THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
£53 
Preparing the Winter’s Canned Goods 
The Canning Problem for the Smali 
Family. 
This is largely an individual matter, 
and varies from year to year as people 
tire of some things, or the housewife 
learns newer or better ways. I want to 
tell what I hope to have in the preserve 
closet down cellar by next November. 
We have a small garden and an orchard, 
so raise as much of our food as we can. 
Plan your preserving campaign early in 
the season and have a clear idea of what 
quantities of each kind you are likely to 
want. Omit any sorts not eaten freely 
last Winter, and plan to try one or two 
new kinds; make a little and let the 
family decide on the merits of any new 
variety first. Preserving is fun if you 
start bright and early in the morning, 
the other work well out of the way, the 
kitchen dustless and fruits fresh from 
the garden. The object of canning fruits 
is to sterilize them by the use of heat, so 
that all germs will be excluded. Get out 
all the articles you expect to use, in 
agate or enamel ware preferably, with 
a plated knife to cut acid fruit. The 
wide-mouthed glass jars, with covers fast¬ 
ened down by a wire spring, are the eas¬ 
iest to use. Get new rubbers every year, 
the black kind are apt to be the best. 
Sterilize your jars, covers and rubbers 
in boiling water, then keep them hot in 
the hot closet of the range. 1 use the 
open kettle method for canning most 
fruits, preferring a broad, rather shallow 
kettle. Have the syrup ready so that 
the fruit will not have to stand after 
preparation, fruit that tends to turn 
dark may bo kept white standing in 
water that has a little lemon juice in 
it. Fill the jars three-quarters full of 
fruit, seal and invert to cool. Do have 
plenty of clean cloths handy to handle 
the hot jars. 
Don’t make many of the rich preserves; 
they cost more in sugar, time and trou¬ 
ble. and are hard to digest. For a treat 
or in ease of company, they are handy 
sometimes. We do not attempt to can 
vegetables with the exception of tomatoes. 
The garden is too small to raise much 
more than we eat, and some of the Win¬ 
ter sorts. This year I mean to can some 
early beets, boil them soft, then put in a 
mixture of half vinegar and half water 
sweetened to taste, then sterilized. Rhu¬ 
barb is the first thing to consider. For 
pies, it is best canned by the cold water 
method. Fill the jars full of the cut 
stalks, fill to overflowing with cold 
water and seal. Can the tender stalks 
as early in the season as possible and you 
need not peel them. A conserve of rhu¬ 
barb and raisins is nice on bread for the 
children, or to eat with meat. To each 
quart of rhubarb add one cupful of 
raisins and one cup of sugar and enough 
water to moisten the sugar, and the rind 
of half an orange cut into shreds, as for 
marmalade. Boil until the syrup is 
thick, then put into jelly glasses. 
Pineapple comes next. We had the 
best we ever ate last year; the fruit was 
coarsely chopped into pieces the size of 
peas, then cooked in a heavy syrup un¬ 
til tender and transparent. It tasted 
much like fresh fruit. Start your syrup 
with one pint sugar and one pint water; 
it will boil down somewhat. 
Strawberries are best when hulled and 
allowed to stand over night with an 
equal quantity of sugar, then cook next 
morning in this rich juice just long 
enough so they will keep. We like “lots 
of juice.” so cook the berries in a syrup 
of one pint sugar to one pint water, 
cooking the fruit no longer than neces¬ 
sary. We let it boil long enough to cook 
each berry thoroughly. If doubtful, 
taste one of the larger berries. 
Raspberries taste good, so do currants 
if crushed a few at a time, allowed to 
stand over night with equal quantities of 
sugar, then sealed in jelly glasses. The 
point is to crush each berry thoroughly. 
We can the raspberries or currants in a 
syrup of one pint sugar to 1% pint 
water and prefer them canned together, 
using equal parts currants and raspber¬ 
ries. Raspberry or currant shrub made 
like a thin jelly, using half the sugar 
that jelly takes, is a valuable addition 
to one’s stock. Fruit juices may be 
made from many fruits and can be used 
for fruit gelatines or tapioca puddings, 
as pudding sauces, or for cooling drinks. 
There seems no limit to the amount a 
small family can use. 
We can the early apples for Winter 
use as pies or sauce. Transparent 
canned with Astrachan is a good com¬ 
bination. The juice of the tart apples 
makes a good foundation for jelly and 
can be flavored in many ways. The use 
of one quart of currants to three of ap¬ 
ple will add color and a new flavor; one 
pineapple added to two quarts of apple 
gives a delicious jelly. We have had no 
trouble with jelly-making when the fruit 
is barely ripe, no more water than ne¬ 
cessary added to the fruit, the jelly bag 
not “squeezed” and the sugar added weLl 
heated through. Last year the jelly 
tumblers were “sealed” by dropping a bit 
of paraffin the size of a pea into each 
tumbler, the heat melted this, it rose to 
the top and cooled in a thin film over 
the jelly. 
