Blue Ribbon and Pure Gold cook book

Fruits and vegetables should be thoroughly washed until all soil is removed. Care should be taken not to bruise the fruits. Lift from the water instead of draining it off. If available use a wire basket. A spray is excellent for washing fruits and vegetables. Do not wash too much at one time. A small brush is useful for cleaning vegetables. Pre-cooking: Pre-cooking is necessary to shrink vegetables, allow a better pack and to ensure a quick and thorough heat penetration. The vegetables are prepared for serving, covered with boiling water and brought to boiling point over the fire, then boiled for several minutes (see chart, page 119), packed hot into sealers and covered with the boiling water in which they were cooked. Peaches, pears and cherries can be pre-cooked before packing. This is recommended when oven sterilization is used. Blanching: This process is used to remove skins from peaches and tomatoes. It consists of placing in steam or boiling water for 15 to 30 seconds to loosen skins and then dipping in cold water. To Prevent Discoloration: Such fruits as peaches, pears and apples should be dropped in a brine of 1 teaspoon of salt to 1 quart cold water as soon as peeled. Syrup: Figure the amount of syrup required for fruit to be canned and have syrup ready before preparing fruit. Thin Syrup—1 cup sugar to 2 cups water makes approximately 2; cups syrup. This syrup is recommended for apricots, blueberries, sweet cherries, raspberries, peaches and pears. Medium Syrup—1 cup sugar to 1 cup water makes approximately 1} cups syrup. ‘This syrup is recommended for sour cherries, plums, blackberries and strawberries. Home Canning of Fruits and Vegetables 115 Thick Syrup—2 cups sugar to 1 cup water. This syrup is recommended for sweet plums, cherries and apricots if desired. To make syrup add water to sugar, boil 5 minutes, skim, keep hot but not boiling. ‘ For each pint sealer allow :-— % 3 to £ cup syrup for small fruits. 2 to 1 cup syrup for large fruits. Sugar—Beet and cane sugar are chemically the same and therefore can be used interchangeably with identical results in canning, jam or jelly making. CANNING FRUIT WITHOUT SUGAR All fruits may be successfully canned without sugar. Use boiling water instead of syrup. Add 5 minutes to time of sterilization given in the time table (page 118). Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, cherries, currants, plums and rhubarb can be packed in sealers—crushed until the juice overflows and sterilized allowing 5 minutes longer than time required when syrup is used. ’ Fruit canned without sugar is excellent for pies and desserts and may be sweetened as used. Chemical compounds and ‘‘canning powders’ are not recommended since heat sterilization is sufficient for preservation. METHODS OF PACKING 1. Cold Pack Method—By this method the food is packed into sterilized sealers raw and cold, covered with liquid (syrup, water or its own juice) either hot or cold and partially sealed— then sterilized. 2. Hot Pack Method—Food is subjected to a pre-cooking and packed while hot. This requires shorter time for heat penetration and in most cases allows more food to be packed in the sealers. This method is used for vegetables except tomatoes and sometimes used for fruits, particularly when oven canning. 3. Open Kettle Method is not recommended for canning fruit unless a thick syrup is used and should never be used for | vegetables. FILLING SEALERS