Care Needed When Preserving

Press, Volume C, Issue 29474, 28 March 1961, Page 2

Care Needed When Preserving

The reasons for failure of preserves are often very simple. Women who are used to bottling fruit with complete success are using the same method of mixtures containing meat, cheese or cereals.

Fruit keeps well, because it is easy to sterilise and in any case, it' contains fruit acids which help in preserving. On the other hand, cereals, meat, and cheese mixtures have no such built-in preservative, and they have dense, close textures which call for long and thorough cooking to make sure that the heat has penetrated right through and destroyed every vestige of organisms which could cause decay or fermentation.

We apiplaud the housewife’s desire to provide hot appetising meals for her family in winter, but we must insist, for safety's sake, that such foods are not only cooked, but also sterilised. Otherwise you risk not only your money, your time and your food, but also the family’s health. Food poisoning can be severe; it is extremely painful, and may be fatal.

When the cooked food has been packed into the jars, and the seals put on, sterilise jar and contents in a water bath or pressure cooker. For a waterbath, use any container large enough for the water to cover the jars by at least one inch (to prevent loss of liquid). If you have a special preserving kit. follow the direction given with it. A copper, or a washing machine with a heating element makes an ideal water bath. There are special racks available for putting the jars in and lifting them out. In smaller households, where the food is put up in smaller jars, use the preserving pan or a deep saucepan. Use an oven tray as an improvised lid to keep steam to a minimum. Note that proceessing times are counted from the time the water starts to boil.

A pressure cooker cuts the processing time to a third, so even if you have to use it three times over to get a batch sterilised, it still saves time. Put the jars on a rack, and have enough water in

the cooker so that it will not boil dry during processing. Jars must not touch one another to allow room for the superheated steam to circulate. Bring the pressure up gradually and keep it steady, as fluctuations in pressure can force liquid out of the jars. Let the cooker cool slowly after processing, or the jars may crack. The following recipes may be of use:— Tomato Soup Cut up 141 b tomatoes and cook till tender With 6 large onions, sliced A clove of garlic (optional) 3-4 cloves 2 bay leaves Few sprigs parsley. Stick celery chopped. Rub through sieve. Melt Boz butter and stir in 4oz flour. Add to above with 1 cup sugar 2 tablespoons salt 2 teaspoons pepper or to taste. Cook until it thickens 15-20 minutes. Bottle and seal. Process 5 minutes at 101 b pressure or 15 minutes in water bath. Spaghetti and Tomato Sauce Cook 121 b cut up tomatoes with lib sliced onions 1 cup sugar 2 tablespoons salt 1 teaspoon pepper. When tender, add Boz butter melted and cooked with 4oz flour till frothy. Cook mixture 15-20 minutes. Add Ijlb spaghetti cooked till just tender in boiling salted water and drained. Bring all to the boil, bottle and seal Process 30 minutes at 101 b pressure or If hours in water bath. Note.—lf desired, lib of finely grated cheese may be added with the thickening mixture. Baked Beans In Tomato Sauce Soak 4 cups haricot beans 24 hours. Cook in fresh water till just tender. Drain, and save liquid. Add 11b diced salt pork or lean bacon lib chopped onion 4 cups tomato pulp 1 cup brown sugar 2 tablespoons salt 1 teaspoon pepper 1 tablespoon prepared mustard (or 1 teaspoon ordinary mustard) 2 cups cooking water from beans, or as needed to give creamy consistency. Simmer gently 1 hour. Bottle and seal. Process 1 hour at 101 b pressure or 3 hours in water bath. Note.—lf desired, one pound of finely grated cheese may be added. —From the Home Science Extension, Department of Adult Education, University of Otago.