Every Step in Canning Part 27

Spinach and parsley should be carefully washed. Steam, cold-dip and dry. If the spinach is sliced the drying will be greatly facilitated.

Beet tops, Swiss chard and celery are prepared like spinach.

Select sound, well-matured Irish potatoes. Wash and boil or steam until nearly done. Peel and pa.s.s through a meat grinder or a potato ricer. Collect the shred in layers on a tray and dry until brittle. If toasted slightly in an oven when dry, the flavor is improved somewhat; or boil or steam until nearly done, peel, cut into quarter-inch slices, spread on trays, and dry until brittle. Peeling may be omitted, but the product will be very much inferior in flavor. Irish potatoes cannot be satisfactorily dried unless they are first cooked; otherwise they will discolor.

All root vegetables must be thoroughly cleaned, otherwise an earthy flavor may cling to them. One decayed root may seriously affect several pots of vegetable soup.

GENERAL SUGGESTIONS

1. All vegetables should be completely dried in from two to twenty-four hours.

2. Materials should be turned or stirred several times to secure a uniform product.

3. If heat is used guard against scorching. The door is left open if an oven is used; the temperature should be about 110 degrees at the beginning and usually should not exceed 130 degrees. Onions, string beans and peas will yellow at more than 140 degrees.

4. A thermometer is essential to successful drying by artificial heat.

5. It is impossible to give definite lengths of times for the completion of sun drying, as this varies not only with different products but with the weather. A sultry, rainy day is the worst for drying.

6. Vegetables should be stone dry.

7. Succulent vegetables and fruits contain from 80 to 95 per cent of water, and when dried sufficiently still retain from 15 to 20 per cent; so it is a good plan to weigh before and after drying as a check. The product should lose from two-thirds to four-fifths of its weight.

8. Work rapidly to prevent souring of vegetables.

9. Small vegetables, mature beans and peas and small onions may be dried whole. Larger vegetables should be cut up so as to expose more surface for drying.

10. The slicing, cutting and shredding should be done before blanching, with the exception of corn, which is cut from the cob after blanching.

TIME-TABLE FOR DRYING VEGETABLES

[A] BLANCHING BY STEAM, TIME ON MINUTES

[B] ARTIFICIAL HEAT TEMPERATURE 110 TO 130 F. APPROXIMATE TIME IN HOURS

[C] FAN--NO HEAT APPROXIMATE TIME IN HOURS

PRODUCT PREPARATION [A] [B] [C]

ASPARAGUS Wash and cut into pieces 2 to 4 4 to 8 12 to 24 BEANS, GREEN Wash; remove stem, tip STRING and string 3 to 10 2 to 3 20 to 24 BEANS, WAX Wash; remove stem, tip and string; cut into pieces or dry whole 3 to 10 2 to 4 5 to 8 BEETS Leave skin on while [1]20 to 30 2 to 3 12 to 16 steaming BRUSSELS SPROUTS Divide into small pieces 6 3 to 5 12 to 16 CABBAGE Remove all loose outside leaves; split cabbage and remove woody core; 5 to 10 3 to 5 12 to 24 slice or shred CARROTS Wash; slice lengthwise into pieces 1/8-inch 6 2 to 3 20 to 24 thick CAULIFLOWER Clean; divide into small bunches 6 2 to 3 12 to 16 CELERY Wash carefully and remove leaves; slice 3 3 to 4 12 to 16 CELERIAC Clean; pare; slice into 1/8-inch pieces 6 2 to 3 20 to 24 CORN, SWEET Blanch on cob. From 12 ears of corn you should obtain 1 pound dried 15 3 to 4 2 days corn KOHL-RABI Clean; pare; slice into 1/8-inch pieces 6 2 to 3 8 to 12 LEEKS Cut into -inch strips 5 2 to 3 8 to 12 LIMA BEANS (YOUNG) Sh.e.l.l 2 to 5 3 to 3 12 to 20 LIMA BEANS (OLD) Sh.e.l.l 5 to 10 3 to 3 12 to 20 MUSHROOMS Wash; cut into pieces 5 3 to 5 12 to 24 OKRA Dry young pods whole. Cut old pods in -inch 3 2 to 3 12 to 20 slices ONIONS Remove outside papery covering; cut off tops and roots; slice thin 5 2 to 3 12 to 18 PARSNIPS Clean; pare; cut into -inch slices 6 2 to 3 20 to 24 PEAS Can be dried whole or put through grinder 3 to 5 3 12 to 20 PEPPERS Skin blistered in oven, steamed or sun-withered .. 3 to 4 24 POTATOES, IRISH Cook and rice them .. 2 5 to 6 POTATOES, IRISH Cook and slice them -inch thick .. 6 12 to 20 POTATOES, SWEET Cook and rice them .. 2 12 to 20 POTATOES, SWEET Cook and slice them -inch thick .. 6 12 to 20 PUMPKINS AND SQUASH Cut into 1/3-inch strips; peel; remove 3 3 to 4 16 seeds SPINACH Wash thoroughly; can be sliced 3 3 12 to 18 SALSIFY Wash; cut into -inch 6 2 to 3 20 to 24 slices SWISS CHARD Wash thoroughly; can be sliced 3 3 to 4 12 to 18 TOMATOES Wash; slice after steaming to loosen skin 2 to 3 2 to 3 12 to 16 TURNIPS Pare and slice thin 5 2 to 3 12 to 18 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

