HENDERSON'S GARDEN GUIDE AND RECORD. 63 



The Home Canning of Vegetables for Winter Use 



Through the courtesy of Mrs. Rorer and her publishers for the benefit of the good housewife 



These recipes bj- the acknowledged American authority on Modern Domestic Science 

 have been selected as up-to-date specimens of many other recipes given in Mrs. Rorer'a 

 books entitled "Canning and Preserving" (Price, 75c.), "Vegetable Cookery and Meat 

 Substitutes" (Price, $1.65), and "Mrs. Rorer's New Cook Book" (Price, $2.20), which we 

 offer for sale. Mrs. Rorer says in her preface: 



"In this age of adulteration we know not what we eat, and as canning is so simple an 

 operation, it is unfortunate that so many people use food put up at factories. 



Before giving recipes for the canning of vegetables, I should like to impress upon my 

 readers the importance of understanding surgical cleanliness. All vegetables are easily 

 canned at home and kept, providing everything is sterile, which means dead. Foods 

 that ferment have in them some form of either plant or animal life. The danger of spoiling 

 is greater if sugar is used, or in vegetables containing sugar, as yeasts grow in saccharine 

 solutions. One yeast plant in a can of corn will spoil the contents of the entire can. This 

 is also true of peas and beets. Acid vegetables, as tomatoes, are easily kept, providing 

 sugar is not added. Many housekeepers, ignorant of the chemical constituents of foods, 

 add sugar to sour materials to sweeten them. It does not change the acid one particle. 

 Sugar enters the stomach as sugar and the acid as acid. To neutralize or change the acid 

 one must add an alkaline material. A teaspoonful of bicarbonate soda to a quart of toma- 

 toes will sweeten them by neutralizing the acid. 



To have perfect success in canning vegetables, one must follow accurately the directions 

 given. The jars must have glass or metal tops without lining. A porcelain lining leaves a 

 space between it and the upper lid, which cannot be easily cleaned. For convenience, 

 have a wire rack, with a centre handle made to fit a good-sized wash-boiler. 



All vegetables must be freshly gathered and carefully prepared. Not a single law 

 or rule can be modified or overlooked. 



TO CAN ASPARAGUS. Select perfectly fresh asparagus; wash it well; peel the 

 butts and cut off the hard portion. Cover with boiling salted water, boil fifteen minutes 

 and cool. Arrange the asparagus in wide-mouthed jars, butts down. Fill the jars with 

 cold water, adjust the rubbers, and put the tops on loosely. Stand these in a boiler, the 

 bottom of which is protected by a rack. Surround the jars partly with cold water, cover the 

 boiler, and boil continuously one hour. Lift one jar at a time, screw down the lid, cover the 

 boiler and boil for another hour. You cannot lift the lids from any of the jars and lay them 

 on the table, and then put them back on the jar, and have the contents keep. The lids must 

 be screwed down without taking them from the jar. 



TO CAN STRING BEANS. String and wash the beans. They may be canned 



whole or cut. Cover with boiling water, add a teaspoonful of salt and boil rapidlj- twenty 

 minutes. Drain and pack into the jars. Fill the jars with cold water, adjust the rubbers, 

 put the tops on loosely, and proceed exactly the same as you would for asparagus, cooking 

 it first one hour, and then thirty minutes after the lids are screwed down or fastened. 



TO CAN LIMA BEANS. Fill the jars full of young uncooked beans, then fill them 

 full of cold water, adjust the rubbers and lay on the tops. Place the jars in a wire protect- 

 ing rack, and pour in sufficient cold water to half cover them. Put the boiler over the 

 fire, cover it closely with the lid, and boil steadily for three hours. Take up the jars, see 

 that they are filled to overflowing, and screw on the covers as tightlj- as possible. Stand 

 aside, where the air will not strike them, to cool. When cold, again screw the covers, and 

 keep in a dark, cool place. 



TO CAN BEETS. Select young, tender beets. Put into boiling water and boil for 

 twenty minutes; cool and slip off the skins. Pack the beets into jars. Fill the jars with 

 cold water, adjust the rubbers, put the tops on loosely, and finish precisely the same as for 

 asparagus, cooking the same length of time. 



TO CAN CORN, Corn must be perfectly fresh from the field. Remove the husks, 

 cut the tips from the grains, or score them down the centre, and press out the pulp. Pack 

 this pulp at once into perfectly clean glass jars, filling the jars within one inch of the top; 

 adjust the rubbers and lay on the tops. Stand the jars in a wire protecting rack boiler and 

 surround them with cold water. Cover the boiler, and after the water begins to boil, boil 

 for three hours. Lift one iar at a time and fasten the top; do not lift the lid. Then add 

 sufficient boiling water to entirely cover the jars and boil for one hour. Let them cool in 

 the boiler, taking it, of course, away from the fire. 



