Putting Food By - Janet Greene [45]
• Spongy or slimy food.
• Cloudy or yeasty liquid.
• Off-odor, disagreeable smell, mustiness.
Not Prize-Winning, but Edible
If the containers and contents offer none of the signs of spoilage noted above, and if the storage has been properly cool, canned fruit with the following less-than-perfect characteristics is still OK to eat:
Floating fruit. The fruit was overripe, or it was packed too loosely, or the syrup was too heavy.
Darker fruit at the top of the container. Too much headroom above the liquid.
Bleached-looking berries. With no signs of spoilage present, this could mean that jars were exposed to light in the storage area; next time, wrap the jars in paper or stash them in closed cartons if the storage isn’t dark.
CANNING EACH FRUIT
Altitude and headroom reminders: do look at the Correcting for Altitude section in Chapter 3 for required adjustments you must make in times (or even in the processing procedure), and jot down your total adjusted processing times in the spaces we provide in the individual instructions that follow (you will also find these spaces in other chapters’ instructions).
And remember that, if you have elected to use Pressure-processing according to the makers’ most recent instructions instead of the Boiling–Water Bath, you should increase slightly the amount of headroom, because the air (gas) inside the jar expands more at the greater heat of the Pressure Canner. If you remain with the B–W Bath and merely add processing time, you still should increase headroom for altitudes of more than, say, 3000 ft/914 m—¾ inch for pints is not too much in this case.
Apples
Even with root-cellaring and drying (see both), you’ll want some apples put by as sauce, dessert slices, or pie timber. And of these, probably the handiest thing is to can applesauce and slices done in syrup, and to freeze the slices you’ll use for pies (Chapter 14). There’s a handy rule for Apple Pie Filling in Chapter 12 and for the method/uses of Boiled Cider in Chapter 23. How to do Apple Cider is described later in this chapter, under the Canning Juices section.
GENERAL HANDLING
Boiling–Water Bath. Use Hot pack only. Use jars or plain cans. Process with Thin Syrup, plain water, or with natural juice as desired.
Because apples oxidize in the air, work quickly with only one canner batch at a time. Wash, peel, and core apples (save peels and cores for jelly); treat prepared pieces with either of the anti-discoloration solutions described in Chapter 5. Drain, and carry on with the specific handling.
SLICES (HOT PACK ONLY)
Rinse drained, prepared pieces. Cover with hot Thin Syrup or water; boil gently for 5 minutes. Lift out and drain, saving cooking syrup or water. Pack Hot.
In jars. Fill clean, hot jars, leaving ½ inch of headroom. Add boiling-hot canning liquid of your choice, leaving ½ inch of headroom; adjust lids. Process in a Boiling–Water Bath (212 F/100 C)—pints or quarts for 20 minutes. Remove jars; complete seals if using bailed jars.
• Adjustment for my altitude_________________.
In plain cans. Fill, leaving only ¼ inch of headroom. Add boiling-hot Thin Syrup or water to the top of the can. Exhaust to 170 F/77 C (10 minutes); seal. Process in a B–W Bath (212 F/100 C)—20 minutes for either No. 303 or No. 401 cans. Remove cans; cool quickly.
• Adjustment for my altitude_________________.
APPLESAUCE (HOT PACK ONLY)
Prepare by your favorite rule and according to how you’ll use it—chunky or strained smooth; sweetened or not; with spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, whatever) or plain. Because of complete precooking and being packed so hot, processing time is relatively short and is designed to ensure destruction of spoilers and a good seal.
Pare crisp apples, cut in quarters or eighths, and remove core parts; drop pieces in anti-discoloration solution. (Don’t throw away the peels and cores: save them to boil up for a beautiful juice for jelly.) Put about 1 inch of water in a large enameled or stainless steel kettle, fill with well-rinsed