FOOD— RIGHT AND READY 



The fresher the food is, the better looking, 

 better tasting canned product it makes. Also, 

 the better its chances to keep. 



Choose fresh, firm, ripe fruits; young, tender 

 vegetables. Can them quickly. "Two hours 

 from garden to can," is a good rule. 



If you must hold fruits or vegetables, keep them 

 cool and well ventilated. If you buy food to 

 can, try to get local produce. 



To help you figure how much canned food 

 you'll get from a certain quantity fresh, see pages 

 13 and 15. 



Sort the food for size and ripeness — it will cook 

 more evenly. Don't use any food for canning 

 that shows signs of decay. Even if you cut the 

 bad spots out, bacteria may lurk in the rest and 

 spoil the whole batch. Set aside soft but sound 

 fruit for juice or jam. 



Wash off every trace of dirt. Earth contains 

 some of the bacteria hardest to kill. Wash small 

 lots of food at a time, and if necessary put 

 through several waters. But don't let food soak — 

 you lose food value. Lift food out of water, so 

 you won't drain dirt back on it. Handle food 

 gently, don't bruise it. 



Heat before packing. — Heating food before 

 it is canned is called precooking. The quick 

 heating shrinks food, so that more will go into 

 jars. Also, packing it hot shortens the processing 

 time in the canner. 



Have hot liquid ready to combine with the 

 solid food. It usually takes % to 1 cup of liquid 

 to a quart jar to fill in around solid food and 

 cover it well. 



PRECOOKING FRUITS- 

 with or without sugar 



Heat fruits one of these ways — in fruit juice, in 

 sirup, or in water. Some fruits when heated yield 

 enough juice of their own without more liquid. 

 Adding sugar before heating fruit will help to 

 draw out juice. See canning table, pages 1 2-1 3, 

 on how to prepare each fruit. 



To extract juice. — Crush and heat soft but 

 sound juicy fruit to boiling. Keep heat low, so 

 fruit won't stick to pan. Strain, and sweeten if 

 desired. 



To make sirup. — Boil sugar and juice or 

 water for 5 minutes. Remove scum. 



Sirup Sugar Juice or water 



(Cups) (Cups) 



Thin 1 3 



Moderately thin 1 2 



Medium (for sour fruit) 1 1 



The general wartime rule is 1 pound of sugar 

 (2 cups) to 4 quarts of canned fruit. 



Use honey, if you wish, to replace as much as 

 half the sugar called for in canning,- or use corn 

 sirup to replace as much as one-third. 



Don't use sirups that have strong flavor. Don't 

 use brown sugar or unrefined sirups like sorghum; 

 they may cause the food to spoil. 



Don't use saccharin; it may give the canned 

 food a bitter flavor. 



Without sugar. — Sugar helps canned fruit 

 hold its shape, color, and flavor. But sugar isn't 

 necessary to keep fruit from spoiling. If your 

 sugar runs short, put up some fruit without sugar, 

 and sweeten to taste when you serve. Process 

 unsweetened fruit the same as sweetened. 



PRECOOKING VEGETABLES 



Add boiling water to vegetables (except 

 tomatoes) and bring to a rolling boil. Follow 

 canning table directions for each vegetable, see 

 pages 14-1 5. 



HAVE JARS HOT . . . FILL QUICKLY 



Shortly before they are needed, place clean 

 glass jars, glass lids, and metal screw caps in 

 water and heat to boiling. 



Use clean damp cloth to wipe metal lids edged 

 with sealing compound, and dip into boiling 

 water just before using. 



Scrub rubber iings with a brush in hot soapy 

 water. Then boil 10 minutes in water and baking 

 soda (1 quart water, 1 tablespoon soda, to each 

 dozen rings). Rinse well. Start with fresh soda 

 and water for each lot. This may help to keep 

 rings from flavoring food. 



For shoulder-seal jars, put a hot wet rubber ring 

 on each hot jar just before filling. 



Have food boiling hot and work briskly. Pack 

 fairly loosely. It's hard for heat to get to the 

 center of a tight pack. 



Cover with boiling liquid. 



Leave space at the top for food to expand. 

 This is called head space. The canning table, 

 pages 1 2 and 1 4, tells how much to leave. Work 

 out a'tr bubbles with a knife blade. 



Use a clean, damp cloth to wipe the rubber ring 

 or sealing edge clean. One seed or sticky bit may 

 keep lid from making an airtight seal with jar. 



Adjust the jar lid, as each kind requires. 



J 



