Cook the fruit slowly in a porcelain-lined or granite-
ware kettle, using as little water as possible. It is bet-
ter to cook only small quantities at a time in one kettle.
Steaming in the cans is preferable to stewing, where
tlie fruit is at all soft. To do this, carefully fill the
cans with fresh fruit, packing it quite closely, if the
fruit is large, and set the cans in a boiler partly filled
with cold water, with something underneath them to
prevent breaking, — mufiin-rings, straw, thick cloth, or
anything to keep them from resting on the bottom of
the boiler ; screw the covers on the cans so the water
cannot boil into them, but not so tightly as to prevent
the escape of steam ; let the water boil until the fruit is
steamed tender.
6-i EVEBY-DAY DISHES,
Fruit for canning should be so thoroughly cooked
that every portion of it will have been subjected to a
sufficient degree of heat to destroy all germs within the
fruit, but overcooking should be avoided. The length
of time required for cooking fruits for canning varies
with the kind and quality of fruit and the manner of
cooking.
Fifteen minutes may be considered as the shortest
time for which even the most delicate fruits should be
subjected to the temperature of boiling water, and at
least thirty minutes will be required by most fruits.
Fruits which are not perfectly fresh, or which have been
shipped some distance, should be cooked not less than
thirty minutes. The boiling should be very slow, how-
ever, as hard, rapid boiling will break up the fruit, and
much of its fine flavor will be lost in the steam.
Use the best sugar, if any, two tablespoonfuls to
a quart of fruit is sufficient for most subacid fruits,
as berries and peaches ; plums, cherries, strawberries,
and currants require from five to eight tablespoonfuls
of sugar to a quart.
Perfect fruit, properly canned, will keep without
sugar, and will thus retain its natural flavor more per-
fectly than when cooked with sugar. The necessary
amount of sweetening may be added when it is opened
for use.
If the fruit is to be cooked previously to being put
into the cans, the cans should be heated before the in-
troduction of the fruit, which should be put in at a boiling
temperature. Fill a large dish-pan nearly full of scald-
ing (not boiling) water, gradually introduce each can,
previously baked, into the water, dip it full of water.
FRUIT. 65
and set it right side up in the pan. Kepeat the process
with other cans until four or jfive are ready. Put the
covers likewise into boiling water. Have in readiness
for use a granite-ware funnel and dipper, also in boiling
water ; a cloth for wiping the outside of the cans; a
silver fork or spoon; a dish for emptyings; and a broad
shallow pan on one side of the range, half filled with
boiling water, in which to set the cans while being
filled. When everything is in readiness, the fruit
properly cooked, and at a 'boiling tem/perature, turn
one of the cans down in the water, roll it over once or
twice, empty it, and set in the shallow pan of hot
water ; adjust the funnel, and then place first in the
can a quantity of juice, so that when the fruit is put in,
no vacant places will be left for air, which is sometimes
quite troublesome if this precaution is not taken ; then
add the fruit.
Page 36
Presented as published in 1897. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Cook the fruit slowly in a porcelain-lined or graniteware kettle, using as little water as possible. It is better to cook only small quantities at a time in one kettle. Steaming in the cans is preferable to stewing, where the fruit is at all soft. To do this, carefully fill the cans with fresh fruit, packing it quite closely, if the fruit is large, and set the cans in a boiler partly filled with cold water, with something underneath them to prevent breaking, — muffin-rings, straw, thick cloth, or anything to keep them from resting on the bottom of the boiler ; screw the covers on the cans so the water cannot boil into them, but not so tightly as to prevent the escape of steam ; let the water boil until the fruit is steamed tender.
Fruit for canning should be so thoroughly cooked that every portion of it will have been subjected to a sufficient degree of heat to destroy all germs within the fruit, but overcooking should be avoided. The length of time required for cooking fruits for canning varies with the kind and quality of fruit and the manner of cooking.
Fifteen minutes may be considered as the shortest time for which even the most delicate fruits should be subjected to the temperature of boiling water, and at least thirty minutes will be required by most fruits. Fruits which are not perfectly fresh, or which have been shipped some distance, should be cooked not less than thirty minutes. The boiling should be very slow, however, as hard, rapid boiling will break up the fruit, and much of its fine flavor will be lost in the steam.
Use the best sugar, if any, two tablespoonfuls to a quart of fruit is sufficient for most subacid fruits, as berries and peaches ; plums, cherries, strawberries, and currants require from five to eight tablespoonfuls of sugar to a quart.
Perfect fruit, properly canned, will keep without sugar, and will thus retain its natural flavor more perfectly than when cooked with sugar. The necessary amount of sweetening may be added when it is opened for use.
If the fruit is to be cooked previously to being put into the cans, the cans should be heated before the introduction of the fruit, which should be put in at a boiling temperature. Fill a large dish-pan nearly full of scalding (not boiling) water, gradually introduce each can, previously baked, into the water, dip it full of water.
and set it right side up in the pan. Repeat the process with other cans until four or five are ready. Put the covers likewise into boiling water. Have in readiness for use a granite-ware funnel and dipper, also in boiling water ; a cloth for wiping the outside of the cans; a silver fork or spoon; a dish for emptyings; and a broad shallow pan on one side of the range, half filled with boiling water, in which to set the cans while being filled. When everything is in readiness, the fruit properly cooked, and at a boiling temperature, turn one of the cans down in the water, roll it over once or twice, empty it, and set in the shallow pan of hot water ; adjust the funnel, and then place first in the can a quantity of juice, so that when the fruit is put in, no vacant places will be left for air, which is sometimes quite troublesome if this precaution is not taken ; then add the fruit.