PROCESSES OF CANNING.

Colonist, Volume LVII, Issue 14155, 18 April 1916, Page 3

PROCESSES OF CANNING.

The public does not realise how sim pie the process,of canning is, according to Mr J£. .V. Stockham, Perryman Maryland, in "Produce. Markets' lie view." They have a vague idea thai the- foods asre preserved by some hidden process—possibly by a chemical cony pound—and very frequently they havt an idea that uuwhoJesomoness is ir some way connected with canned i'ood.s, Nothing could be more wrong. Take tomatoes, for example. How easy it is to pack them. The fruit is first Avsishecl, end tho a scalded, to loosen the skins. The skins and cores are .then removed and ihe fruit placed in tho cans cold. The tops of the cans are then put on by machinery. We now have a can containing uncooked cold tomatoes and perfectly ror-tight. These cans are now placed in iron cages and lowered into vats of boiling water, it hero they remain for about -10 minutes. The cans are boiled and the fruit is cooked in-the can. The- cans are now taken out, cooled, labelled, and shipped. ; The reason the contents do not spoil is because the 40 minutes' cooking has destroyed all the germ life in the can, and, since.it is hermetically tight the contents will keep indefinitely,' because they are absolutely sterilised, and by tho simple and inexpensive use of heat. While the food value of canned tomatoes is not so high as canned peas a.nd corn, ti ere are other.qualities that tomatoes j-ossoss which mako the invaluable as a balance ration to supply needed 'vegetable juices to the human system. In olden tin.es, before the days of canned foods, F.iiiuig ships going to sea for months at a time avere compelled to feed the sailors on salt meat and dried feeds, etc. Owing to this restricted diet, scurvy was a common disease among the sailors. Had canned tomatoes been obtainable in those days til ere would have been no suffering from that dreaded disease. Corr and peas are now earned almost without being touched, by the human limkl. In the case of coin, the husks are removed by machinery, and the ears of tho corn are then fed into machines which cut the grains from the cob. The corn is then automatically treated with a syrup of clear water and salt and sugar to prevent its becoming too dry in the- can. The cans are*'all-ad automatically, the tops sealed on, and they are theu packed in retorts, where they ero subjected to a heat greater than that of boiling water. Sterilisation is thus accomplished, at.d the contents will keep for many yoairs, as good as when first put in the oan. Peas are packed in a- similar manner. E\en the pk-kin<r of peas by hand,in the field has been abolished, and nowadays the'hulling-is always done by machinery. First, the farmer sows tho pea secd,likewheat When the crop j,s ready it is mowed by mowing machines and carried, a iues and all, on hay waggons to the factory. Here the vines and pods are fed into a machine, termed a "viner. i Tlie vines are discharged oa one side, and taken away by the farmer for hay, while the peas are separated by sieves (into three *or four grades, according to size, neatly treated to salt and water, and filled into cams. The tops are now. seoled on and . they are cooked until sterilisation is complete-. j The public is beginning to realise now j pure and safe canned foods are. As^a i matter of economy they should bebought by the dozen, or by the case, • especially when they can be ttad at a j low figure. . . i