53. In canning, as in all other tasks related to cookery, the
housewife's aim should be to do the greatest amount of work, and do it
well, with the least effort on her part. The results she gets in
canning, then, will depend considerably on the orderly arrangement of
the utensils and materials with which she is to do the work. But of
greater importance is the preparation she makes to eliminate as much as
she can the possibilities of contamination, for, as has been repeatedly
pointed out, success in canning depends on the absence of
dangerous bacteria.
54. From what has just been mentioned, it is essential that everything
about the person who is to do the work and the place in which the work
is to done should be clean. Clean dresses and aprons should be worn, and
the hands and finger nails should be scrupulously clean. The kitchen
floor should be scrubbed and the furniture dusted with a damp cloth. Any
unnecessary utensils and kitchen equipment should be put out of the way
and those required for canning assembled and made ready for the work.
The jars should be washed and the covers tested by fitting them on
without the rubbers. If a glass cover rocks, it does not fit correctly;
and if a screw cover will not screw down tight, it should be discarded.
Without the rubber, there should be just enough space between the cover
and the jar to permit the thumb nail to be inserted as is shown in Fig.
3. The edge of each jar and each glass cover should be carefully
examined every time it is used, so that none with pieces chipped off
will be used, as these will admit air. This examination is made by
running the finger over the edge of the jar and the cover, as is shown
in Fig. 4. The jars, covers, and rubbers should be put into pans of cold
water, and the water should be brought to the boiling point and allowed
to boil for 15 minutes or more while the fruit or vegetables are being
prepared for canning. They should be kept in the hot water until the
food is ready to be placed in them. In the one-period cold-pack method,
it is not necessary to boil the jars, rubbers, and covers, but this may
be done if desired.
To produce good-looking jars of food, the fruit or vegetables to be
canned should be graded to some extent; that is, the finest of the
fruits or vegetables should be separated and used by themselves, as
should also those of medium quality. Often it is wise to use the poorest
foods for purposes other than canning. The food may then be canned
according to the chosen method, but by no means should methods be mixed.
In handling the product after it has been cooked by the open-kettle
method, any spoon, funnel, or other utensil must be thoroughly
sterilized in the same way as the jars and their covers and rubbers;
indeed, no unsterile utensil should ever be allowed to touch the food
when a jar is being filled.
[Illustration: FIG. 22]
55. It is by the observance of such precautions as these, some of them
seemingly unimportant, that the housewife will be repaid for her efforts
in canning and be able to produce canned fruits and vegetables like
those shown in color in Fig. 22. This illustration shows, with a few
exceptions, such foods canned by the one-period cold-pack method, and
merits close inspection. As will be observed, the jars are full and well
packed and the color of each food is retained. Each can of food
indicates careful work and serves to show the housewife what she may
expect if she performs her work under the right conditions and in the
right way. This illustration likewise serves to demonstrate that any
food may be successfully canned by the one-period cold-pack method, a
claim that cannot be made for the other canning methods. In fact, some
of the foods illustrated, as, for instance, peas and corn, cannot be
canned successfully by any other method.