[Footnote 1: Till skin cracks.]

In a properly constructed sun drier vegetables will dry in from 3 to 12 hours under normal summer conditions. Products dried in a sun drier are superior to those dried in the open without any protection.

Products dry more quickly in high alt.i.tudes than at sea level.

CHAPTER XV

EVERY STEP IN BRINING

We have learned how to preserve fruit and vegetables by canning and drying and now we are going to learn another method to preserve foods, in which salt is used. We use this salt method for vegetables. It is not adapted to fruits. We may pickle apples, pears and peaches, but we ferment, brine and dry-salt only vegetables.

This salt method is not a subst.i.tute for drying or canning, but just an additional method we may employ. Every thrifty housewife of to-day wants her shelves of canned foods, her boxes of dried foods and her crocks of salted foods. Each kind has its proper function to perform in the household. One cannot take the place of the other.

For women on the farm salting is a salvation. In busy seasons when canning and drying seem an impossibility, a great many vegetables can be saved by this method in a very short time. The labor required is very small, as no cooking is necessary. A good supply of salt is the one necessity.

Besides the saving of time, salting saves jars, which are absolutely necessary in canning. Old containers can be used if they are thoroughly cleansed. The vegetables can be put in any container, so long as it holds water and is not made of metal. Metal containers should not be used. Old kegs, b.u.t.ter and lard tubs if water-tight, stoneware jars or crocks, chipped preserve jars, gla.s.s jars with missing covers and covered enamel buckets can all be utilized. Avoid using tubs made of pitch or soft pine unless coated with melted paraffin, as they impart a flavor to the vegetables. Maple is the best.

THREE METHODS OF SALTING FOOD

There are three ways of preserving food by salting: First, fermentation with dry salting; second, fermentation in brine or brining; and third, salting without fermentation, or dry salting.

Dry Salting. Fermentation with dry salting consists in packing the material with a small amount of salt. No water is used, for the salt will extract the water from the vegetables and this forms a brine.

This is the simplest process of all three and is used mostly for cabbage. To make sauerkraut proceed as follows: The outside green leaves of the cabbage should be removed, just as in preparing the head for boiling. Never use any decayed or bruised leaves. Quarter the heads and shred the cabbage very finely. There are shredding machines on the market, but if one is not available use a slaw cutter or a large sharp knife.

After the cabbage is shredded pack at once into a clean barrel, keg or tub, or into an earthenware crock holding four or five gallons. The smaller containers are recommended for household use. When packing distribute the salt as uniformly as possible, using one pound of salt to forty pounds of cabbage. Sprinkle a little salt in the container and put in a layer of three or four inches of shredded cabbage, then pack down with a wooden utensil like a potato masher. Repeat with salt, cabbage and packing until the container is full or the shredded cabbage is all used.

Press the cabbage down as tightly as possible and apply a cloth, and then a glazed plate or a board cover which will go inside the holder.

