THE HOUSEHOLD CHORES 143 



appear canning and preserving start. At one time 

 we began with asparagus, which is harvested while 

 the rest of the land is still bare. Since our finesse 

 with winter keepers has improved, the strawberry 

 is more likely to command what the exponents of 

 business English call "our early attention." You 

 can say or think what you like about the straw- 

 berry; in my opinion as a fresh, raw fruit it is a 

 delusion and a snare unless "sugared down" over- 

 nightand then it is no longer strictly fresh. In 

 common with almost everything else in gastro- 

 nomic nature, it takes a little sugar to bring out 

 the best that is in it. There is not only the nos- 

 talgic characteristic that obtains for all sugar-pre- 

 served fruits and vegetables, to give strawberry 

 jam its distinctive flavor; there is in it the accu- 

 rate concentration of the true essence of straw- 

 berry. So we start making jam as soon as strawber- 

 ries are ripe, and from then until frost cuts down 

 the vegetation in the fall we are intent on canning 

 and preserving. 



Almost everything in the vegetable kingdom is 

 preservable. For a safe, successful, and lasting job 

 most things must be cooked at higher than boiling 

 temperature or else conserved in sugar or salt. 

 Canning that is, preservation without condiments 

 is therefore best done in a pressure-cooker. This 

 is a heavy aluminum kettle that will hold a num- 

 ber of mason jars or an even larger number of 



