Canned food

“ Home canned foods should have a bright color, characteristic texture, pleasant flavor and contain nutrients naturally present. When all steps of scientifically based canning directions are carefully followed, color, texture and flavor will be optimum. These observable signs of quality are also an index to nutrient retention of that canned food. ”

“ Other things besides the application of heat assist in the keeping of canned food, as, for example, the acids of the fruits and vegetables themselves, as has been mentioned. The use of sugar also assists; the greater the quantity of sugar in solution the easier it will be to keep the food. This is proved in the case of jams and jellies, which will keep without being sealed tight or put into jars immediately after cooking. Salt helps to keep vegetables that are canned, and, in making butters, conserves, and pickles, the spices and vinegars used help to protect the foods from bacterial action. ”

“ Acidity helps protect against the growth of botulinum bacteria, which can produce a fatal toxin in canned foods. Specific recipes, times, and temperatures determined scientifically for vegetable mixtures need to be used for their safe canning.
Why is headspace important in canning?
Headspace—the distance between the surface of food and the underside of the lid—allows for expansion of solids or bubbling up of liquid during processing. If headspace is not adequate, some food in the container will be forced out, leaving food particles or sirup on the sealing surface and preventing a seal. ”

“ When enough food for a canner load is prepared, drain and rinse the food for best flavor.
The packing method used is one of the most important factors in quality canned products. Foods that are heated before being put in jars have better quality than foods packed raw in jars. Heating destroys enzymes and removes much of the air from food tissues.
Enzymes must be destroyed quickly for top-quality food. Removal of air not only shrinks the food, but leads to better color, flavor and nutrient retention, and too, fruits are less likely to float. ”

“ If you live at an altitude of 1,000 feet or more, you have to add to these processing times in canning directions, as follows:
To Figure Yield of Canned Fruit From Fresh
The number of quarts of canned food you can get from a given quantity of fresh fruit depends upon the quality, variety, maturity, and size of the fruit, whether it is whole, in halves, or in slices, and whether it is packed raw or hot.
Generally, the following amounts of fresh fruit or tomatoes (as purchased or picked) make 1 quart of canned food:
In 1 pound there are about 4 medium apples, peaches, or tomatoes ”

“ Canning has a greater range of possibilities than drying. A larger number of foods can be preserved in this way, and, besides, the foods require very little preparation, in some cases none at all, when they are removed from the cans. Practically every food that may be desired for use at some future time may be canned and kept if the process is carried out properly. These include the perishable vegetables and fruits of the summer season, as well as any winter vegetables that are not likely to keep in the usual way or that are gathered while they are immature. ”

“ 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. ”

“ If it is in good condition at the time of canning, it is much more likely to remain good when canned than food that is not. The flavor of the finished product also depends a great deal on the condition of the food. Fruits have the best flavor when they are ripe, but they are in the best condition for canning just before they have completely ripened. Immediately following perfect ripeness comes the spoiling stage, and if fruits, as well as vegetables, are canned before they are completely ripe, they are, of course, farther from the conditions that tend to spoil them. ”

“ By having their own gardens and canning the harvested produce, they often can save money. Eating quality of home-canned products encourages some individuals to can. The activity of growing or obtaining produce and preserving it in the home sometimes gives people a sense of personal achievement and satisfaction.
In canning, food is preserved by applying heat to prepared food in containers so that micro-organisms that cause spoilage or food poisoning are destroyed and enzymes that cause undesirable quality changes in the flavor, color, and texture of food are inactivated. ”

“ At any rate, all dirt or foreign material must be washed from foods before they are ready for canning.
After preparing the food, it must be cooked. If fruit is being canned, put it into the required sirup, the making of which is explained later, and cook it until it is well softened, as if preparing it for immediate table use. If vegetables are being canned, cook them in the same way, but use salt and water instead of sirup. When the food is cooked, transfer it to the sterile jars and seal at once with the sterile rubbers and covers. ”

“ Evaporated fruit should not be cooked. This is perhaps the most palatable and wholesome method of preserving fruit. Next in purity and importance are the methods of canning, as practised by the housewife. The ordinary commercial preparations of canned fruits, together with the many jams, marmalades and jellies, are generally of doubtful, if not inferior quality. The Pure Food Law has accomplished much to establish honesty in the preserving and the labeling of food, but these products are still far from ideal, and are not to be considered where fresh or evaporated fruits are obtainable. ”

“ It has been estimated that 1 cup (8 ounces) is sufficient to kill all the humans on earth. It is not something to take chances about. All home canning procedures recommended by Federal and State Extension agencies 302 are adequate to destroy this dreaded spore-forming bacteria.
pH VALUE OF VARIOUS FOODS
Commercial canneries, which are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, use similar processes to assure safe canned foods. ”

“ The crime of wasting even a few tomatoes or berries has sunk into our minds to stay forever; scientific canning methods have been adopted by the modern woman. Women who had never canned in days before the war had to can during war days. Food was so scarce and so high in price that to buy fancy or even plain canned products was a severe strain on the average housewife's purse. The American woman, as was to be expected, came quickly and eagerly to the front with the solution and the slogan: "More gardens and more canning and preserving at home." ”

“ The preservation of foods by canning and drying should not be looked at as an old-fashioned idea; rather, it is a matter in which the housewife should be vitally interested. In fact, it is the duty of every housewife to learn all she can about the best methods to employ. Canning methods have been greatly improved within the last few years, and it is a wise plan to adopt the newer methods and follow directions closely. Especially should this be done if foods canned by the older methods have spoiled or if mold has formed on top of the food in the jars. ”