If using a wooden cover select wood free from pitch, such as ba.s.swood.

On top of this cover place stone, bricks or other weights--use flint or granite; avoid the use of limestone, sandstone or marble. These weights serve to keep vegetables beneath the surface of the liquid.

The proportion of salt to food when fermenting with dry salt is a quarter pound of salt to ten pounds of food. Do not use more, for the product will taste too salty.

Allow fermentation to proceed for ten days or two weeks, if the room is warm. In a cellar or other cool place three to five weeks may be required. Skim off the film which forms when fermentation starts and repeat this daily if necessary to keep this film from becoming a sc.u.m.

When gas bubbles cease to rise when you strike the side of the container, fermentation is complete. If there is a sc.u.m it should be removed.

As a final step pour very hot melted paraffin over the brine until it forms a layer from a quarter to a half-inch thick, to prevent the formation of the sc.u.m which occurs if the weather is warm or the storage place is not well cooled. The cabbage may be used as soon as the bubbles cease to rise. If sc.u.m forms and remains the cabbage will spoil. You may can the cabbage as soon as bubbles cease to rise and fermentation is complete. To can, fill jars, adjust rubbers and partly seal. Sterilize 120 minutes in hot-water bath, or 60 minutes in steam-pressure outfit at five to ten pounds pressure.

The vital factor in preserving the material by this method is the lactic acid which develops in fermentation.

If the vegetables are covered with a very strong brine or are packed with a fairly large amount of salt, lactic acid fermentation and also the growth of other forms of bacteria and molds are prevented. This method of preservation is especially applicable to those vegetables which contain so little sugar that sufficient lactic acid cannot be formed by bacterial action to insure their preservation.

In the well-known method of vinegar pickling the acetic acid of the vinegar acts as a preservative like the lactic acid produced by fermentation. Sometimes brining precedes pickling in vinegar, and often the pickling is modified by the addition of sugar and spices, which add flavor as well as helping to preserve the fruit or vegetables. In some cases olive oil or some other table oil is added to the vinegar, as in the making of oil cuc.u.mber pickles.

Besides sauerkraut, string beans, beet tops, turnip tops, greens, kale and dandelions are adapted for fermentation with dry salting. String beans should be young, tender and not overgrown. Remove the tip ends and strings; cut or break into pieces about two inches long. Wash the beet and turnip tops as well as all greens, in order to remove dirt and grit. Weigh all products that are to be salted.

For salting, a supply of ordinary fine salt, which can be purchased in bulk for about two cents a pound, is most satisfactory for general use. Table salt will do very well, but it is rather expensive if large quant.i.ties of vegetables are to be preserved. The rather coa.r.s.e salt--known in the trade as "ground alum salt"--which is used in freezing ice cream can be used. Rock salt because of its coa.r.s.eness and impurities should not be used.

A weight must be used. The size of the weight depends on the quant.i.ty of material being preserved. For a five-gallon keg a weight of ten pounds will be sufficient, but if a larger barrel is used a heavier weight will be needed. The weight should be sufficient to extract the juices to form a brine, which will cover the top in about twenty-four hours. If a brine does not form it may be necessary to add more stones after the material has stood a while.

There always will be more or less bubbling and foaming of the brine during the first stages of fermentation. After this ceases a thin film will appear which will rapidly spread over the whole surface and quickly develop into a heavy, folded membrane. This sc.u.m is a growth of yeast-like organisms which feed upon the acid formed by fermentation. If allowed to grow undisturbed it will eventually destroy all the acid and the fermented material will spoil. To prevent mold from forming it is necessary to exclude the air from the surface of the brine.

Perhaps the best method is to cover the surface--over the board and round the weight--with very hot, melted paraffin. If the paraffin is hot enough to make the brine boil when poured in, the paraffin will form a smooth, even layer before hardening. Upon solidifying, it forms an air-tight seal. Oils, such as cottonseed oil or the tasteless liquid petroleum, may also be used for this purpose. As a measure of safety with crocks, it is advisable to cover the top with a cloth soaked in melted paraffin. Put the cover in place before the paraffin hardens.