The Busy Woman s Garden Book 



izing of the product by plunging for five or six 

 minutes in boiling water. This is best accom- 

 plished by either a wire basket, lined with cheese- 

 cloth, if the vegetable is small, like peas or string 

 beans, or alone for such things as tomatoes, pep- 

 pers or corn on cob, or by a large piece of cheese- 

 cloth a yard square at least. After blanching 

 the vegetables must be plunged at once in cold 

 water, to set the color and firm the surface. They 

 are then packed at once in the cans, a teaspoon 

 of salt added to each quart and the can filled with 

 boiling water, rubber and top put in place, but 

 not screwed tight, and the cans placed in the con- 

 tainer, the water of which must come at least an 

 inch above the top of the cans, and cooked, or 

 processed, for the time indicated for each product. 

 Before using the cans they should be sterihzed 

 by boihng, or at least thoroughly heating to ob- 

 viate danger of cracking when plunged into the 

 hot container. 



The government directions state quite emphat- 

 ically that the cans should be boiled but after 

 putting up several hundred cans of vegetables of 



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