CANNING FRUIT

'OR the benefit of those thrifty housewives who have fruit of their own which they wish to save, or who think that any preparation of food made outside of the home kitchen, and branded " factory make," should be considered " common and unclean," we append a few recipes which will be found in every way satisfactory.

The canning industry has grown within the few years of its existence to such enormous dimensions and includes so great a variety of articles, and competition is so sharp among the different firms who make it a specialty, that in point of expense it is cheaper to buy on the market than to purchase the fruit and be to the trouble and further expense of canning it at home.

There is, probably, no one thing which has done more to drive stern winter beyond the threshold than this simple but late-discov- ored process of keeping fruit fresh by excluding the air, and there is genuine satisfaction in contemplating the rows of cans filled with the different kinds of fruit, showing clear and distinct through the glass, and we are conservative enough to hope that the time will not come when the business of canning fruit shall be relegated, entirely, into the hands of the mercenary factory owner with hia tin can with its overdrawn label.

General Directions. First. See that the cans and elastics are perfect and that thts screw fits properly. Second. Have fruit boiling hot when sealed.

160 CANNING FRUIT.

Have pan on stove in which each empty can is set to be filled after it is rolled in hot water. Fill can to overflowing, put on the top quickly, screw tightly; as contents cool, screw again and again, to keep tight. Third. Use glass cans, and keep in a cool, dark, but dry place. Light spoils them.

Table for Canning Fruit.

Time for Quantity- boiling of sugar fruit. per qt.

Apricots 10 min. 8 oz.

Sour Apples 10 " 6 ''

Crab Apples 25 " 8 "

Blackberries 6 " 6 "

Gooseberries 8 " 8 "

Raspberries 6 " 4 "

Huckleberries 5 " 4 "

Strawberries 8 " 8 "

Cherries 5 " 6 "

Currants 6 " 8 '

Wild Grapes 10 " 8 "

Sour Pears, -whole 30 " 8 "

Bartlett Pears 20 " 6 "

Peaches, in halves 8 " 4 "

Plums 10 " 8 "

Peaches, whole 15 " 4 "

Pine-apple, sliced 15 " 6 "

Tomatoes 30 " 0 "

Quinces 30 " 10 "

Rhubarb 10 " 10 "

Apple Sauce. Ready for table use or for pies may be kept till apples are out of the market by putting it into hot jars and sealing at once.

Canned Pine-apple. Pare the fruit and be xerv particular to cut out the eyes; chop fine and weigh it; add to it the same weight of sugar; mix thor- oughly in a large crock; let it stand twenty-four hours, then put

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iiito cans, filing them full, and seal tight. After leaving them about two weeks it is well to see if there are any signs of working; if so, pour into a kettle and heat through and replace in the cans.

Canjted Pine-apple, No. 2.

Three-fourths pound of sugar to one pound of fruit, allowing one cup of water to a pound of sugar. Pick the pine-apple to pieces with a silver fork; scald and can hot.

Canned Berries. Heat slowly to boiling in a porcelain kettle; when they begin to boil, add sugar according to table above. Before doing this, how- ever, if there is much juice in the kettle, dip out the surplus and save for jelly; it will only increase the number of cans. Leave the berries almost dry before jDutting in the sugar, this will make syrup enough. Boil all together and can.

Canned Pears. Prepare a syrup, allowing a pint of water and one-fourth pound of sugar to one quart of fruit. While this is heating peel the pears, dropping each as it is pared into a pan of clear water. When the syrup has come to a fast boil, put in the pears carefully 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 over- flowing with the scalding syrup, Avhich must be kept on the fii"e all the while, and seal. The tougher and more common pears must be boiled in water until tender, and thrown while warm into the hot syrup, then allowed to boil ten minutes before they are canned.

Canned Peaches.

Pare, cut in half and stone, taking care not to break the fruit;

drop each piece in cold water as soon as it is pared. Allow a

heaping tablespoonf ul of sugar to each quart of fruit, scattering it

between the layers. Fill your kettle and heat slowly to a boil.

Boil three minutes, until every piece of fruit is heated through, u

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Can and seal. Put a cup of water in the bottom of the kettle before packing it with fruit, lest the lower layer should burn.

Dried Peaches.

Peaches, as usually dried, are a very good fruit; but can be made vastly better if treated the right way. Last season, the recipe which had quite a circulation in the papers, of drying the fruit by a stove after halving it, and sprinkling a little sugar into the cavity left by the extracted pits, was tried in our family. The fruit was found to be most excellent; better to the taste of nine out of ten persons, than any other peach preserves, by far. The peaches, however, were good ones before drying; for it is doubtful whether poor fruit can be made good by that process or any other.