Peas—Should always be freshly gathered, shell and steam over boiling water for ten minutes, blanch and pack at once into cans, adding one teaspoon of salt and one of sugar to each quart. Put rubber and cap in position, but do not tighten. Place in container and sterilize 180 minutes. Peas should be very carefully handled. A cloudy appearance of the water is an indication of rough handling or broken peas.
Tomatoes—Scald until skin loosens sufficiently to remove easily, cold dip, empty the seed cavities and cut in small pieces. Pack at once in cans, pressing the tomato down full. Add one teaspoonful of salt to the quart but no water. Place rubber and cap and put in container and cook 22 minutes. Remove, reverse to cool and test seal. Tomatoes cooked in the open-pan method so long customary are so satisfactory that it is scarcely worth while to change the method, unless one finds the cold-pack way more convenient and agreeable. If preferred tomatoes may be canned whole or simply cut in two and the seed cavities emptied. Smaller or broken tomatoes may be cooked and passed through a sieve to remove the seeds and the purée thus formed used to fill in between the slices in the can; this makes a very fine product.
It is not advisable to can vegetables that can be stored successfully in cellar or store rooms; such products should not deplete the already scanty store of cans; but in the case of people living in flats or apartments where there are no storage facilities squash and pumpkins for pies may be utilized in this way to advantage.
Squash and Pumpkins—Prepare and cut into convenient sections, blanch three minutes, cold dip. Pack closely in hot jars or cans. Fill with boiling water, add teaspoonful of salt to each quart. Put rubbers and caps of jars into position but do not tighten. Put in container and sterilize 120 minutes. Remove, tighten caps and reverse to cool and test seal.[4]
Soups—Odds and ends of vegetables that occur during the summer may be utilized for vegetable soups. It often happens that tomatoes are picked by the chickens so that they are unsalable, but otherwise sound, or they may be spotted in a way that does not preclude the use of the uninjured portion; such tomatoes may be used for canning if the injured portion is carefully removed. Okra that is getting too large to be left ungathered, a few string or lima beans, carrots that are crowded—anything in the vegetable line that lends itself to the concoction of a palatable soup may be utilized and so make the garden just that much more remunerative. If possible the amount of tomato should nearly or quite equal that of the other vegetables combined. The tomatoes should be scalded, cold dipped, the seed cavities emptied and the pulp cooked until it will pass through a wire sieve to free it from the seeds. The other vegetables should be blanched, plunged into cold water and put through the meat chopper and added to the tomato and the cans filled, but no water added, the juice of the vegetables, and especially of the tomato, being sufficient. The following combination makes an excellent soup: When the cans are opened for use in winter beef stock to give the proper consistency should be added, or one bouillon cube to each portion to be served and sufficient water may be substituted or a cream soup may be prepared by using milk and adding rolled crackers.
Vegetable Soup—½ bushel tomatoes, three stalks of celery or one teaspoonful of celery seed, one head cabbage, six carrots, three turnips, six ears corn cut down through each row of kernels and the kernels sliced off the ear, ½ peck string beans, two quarts shelled lima beans, one dozen onions, three red peppers, six salsify roots, one pint of okra pods (sliced) one cup salt, one tablespoon black pepper.
Prepare tomatoes as suggested above, cut all the other vegetables fine and add to the tomatoes. Separate into two parts. To one part add one cup of rice, cooked till tender, to the remainder an equal amount of cooked barley. Fill in cans and process two hours. Soups can scarcely be cooked too much, as unless the vegetables are thoroughly softened the product is unsatisfactory. The cabbage and turnips may be omitted if their flavor is not liked.
The government bulletins give a number of formulas for soups and camp rations which are worth considering when conserving one's garden supplies, if one already has cans and tops. (The pint cans are best as the soup is in solid form and a pint is sufficient for a family, when reduced with broth, water or milk.) The cost of the soup per can will not exceed two or three cents as against ten for the much smaller cans purchased at the grocery.
Sweet Corn Dried—As corn is more trouble to can than any of the other vegetables and more uncertain in its results, many housekeepers prefer to dry it, and a way that is very highly recommended is as follows: The corn is gathered when still in the milk stage, somewhat younger than for canning. It is necessary for two to handle the product as it must all be finished in one operation—that is, it is a one-day job, and a rather strenuous and busy one, too. As in canning, the corn is blanched, plunged in cold water, the grains scored through the center and sliced from the cob, care being given that no part of the cob is included. It is then placed on plates or tins with a small amount of butter or butter substitute added—just enough to prevent the corn sticking to the plates—and placed in the oven and on top of the stove to dry. It must be stirred almost continuously to prevent burning or sticking. Only as much corn must be prepared at one time as can be accommodated on the stove or in the oven and one person must prepare and cut the corn while the other stirs and dries it. The dry corn is then stored in paper bags or paper cartons until wanted, and is said to be a very delicious product, much better liked than canned corn.