NO SUGAR FOR FRUIT.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume X, Issue 46, 6 February 1920, Page 2

NO SUGAR FOR FRUIT.

HOW TO MAKE JAM. As the H.B. Fruit Growers’ Association is having demonstrations of jammaking without sugar, the following cutting will be interesting. “The elusive subject of sugar has been before the public in many ways lately (says a writer in the Auckland ‘Star’), chiefly in the air, so a thoughtful reader has supplied us with a few facts upon how to do-without it. The writer says that thousands Of tons or jam are made in this manner on the continent. The principal work is removing the stones from stone fruit,which is indispensable. Any stone fruit will do, but the stones must be re- t moved first. Take the quantity of fruit (the riper the better, but sound), you' intencT to preserve, and stone it the night before the boiling down takes place. Start early. Fill your preserving pans tw'O'thirds with the friiit ahd boil it over a clear but not too hot a fire. Keep stirring continually, and as the fruit boils down, addTresh fruit; it is really a process of concentrating; keep stirring and boiling till the quantity uitfler treatniont is thick enough that a tablespoon stands upright in it, then the jam is done. Have shallow dishes ready (producing a,.cake ; 11 to 2 inches thick), butter the dishes and fill them with-the jam to the thickness indicated. Put a piece of greased paper, on top of your jam to protect It from dust. Put the dishes in the driest and, wannest place you' have in the house. After a few weeks the jam,win be dry enough to be taken out of the dishes and put in the pantry (edgewise against the waH),' where it will, further dry, and after a while it will be covered with white powder like sugar. This jam has the consistency and can be handled like a cheese; if kept dry it keeps two years or more. When it is required- for yam as we use our jam here, cut it in very thin slices, put it into a saucepan and it will dissolve over the here is your jam ready for use as soon, as cpld. No sugar needed; there -is sufficient sugar, in the concentrated fruit. This is a process not known to the writer, but, if successful, would bq very economical, and as the peasantry on the; continent of Europa are noted for their thrift, it is to he hoped that -some or our readers will make the experiment and inform us of the results.” In this regard, it is probable that Mr. Rodda, manager Government Experimental Farm, at'Ariiitaki, will exhibit j some of these jam .moulds at - the -forth-1 /coming A. and P- Society’s untunin' show. . ■ ' _ .- | BOTTLING FRUIT. I PREVENTION OF BOTULISM. j Regarding the bottling.of fruit with-* out sugar-syrup, but with water only, a -writer in the Christchurjch Press points l out that in order to render the con*; tainer free from deleterious germs, it was necessary to heat the bottle for one hour, while another correspondent said this was not - sufficient, 1 but that we must alternately heat the. bottle and let I it cool for several- successive' -days, ii;, order to permit the latent spores to develop into active germs. ... / These ‘‘spores” and chemical products, or toxins, produced by the action of the developed germs cm the fruit,; in the air light container, are causing anxiety to many hoUsewivqs t 'Brho-have-become charry of bottling with water. “It must be noted,” says Mrs. .Pairman, President of the Women’s Pro; gressive Club, in a paper read by her 1 in Christchurch _ recently, -that the toxins produced in the, air-tight bottle* are what injures or kills the man ’ orwoman who imbibes -them.' But the most practical point to us'as consumers is the fact that ail the prisonous, qualities of these toxins are eliminated by' , simply boiling the fruit for five minutes' after' opening ah infected container. Never make a fruit salad Of water-: bottled fruit, however well you have j cooked the fiuit or sterilised the container. Above all, never taste, the fruit to determine whether it. has fermented —before you have boiled-it for five minutes —for the least taste of it may prove fatal. With this ; ouo precaution you can eat the fruit with" impunity: This law does not apply to animal food? be it fish,’ fowl, or flesh of any kind, but only to , fruit and vegetables.., I 'am indebted for these scientific facts—which accord with my experience—to G. S, Spooner, of Stanford -University, U.S.A., who writes on the subject ;in the journal of the American .Medical Association, January 11th, 1919;” i