f_°fl ll*UiQ2 
VOL. LXXIII, No. 425: 
NEW YORK, APRIL 25, 1914 
WEEKLY $1.00 PER YEA I 
COMMERCIAL HOME CANNING OF FRUITS 
AND VEGETABLES. 
Part I. 
STERILIZATION.—The canning of fruits and 
vegetables on the farm is one of the greatest prob¬ 
lems to he solved, in order that we let nothing go 
to waste. Great prog¬ 
ress has been made in 
the last 25 years, and if 
we could look ahead 25 
more, we would be sur¬ 
prised to see the im¬ 
provement yet to come. 
Millions of dollars are 
lost every year through¬ 
out the fruit and vege¬ 
table growing sections, 
on account of stuff 
going to waste which 
could be saved if prop¬ 
erly canned. This loss 
is so large that it would 
bankrupt any other in¬ 
dustry in a very short 
time. There are few 
who do not share this 
loss, and fewer yet who 
could not increase the 
earning capacity of their 
farms, by sterilizing the 
product of their gardens 
and orchards, so as to 
keep indefinitely, and he 
sold at the most oppor¬ 
tune time. The large 
canning factories scat¬ 
tered throughout the 
country afford but little 
relief against this loss, 
as only a few farmers 
who live close by can 
avail themselves of this 
convenience. The only 
solution is the h o m e 
canning of fruits and 
vegetables by the grow¬ 
er on a smaller scale 
in the proper manner, 
so as to be readily sold 
at a popular price. 
EARLY EFFORTS.— 
In ls25 Tlios. Kennsett 
and Ezra Daggett ob¬ 
tained patents from the 
Government for putting 
up canned goods in her¬ 
metically sealed cans. 
The operation was some¬ 
what crude, but the 
principle was the same 
then as now, viz.: to 
place the goods in air- 
tig h t receptacles and 
subject them to heat 
sufficient to kill all fer¬ 
ment germs. Since that 
time scientists have studied very carefully into the 
causes that decay and spoil fruit and vegetables. 
The process of sterilization has been largely con¬ 
fined to the commercial canning industry, and the 
result has been that the United States is. or was, 
until recently far behind in the art of home can¬ 
ning. It seems that the business has been rather 
clouded in mystery to the rank and file, but the 
process of sterilization is a very simple one and 
easily understood by anyone of ordinary intelligence. 
PRINCIPLE INVOLVED.—In European coun¬ 
tries there are large quantities of canned goods put 
up at home, or by those who raise the fruit and 
vegetables, and the idea is fast becoming a fact 
in this country. There is really no secret about the 
art of canning. If so, it can be explained in two 
words 1 —steam pressure. It is simply to place the 
fruit or vegetables in a jar or can that in some 
way may be tightly sealed to exclude the air, and 
then subjected to a sufficiently high degree of heat 
to kill all spores and ferment germs, and the goods 
will keep indefinitely. Applying intense heat the 
required time will kill every germ known to science, 
and if the contents of the container, no matter of 
what it is made, are subjected to this degree of 
heat, they will he properly sterilized, and there 
need be no fear but what they will keep, unless 
exposed in some way to the outside air. 
HEAT AND DENS¬ 
ITY.—If the article so 
treated is kept away 
from the germ-laden 
air, fermentation will 
never occur. One fact 
has not been generally 
known, and that is. that 
the temperature of pure 
water in open kettles 
will never rise above 
212 degrees no matter 
how hot the fire, nor 
how long applied. The 
water will remain at 
212 degrees, unless alti¬ 
tude should make a dif¬ 
ference. or if sugar is 
a d d e d in sufficient 
quantities the s y r u p 
will rise to 240 degrees 
because the sugar makes 
the water more dense. 
This is really one of 
the secrets of the can¬ 
ning business, and is 
mainly the reason why 
housekeepers' are more 
successful in putting up 
fruit and preserves in 
syrup than in p 1 a i n 
water. Now if you con¬ 
fine the water in a 
steamtight boiler the 
heat will immediately, 
rise to a much higher 
degree, and this is the 
reason why professional 
eanners c a n put up 
their goods without the 
addition of sugar, be¬ 
cause they are equipped 
with steamtight boilers 
in which the goods can 
be subjected to steam 
pressure, which makes 
it just as easy to put 
up goods without pre¬ 
servatives as with pre¬ 
servatives. Therein lies 
the entire success in 
sterilizing food stuffs of 
any description so they 
will keep indefinitely. 
Cooking by steam under 
pressure spells success 
in the canning business. 
Sufficient heat and air¬ 
tight cans do the trick. 
And here is where so 
many of the so-called canning outfits are imprac¬ 
ticable, because they are nothing but open kettles, 
and are no better than a common washboiler, only 
being of different shape and described as canning 
outfits, and so mislead those who do not know the 
principles of sterilization. Corn, peas, beans, pump- 
kins, etc., require steam pressure. It is also a safer 
