Canning industry

“ It is of the highest importance in the canning industry, both for the reputation of the manufacturer and the health and comfort of the consumer, that the vegetables selected for canning be fresh, free from disease, and prepared in such a way that all adhering dirt or other foreign substances be excluded. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ One of our very greatest and most practical needs is a well but simply equipped Canning Factory. Three thousand dollars would help us to properly equip the Canning Factory we already have at Tuskegee. The factory will help not only in preserving large quantities255 of vegetables, fruits, berries, etc., during the summer, but at the same time could be used as a means of teaching large numbers of our girls a useful industry, and, more than that, the products could be used to sustain the institution during the winter months. ”

“ I have seen cattle come into Armour's stock-yard so weak and exhausted that they expired in the corrals, where they lay for an hour or two, dead, until they were afterward hauled in, skinned, and put on the market for beef or into the canning department for cans. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ When using rubber rings get clean, new ones that are the right size for the jars. Do not test these by stretching. Follow the manufacturer’s directions as to pretreatment needed.
It is always best to follow current, reliable procedures as in U.S. Department of Agriculture or Extension publications. This insures a quality product and one that is safe to eat. Time, energy and money may be wasted if you use outdated or careless canning procedures. ”

“ It was easier to buy California fruits by the case and canned vegetables by the dozen or half dozen cans, according to the size of the family. There is no doubt it was cheaper and decidedly easier to purchase canned fruits, vegetables, greens, soups and meats than to take time and strength in the very hottest season of the year to do our own canning. ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Cut the corn from the cob with a sharp knife and pack at once in sterilized jars. Best results can be accomplished when two people cut and one person fills. If it is necessary for one person to work alone, cut off sufficient corn to fill one jar, pour on boiling water, add salt, place rubber and cap in position and put the jar at once in the canner. A little overcooking does not injure the quality of canned corn. ”

“ Cost of home canning depends on the kinds and sources of food canned as well as the processing methods, containers, and equipment used. Other cost factors—labor, energy, water and added ingredients—make exact cost figures impossible to apply generally, but studies are reporting averages that show canning to be economical. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is no trick to grow vegetables for home canning, any variety will do. You need not select a big lot of one kind, and you need not sort for size or color. Just take the surplus as you find it in your garden from day to day. All it needs is, it must be fresh and it must be thoroughly clean—but growing for the canning factory is different. To line up fifty to 200 growers to sow the same seed, to plant, harvest and bring to the factory just when in right condition, requires time and hard work. ”

“ Corn expands a little in processing, and for this reason jars should not be filled quite full. Corn that has reached the dough stage before being packed will have a cheesy appearance after canning. Corn should never be allowed to remain in the cold-dip water.
Field corn. This product is commonly known as corn-club breakfast food. The corn should be selected between the milk and the dough stage. Wide-mouthed glass jars or tin cans should be used for canning this product. Avoid packing container too full, as the product swells during the sterilization period. ”

“ At present our production is about sufficient for our presently existing markets, but there is nothing to prevent these markets being widely extended. Our present means of utilising our surplus fruits, by canning or otherwise preserving same, are by no means as complete or up to date as they should be, and before they can become so, it is necessary to greatly increase our output. Small works cost too much to run as compared with large canning establishments, hence we are not yet in a position to make the most of our fruit. ”

“ A steam-pressure canner must be used for processing all vegetables except tomatoes and pickled vegetables. Work only with the quantity of vegetable needed for one canner load at a time. As each jar is filled, adjust the lid, and place the jar in the pressure canner containing 2 to 3 inches of hot or boiling water for raw or hot pack, respectively, to keep food hot. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The canners have made it a farm crop instead of a garden product. To a great extent canning has transformed the farm into a garden, increasing the profits from every acre planted many fold. In many localities an acre of what was formerly considered a sandy waste is now yielding more than double the net profit of the best acre under cultivation in ordinary farm crops. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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, butter and lard tubs if water-tight, stoneware jars or crocks, chipped preserve jars, glass jars with missing covers and covered enamel buckets can all be utilized. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Because of color, texture and especially flavor qualities, some varieties are more suited for canning; others are more suitable for freezing. Few varieties possess the all-purpose criteria needed to preserve them as either high-quality canned or frozen products.
There is no single, ideal maturity for harvesting or preserving fruits and vegetables. Obviously, the quality of canned or frozen products made from any maturity other than ideal for that specific commodity lacks the ultimate potential of satisfaction for eating. ”

“ It is possible to sterilize any fruit or vegetable which grows on tree, vine, shrub or in the ground by this cold-pack, single-period method of canning, without the use of a compound. The second argument against it is that many of the canning compounds are positively harmful to health. Some of them contain as high as ninety-five per cent of boric acid. Directors of county and state fairs should exclude from entry all fruits and vegetables that have been preserved in any canning compound. Perfect fruit can be produced without any chemical preservative. ”

“ If they are not raised at the ends the cans should be carefully examined for defects. After the cans are sterilized they should be cooled off in water. This will cause the ends to collapse. If they do not collapse the reason is probably due to overfilling. It must be remembered that peas, beans and corn swell a certain amount after water is placed in the cans; therefore, in canning these vegetables the cans should be filled only to within a quarter of an inch of the top. If the pressure of the air from without will not cause the end to collapse, it should be forced in by hand. ”