PRESERVING FOOD

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 81, 17 March 1934, Page 10

PRESERVING FOOD

BOTTLING DEMONSTRATION. Shining bottles containing golden peaches, luscious cape gooseberries, smooth white pears, colourful sticks of rhubarb, bright red tomatoes, green beans, and many other palatable preserves were seen on exhibition at the Technical College, Auckland, when another of the popular lecture-demonstra-tions i n connection with the Auckland Home Economics Association was held. The president, Mis B. Carnachan, presided. On this occcasion Mrs Mann was the demonstrator and began her address by saying that it wasi a mistake to imagine that bottling and preserving was a complicated and expensive process. All that was required, after the initial cost of the jars, was to be found in every kitchen, and then it was a matter of care and close attention to detail. It was imperative, for one thing, that in sealing the jar it should be made absolutely airtight. Mrs Mann stressed the importance of arranging the food nicely in the bottles. Attention to this point made the result more attractive and therefore more palatable. Bottling, said the demonstrator, was one of the most desirable means of preserving fruits and vegetables, for it preserved these foods in a condition more nearly like that of the freshly cooked product than was the case with jam. There was also the further advantage that when the bottling was done the product was practically ready to serve. The reason why we preserved foods was to make ourselves healthier anrt better nourished; to provide a pleasing variety of succulent, tender young fruits and vegetables throughout the winter, instead of having them during the few days or weeks when they were in full season; and to save food which otherwise would go to waste. The chief fault to be found with many New Zealand dietaries was that they contained too large a proportion of manufactured foods, such as white flour and cornflour, sugar and dripping, cakes and sweets. Bottled fruits and vegetables would help to supply more organic acids, mineral salts, and to a certain extent vitamins. It had frequently been urged that the heat of bottling destroyed vitamins. Recent investigations, however, indicated that this was by no means invariably true, or if it occurred, might be only partial. So far as was known at present the value of bottled fruits and vegetables as sources of much-neded valuable food materials, was approximately equal to that of freshly cooked fruits and vegetables. ‘ The lecturer dealt mainly with the cold pack method of bottling. This method was so called because the uncooked or partly cooked fruit, vegetable, or other food was packed jn ,a jar, the food covered with some liquid such as water, syrup or juice, and both the jar and its contents were heated (simultaneously by boiling water or steam. This method could be used for most fruits and all vegetables. It was recommended for meats, because it conserved the flavour better than did the open kettle method which was so called because the food to be preserved was completely cooked in a saucepan and then poured into the jar Mrs Mann prepared several bottles of fruits an 1 vegetables, set them in the oven and later, after they were taken out, completed the process so that the audience were able to follow the whole ; icess.