32 THE CANNING OF FOODS. 



which would otherwise go to waste, and its development should be 

 encouraged, but the idea of large profits should be held in abeyance. 

 For the novice and many others it would be better to learn how to 

 buy the best prepared foods rather than to attempt to pack them. 



COST OF CANNED FOODS COMPARED WITH FRESH. 



In making a comparison of the cost of canned and fresh products 

 of the same kind, a number of factors must be taken into considera- 

 tion. First, the cost of the raw material and the waste when pur- 

 chased in the small quantity used in a single meal; second, the cost 

 of labor and preparation used in making it ready for the table. It 

 is obvious that a comparison can not be made for time, as the canned 

 article may be had throughout the year and the fresh for only a 

 limited season, and purchase of a product out of season is usually 

 at a high cost. In making a purchase of either the fresh or canned 

 article, the smaller the quantity, the higher the price; the single can 

 costs more than if bought by the dozen or case, as does the half peck 

 of apples compared with the bushel or barrel. 



Take, for example, a No. 3 and a No. 10 can of whole apples; 

 the former usually retails for 10 cents and the latter for 25 to 30 

 cents. Those who can use the latter have a decided advantage, as 

 it will contain between four and five times as much as the former. 

 Only in apple districts, and for short seasons, can the same quantity 

 of the fresh fruit be purchased at the same price. Wherever the 

 fresh fruit sells at the rate of $2 per bushel when purchased by the 

 peck, and this is below average prevailing prices in cities, the canned 

 article is the cheaper. In the raw stock there is loss in peel and core, 

 from bruises, short weight, and often rot, all of which is eliminated 

 in the can. The canned variety usually cooks better, and for the pie 

 or dumpling is generally the cheaper. 



Neither corn nor peas can be purchased in large cities, nor in many 

 smaller ones, as cheaply as in the can, and then they are not so fresh. 

 In up-to-date canneries the article is put up the day it is picked, while 

 3 or 4 days may elapse from the time the raw product is harvested in 

 the garden (in transportation, in the hands of the commission house, 

 and in the grocery) before it reaches the consumer's table. It requires 

 nearly 2 quarts of good peas in the pod to make one can, and often 

 more than 3 quarts of the heavy-podded variety found on the market. 

 At no time can the smaller peas nor fine-kerneled corn be purchased 

 as cheaply as in the can. It requires 2 bushels of good peas to yield 

 one No. 2 can of petit pois ? or 1 bushel to yield one can of extra 

 sifted, and from 4 to 8 ears of small corn to make one can. The pea 

 and corn packer, however, handles tons of these crops especially 

 grown for him, and uses the highest class of automatic labor-saving 

 machinery in all operations, so that the real labor on a single can 



