Canning factory

“ The canning factory has come into existence to meet the demand, but the canning factory cannot meet the needs of private families, since the great perfection as regards results is secured only when articles are handled in small quantities. ”

“ Builders of Complete Equipment for Canning and Preserving Plants The only manufacturers who are prepared to supply your requirements in canning factory machinery, complete, in every detail, backed up by thirty years of experience and a money back guarantee of satisfaction. ”

“ Pennykorn inquire, from which we gathered that he was talking with his son, Mr. Norman Pennykorn, who runs the canning factory.
“Nine dollars a ton.”
“Too much; too much,” came in a sort of petulant, disapproving voice.
“But the farmers won’t sell for any less.”
“Um.... What’s the Ashton Canning Company paying?”
“Ten-fifty.”
“Fools! They could buy for less.”
[8] “The farmers aren’t dumb. They know our price is too low. And as a result a lot of them, I’ve been told, are planning to haul their corn over to Ashton. It’s only ten miles. And a difference of one-fifty a ton is a big item to them.” ”

“ There are small canning outfits manufactured and sold for farm use that work on the factory principle. For canning vegetables, the heating is done under pressure because a great deal of heat is necessary to destroy the bacteria that spoil vegetables in the cans. Steam under pressure is a good deal hotter than boiling water. There is considerable work in using a canning outfit, but it gets the canning out of the way quickly. Extra help may be employed for a few days to do the canning on the same principle that farmers employ extra help at threshing time and do it all up at once. ”

“ Any good milk-products factory should develop sound milk-making on the farms of the region, as any good canning factory should raise the standard of production in the fruits and vegetables that it uses; and this should always be done with the object of preserving and even increasing the land-power. A factory owes an obligation to the open country that supports it. ”

“ By no means do they confine their attention to farming. To put a thousand men on a farm of three thousand acres and expect them to support themselves and have a surplus is an absurdity. There are various industries.
In the year 1917 they were anticipating a canned pack of $100,000.00. Of the products of the farm “they eat what they can, and can what they can’t.”
Canning Factory.
“The intensive production of fruits and vegetables on the farms created a surplus which had to be cared for. * * * Hence the necessity for the canning plant. ”

“ You must remember vegetables put in cans will come out just as you put them in. If you put in stale, tough, stringy beans you will be sure to find them there when you open the can, but if you put in fresh, tender beans, peas, corn or whatever else, you will find these exactly as you put them in, and it's immaterial [Pg 204] whether you open this can the first, second or tenth year. We must not forget that vegetables properly sterilized and sealed will keep indefinitely, and they require no preservative of any kind. No canning factory uses any preservative, and no home cannery should use them. ”

“ Another advantage of canning on the farm is that it can be done with less waste of fruit. The hauling to the factory and delay in working the fruit result in a great deal of waste. The average cannery does not obtain more than 1,200 pounds of product from a ton of fruit, there being 800 pounds of waste, while with sound, ripe, perfectly fresh fruit, it is entirely practical to secure from 1,600 to 1,800 pounds of canned goods from a ton, and this saving in waste would more than counterbalance the gain from the use of the better machinery possible in the factory. ”

“ They ship better than softer fruits, but the price is always high and the supply small because the canning factories are near the fields, and shipping is expensive. One large factory uses seven hundred bushels a day. The total product of the Maine canneries ten years ago was worth over one hundred thousand dollars. That must be where our college cook got her supply. ”

“ The processes used by the factories in canning figs differ somewhat from household methods. They also differ among themselves. Each factory has worked out a plan of its own, the details of which are regarded to some extent as trade secrets. In one factory, whose product has been much admired, the process consists in boiling the fruit at first in a very light sirup, allowing it to cool, and then transferring it with successive heatings and coolings to sirups of gradually increasing density. ”

“ More important than the barrel to-day, however, is the tin can—for it is in tin cans that all the enormous quantities of refined sent to tropical and Oriental countries must go to prevent deterioration—and nowhere does the policy of economy which Mr. Rockefeller has worked out show better than in one of the Standard canning works. In 1902 the writer visited the largest of the Standard can factories, the Devoe, on the East River, Long Island City. It has a capacity of 70,000 five-gallon cans a day, and is probably the largest can factory in the world. ”

“ At least two companies manufacture 375 community canning equipment (Ball Corp. and Dixie Canner Equipment Co.) . Prices start at $4,300 for a single-unit operation, and go up to $20,000 for a large center. This does not include the price of a steam boiler, which costs between $3,000 and $5,000. By fabricating some of its own equipment, and by buying used equipment from canning and restaurant equipment suppliers, the cannery can reduce some of its purchase costs substantially. ”

“ To date, no community canneries are completely economically self-sufficient, so far as we know. There are centers in the South which do enough community canning to pay for all their expenses except salaries. To become self-supportive, some canneries are now developing specialty products to be sold commercially. Organic-health food distributorships and food co-ops are often a good market for community cannery processed foods. ”

“ So dig into your storerooms, attics and basements and bring forth all your old jars. If a top is in good condition and will make a perfect seal when adjusted with a good rubber you can use that jar.
If the tops cannot be restored to good condition it is poor economy to use them. Imperfectly sealed jars are probably responsible for more spoiled canned goods than any other cause. Good tops and good rubbers are requisites for good canning.
For your canner, or sterilizer, you may use a wash boiler or a galvanized bucket, such as is used for a garbage pail—a new one, of course. ”

