“Keep! they sp’iled in a week! ’Twas no more’n I expected and deserved for meddling with such a humbug.”
“Perhaps you did not follow the directions closely?”
“Indeed I did! I cooked the tormented things, and seasoned ’em with butter and salt, all ready for the table, and screwed the tops down tight. But, in course, they sp’iled!”
“Were you careful to put them into the cans boiling hot?”
“’Twould have cracked the glass! I let ’em get nice and cold first. I didn’t suppose it made any difference about such a trifle as that!”
Poor old lady! I think of her and her mighty temptation of Providence whenever I can tomatoes, for heat does make a difference—all the difference in the world in this sort of work.
Pour boiling water over the tomatoes to loosen the skins. Remove these; drain off all the juice that will come away without pressing hard; put them into a kettle and heat slowly to a boil. Your tomatoes will look much nicer if you remove all the hard parts before putting them on the fire, and rub the pulp soft with your hands. Boil ten minutes, dip out the surplus liquid, pour the tomatoes, boiling hot, into the cans, and seal. Keep in a cool, dark place.
Canned Tomatoes and Corn. ✠
Boil the corn on the cob, when it is in nice order for roasting, twenty minutes over a good fire, and cut off while hot. Have your tomatoes skinned and rubbed to a smooth pulp. Put in two measures of them for every one of the cut corn; salt as for the table, stirring it well in, and bring to a hard boil. Then, can quickly, and as soon as they are cold set away in a cool, dark place.