Food and health

Why should we dry fruit and vegetables ? This is an old-time method, and still a good one. It is easy ; a little can be done at a time ; the dried food keeps well in a dry place, and has a good flavor. Dry pitted cherries on a plate, near the fire or in the oven when the fire is going out. Do berries in this way, too. Sliced apples can be dried in the sun, covered with netting or wire screening to keep out flies. Many people do not know that dried sweet corn is quite as good as or better than canned corn. Cut off the kernels from the cob and dry, while the sweet corn is quite tender. In the winter make " Succotash," the Indian name for "corn and beans," or "beans and corn." More about the canning clubs. Here are some * Courtesy of Mrs. Jane S. McKimmon, State Agent in Home Demonstration Work, North Carolina. io6 recipes for canning vegetables, used in the club work. Vegetables need longer cooking than fruit ; and it is a good plan to cook them for two or three days in succession, two or three hours at a time. The picture (Fig. 44) shows a large canner that is used out of doors. Even if there is no canning club in a Courtesy of New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University. Fig. 52. — A tin can may be capped with round capping steel. Courtesy of New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University. Fig. 53. — A tin can may also be tipped with soldering iron and solder. town, such a canner is very convenient when preserving for a large family, and it soon pays for the first cost. Some one asked Miss Travers whether it paid to can. Would it not be better to buy canned goods ? Her answer was that where there is a plenty of fruit and vegetables on the place, it costs less money to can. When you have learned how, the labor is not too great. Canning vegetables.^ I To can string beans select beans that are young and tender, and have few strings. The Green Pod Stringless is a good variety. The trade likes a green bean about the size of a rat tail. Indeed, canners sometimes designate them as rat-tail beans. And if you pull it when it is young arid tender enough and remove every vestige of string, there is no doubt of a market. Snap the bean at both ends, string, and put in the wire basket of your canner or in a thin cotton bag, and plunge in boiling water for 5 minutes. This removes certain acids and makes the flavor of your beans better. Never forget this when canning beans. Remove after the given time, pack tightly in sterilized cans within § inch of top, and fill with hot water. Add I level teaspoonful of salt, seal, exhaust for 5 minutes, tip, and return to the canner for i hour's boiling. For No. 10 cans use i level tablespoon of salt, exhaust 10 minutes, and boil 2 hours and 20 minutes. Turn cans over once or twice while processing. Corn, butter beans, peas, squash, and some other vegetables require three days' cooking and are all best when cooked in smaller cans and jars. No. 2 is good. Select corn when^ young and very tender; cut from cob with sharp knife, gently scraping cob. Use sugar corn for canning. If this cannot be procured, take field corn, but be sure it is very tender. Do not prepare any more corn than you can immediately, as it quickly sours and you may lose your can. Pack in No. 2 cans only — do not use larger cans for corn — to within i inch of top ; fill with cold water; add i level teaspoon of salt and 2 level teaspoons of sugar ; seal but do not tip ; allow it to exhaust 15 minutes. Tip the little hole with a drop of solder; return to the boiling water and boil for i hour. Remove from fire and set aside for 24 hours. ^ A timetable will be found on page 296. io8 FOOD AND HEALTH ,