Cooking preserves in tin cans in a water bath

If preserves in bottles present a few slight drawbacks, there are some that cannot be prepared in tin cans without disadvantage: these are those of acid fruit juices, and particularly of red fruits. These fruits themselves, such as strawberries, cherries, raspberries, plums, etc., lose their colour, or rather it alters or is spoiled by contact with the metal; not that their goodness is thereby diminished, but since one has a choice for satisfying both the eye and the taste at once, it is well to take these remarks into consideration when the means allow it.

The tin cans, filled with the food to be preserved and well soldered, are first put to the test before being set to cook. This test consists of plunging the can into a saucepan of boiling water, keeping it immersed for half a minute with a skimmer: if bubbles of air appear at the seam, it means that the soldering is faulty or insufficient; if, on the other hand, nothing abnormal appears, the operation may be judged perfect.

All the cans are then set together in a cauldron or any other vessel and, covered with cold water, this is brought to the boil. There remains only to observe the necessary cooking time, which will be given for each item. As cans holding a litre are generally the most convenient to use, it is of these that the recipes to follow will speak.