Putting Food By - Janet Greene [42]
Note: procedures for canning Tomatoes—which are classed botanically as fruit—are given separately in their own Chapter 8.
No Shortcuts
You simply must follow carefully all the right steps for selecting, preparing, and processing fruits: there have been cases reported of botulism poisoning from home-canned apricots, blackberries, figs, huckleberry juice, peaches, and pears—even though these are all in the traditional strong-acid grouping. Records of these cases indicate that there was careless handling somewhere along the line. (See Dealing with the Spoilers in Chapter 2.)
In case you find a tempting old recipe that relies on the “open-kettle” procedure now proven to be inadequate, here is how to translate it for the B–W Bath. Prepare and cook the fruit according to the old recipe. Pack the boiling-hot fruit and its juice in clean jars, leaving correct headroom for container size and altitude. Adjust lids, and process in a B–W Bath for the time given for Hot pack in the directions for that sort of food, later in this chapter.
CONVERSIONS FOR CANNING FRUITS
Do look at the conversions for metrics (with workable roundings-off), and for altitude—both in Chapter 3—and apply them.
Liquids for Canning Fruits
Sugar in the relatively small amounts used in canning fruits does not act as a preservative: it merely helps to retain the texture and color of canned fruit. That sugar added cannot act as a preservative is borne out by the disquieting appearance of spoilage in opened jars of fruit that have remained too long in the refrigerator.
Commercial canners in the past have leaned toward Heavy Syrup, except in the so-called diet pack that declares that the fruit is either canned in its own juices or that water only has been added to the pack. Formerly, these ostensible diet packs were found only in the special sections of supermarkets devoted to low-sodium, low- or non-sugar products. Now, though, fruit canned in its own juices or with Very Light Syrup is mingled with the rest of the fruits on store shelves.
Heavy Syrup has not been used very much by home-canners for some time. The instructions for individual fruits recommend which syrups to use—but remember, please, that if you prefer to can without any sweetening, it is perfectly safe to do so. The recommendation of syrups are merely for flavor and texture, and this fact cannot be emphasized too much.
Boiling water is the easiest liquid to add: it is poured into the jars after the fruit has been packed; then, as with all packs involving added liquid, a plastic blade or a very thin spatula is moved around the inside of the jar to release any bubbles of trapped air.
Altitude note: at sea level the usual headroom for fruits is a scant ½ inch for ½-pint jars (not used very often unless they are for special diets, which are discussed later). Standard headroom for fruit in pints or quarts in a B–W Bath at sea level is ½ inch. At high altitudes—especially above 3000 feet, and always at 5000 or more feet—extra headroom must be added because steam in the jars as the atmospheric pressure gets lower, expands as the altitude gets higher. Therefore a housewife in Santa Fe would can a 1-pint jar of fruit with up to 1 inch of headroom (and most likely in a Pressure Canner).
How Much Liquid
Roughly estimate up to ½ to ¾ cup of syrup/liquid for each pint or No. 303 can, and increase the allowance proportionally for larger containers; this means that quarts would take from 1 to 1½ cups of added liquid, with the same amount estimated for No. 401 cans. The middle-size 1½-pint jars—and tapered wide-mouth—would take an in-between amount.
It’s a good idea to do your fruit juice/syrups before you actually start preparing your fruit for canning; of course the syrup can be made several days in advance and refrigerated. If you take a quick look at the yield chart for fresh fruits to can you’ll find that the pounds needed per 1-quart jar are the most sensible measurement to