinegar
in a vessel on the stove with mixed eplces If
you like the flavor, and a little sugar, if you
like sweet pickles. Let It come to a boiling
heat, then put your pickles in. When they
are hot through, can, A grape leaf is very
good to put over the pickles in the can before they are eealed, E.
3d Premium.—In canning other fruit I use
about the same proportion of sugar and eame
of water—a tea cup to a quart and a half of
fruit—varying it a little with the fruit; using
less sugar for raspberries and more water and
more sugar for Damson plums. When canning cherries and some other fruits, I can
some especially for piee. I uee lees eugar and
water so that I can add eugar and flour when
I make the piee, and eo that I can get more
fruit In a can, I cook my ripe fruit only a
few minutee, after the fruit Ib thoroughly boiling, Of course hard fruit or green fruit requires longer cooking. A great many will
think this is too much water to put in canned
fruit, but we think it ls much nicer than with
little juice. Some will eay, "If you muet have
the water, why not add it to the fruit after
opening?" Cooking ripe fruit in the eyrup
keeps it from mashing and cooking to pieces
so much. This ie aleo one advantage in cooking a quart at a time Inetead of cooking several quarts as some do. To very etrong fruit,
euch ae cherries and plume, I often add eugar
and water after opening, even when they have
been canned with a good deal of both. Juicy
fruit is much mote mild and pleasant to the
taste. I know a great many do not can their
fruit with sugar, for fear lt will epoll, and the
sugar will be wasted. I do not think fruit is
nearly so nice sweetened at the table as where
the eugar is cooked into it. Thie is especially
true of pears and peaches. We very seldom
add any eugar to our tiuit at the table
then the eugar may help to keep the fruit.
Juicy fruit is a little mussey for children, but
we have three Bmall boys, and they are very
fond of it. They have a dieh of the fruit with
bread broken up on it, and cream poured over
the bread; then they eat It without stirring.
They are ready for it each meal during the
winter. With milk It forms the main part of
their diet. I think there are three reasons
why so much fruit spoils. First, the fruit ie
not kept boiling while the can is being filled;
second, the can is not filled full.   I think it
should be full, so that there will be no air Inside to cause the fruit to spoil, and eo that
when the fruit cools and settles a more perfect vacuum will be formed at the top of the
can, thus causing a greater pressure of the air
on the outside to hold on the cover; third, the
can is not filled quickly and eealed immediately after it is filled. In canning fruit I
think it is necessary to eee that the rubbers
are good; although I always use rubbers more
than once, and often a number of times
When the rubbers are hard as most of the Mason rubbers are, I think it helps them to pour
boiling water over them before using. In using lightning cans when the rubbers are not
new, I put paper folded several times under
the wire where It rests on the cover. I have
never canned any vegetables except tomatoes
and sweet corn. L. H. L.
Union Oo.
—[We omit method of canning strawberries
as lt is to late to be ueeful this season.—Ed.]
I uea tin canB mostly for peaches, quinces
and pears. Oook the fruit, thoroughly done,
in a porcelain kettle. Pears ehould be cooked
well. I have known many housekeepers to
mourn the loss of their pears simply becauee
they were not cooked thoroughly. I uee
about one pint of sugar to every six quarts of
fruit, added while cooking. I fill the cans
quite full of fruit, about one-half dozen cane
at a time allow the fruit to settle, then fill up
with the sirup and eeal with common sealing
wax. If bubbles appear while pouring the
wax I preee them down with a cloth wet in
cold water. Soon as sealed I put weights on
the beds, and let them remain until the fruit
gets cool. If properly canned fruit will keep
nicely in any cool dry place. Too much
stresB cannot be put on the importance of
cooking the fruit thoroughly. Many times
the fruit ls not epoiled at all, only the lining
of the can ls eaten with the poorly cooked
fruit or acid. I never buy the very cheap
cans, that our etoree are flooded with, they
are poorly finished inside. I have a neighbor
that lines all her tin cans Inside with blank
paper, to insure safety in eating the fruit. I
use the pealing and cores of the fruit for
jelly. A few quince seeds and cores cooked
with apple peal Inge makes the finest of jelly.
All-over ripe fruit ie made into jam and butter. Cherries and all other email fruits are
nicest put up in glass. I uee the Maeon jars.
