June, 1917 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
149 
(5) Boil one or two gallons of 
water for ten or fifteen minutes 
alter it comes to a boil. Cover it 
while cooling and keep it covered 
until used as shown later. The ob- 
jects in boiling the water are three- 
fold : (1) To sterilize; (2) To 
expel the air absorbed in it; (3) 
To throw down the lime if the wa- 
ter is hard. 
With clean jars, rubbers, cov- 
ers, and the above utensils one is 
ready to try the first vegetable. 
Peas. 
As the variety of peas grown 
makes a great difference in the re- 
sult, I will state that my friend 
Mrs. Knapp tried canning “Tele- 
phone” peas and found them so 
unsatisfactory that she said “One 
would not know them for the same 
vegetable as yours.” T always use 
the following varieties: Little Gem, 
Premium Gem and Advanc e r. 
Nott’s Excelsior were not bad. 
Gradus I did not care for. 
It is labor lost to can old peas. 
Peas for canning are better picked 
when best for the table but better 
too small than too large. 
As peas ripen the development 
of starch makes them difficult to 
keep when canned. Canning also 
emphasizes any tendency they may 
have to a mealy flavor. Peas 
should be picked in the early 
morning, when they are cool. If 
the pods are dirty or the pickers of 
questionable cleanliness, wash the 
pods before shelling. 
Fill a pint jar half full ot the 
sterilized water, (if the water is 
put in first air is not imprisoned 
in the space between the peas, to 
cause trouble in boiling.) With 
clean hands shell the peas directly 
into the jar until it is full. Add 
!/2 teaspoon of salt. Lay on care- 
fully washed rubbed ring, then the 
cover loosely fastened. When all 
jars are ready place them in the 
boiler on the wire or wooden rack. 
Now pour in cold water until it 
conies to two-thirds the height of 
the jars, cover and put the boiler 
on the stove and boil two and a 
half hours from the time the water 
boils. Quarts should boil three 
hours. As soon as the period is up 
turn the fire out and without delay 
as quickly as possible lift 1 lie jars 
out one at a time and tighten the 
cover before lifting another to 
tighten. One bushel of peas makes 
10 — 12 pint jars. 
Never, never, never, lift a cover 
off the jar, as that would admit in- 
fection of moulds and ferments. 
Let me repeat again do not delay in 
tightening or sealing covers as soon 
as the water ceases to boil ; if you 
do you can in a few minutes hear 
fresh unsterilized air carrying all 
sorts of germs of moulds and fer- 
ments sucking into your jar to ruin 
your work. I consider this and the 
question of clean jars and covers 
and good rings the crucial points 
of the whole process. Everything 
depends on them. Adapted from 
Mrs. Rorer. 
Asparagus. 
I have never myself canned as- 
paragus, but give herewith Mrs. 
Rorer ’s recipe for those who care 
to try. 
Wash and trim the asparagus. 
Cover it with boiling water, boil 
fifteen minutes, drain, cool, and ar- 
range it neatly, heads up, in wide 
mouthed jars; adjust the rubbers, 
fill the jars to overflowing with wa- 
ter that has been boiled and cooled ; 
add a half teaspoonful of salt and 
lay on the tops loosely. Cook the 
jars in the boiler one and one-half 
hours as directed for peas and fin- 
ish in the same way. 
Beans. 
String beans should be picked be- 
fore the dew falls in the evening or 
after it is dry in the morning, and 
kept in a cool place covered with a 
cloth or wet paper to keep them 
crisp. Mrs. Knapp and I have 
used tlie Stringless Green Pod, and 
the 1000 — 1 Refugee with the best 
satisfaction. I tried some wax 
beans one year but found them 
flavorless and unsatisfactory. 
String and cut the beans as for the 
table, throwing them into cold wa- 
ter as they are cut, drain them and 
throw them into boiling water to 
cook until they can be pierced by a 
silver fork without breaking and 
they must cook no longer. If they 
are cooked too long at this stage 
they become soft and mushy in the 
cans. Remove from fire, drain im- 
mediately and pour cold water 
through them in a colander until 
they are cool and firm. If one has 
not a faucet or pump, three or four 
changes of water will be sufficient. 
Use plenty of water. This cooling 
is called blanching by some writers. 
Half fill the jars with the steril- 
ized water, then put in the beans 
which have been thoroughly 
drained and pack them in as firmly 
as one can without crushing, add 
one-half teaspoon of salt. Finish 
as directed for peas cooking one 
and a half hours. 
^ oung and tender beans require 
little more than scglding in the pre- 
liminary or first cooking, but old 
beans require sometimes fifteen 
or twenty minutes according to 
toughness and quantity. It is ad- 
visable on this account not to cook 
more than four or six quarts at a 
time for the preliminary cooking. 
Shelled L ima beans are done in the 
same way. Adapted from various 
sources. 
