Victoria University College

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 44, 22 February 1936, Page 14

Victoria University College

S—ARAH ANNE RHODES FELLOWSHIP IN HOME SCIENCE. S.A.E. ARTICLE. The Hot and Cold Pack Methods of Bottling. Last ■week we discussed tho “Open Kettle’ method of bottling, and concluded that though it is satisfactory for fruits and pickles, it is not a safe method for vegetables or meats. The alternative method of bottling is to put the food, raw or half cooked, into the jars which must be clean but not necessarily sterile, and then to sterilise everything—jars, rubbers, lids, and their contents —all at the same timo in a steamer, water-bath or oven. This is the most reliable method of the two, and gives more perfect results. The choice of method will largely be determined by the equipment available. Usually the practical cook does some fruit bottling in each way. The produce in the lirst case, from the open kettle method, is often less perfect in shape and texture, but the jars are usually more tightly and better packed, as one can fill them with fruit and just the minimum of syrup, if one strains the fruit to a certain extent leaving behind in the pan some of tho syrup in which they were cooked. This syrup can be saved in a bowl or jug and with more sugar added can bo reheated ando used again with mohe fruit. In this way one can economise in bottles and sugar and get a larger quantity of bottled fruit suitable for all ordinary purposes. For special occasions and purposes the pack method gives tho better results as it gives an unbroken perfect product, and as mentioned before it is the only safe way to bottle non-acid vegetables and meat. Before preparing the fruit, it is as weil to make sure that all apparatus, such as steamers, water-baths, knives, preserving pans, etc., are in good order and that there is a good stock of new jar rings and sound jars and lids. To test the soundness of tho jars half fill the jars wdth water, screw on the rubber and lid as tightly as possible, and invert the jar. This precaution saves much wasto time in re-sterilising bottles that have been found to leak after cooking, and waste of material in which tho leak has not been detected until tho food has “gone.” Syrup: If fruit is what is to bo bottled, the next thing to do is to prepare the syrup. If the foods ar’o acid a strong syrux> will not be required to help them to keep, and since our aim is to preserve the natural flavour, w-e use as dilute a syrup as is possible in tho circumstances. The syrup is made by boiling sugar and water together from 8 to 10 minutes in tho proportions of one part of sugar to 3,2, or 1 of water, depending whether we require the syrup to be thin, medium or heavy. Selection and preparation of fruit: While the syrup is heating, we prepare the fruit. Tho greater its freshness and tho more unbroken and free from mould. contamination it is, the more certainty one has of success. For bottling we like to use rix>o but firm fruit, and our first step is to w'ipc, _ peel, blanch, or in other ways prepare it for packing into the jars. Blanching consists of lowering small quantities of the food in a piece of butter-muslin into a saucepan of boiling water, or in holding it in live steam for a few moments. The heating loosens the skins of the fruits such as peaches and tomatoes, and if they are at once plunged into cold -water, the cooking will be stopped and the fruit made cool enough for one to handle, and so one is able to peel off the skis with the greatest ease and rapidity. Blanching in steam is the usual way of wilting spunach and other greens, so that a close and economical pack may be obtained. The well washed leaves are put into butter-muslin or into a colander and held so that tho steam will pass through them. They are then packed while still hot, into the jars and the brine added boiling hot. If wo arc not using the open kettle method but the cold or hot pack, wo next pack the food raw, or half-cooked, into our clean and tested, but not necessarily sterilised jars, always remembering to have a jar at a suitable temperature, as we cannot put hot material into cold jars, or vice versa, without running the risk of cracking t enu Next we add the hot syrup or water. There is usually no great risk of cracking, even if the syrup is added boiling hot, provided it is poured slowly over the cold or warm fruit, and provide the jar is not standing on a damp nonconducting material, such as a cloth or wood. The advantage of adding the liquid hot is of course that it takes much less time and fuel to heat the jar through when it is already hot than it would take to heat it up if full of cold fruit and syrup. But how are we going to cook the the jars, covered with the appropriate > materials which we have now got in liquid? With screw top jars the lids are screwed on tightly, and given a hall turn back, so that any enclosed air which always expands on heating, may escape easily and not burst the jars. II the food is boiling hot and filled tc the brim we may seal completely. Othei jars are clamped shut. Processing may be done in four ways —using a water-bath, steamer, cooking in the oven or in a pressure cooker. The simplest and most popular method is tc use a hot-water-bath. This may be £ cut down benzine tin, .the -washing cop per, or any vessel deep enough to hole the jars and to allow one or two inchei i of water above them. Jt should havi

a rack at the bottom to keep the jars from touching and bumping on the hot metal. When the jars are put into the water it must be at the same temperature as tho jars and their contents or the glass will crack, and then the heating should bo gradual until boiling point is reached. The length of time tho fruit is to be cooked varies w-ith its ripeness and size. A strong fishslice may be used to lift the jars out of the container if no x>roper jar-lifter is available. The lids are at once screwed as tightly as possible and tho hot jars up-ended and set away to cool in a place free from draughts. Time-Table for Bottling. Time for actual processing after blanching, etc.: Apples 20-30 minutes, apricots 20-30,berries 10-20, peaches 20-30, pears 20-30, plums 20-30, rhubarb 20-30, tomatoes 20-30.