How We Cook in Tennessee

Never use inferior fruits for canning or pre-serving.

The secret of success is to have your jars brimful and perfectly air-tight.

Roll your jars in hot water, and set them in a pan of hot water, convenient to the boiling fruit; heat the tops.

Replace old rubbers with new ones every year.

Black rubbers are the best.

After filling the hot jars with the hot fruit, screw the tops on, and for a day or two occasionally examine and screw them on tighter as the fruit shrinks, and the glass contracts.

It is very important to take a silver knife and run down in the jar, at the sides, to expel the air bubbles, just before sealing.

Proportions of sugar and water required in the syrups of the different fruits: Pineapple, one pound sugar, one pint water. Peaches, half pound sugar, one pint water. Quinces, half pound sugar, one pint water. Pears, half pound sugar, one pint water. Blueberries, half pound sugar, one pint water. Sour plums, three-quarters pound sugar, one pint water. Sweet plums, half pound sugar, one pint water. Cherries, half pound sugar, one pint water. Red raspberries, half pound sugar, one pint water. Blackberries, half pound sugar, one pint water. Strawberries, one pound sugar, one pint water. These quantities give you well-sweetened fruit with a rich syrup.

Stem them, wash, and seed them, allow half pound of sugar to each pound of fruit. They make their own juice. Boil a few minutes and can, observing the same rules as in canning other fruit.