Blackberries and blueberries we can in 
a light syrup, one pint sugar to two pints 
water. This year I mean to try blue¬ 
berry jelly, since experiments have proven 
this can easily be made. Elderberry jelly 
is one of the most delicious kinds I ever 
ate; make some if you live where you 
can get the fruit. Use your ordinary 
rule for jellies. 
Peaches take the light syrup the same 
as blackberries and blueberries; use it 
also for pears or sweet plums—if you 
have such a thing. I had given up can¬ 
ning plums, as I was unable to cook the 
sugar into them, but a recent magazine 
article suggests that someone else has 
conquered this difficulty. Cook the plums 
until tender in just water enough to 
cover, have ready a heavy syrup boiling 
hot, fill the jars with plums skimmed 
from the water in which they were cooked 
and this heavy syrup and seal. Strain 
the water in which the plums were 
cooked, boil down one-third and make 
jelly of it. 
Father has been suggesting for some 
time that he wanted us to try canning 
baked apples. This may be done by cor¬ 
ing the apples with a tin corer, baking 
until tender but not losing their shape 
in the oven, then putting carefully into 
wide-mouthed jars and filling with a hot 
syrup, kept ready. One pint of sugar to 
three gills of water should prove satisfac¬ 
tory. 
Grape juice we make like the currant 
and raspberry “shrubs,” like a thin jelly 
with half the usual amount of sugar. We 
like also the old-fashioned sauce with 
the skins added after the pulp is cooked 
and strained. 
A preserve made from hard pears and 
lemon is liked, and less trouble than pre¬ 
served citron. Grape ketchup is in de¬ 
mand some years to eat on beans. 
Pickles are not eaten very much by 
us. Sweet mixed pickles and little 
gherkins we prefer to buy, but we use 
about six quarts of piccalilli each year 
made by the following recipe. Slice a 
peck of tomatoes, sprinkle with salt and 
let stand over night, turn off the liquor 
next morning. Chop the tomatoes, one 
cabbage head, seven onions, four green 
peppers, add one-half pint whole mustard, 
one-half cup sugar, same of horseradish 
and vinegar enough to cover. Stew un¬ 
til soft. 
Quinces we have used as marmalade, 
preserves and jelly. Our favorite recipe 
is for quince honey and the recipe makes 
five tumblers, a year’s supply for us. 
Grate four large or five small quinces. 
Place four pounds of sugar and one pint 
of water in a granite kettle on the back 
of the stove until it begins to boil. Then 
remove to the front and boil briskly 10 
minutes. Add grated quinces and boil 15 
minutes longer. Remove from fire and 
treat like any jelly. Failure is impos¬ 
sible if you follow this rule exactly. 
Massachusetts. edxa s. knapp. 
Farmers’ Wives and their Needs. 
I have been reading extracts from let¬ 
ters received in response to the question, 
how the IT. S. Department of Agriculture 
can better meet the needs of farm house¬ 
wives. Now if I dared to say anything 
disrespectfully to that honorable body, 
whom the government employs and pays 
big salaries to, which increases our tax¬ 
ation, I should say they had all better 
be put in a bag and shaken thoroughly 
till the sensible one comes on top, then 
pick him out and tell him to go to work 
and do the things which everybody knows 
should be done, and not spend his time 
asking a lot of foolish questions and re¬ 
ceiving foolish answers. Why does not 
Pirot or Worth hire a dozen of steno¬ 
graphers and send out thousands and 
thousands of letters asking the women 
of the cities what style of dress they pre¬ 
fer for the coming year? 
Do you not think the answers would 
be quite ludicrous? Some would want 
them tight for reasons of economy, some 
would want them wide for modesty’s 
sake, still others would urge the adop¬ 
tion of trousers for convenience sake, 
and so on without end. And it is just 
so with the answers the farmers’ wives 
have sent to the Department of Agricul¬ 
ture, in relation to their needs. 
One woman in New York State com¬ 
plains bitterly of the hard drudgery and 
the monotony of her life on the farm 
with children to care for and hired men 
to cook for; she says she has no time 
for improvement or reading. Well. Sec¬ 
retary Houston, what are you going to 
do about it? If you want to help her 
over the hard places just get that farm 
credit business in working order, so the 
interest on that mortgage of theirs may 
be about three per cent, instead of five 
or six. That will help over the rough 
places and enable her to send out her 
washing and buy the children’s clothes 
ready made. 
