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Show HOME CANNED FRUIT AND VEGETABLES PROMISE HEALTH FOR WINTER DAYS BY LEIW MAR PRICE COUNTY AGENT Gardens are the vogue in Beaver county these days. National leaders are recognizing the importance of home grown food as a constructive factor in America's economic life. Last year three private contribution sustenance gardens are industrial and community projects were given great impetus through the appointment appoint-ment of garden specialists in five industrial in-dustrial States: Illlj, Ky., Ohio, W. Va., and Ind. In these states alone there are now 175,000 supervised home g-ardens under the supervision of the state agricultural extension service. Many families are better nourished this summer than ever before because be-cause ;of these gardens. This fall boys and girls will go to school with fresh rosy cheeks and bodies stored with health and sunshine. Those interested in providing their families with food must not think of these gardens only as sources of summer food. Some of the minerals and vitamins and calories in these foods must be stored away for winter use, if the winter is to be faced with less hardship and the family's all too small income is to be stretched to buy many necessities. Home canning is preserving many of these choice garden products for winter use, and will add to the pleasure and nutritional nutri-tional value of many meals. But canning is only one of the methods me-thods of preservation, and refers to only those vegetables that cannot be otherwise preserved. These gardens are far from complete if they are not producing a plentious supply of vegetables veg-etables such as squash, turnips, cabbage, cab-bage, carrots, "dry beans, potatoes, etc., that can be pitted or otherwise stored for use fresh. Dried or salted corn is a very tasty nutritious dish. The "Live At Home" exhibit of the U. S. A. C. Extension Service that will be in Minersville Saturday, September Sep-tember 3, will show the amounts of these different foods necessary for a balanced diet for a man for 30 days. Also the recommended methods of preserving them. Saturday will be a big day in Minersville for everyone in the county: livestock show, organization organi-zation of a county farm bureau, "live at home" exhibit and lectures and games and sports. Preserve Corn With the bounteous supply of sweet corn in nearly every garden this year we should have a large amount preserved pre-served for winter needs. The following follow-ing methods are both highly recommended recom-mended and will give greater variety. Dried Corn 4 quarts corn cut from cob (split each row of kernels lengthwise before cutting from cob and scrape cob with knife after to get all the milk from the cob.) 1 cup cream or rich milk; cup sugar; H cup salt. I Mix all ingredients and boil 20 minutes, stirring constantly to avoid I scorching. Spread in shallow pans to dry. ! Dry in a warm oven, stiring often. If done this way it can be put in a , sack in about 24 hours, then, when ! thoroughly dried store in a tightly closed can or jar. Salted Corn 12 cups corn cut from cob and measured by packing loosely into jars; 1 cup salt; 1 cup sug-ar. Mix together and boil 10 minutes. Pack into hot sterilized jars and seal. This concentration of salt is sufficient suffic-ient to prevent the growth of botu-linus botu-linus bacteria so that further processing proces-sing is not necessary. When ready to serve soak the corn in cold water to remove salt so that the corn will be palatable. Boil corn 20 minutes and add milk or cream. Precautions for Home Canning With the Hot Water Bath (Boiler) Method Government research workers recommend re-commend 1 no method of home canning can-ning of non-acid vegetables . and meats as being safe except the pressure pres-sure cooker method. Since a number of cases of food poisoning have been directly traceable trace-able to botulism, the bacteria causing it to have been studied in order to find the temperature and conditions necessary for destroying them. They will not grow in salt solutions where the percentage of salt is higher than 9 per cent. They are destroyed at boiling temperature if the solution is sufficiently acid. With non-acid vegetables veg-etables and meats there is no assurance assur-ance that they are killed at the temperature tem-perature of boiling water unless the material is heated for as long as six hours. The heating time may be decreased de-creased very much if a higher temperature temp-erature is used. This is the reason for the recommendation that meats and non-acid vegetables be canned under pressure. Special precaution must be taken in those regions where previous outbreaks of botulism or special difficulties in canning have shown the soil to be heavily contaminated contam-inated with these or other heat-resisting bacteria. Steps in Safe Vegetable Canning (Elna Miller, State Nutritionist) 1. Examine jars to see that they are free from nicks or cracks and that the top of the jar is smooth. (Concluded on last page) HOME CANNED FRUIT AND VEGETABLES (Continued from page one) 2. Wash jars and lids in hot soapy water, rinse in hot clean water and sterilize, neck down, for 10 minutes in boiling water. 3. Select sound firm products, wash thoroughly and get ready for processing proces-sing as quickly as possible. 4. Pre-cook, by covering with water wat-er which has been boiled, and boil without a lid for 5 to 10 minutes. 5. Pack hot into sterilized jars, using us-ing liquid in which pie-cooking was done. Make a loose wet pack with water coming within one-half inch from top of jar. 6. Use one teaspoon salt for each quart of vegetables. 7. Wipe top of jar and adjust ring and cap. If vegetables have been packed at a lower temperature they should be screwed only fairly tight. 8. Process in pressure cooker. Leave petcock open for seven minutes minut-es after steam begins to escape. If this is not done the high temperature cannot be reached. Process required length of time after the necessary pressure is reached. 9. Open cooker after pressure is down to zero, by releasing steam slowly from petcock. When all steam has been released remove lid. 10. Remove jars, tighten lid and set them to cool away from draft. 11. Keep jars at room temperature for one week to watch for spoilage, then store in dark cool place. 12. Always boil for 20 minutes all non-acid vegetables before tasting tast-ing or serving. This includes all vegetables veg-etables except tomatoes. Home canned can-ned meat should be given the equivalent equiv-alent of this much heat before serving. |