CANNING AND PRESERVING FRUIT IN THE HOME 
about a fourth of an inch thick. In cool- 
ing the paraffin contracts, and if the lay- 
er is very thin it will crack and leave 
a portion of the jelly exposed. 
Canned or Bottled Fruit Juices 
Fruit juice is most desirable for drink- 
ing or for culinary purposes. Grape 
juice is particularly good as a drink. It 
may be canned with or without sugar, 
but, except where the grapes have a 
large percentage of sugar, as is the case 
in California, some sugar should be added 
to the juice in canning. Currant juice 
may be sterilized and canned without 
sugar. This juice may be made into jel- 
ly at any season of the year. 
Fruit juices that are designed for use 
in frozen creams and water ices should 
be canned with a generous amount of 
sugar. 
For grape juice good bottles are to be 
preferred to fruit cans. If you can get 
the self{-sealing bottles, such as pop or 
beer comes in, the work of putting up 
grape juice will be light. If bottles are 
employed, be very careful to sterilize 
both bottles and corks. 
Grape Juice 
Wash the grapes and pick from the 
stems. Put the fruit in the preserving 
kettle and crush slightly. Heat slowly 
and boil gently for half an hour. Crush 
the fruit with a wooden spoon. 
Put a sieve or colander over a large 
bowl and spread a square of cheesecloth 
over the sieve. Turn the fruit and juice 
into the cheesecloth; drain well, then 
draw the edges of the cheesecloth to- 
gether and twist hard to press out all the 
juice possible. 
Put the strained juice in a clean pre- 
serving kettle and on the fire. When it 
boils up, draw back and skim. Let it 
boil up again and skim; then add the 
sugar and stir until dissolved. Boil five 
minutes, skimming carefully. Fill hot 
sterilized jars or bottles. Put the jars 
or bottles in a moderate oven for ten 
minutes, in pans of boiling water. Have 
some boiling juice and pour a little of it 
into the jars as they are taken from the 
731 
oven; then seal. Place on boards and 
set aside out of a cold draft. A good 
proportion of sugar and juice is 1 gill 
of sugar to a quart of juice. 
Raspberry, Blackberry, Strawberry and 
Currant Juices 
With all these fruits except currants, 
proceed the same as for grape juice, but 
adding half a pint of sugar to each quart 
of juice. Currants will require 1 pint of 
sugar to a quart of juice. 
Cherry, Plum and Peach Juices 
To preserve the juice of cherries, plums, 
peaches, and similar fruits, proceed as 
for jelly, but adding to each quart of 
juice half a pint of sugar instead of a 
quart as for jelly. If it is not desired to 
have the fruit juice transparent, the pulp 
of the fruit may be pressed to extract 
all the liquid. 
Fruit Syrups 
The only difference between syrups and 
juice is that in the syrup there must be 
at least half as much sugar as fruit juice. 
These syrups are used for flavoring ice 
creams and water ices. They also make 
a delicious drink, when two or three 
spoonfuls are added toa glass of ice 
water, 
Raspberry Vinegar 
Put 4 quarts of raspberries in a bowl 
and pour over them 2 quarts of vinegar. 
Cover and set in a cool place for two 
days. On the second day strain the vine- 
gar through cheesecloth. Put 4 quarts 
of fresh raspberries in the bowl and pour 
over them the vinegar strained from the 
first raspberries. Put in a cool place for 
two days, then strain. Put the strained 
juice in a preserving kettle with 3 quarts 
of sugar. Heat slowly, and when the 
vinegar boils skim carefully. Boil twen- 
ty minutes, then put in sterilized bottles. 
About 2 tablespoonfuls of vinegar to a 
glass of water makes a refreshing drink. 
Similar vinegars may be made from 
blackberries and strawberries. 
Maria Parioa, 
U. S. Department of Agriculture, Farmeis 
Bulletin No. 203 
