POINTS ON 
, _ Vegetables — Fresh, Tender, Clean 
‘Choose young, tender vegetables and can them quickly while they're 
mW 
ee fresh. ‘‘Two hours from garden to can" is a good rule. If you must hold 
a them keep them in a cool, airy place. If you buy vegetables to can, try fo 
get them from a nearby garden. 
__ For best quality in the canned product, use only perfect vegetables. Sort 
| them for size and ripeness—they cook more evenly that way. 
Before peeling or cutting vegetables, wash them well. Most kinds grow 
close to the ground, and in soil are found some of the bacteria hardest to 
kill. Wash vegetables in small lots, in running water if possible, or through 
several changes of water. Always lift food out of the water; rinse pan 
thoroughly between washings. Take care not to bruise the vegetables. 
Don't let them soak—you lose food value. 
Filling Containers 
: Whether you use tin cans or glass jars, have vegetables as near boiling 
‘as possible to pack into containers. Pack fairly loosely. Fill containers as 
directed for the vegetable you are canning (pp. 18 to 21). 
_ Exhausting tin cans.—When tin cans are sealed, the food must be 
% hot—at least 170°F. Food is heated to drive out air and help keep color 
and flavor. Sealing hot prevents bulging of can ends and breaking of 
ho - seams. For the right sealing temperature pack food hot or heat in open 
i: cans (exhaust) or both. Even when food is packed hot, you'll need to re- 
heat before sealing if the temperature is below 170°. It's best to have a 
» thermometer for checking the temperature. 
To exhaust, heat the open filled cans of vegetables in boiling water 
_ according to the directions on page 18. 
phe Remove cans len water one at a time: pemece any Hen peuled from 
* 
CANNING VEG ETABLES 
Put 2 or 3 inches of water in the bottom of the canner. 
Set hot filled glass jars on rack so steam can flow all around each ine 
Tin cans may be staggered without a rack between layers. 
Fasten canner cover securely so no steam escapes: except at the open 
pet cock or weighted gage opening. 
Watch until steam pours steadily from opening. Let it escape for 10 
minutes or more, so all air is driven from the canner. Then close pet cock 
or put on weighted gage, and let pressure rise to 10 pounds. 
The moment right pressure is reached start counting time. Process for 
the time given in directions for the vegetable you are canning. 
Keep pressure constant by regulating heat under canner. Do not lower 
pressure by opening pet cock. Keep drafts from blowing on canner. When 
time is up, slide canner away from heat. 
Out of the Canner 
Glass jars.—tLet canner stand until pressure is zero, Never try to rush 
the cooling by pouring cold water over canner. When pressure registers 
zero, wait a minute or two—no longer—then slowly open pet cock or take 
off weighted gage. Unfasten cover and tilt far side up so steam escapes 
away from you. 
As you take glass jars from canner, complete the seals at once if jars 
are not of the self-sealing type. Directions on page 3 tell what to do with 
each kind. If liquid boiled out in processing, seal jar just as it is. Do not 
open to add more liquid: 
Cool jars top side up. Give each jar room so air can get to all sides. 
Never set a hot jar on a cold surface or in a draft. Don’t slow down cool- 
ing by covering jars. 
Tin cans.—Release steam in canner as-soon as the processing time is 
up by opening pet cock or taking off weighted gage. Thén take off 
canner cover. 
Cool tin cans in cold, clean water, changing water as needed to cool 
them quickly. Take cans out of water while still warm so they will dry in the 
air. Stagger cans if you stack them so air can get around them. 
13 