To keep the cane from breaking when the
hot fruit ie put in them, I set them on a
damp cloth. It ls usually a great mietake
for a housekeeper to try to eave too many
kinds of vegetables by canning. Trying to
do too much, aiming to eave it all and falling to can anything, ae it ehould be canned,
ie really the main cauee why so much canned
fruit spoils. I can, with much success, the
tomato, rhubarb and pumpkin. If canned
early in the season, and cooked quite whole,
there Is no finer vegetable than the tomato,
for those who are fond of them.
Oonnersville. 0. B.
I first put cans in the Bun, where I let them
remain several days before using, to make
them fresh and eweet. Fruit should be picked as soon as ripe, then carefully looked over
and waehed. Oook in a porcelain kettlo, just
as eoon as possible after picking, until it ls
thoroughly done, but do not let it become a
mush. While the fruit is cooking heat your
canB in warm water, fill them while boiling,
then eeal Immediately and with great care, so
that the fruit] doee not get air. If eeallng-
wax cans (which I think the best) look over
them when nearly cold, and if there are little
holes in the wax, heat the stove hook and run
over it; if self-sealers, tighten the lids.
Then place the cane ln a dark, dry room, to
remain until October, and then move them to
the cellar. I believe there are eeveral reasons
for canned fruit spoiling.   First,  the fruit
may be stale beforo it is canned. And again
it may be only half cooked. Then, often
cans aro filled and left to stand several minutes before sealing, or else they may not be
sealed tightly. I do not think it a good plan
to let tho fruit set around the cook etove for
days or perhaps weeks after being canned,
nor is the cellar a lit place for it, except in
winter, as the dampness might cause it to
mold. I hear of eome using paraffin to prevent this mold, but I think that unnecessary,
as I uee nothing but great care In putting lt
away and very eeldom have a can to mold or
epoll in any way. Some eay that "cheap tin
cans are unfit for fruit." This is a mistake,
for I have experimented with them and last
year canned twenty-four quarts of peaches In
the cheap cans,'and not one can has spoiled,
nor could I ask for fruit to be nicer than
these, when opened. I consider tin cans the
best for vegetables, and my favorite ones
canned are peas, sugar corn and tomatoes.
Although I consider this point a matter of
teste. E. A. B.
Cass Oo.
I eelect my berries before too ripe, pick
over, wash, and for strawberries I take for
one quart of berries, one small teacup of eugar, let sugar boil until thick sirup, then put
in the berries. Let them heat through and
can. By this method the berries look a nice
red color and remain whole. Raspberries
and blackberries I let come to a boil and can
without putting any sugar in them. Tomatoes I can in tin cans; pour boiling water
over your tomatoes. Let them stand twenty
minutee, then peel, put on in porcelain kettle, let them heat through, not boll, and can
whole. This way they are splendid for slicing, seasoning with salt, pepper and vinegar
and serving aa you would freeh tomatoes. I
put a piece of white muslin over top of all
kinds of fruit before putting lid on, also put
white paper in each lid. By following theee
rules I always have good success, both with
self-sealing and wax cans. The principal
cauee of eo much fruit spoiling is, first, the
fruit is often too ripe for canning, but chiefly
the lids and rubbers are to blame. For wax
cana I get new lids each year, and for self-
eealera new rubbere, or If I use the old rubbers I put two on one can. I always leave my
fruit after canning for twenty-four hours, before putting away. Then I examine it and if
in good condition I wrap it ln newspapers
and store away In the cellar. Tomatoes and
beans are the beet vegetables to can.
Mas. Mattie Turner, P. M.
Fayette Oo.
All fruit keeps better ln the dark, so I always put it in the darkest corner of the cellar,
and throw some covering over it, so when the
door Is left open the light will not strike it. I
always sweeten peaches and strawberries when
first put up, but a great many sorts tan be reheated and the sugar added and be just as
nice as if sweetened when canned. As there
is no fruit that Bettles as strawberries do, they
do not need filling the second time. Plums
are very rich and strong, and a great many
dislike them for that reason, myself ae well,
until I have remodeled them, I cover them
with boiling water, and let stand over the fire
as hot ae can be kept without boiling, until
the skins crack, and all the strong bitter, sour
taete has been drawn out, then draw the water
off; have some bo.UIng water ready and cover
again, boil a few minutes and can. In this
way they are so mild and nice we never tire
of them. The juice makes nice jelly with
half sweet apple juice. If the apples can not
be had while the plums are going, I can the
juice until I can get them. Pie plant ls an
article I mention as so many think it is not
nice for canning. We like it for sauce. I
first waeh and cut it into pieces about half an
Coneladerst on page lo.