Sec. 26. 



PRESERVING FRUIT IN AIR-TIGHT CAXS. 



431 



and then sealing up the contents hermetically. If the article to be pro- 

 served is peaches, select such as you would for sweetmeats, and j>aro and cut 

 them so that they can be put in the bottle, and you must do this with the 

 least possible delay, or they will be colored by tiio atmosphere. Some per- 

 sons wiio want them to retain their natural whiteness peel them under wa 

 ter. When the bottle is full, cork it tight and wire down the cork with 

 very little projecting above the glass. "When you have bottks enough to 

 fill a kettle, such as may be most convenient, put them in and boil with the 

 water all around up to the nozzle for aliout fifteen or twenty minutes, or 

 until the bottle appears to be full of steam, the atmosphere having been 

 forced out through the cork. As soon as the bottles are cool enough to 

 handle, dip the corks in sealing-wax, so as to cover them quite tight. An 

 additional precaution is used by some in putting tin-foil over iho wax. 



Another ])lau is to cook the fruit slightly in a kettle, and then put it into 

 cans or bottles, and pour hot syrup of sugar in to till uj) the interstices, and 

 then cork and seal, the lieat of the fruit and syrup answering to expel the 

 air. Eiit the less they arc cooked or sweetened, the more natural will bo 

 the taste, like fresh fruit when opened. AVe have eaten peaches a year old 

 that we could not tell from those sugared ten hours before. 



Tomatoes are very easily preserved, and retain their freshness better than 

 almost any other fruit. The small kind only are used. Scald and peel 

 them without breaking the ilesh. Bottles should hold about a quart only, 

 because when once opened, the contents nmst be used uj) at once. Bottles 

 made on purpose, with large throats and a ring on the inside, are the best, 

 and bottles are better than cans for all acid fruit. The cans, however, aro 

 more easily secured by solder than the l)ottle3 by corks and wax, as the air 

 is let out through a small puncture after the large opening is soldered up 

 and cans heated, and that hole 6toj)i>ed with a single drop of solder. 



Every article of fruit will keep fresh if the air is exhausted and the bottle 

 sealed light. The least particle of air admitted through any imperfectiou 

 of the sealing will spoil tlie fruit. If tiie air could I'O driven out without 

 heat, there would be no need of any cooking, ami only just enough should 

 be given to expel the air and not change the taste. Many jwrsons prefer 

 to add syrup made by about one poimd of sugar to a <piart of water to all 

 suitable fruits. Green corn, beans, peas, tomatoes, pic-plant, curranUs 

 gooseberries, cherries, plums, rasi)berries, strawberries, )M;aclies, arc tlio moet 

 common things put up in this way. They udil greatly to the pleasuren of 

 the table and to the health of tho^c who consume ihem — in that r^poct 

 quite unlike the common preserves. 



■\Ve have known fruit for jiie^ juit up in thrce-fpiart cans by partially 

 cooking in an open kettle in a syrup just sweet enough for uw. and putiing 

 the fruit in the cans hot and soldering immediately. It kept thus perfi-ctly. 



Some fruits keep nuicli better and with less healing than others. I'cas aro 

 among tiie iiardcst articles to kee|>, tiiey contain so much fixed air. 



"\Vc advise every family in the country to try this plan of j>utting up 



