CONSERVATION AND THE HOUSEWIFE 



Cannings 

 Conservation 

 in Excelsis 



above and put in shallow receptacles, may easily be kept until mid- 

 winter. It is useless to store bruised, diseased, decayed, or over-ripe 

 fruit, thus courting failure. 



Canning is the simplest of operations. It consists in 

 keeping a food -product airtight after the bacteria 

 have been destroyed by heat. Modern methods 

 make canning so easy that children can foods, as 

 children's canning clubs the country over attest. Fruits, in particular, 

 are easily canned, every fruit of the orchard being suitable. Principally, 

 the fruit is canned either by the open-kettle or the cold-pack methods. 

 In the open-kettle method the product to be canned is cooked in 

 an open kettle and then put into sterilized jars and sealed. All fruits 

 may be so canned. The jars, and also the rubbers and covers, must be 

 sterilized by boiling for ten minutes, before the fruit is put in them. 

 Usually, the fruit is cooked in a sugar syrup of varying sweetness. 

 This is the old-fashioned method, known by every housewife. 



The cold-pack 

 method consists in 

 packing the raw or 

 blanched product into 

 the jar, surrounding the 

 material with liquid, 

 and cooking in boiling 

 water. It is, on the 

 whole, the more satis- 

 factory method, because 

 it saves time and labor, 

 and because either fruit, 

 vegetables, or meat keep 

 indefinitely if sufficient 

 time is given to the pro- 

 cessing. A wash-boiler, 

 or a deep pan with a 

 tightly fitting cover, 

 makes a good home- 

 made canner, if a rack 

 is used to prevent the 

 jars from resting on 

 the bottom. There are 



excellent commercial Kieffer Pear 



53 