But perhaps that woman is a chronic 
kicker. She does not mention the un¬ 
speakable joy of having dear little chil¬ 
dren to comfort and cheer and help her, 
and the possession of plenty of land in 
the beautiful outdoors, to raise food for 
her family and the eggs and milk and 
chickens for the little ones to grow strong 
and healthy on, instead of having the 
husband and father come home some 
morning with tragedy written on every 
feature of his face, saying: “The shop 
is shut down, I am out of work, the grim 
horror of hunger stares us in the face.” 
No thank you ; the sensible woman on 
the farm needs or looks for no pity, or 
“pass the hat” act. All she wants is 
her just due. She does claim that the 
country is not receiving their share of the 
public money, which is spent in cities and 
towns to supervise the sanitary and hy¬ 
gienic conditions of those places. 
KATE W. GATES. 
Utilizing Pork. 
Will some one who has had experience 
tell just what to do with a whole porker, 
or a half, to keep it most economically, 
just what parts to smoke, just which 
cuts to put down in lard, and which to 
use fresh; also any ways of utilizing 
other parts, such as making head cheese, 
etc.? a. P. w. 
The hams, shoulders and some of the 
bacon strips will keep well salted, then 
smoked. The ribs and backbone may be 
used fresh. The heavy fatty pieces are 
better tried out as lard unless you can 
enjoy eating fat salt pork. The lean 
trimmings from hams and shoulders with 
parts of head, jowl, can be made into 
sausage. The tenderloin or lean strips 
down the sides of backbone is splendid 
canned. The hocks and feet are good used 
fresh or made into souse by boiling until 
meat falls from the bones, then picked 
into small pieces seasoned with salt and 
pepper—and some vinegar if liked—pur 
back with the liquid in which boiled, 
heated thoroughly, poured into dishes. 
This can be sliced and eaten cold. All 
that you want to know was very fully 
explained in two issues of The R. N.-Y. 
of last Winter. K. c. w. 
Ohio. 
Canning Vegetable Soup. 
We fill several fruit jars with soup 
material. This is our way : Cut the cab¬ 
bage fine (we use kraut cutter) put in 
stewpan with a very little water. Pare 
and quarter the same quantity of ripe 
tomatoes and put on top of cabbage, cov¬ 
er and cook SO minutes, salt as for the 
table and stir well, seal in heated glass 
jars. We have not tried, but think Irish 
potatoes could be included with success, 
also celery. To make the soup, if a 
strictly vegetable soup is desired add one 
quart of the canned to one quart of boil¬ 
ing water, adding any other vegetables 
desired, as onions, potatoes, turnips or 
bits of celery or celery salt, boil slowly 
one hour, add a generous lump of butter 
and serve. If a milk soup is wanted use 
one pint of hot milk and the same of 
water, or if a meat flavor is liked one 
may use stock from either beef or other 
meats instead of the water. A soup that 
is liked in our home is made by putting 
several slices of streaked pork, or a bone 
in water. When this has boiled at least 
two hours we add one can of the to¬ 
matoes, six onions and salt and pepper, 
to taste. Serve with bread previously 
browned in the oven. The soup should 
cook one hour after adding the vegetables. 
This soup is nice in cold weather. 
n. 
Canning Sausage. —My method of 
canning sausage is this: I first pack all 
the sausage I can get in a can, using No. 
2 and No. 3 cans, larger cans may be 
used if desired. I seal them perfectly 
air-tight. I cook it one hour each day 
for three days. It makes very fine meat, 
and people around here have their saus¬ 
age, tenderloin and other meat canned in 
this way also. The water is heated with 
steam, and I am able to get above 212 
degrees. I think this heat could be se¬ 
cured in a covered boiler. 
Virginia. e. e. windle. 
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j | The Best Entertainment I§ 
Ever Given by Your Grange or Other Societies 
The people need entertainment—country people no less than 
city folk. The best antidote for unclean or unhealthy entertain¬ 
ment which takes the young people away from home or from 
the neighborhood is clean and healthy entertainment at home. 
j | How Do You Do It ? 11 
We want bright, interesting accounts of neighborhood enter¬ 
tainments which entertained. Give us something original which 
has really interested the local young people. First of all should 
jj | come | M 
The Story of a Harvest Home 
That is a good event for August. In some localities this is made 
into a celebration which becomes the event of the year. If you 
are prepared to 
II Tell Us About It II 
Write at once and we will try to arrange for the telling. 
