"Perhaps if we could penetrate Nature's secrets we should find that what we call weeds are more essential to the well-being of the world than the most precious fruit or grain."—Hawthorne.
The simplest methods of cooking and serving vegetables are generally the best. The most common method of cooking them is in boiling water. All green vegetables, bulbs and tubers should be crisp and firm when put on to cook, and should, of course, be thoroughly cleaned before being cooked.
Almost all vegetables may be served in the form of salad. Our most common green salad plant is lettuce; celery is next, but endive, chicory and dandelion, with many others, may be used to advantage in this way, and furnish pleasing variety to the menu.
Nearly all vegetables are good canned, and if care is taken in preparing and canning, it is possible to have fresh-tasting fruits and vegetables through all seasons.
Thorough sterilization is necessary in canning or preserving. In the first place, use good jars. Glass jars will be found the most satisfactory. Those with glass top and rubber ring held in place by a wire spring are the cheapest in the long run, although the initial expense may be somewhat high. Never use defective rubbers, as vegetables often spoil after being sterilized, because of bad rubbers.
A clothes boiler makes a good container to use in sterilizing. A false bottom made of wire netting cut to fit or strips of wood may be used, as the jars will break if set flat on the bottom of the boiler.
Select vegetables that have not begun to harden or decay. Always can as soon as possible after gathering. Some vegetables are best cooked before putting in jars; among these are beets, pumpkins and turnips, but most of them may be packed while raw in jars and cooked as follows:
Pack jar full, adding salt as desired, fill with cold water to the top of the jar. Put the rubber on the jar and place the glass top on, but do not press down the spring at the side of the jar. Put as many jars in the boiler as it will hold without crowding. Pour into the boiler enough water (cold) to prevent it from going dry during the boiling. Put the cover on the boiler and bring the water to a boil and keep it boiling for an hour. (Hour and a half for half-gallon jars.) At the end of this time remove the boiler cover, and let the steam escape. Press down the spring on each jar, which clamps on the top, and no outside air can enter.
On the next day raise the spring at the side of the jar and boil as on the first day, clamping on the top as before at the end of operation. Repeat this on the third day. All meats, fruits and vegetables are sterilized on this principle.
Never subject jars to a draft of cold air when removing them from the boiler, as this will be likely to crack them. If, after sterilization seems complete, any jars spoil, increase the time of boiling.