Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 169, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 July 1918 — Can Fruits From Summer’s Plenty [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Can Fruits From Summer’s Plenty

Those luscious berries, peaches, cherries, figs, and other fruits, so abundant this summer, can be made to supply many desirable desserts for winter*, and with little trouble. Practically all fruits can be canned at home in ordinary canners or in a large Yeseel with tightly fitting cover. In fact, fruits are easier to can than most vegetables. They are prepared more quickly and need to be boiled in the jars only once and generally for a shorter time than is necessary to can other products.

Canned fruits preserve most of the delicate flavors and succulence of fresh fruits and are the nearest substitute for fruits fresh from bush or tree. They are very valuable in the winter diet. They supply acids and mineral substances very useful in keeping the body in condition. Do not cook or handle fruits in galvanized vessels. The fruit acid attacks the zinc coating and makes the product dangerous to health and spoils its color and flavor.

Fruits Can Be Canned Without Sugar. Don’t let cost or difficulty of obtaining sugar deter you from canning quantities of fruit this year. Fruit can be canned without sugar. Instead of using sirup, simply fill /the cans with clean hot water and process in a wgter bath. The fruit will not" spoil, but, of course, will not have the fine color pnd flavor which it would have if packed in sirup. The use of even a thin sirup in canning fruits will give a more attractive finished product than can possibly be obtained by canning in water. If sugar is not available. it will be well to consider drying the fruits instead of canning, since a good dried product Is far better than a poor canned one. The importance of canning in less water should be stressed this year because of the high cost of containers. Fruits canned

Prepared by the U. S. Department of Agriculture

without sugar or with the addition of a very small amount of sugar may be used for pie fillings, desserts and in other ways.

Fruits for home use can be canned with corn sirup or refiners’ sirup in place of part of the sugar ordinarily used. Sirups with a distinctive flavor add sweetness, but also, of course, change the flavor of the panned fruit. A little experimenting in handling fruits should enable a housewife to develop various combinations of fruits and sirups which are pleasing to her own family. Caution: Fruits canned with plain water or with other than sugar sirup should not be sold until the jars have been labeled to comply with local and federal requirements as to description of contents. How to Can Fruit.-

Boil empty jars and lids for at least fifteen minutes before you fill them with the fruit. Rubber rings just before being put on the jars should be cleansed by dipping for a minute into a quart of boiling water in which a teaspoonful of cooking soda has been dissolved. Take the jars out of thewater bath, drain quickly and fill, while still hot, with the fruit prepared as described below. Fill the jar with hot sirup or hot water. Put on the lid but do not seal absolutely tight, so as to allow for expansion inside the jar. Put the partially sealed jars, while still hot, into a hot water canner provided with a false bottom of slats or wire mesh. Do not put cold jars into hot water —or boiling water into cold jars—they’ll crack. Boil (process) the filled jars for the time specified in the recipes, counting from When the water in the canner begins to boil again. Remove jars; seal airtight; when c|>ld test for leaks and store in a dark, cool, dry place..

Team Work in Canning Justifies a Vision of Pantry Shelves Groaning Under Well-Filled Jars.