“ This line of products will require some additional equipment, but there is a steady demand for such homemade things and many women are deriving profits through the sale of their tastily prepared jellies, just as pickles and condiments have lined the pocketbooks of ambitious housewives before now.
Home canning for the market is essentially a matter of specializing and of giving the consumer a better product than he is accustomed to purchase. ”

“ A word about buying canned goods.—When canned goods are put up in large quantities at the factory, abuses are likely to exist. Poor, even decayed, fruit may be used, the whole process may be unclean from beginning to end, and undesirable preservatives or an excess of sugar or spice may be introduced to cover the use of poor materials or methods. The condition of the worker in the cannery is one of the important industrial problems at the present time. Unhappily, poor conditions do often exist in canneries that turn out a cheap product. ”

“ The yearly output of individual establishments is from 300,000 to 4,000,000 or 5,000,000 boxes. No complete statistics for the canning industry are available, but over 100 factories are operated and not less than 15,000 persons are employed therein. Concarneau and Douarnenez have more factories than any other localities, the number operated in 1900 being 29 and 25, respectively. A large number of the canning establishments are owned or leased by companies having headquarters at Bordeaux and Nantes. ”

“ 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." ”

“ At the period of my visit, there were eighteen flour mills in operation, grinding annually 2,500,000 bushels of wheat. The manufacturing interests are immense—ready-made clothing being the most extensive, and boots and shoes ranking next. Other leading manufactures are those of iron bridges, India-rubber goods, carriages, furniture, optical instruments, steam engines, glassware and agricultural machinery. Of flourishing industries may be mentioned breweries, tobacco factories, blast furnaces and fruit canning. ”

“ A community cannery should be available to all people interested in preserving food. Ideally, canneries are open during daytime and evening hours. Weekend hours are a possibility. When canneries are limited to processing vegetables and fruits, at 377 least 6 months of potential operation are lost in certain sections of the country. If at all possible, canneries should be operated to process a wider range of foods such as jams, jellies, pickles, preserves, meat, fish, poultry. ”

“ The works are large, modern, with improved machinery for crushing and boiling, and apparently well managed; there is said to be one of the sixteen sugar-factories of the Khedive which pays expenses; perhaps this is the one. A great quantity of rum is distilled from the refuse. The vast field in the rear, enclosed by a whitewashed wall, presented a lively appearance, with camels bringing in the cane and unloading it and arranging it upon the endless trough for the crushers. In the factory, the workmen wear little clothing and are driven to their task ”

“ Nowhere is the trend more apparent than in the area of home production and preservation of the family food supply. Ten years ago no one would have dreamed the lowly canning jar lid would be the subject of Federal hearings. No one would have believed that an estimated one in four U.S. families would be raising and preserving a portion of their food supply. ”

“ Of all the evils of the stock-yards, the canning department is perhaps the worst. It is there that the cattle from all parts of the United States are prepared for canning. No matter how scrawny or debilitated canners are, they must go the route of their brothers and arrive ultimately at the great boiling vats, where they are steamed until they are reasonably tender. Bundles of gristle and bone melt into pulpy masses and are stirred up for the canning department. ”

“ Too much emphasis cannot be placed upon the maintenance of a high standard for home-canned goods. Care should be taken that every jar measures up to a rigid standard, for a single one which falls below grade will neutralize the reputation and standing obtained by the sale of a dozen jars of perfect product. A quality is necessary which will warrant a money-back guarantee on every jar.
THE USE OF LABELS IN CANNING
Labels for both tin cans and glass jars should tell the truth as to the quality, weight and kind of product within the pack. ”

“ Orchard-canning on a small scale seldom proves feasible, succeeding best, if at all, in a home industry to provide a special product for a fancy or private trade. Occasionally, associations can command capital enough to compete with the large business enterprises but as a rule the peach-grower's interests are served best by the production of acceptable fruit for those who are engaged in the canning industry. ”

“ Allow 2 to 4 inches above jar tops for brisk boiling. The container or canner must have a tight fitting cover and a rack to allow water to circulate under the jars.
The steam-pressure canner is made of heavy metal and has a cover which fastens to make the pan steam-tight. The cover is fitted with a safety 330 valve, a petcock or vent, and a gage—either weighted or dial. All parts of the canner must be clean and in good working order. Check the gage before the canning season, and also during the season if canner is used often. ”

“ We should do all that we can to sustain ourselves—sustain our own factories, do all in our power to maintain these things that we have established, and seek with all our energy to foster them. We have factories here that can make as good cloth as any of their size, probably, in the nation. They ought to be sustained by us. Brother Erastus Snow related an incident a day or two ago in relation to their operations at St. George. They received quite a quantity of cloth from the factory of President Young. ”

“ A little practice will not only make this easy, but a smooth, perfect joint and filling will be the result. The cans are now ready for the canner. The handwork is all over, for the canner will do the rest.
Precautions. Do not fill tin cans too full. Leave a one-eighth to one-quarter inch space at the top of the can and see that the product does not touch the cover. If any of the product touches the cover the application of the hot iron produces steam, which may blow out the solder, making it impossible to seal the can. ”