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The most profitable market for canned foods are tea rooms, hotels, gift shops, boarding schools, college dining halls, hospitals and other large institutions that buy in bulk and save you the cost of packing in small containers. If you live on a main automobile road, hang out an attractive sign announcing your wares. Women's exchanges, grocery and delicatessen stores, friends, relatives, and neighbors will be interested in your preserves when packed in smaller jars, glasses, or other containers. Also exhibit at fairs, festivals, etc.

Nearly every housewife who has fruits and vegetables available for canning knows the various methods of doing it and has her own favorite recipes. However, it is best for the ambitious canner to acquaint herself with the application of scientific principles in home canning of fruits and vegetables. With that knowledge not only will she be able to make the most out of her business but she can become an expert and do canning for her neighbors who are willing to pay for such services.

With the return of the bartering system as a result of the prevailing economic depression, the woman who can make a success of canning fruits and vegetables can barter her products for almost every necessity in life.

The following is a list of products that the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends for canning: cherry, peach, pear, plum, quince, strawberry, watermelon, apricot, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, gooseberries, loganberries, cranberry, strawberry and rhubarb, orange and lemon, grape, green tomato, figs, currants, tomato juice, pickled beets, ripe pimentos, asparagus, string beans, lima beans, baby beets, corn, mushrooms, okra, green peas, pumpkin, squash, sweet potatoes, apple, crabapples, dewberries, elderberries, mulberries, gingered pears, strawberry sun preserves, peach tart variety, plum tart variety, and a number of other combinations.

GENERAL RULES FOR OVEN CANNING—Select sound, fresh products.

Clean products well before canning.
Clean jars and rubbers thoroughly.
Light oven and set regulator at 275 degrees Fahrenheit, or use an oven thermometer.
Pack product into jar to allow for proper heat circulation.
Add boiling syrup for fruits to within one inch of top of jar.
Partly seal jar and place on new jar ring, as for other methods of canning.
Place jar in oven, on rack about 2 inches apart, to allow for heat circulation.
Place "drip pan" below lower rack to catch any overflow.
Do not place water in "drip pan." When using jars of different sizes place quart jars on rack below pint and half-pint jars.
Process length of time and temperature specified by the regular standards (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 1471).
Remove jars from even at end of processing time.
Complete the seal. Test for leaks by inverting the jar for one or two minutes only. Allow jars to cool in upright position.
Store jars in clean, well ventilated, cool, dry places.

EASY WAY TO CAN FRUIT—A new easy way to can fruit has been worked out by the School of Home Economics of Cornell University. To each pound of prepared fruit add one-fourth of a pound of sugar. Mash fruit and sugar together until each berry or piece of fruit is thoroughly crushed. Cover and set aside in a cool place for twenty-four hours. Stir occasionally to distribute the sugar. Then fill clean, cold jars with the mixture and seal. The fruit will have a fresh fruit flavor and will be delicious for puddings or sauces and shortcakes all winter.

TECHNIQUE OF CANNING—Canning is a method of using heat and air-tight containers to preserve food as nearly as possible in the condition in which it would be served when freshly cooked. It is a desirable and economical method of preserving many foods, by means of which their use is distributed over seasons and in places where they are not available fresh. Canned foods thus add variety and make possible a better balanced diet at all seasons, the value of which to health cannot be measured in dollars and cents.

CAUSES OF FOOD SPOILAGE—Successful canning is based on an understanding of the two following important causes for the rapid spoilage of fresh foods and on a knowledge of the methods by which this spoilage may be prevented.

First there are present in all fresh fruits and vegetables substances called "enzymes." These enzymes bring about the normal ripening of fruits and vegetables, and unless checked the final decay of the product. Since heating is an essential step in canning and these enzymes are easily destroyed by heat, it is only necessary to avoid the changes they may bring about in the food between the time it is gathered and the time it is cooked. This is one reason for the emphasis upon canning fruits and vegetables as soon as possible after they have been gathered.

The second and more important cause of food spoilage is the action of three groups of minute organisms which are present in the air, soil, water, and in fact, on everything. They are bacteria, yeasts, and molds. Yeasts and molds are easier to kill than bacteria and do not cause much difficulty in canning. Many types of bacteria go through a spore phase in their life cycle, a form in which they are very difficult to kill. For this reason bacteria are the chief dangers to be considered in canning. If all micro-organisms are killed and the product is sealed steaming hot within a sterile airtight container, the food is said to be sterilized. The application of heat to foods during canning in order to kill bacteria is called processing.

When unheated air comes in contact with food it spoils, not because of the air, but because of the bacteria, yeasts and molds it contains. Therefore it is not enough just to destroy the microorganisms, but after processing, the food must be protected from the air by a hermetical seal to be successfully canned.

In killing bacteria by heat in canning, both the degree of temperature and the length of time it is applied must be considered. A very high temperature may produce a sterile product that will keep well, but this may be at too great a sacrifice of flavor and texture. Therefore the temperature applied should ordinarily be the lowest necessary to accomplish the desired result, varying with the kinds of bacteria and with the acidity and other conditions of the juice.

Among some of the other considerations are types of steamers and ovens to be used, the types of containers such as cans, jars, glasses, the methods of canning, the steps to be taken, the selecting and the preparing of the materials, the packing of the materials in containers, the many steps in the processing, the checking up of results, etc.