Rural School Leaflet 1055 



directions for canning and jelly-making 

 Helen Knowlton 

 Department of Home Economics 



For many years you have watched your mother when she has canned 

 fruit or made jelly. Probably you have helped her and perhaps some 

 of you have tried to do it alone. We are going to suggest that you 

 try both canning and jelly-making, and enter the results for the girls' 

 contest in your district. This explains the list of contests that you 

 have just read. 



Why should you learn to can fruits and to make jelly? Long ago it 

 was found that raw fruits would not keep well, but that if cooked with 

 sugar and sealed they could be used and enjoyed in January as well as 

 in summer. It was also found that adding more sugar to the juice, and 

 cooking, would produce jelly that would keep without being sealed. 



What is the secret of these two processes ? It has been found that there 

 are certain tiny plants, too small to be seen except under a microscope. 

 These may be either bacteria or yeasts. There are also molds, which 

 we can see, but the bacteria and yeasts are fully as important and perhaps 

 more so. All of these cause fruits to spoil. In order to preserve fruits, 

 therefore, the tiny yeasts and bacteria and molds must be killed. They 

 are found everywhere — on the fruit, in the air, in water, and on the 

 dishes used in canning fruit. They can be killed if you heat fruit and 

 dishes long enough. When you heat the dishes, water, fruit, and the 

 like you have sterilized them. By sealing the canned fruit the tiny plant- 

 forms are left out. 



The jelly can be covered with paraffin, which will protect it from molds. 

 Jelly has so much sugar that usually bacteria and yeasts do not grow 

 well in it. If you were planning to can vegetables you would need to have 

 special directions, because some of the tiny plant organisms on vegetables 

 are very hard to kill. In canning it is just as important to sterilize the 

 jar, the cover, and the rubber ring by heating, as it is to sterilize the 

 fruit. The inside of the cover must not be handled after it has been 

 sterilized, not even with clean hands, because by so doing hundreds 

 of organisms might get into the fruit. For the same reason, do not 

 put an unsterilized knife or spoon into the jar. 



CANNING OF FRUIT 



Canning materials. — Only good, sound materials should be used in 

 canning. Coarse-grained sugar should be chosen for canning fruits 

 and for jelly-making, as it melts without so much frothing as is produced 

 by fine-grained sugar. 



