Important: Safety Warning
This page describes home-canning methods from before the causes of botulism were understood. Canning low-acid foods without a pressure canner, as described here, can allow the growth of Clostridium botulinum, whose toxin is among the deadliest known. Follow current USDA home-canning guidelines instead.
In addition, this page gives advice for salvaging or disguising food that has begun to spoil. Spoiled food can carry dangerous bacteria and toxins that no washing, soaking, or seasoning removes; it should be discarded.
This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon.
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To Keep Fruit Fresh
After they have been allowed to lay on the shelves in the fruit-room, and sweat, they should be wiped dry, and packed in boxes with dry sawdust enough to exclude the air from them. Sometimes a thick leathery mould forms on The saw-dust from resinous woods should not the top-if so, all the better. The plan of be used. If they were packed in dry sand, keeping the jars full of hot water is merely to prevent the danger of cracking when the hot fruit is inserted. Some prefer to set the bottles full of cool water in a boiler of water and they would keep equally, and perhaps better; but the objection is that it is very difficult to clean them from sand, and therefore they always cat gritty when so kept. heating all together gradually; but the other 1643. Preservation of Fruit in Glyway is much simpler and equally effective. cerine. Glycerine of purest quality bas 1639. To Can Peaches by the Cold been recommended for the preservation f Process. Pare and halve the peaches. fruits; previous to eating which, the glycerine Pack them as closely as possible in a can should be removed by immersing the fruit in without any sugar. When the can is full, water. pour in sufficient pure cold water to fill all 1644. To Restore and Improve Musthe interstices between the peaches, and reach ty Flour. Carbonate of magnesia, 3 part; the brim of the can. Let it stand long enough flour, 760 parts. Mix and use the flour in the for the water to soak into all the crevices- usual way. This will not only greatly imsay six hours-then pour in water to replace prove bad flour, but the bread will be much what has sunk away.
Seal up the can, and all is done. Canned in this way, peaches retain all their freshness and flavor. There will not be enough water in them to render them insipid. If preferred, a cold syrup could be used instead of pure water, but the peaches taste most natural without any sweetening. parts with absorbent paper, wrap up the lighter, more wholesome, and keep longer than when alum is used.