“ Process fruits, tomatoes, and pickled vegetables in a boiling-water-bath canner according to the directions on page 10. Process vegetables in a steam-pressure canner according to the directions on page 16.
Cooling Canned Food
Glass jars.—As you take jars from the canner, complete seals at once if necessary. If liquid boiled out in processing, do not open jar to add more. Seal the jar just as it is.
Cool jars top side up. Give each jar enough room to let air get at all sides. Never set a hot jar on a cold surface; instead set the jars on a rack or on a folded cloth. ”

“ The OPEN-KETTLE METHOD of canning is very simple and requires no equipment other than that to be found in every kitchen. It consists in thoroughly cooking the food that is to be canned, transferring it to containers, and sealing them immediately. ”

“ Canned Vegetables—In our table of food values it will be noticed that the least nourishing article for its weight and bulk is a can of tomatoes. Yet these 'air-tights' are great favorites with outdoors men, especially in the West and South, where frequently they are eaten raw out of the can. It is not so much their flavor as their acid that is grateful to a stomach overtaxed with fat or canned meat and hot bread three times a day. ”

“ Just this little attention to detail not only will help to improve the appearance of the canned fruit, but will make it possible to put more food in the jars.
When a jar is filled, pour into it whatever liquid is to be used, as in Fig. 11. As has been stated, hot sirup is added for fruits and boiling water and salt for vegetables. However, when fruit is to be canned without sugar, only water is added. With tomatoes and some greens, no liquid need be used, because they contain a sufficient amount in themselves. ”

“ Meat was first put up in cans to prolong its keeping qualities, especially during the hot weather season. So uniformly successful were these experiments that the original purpose has been almost forgotten, and canned meat now occupies an all-year-round prominent place in the national food supply. ”

“ Both fish and meat, including that from fowl and game, may be canned at times that seem convenient and then used when an emergency arises or at a time when the same food will cost more to prepare. Fowl, game, and fish may be canned to special advantage during the season when each is plentiful. The best process for canning such foods is the one-period cold-pack method. ”

“ When we come to the question of the food supplies to be taken aboard, much will depend upon the individual. Hard tack, salt tack, flour, beans, corned beef, salt pork, bacon, hams, canned meats, sardines, canned fruits and vegetables, cornmeal, lard, butter, cheese, condensed milk, sweetened and unsweetened coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate, pepper, salt, mustard, vinegar, poultry seasoning, sugar and rice are some of the staple comestibles that suggest themselves, but these may be added to or subtracted from according to circumstances. ”

“ It contains all the food elements necessary for body growth, protein, mineral salts, carbohydrates, fats, vitamines and water. It is the indispensable food for the young. It lends itself to a great variety of uses in the correct diet of the individual. Modern housekeeping demands that a supply of a quality brand of canned milk be in every pantry. ”

“ An ample supply of canned stuff insures against the chance of bad cooking, because it requires 140 little or no skill to prepare canned provisions, if the other food in camp is not particularly appetizing. ”

“ Flat-sour often causes annoyance to beginners in canning some vegetables, such as corn, peas, beans and asparagus. These canned foods may show no signs of spoilage and yet when the can is opened the product may have a sour taste and a disagreeable odor. ”

“ Menu #9 Luncheon Meat Chili [1]
Bread Sticks
Watercress Salad
French Dressing with Herbs
Applesauce a la Mode [1]
Cookies
Beverage
Menu #10 Hominy and Vienna Sausage au Gratin
Mixed Green Salad
Rolls
Pineapple Meringue Pie
Beverage
[1] For recipe, see “What’s in your Pantry” index, pages 10 and 11.
8 Using Commercially Canned Foods
Canned Foods are delicious just as they come from the can. Remember that canned foods are cooked foods. When heating commercially canned vegetables follow these directions:
1. ”

“ If canned foods from a previous year are at hand when new cans are ready to be stored, the old ones should be placed to the front of the shelves and the new ones to the back, so that the old ones will be used up first. ”

“ Of course a reliable method of canning meat must be used, such as the cold-pack process, where the sterilizing is done in the tin or jar in either boiling water or steam under pressure. We usually recommend the partial cooking, roasting or boiling of the meat before canning especially for beginners. If you are a beginner in the business of cold-pack canning then by all means cook the meat before putting it in cans. If you have canned peas, beans and corn successfully for years then you are ready for all kinds of raw meat canning. ”

“ Often in canning vegetables it will be found that there is an uneven quantity—that is, there will be a quantity of one kind left after filling the cans, but not enough for another full can; if desired this can be put in a can and cooked with the rest for the family dinner, or it may be put away with the canned goods, for I have found the partially filled cans keep quite as well as the full ones and there are often times when the lesser quantity will be all that is needed for the meal, or it may be just enough for a salad or to combine with some other vegetable in a soup or entrée. ”

“ All kinds of vegetables which are eaten in a cooked state can be preserved by the canning process. This cannot be applied, however, to those forms of vegetables which are eaten raw, such as lettuce, radishes, etc.
The principal forms of canned vegetables are described below:
Canned Beans. —Fresh, green beans used for canning purposes are generally preserved in the pod and not shelled, as is the case with the pea. The raw material should be selected with the same care as that which attends the selection of other vegetable products intended for preserving purposes. ”