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Classic
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page 101
at once and screw down tightly, and as the fruit and cans cool, causing
contraction of the glass, turn down again and again until perfectly air-tight.
Wrap as soon as cold with brown wrapping-paper unless the fruit-closet is very
dark. Light injures all fruit, but especially tomatoes, in which it causes the
formation of citric acid which no amount of sugar will sweeten. The place where
canned fruits are kept should also be dry and cool. In canning, use a
porcelain-lined kettle, silver fork or broom-splint, and wire spoon or dipper. A
steel fork discolors the fruit.
Cans should be examined two or three days after filling, and if syrup leaks out
from the rim, they should be unsealed, the fruit thoroughly cooked and kept for
jam or jelly, as it will have lost the delicacy of color and flavor so desirable
in canned fruits. Pint cans are better for berries than quart. Strawberries keep
their color best in stone jars; if glass cans are used for them, they should be
buried in sand.
In using self-sealing cans the rubber ring must show an even edge all round, for
if it slips back out of sight at any point, air will be admitted. On opening tin
cans, remember to pour all the fruit out into an earthen or glass dish. Wines,
cider, shrubs, etc., must be bottled, well corked, sealed, and the bottles
placed on their sides in a box of sand or sawdust. To can maple syrup, pour
either hot or cold into cans or jugs, and seal well.
The fine display of canned fruits at the Centennial Exhibition was prepared as
follows: The fruits were selected with great care, of uniform size and shape,
and all perfect. They were carefully peeled with a thin, sharp, silver
fruit-knife, which did not discolor them, and immediately plunged into cold
water in an earthen or wooden vessel to prevent the air from darkening them. As
soon as enough for one can was prepared, it was put up by laying the fruit piece
by piece in the can, and pouring syrup, clear as crystal, over it, and then,
after subjecting the whole to the usual heat, sealing up.
CANNED BERRIES.
Select those the skins of which have not been broken, or the juice will darken
the syrup; fill cans compactly, set in a kettle of
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