Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 213, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 September 1916 — IN CANNING TIME [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

IN CANNING TIME

SOME INSTRUCTIONS THAT MAY 1 BE OF SERVICE. Two Cardinal Points Are Cleanliness and Complete Sterilization —Just How These May Be Most Easily Attained. There seems to be a belief by the general public that there is something mysterious in the commercial canning process. The great secret of this process is a careful observance of two things —cleanliness and complete sterilization. Fruits and vegetables can be “put up” in glass jars or tin cans at home much cheaper than they can be purchased in the form of commercially canned goods, and the flavor, texture and general quality of the homemade product can be made superior to the product of the average factory, writes S. B. Shaw, recognized expert of South Carolina. Minute forms of life which we call bacteria are present everywhere in untold numbers. The air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat are teeming with them. These bacteria are practically the cause of the “spoiling” or fermenting us the various fruits and vegetables. The reproduction of bacteria, which is very rapid, is brought about by one of two processes. The bacterium either divides itself into two

parts, making two bacteria where one existed before, or else reproduces Itself by means of spores. Spores may be compared with the seed of an ordinary plant. These spores present the chief difficulty in canning the® products of the orchard and garden. All forms of bacteria are killed by cdtnplete sterilization. This is nothing more than enclosing the products to be sterilized in jars or cans that can be sealed air-tight, and submitting them to heat of sufficient degree, , for a time long enough, to destroy the bacteria that cause the raw material to spoil. Sterilization Is readily accomplished by the use of boiling water, and there are three different ways in which this can be done. While the parent bacteria can be killed at the temperature of boiling water, their spores retain their vitality for a long time even at that temperature. Smaller factories, and the different home canning outfits usually make' use of the “open-kettle” process. Here the cans are submerged in boiling water and kept at that temperature for a time sufficieqt to destroy bacteria

and spores. The third process, known as fractional sterilization, is that of keeping cans or jars in boiling water for a specified time upon each of two or three consecutive days. The process of boiling upon consecutive days is the safest method, and is much to be preferred in home canning. The first day’s boiling kills practically all the bacteria, but does not kill all al 1 of the spores. L As soon as the jars or cans cool, these spores develop, and a new lot of bacteria begin their destructive work on the contents. The second day’s boiling kills this new lot of bacteria before they have had time to produce spores. Boiling the third day is not always necessary, but it is advisable in order to be sure that sterilization is complete.

Canning Outfit.