THE STORE CUPBOARD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18345, 10 March 1923, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE STORE CUPBOARD.

"Sterilise the fruit and then keep it airtight." Misa M. Dyer, household science lecturer at King's College- for Women, London, stated recently that those two elementary principles are fche best combatants against putrefaction in bottled fruit or preserves. "If the fruit is not sufficiently sterilised in cooking it will be attacked by bacteria," Miss Dyer explained. "Then follows either fermentation or mildew and the fruit is doomed. The jars should be fastened airtight immediately after the sterilisation is done and the temperature of the storeroom kept as even and cool as possible. Unripe fruit is the best for bottling and it is quite safe to do it without sugar. Stone or core tho largo fruits and choose sound, unripe, soft fruits. Pack the fruit tightly into the bottles and fill up with water. Then sterilise. There are several methods of doing this. One of the easiest ways is in a fish kettle with water coming halfway up the outside of the jars. The water should be brought slowly to a boil. Another simple method is done by placing the bottles on slats of wood or a piece of cardboard in a moderately warm oven until the fruit is tender, adding boiling water if necessary when done. It is difficult to maintain one steady temperature in oven fruit-bottling, but tho heat should be kept as near as possible to 160deg. F. A little over that temperature will not be harmful to the preserve, which, however, should not be allowed to boil."

To avoid bottles and jars bursting and other accidents, bo careful not to havo any tops screwed down during cooking. If fruit-bottling is being done in an improvised steriliser, such as a fish-kettle or large pan, wisps of hay or straw or pieces of cloth should be placed between the jars to preevnt any breakage or cracking.

Bottling Fruit.—Small fruits bottle best in syrup, which may be made as follows:—Allow jib. of loaf or granulated sugar to each quart of water required. Put sugar and water into a pan, stir until the former has dissolved, then brine to the boil and boil for about J hour. Skim when necessary. Let the syrup become cold before pouring it over the fruit. Then sterilise in the usual way. Fruit bottled in syrup, especially strawberries, usually shrinks a good deal. In this case fill one bottle up from another, wipe the rims, and re-sterilise. Screw each bottle down tightly before removing the next from the pan.

Drying Fruit and Vegetables.— and vegetables can be dried in any warm place, such as a cooking oven in the kitchen or gas stove after the cooking has been done. The oven must be warm enough to dry but not hot enough to cook the fruit or vegetables. All you need is some drying trays. Apples and pears should be peeled and cut into rings; plums, peaches and fruits of that kind must be stoned and quartered. All the fruit should be spread out on trays and 9 xposed to the hot sun or gentle oven heat for some days till thoroughly dry and shrivelled. Then store in a dry place. Before using, soak in cold water for some hours beforehand.

Bottling Vegetables.— peas, French beans, carrots, mushrooms and tomatoes may all be bottled successfully. Peas should be fully grown but not at all old. French beans are best when half-grown. Cut off the ends, but do not slice them. Bottle the early short-horn carrots when they are not much larger than walnuts. . Choose small pinky mushrooms. Tomatoes should be small and sound, almost ripe, but not over ripe. Peas, French beans and carrots should first be boiled in boiling water with a tiny pinch of soda and a dessertspoonful of salt to one quart of water. Strain them and leave until cold. Then fill the bottles with them, putting a teaspoonful of salt in each quart bottle. Then fill them quite full with hot water in which has been dissolved a dessertspoonful of refined borax to every quart of water. Put on the covers, stand the bottles in a steriliser or boiler, and pour in enough cold water to reach almost to the tops of the bottles. Bring the water very slowly to the boil and let it boil round them for two hours. If the water has dried up at all in the bottles, fill them up with boiling water. Then make the covers quite tight. When cold, store in a cool, dry place. Tomatoes are bottled in the same way, but do not need cooking first. Mushrooms do not need cooking, but before they are bottled they should be covered with salted watera dessertspoonful of salt to a quart—and left for half an hour. Then drain and fiack in the bottles and sterilise as directed or peas. ■