FoodNet

A manual of home-making

1919

Page 324

Presented as published in 1919. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
A MANUAL OF HOME-MAKING thermonieter may be bought at a drug store for nbout tl In using a t liermonaeter, rare should b(» taken t hat the bttib » entirely covored by the sirup and that it does ii€3t nsadi ihr bottom of the kettle; if the bulb h exposed to the air or toiidis the metal of the pan, the reg:istered temperature is lower tn thf one case and higher in the other than is the actual tempemtunr of the sirup. In the absence of a thermometer, however, the test alreKhr mentioned, dropping a little of the )>oihng simp into cold water, may be used with comparatively gmxl results. The faUofrtni table gives the different stages of concent mtion, the eorrespoml- ing temfx^ratures, and the tests that may l>e used to detc the condition of (he sirup. The temperatures refer to a made from cane sugar. When glucose or com sirup m used part, the same consistencies are reached at lower tempemti TABLE LIL— Determination or Stages m StrcAa Cook^rt Stage TempemlMr^ Tc^i 1 Threati 230° F. Simp forms a thread when dn>|]peil fran 110** (J. a spoon Softball 2^"" F. Sirup fonns a eoft hall wh<m dfoppod bio v\r C. cold water Hard baU . 252** F. Sirup fomi.^ a bard ball when drtjfyped inl* 122** C. oold waiCT Crack ..... 270"* F. Sirup b<?comc» britUe when drupp^ «&*« 132^ C. cold water Hard crack 293** F. Simp I>ecomc« very britUe wbeii choppod 145** C. into cold wat<?r Caramel 310" 4- F. Sirup chanicGi^ color and becomes very haitt 154" + C. and brittle when cool Vtenmls, Granite utensils usually give better result,*! than do tho^e aluminum or tin, because granite ware is not so good a coriduetc of heat, and hence the temperature is more ea.siiy reguIateU. Wooden spoons are pi*oferal>!e to metal onet^, for wood dc not conduct heat a« does metal. Moreover, the sirup does not^ tend to stick to wood as much as to met44L CHAPTER XXXIV FOOD PRESERVATION If foods are to be kept successfully f mm one season to another, it is necessary to have as nearly aa possilile exact knowledge of the conditions that interfere witii their preservation. This statement refers not ordy to fruits and vegetables that are pickled^ preservtHl with sujijar, or put up in. cans, but to other foods, such as apples, winter ve|?etables, and eggs — foods that do not need to be kept indefinitely but that should f>e given a longer season of usefulness. There are two main causes for the spoiling of foods: first, the presence of small living organisms that feed on the foods and change them so that they may cease to be desirable and may even l>ecome harmful; second, the normal occurrence in such foods as fruits, vegetables, eggs, meat, and seeds of all plants, of certain substances which, although not alive, are the prmlucts of living things and have the power of causing fruit to ripen, seeds to start growing, meat to soften, antl all finally to decay.