OPENING CANNED FRUIT.—­Canned fruit is best opened a short time before needed, that is may be will aerated; and if it has been canned without sugar, it should have the necessary quantity added, so that it may be well dissolved before using.

Fruit purchased in tin cans should be selected with the utmost care, since unscrupulous dealers sometimes use cans which render the fruit wholly—­unfit for food.

The following rules which we quote from a popular scientific journal should be ’carefully observed in selecting canned fruit:—­

“Reject every can that does not have the name of the manufacturer or firm upon it, as well as the name of the company and the town where manufactured.  All ‘Standards’ have this.  When the wholesale dealer is ashamed to have his name on the goods, be shy of him.

“Reject every article of canned goods which does not show the line of resin around the edge of the solder of the cap, the same as is seen on the seam at the side of the can.

“Press up the bottom of the can; if decomposition is beginning, the tin will rattle the same as the bottom of your sewing-machine oil can does.  If the goods are sound, it will be solid, and there will be no rattle to the tin.

“Reject every can that show any rust around the cap on the inside of the head of the can.  Old and battered cans should be rejected; as, if they have been used several times, the contents are liable to contain small amounts of tin or lead”

RECIPES.

TO CAN STRAWBERRIES.—­These are generally considered more difficult to can than most other berries.  Use none but sound fruit, and put up the day they are picked, if possible.  Heat the fruit slowly to the boiling point, and cook fifteen minutes or longer, adding the sugar hot, if any be used, after the fruit is boiling.  Strawberries, while cooking, have a tendency to rise to the top, and unless they are kept poshed down, will not be cooked uniformly, which is doubtless one reason they sometimes fail to keep well.  The froth should also be kept skimmed off.  Fill the cans as directed on page 197, taking special care to let out every air bubble, and to remove every particle of froth from the top of the can before sealing.  If the berries are of good size, the may be cooked in the cans, adding a boiling syrup prepared with one cup of water and one of sugar for each quart can of fruit.

If after the cans are cold, the fruit rises to the top, as it frequently does, take the cans and gently shake until the fruit is well saturated with the juice and falls by its own weight to the bottom, or low enough to be entirely covered with the liquid.