CANNED FRUITS AND VEGETABLES.

Within a few years canned fruits have, in a great measure, superseded preserves. They are cheaper, more wholesome, and far less difficult to prepare. Attention to a few general rules will insure success to every housekeeper who sensibly prefers to put up her own season’s supply of these to purchasing those for double the cost, which are not nearly so good.

First, examine cans and elastics narrowly before you begin operations. See that the screw is in order, the can without crack or nick, the elastic firm and closely fitting.

Secondly, have the fruit boiling hot when sealed. Have upon the range or stove a pan in which each empty can is set to be filled after it is rolled in hot water. Lay elastic and top close to your hand, fill the can to overflowing, remembering that the fruit will shrink as it cools, and that a vacuum invites the air to enter; clap on the top without the loss of a second, screw as tightly as you can, and as the contents and the can cool, screw again and again to fit the contraction of metal and glass.

Thirdly, if you use glass cans (and they are cheapest in the end, for you can use them year after year, getting new elastics when you need them) keep them in a cool, dark place, and dry as well as cool. The light will cause them to ferment, and also change the color.

Canned Berries. ✠

Heat slowly to boiling, in a large kettle. When they begin to boil, add sugar in the proportion of one tablespoonful to each quart of fruit. Before doing this, however, if there is much juice in the kettle, dip out the surplus with a dipper or cup. It will only increase the number of cans to be filled, without real advantage to you. Leave the berries almost dry before putting in the sugar. This will make syrup enough. Boil all together fifteen minutes, and can.

Huckleberries, grapes, blackberries, currants, raspberries, cherries, and strawberries put up in this way are very good, eaten as you would preserves, and make pies which are scarcely inferior to those filled with fresh fruit.

Canned Peaches. ✠

Pare, cut in half and stone, taking care not to break the fruit; drop each piece in cold water so soon as it is pared. The large, white freestone peaches are nicest for this purpose. Firmness of texture is a desideratum. The fruit should be ripe, but not soft. Allow a heaping tablespoonful of sugar to each quart of fruit, scattering it between the layers. Fill your kettle and heat slowly to a boil. Boil three minutes, just to assure yourself that every piece of fruit is heated through. Can and seal. It is safe to put a cupful of water in the bottom of the kettle before packing it with fruit, lest the lower layer should burn.

Canned Pears. ✠

For the finer varieties, such as the Bartlett and Seckel, prepare a syrup, allowing a pint of pure water and a quarter of a pound of sugar to a quart of fruit. While this is heating, peel the pears, dropping each, as it is pared, into a pan of clear water, lest the color should change by exposure to the air. When the syrup has come to a fast boil, put in the pears carefully, not to bruise them, and boil until they look clear and can be easily pierced by a fork. Have the cans ready, rolled in hot water, pack with the pears and fill to overflowing with the scalding syrup, which must be kept on the fire all the while, and seal.

The tougher and more common pears must be boiled in water until tender; thrown while warm into the hot syrup, then allowed to boil ten minutes before they are canned.

Apples may be treated in either of the above ways as their texture may seem to demand.

Canned Plums. ✠

Prick with a needle to prevent bursting; prepare a syrup allowing a gill of pure water and a quarter of a pound of sugar to every three quarts of fruit. When the sugar is dissolved and the water blood-warm, put in the plums. Heat slowly to a boil. Let them boil five minutes—not fast or they will break badly, fill up the jars with plums, pour in the scalding syrup until it runs down the sides, and seal.

Greengages are very fine put up in this way; also damsons for pies.

Canned Tomatoes. ✠

“I don’t hold with any of these new-fangled notions,” said an old lady to me, when I mentioned that my canning was over for the summer. “I was beguiled, two years ago, into putting up some tomaytesses in cans, and if I’m forgiven for that folly I’ll never tempt Providence in the same manner again.”

“They didn’t keep, then?”

“Keep! they sp’iled in a week! ’Twas no more’n I expected and deserved for meddling with such a humbug.”

“Perhaps you did not follow the directions closely?”

“Indeed I did! I cooked the tormented things, and seasoned ’em with butter and salt, all ready for the table, and screwed the tops down tight. But, in course, they sp’iled!”

“Were you careful to put them into the cans boiling hot?”

“’Twould have cracked the glass! I let ’em get nice and cold first. I didn’t suppose it made any difference about such a trifle as that!”

Poor old lady! I think of her and her mighty temptation of Providence whenever I can tomatoes, for heat does make a difference—all the difference in the world in this sort of work.

Pour boiling water over the tomatoes to loosen the skins. Remove these; drain off all the juice that will come away without pressing hard; put them into a kettle and heat slowly to a boil. Your tomatoes will look much nicer if you remove all the hard parts before putting them on the fire, and rub the pulp soft with your hands. Boil ten minutes, dip out the surplus liquid, pour the tomatoes, boiling hot, into the cans, and seal. Keep in a cool, dark place.

Canned Tomatoes and Corn. ✠

Boil the corn on the cob, when it is in nice order for roasting, twenty minutes over a good fire, and cut off while hot. Have your tomatoes skinned and rubbed to a smooth pulp. Put in two measures of them for every one of the cut corn; salt as for the table, stirring it well in, and bring to a hard boil. Then, can quickly, and as soon as they are cold set away in a cool, dark place.

Preserved Green Corn. ✠

Boil on the cob until the milk ceases to flow when the grain is pricked. Cut off the corn and pack in stone jars in the following order:—A layer of salt at the bottom, half an inch deep. Then one of corn two inches in depth, another half-inch of salt, and so on until the jar is nearly filled. Let the topmost layer of salt be double the depth of the others, and pour over all melted—not hot—lard. Press upon this, when nearly hard, thick white paper, cut to fit the mouth of the jar. Keep in a cool place. Soak over night before using it.

Green corn is difficult to can, but I know it will keep well if put up in this way. And, strange to tell, be so fresh after the night’s soaking as to require salt when you boil it for the table. Should the top layer be musty, dig lower still, and you will probably be rewarded for the search.