—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, July 26,1580
110
Ladies
Have You
Heard?
By Doris Thomas
Lancaster Extension
Home Economist
HOLD THE SUGAR
If you plan to can fruits
this year, try doing it without
sugar. Concern about
overweight, tooth decay, and
the price of sugar has many
consumers looking for ways
to cut down on sugar. Using
a juice pack or water pack in
canning fruits can help you
solve this dilemma. Let me
caution you that fruits
canned without sugar will
not have as firm a texture
or as bright a color as fruits
canned in sugar syrup, but
you can get a highly
satisfactory product.
Regardless of which liquid
you use, it is important that
your fruit be properly
processed using a boiling
water canner for the ap
propriate time for the
specific fruit. All fruit must
be processed. Open kettle
canning is no longer
recommended. Refer to
modem canning instructions
for timing.
If you want to try the juice
pack, you can use frozen ap
ple juice concentrate or bot
tled white grape juice as
part of the canning liquid for
fruit. Dilute the juices with
extra water. For example,
reconstitute the frozen juice
according to directions. If
this gives you one quart of
juice, add an equal extra
amount of water You will
find this diluted juice flavor
most compatible with fruit.
Full strength juice flavors
may overpower the natural
flavor of the fruit
Some suggested com
binations are apple juice
with peaches, white or red
sweet cherries, pears, or
apricots, pineapple juice
with pears, or white grape
juice with pears, peaches or
apricots
Research has shown that it
is best to use the hot pack
method of filling your jars
This results m less floating
fruit Bring the juice to a boil
in a kettle, add your fruit and
heat through This drives air
from the tissue of the fruit,
and allows you to get more
fruit in a jar
If you pack raw fruit into
jars and fill them with
boiling juice, the air will be
driven out during the
processing time in the
canner This increases the
probability of juice loss and
trapping tiny particles of
fruit between the jar and lid
as well as contributing to
seal failures at a later date
Also, the fruit will be more
likely to float in excess juice
m the jar However, raw
pack seems to work best for
canning chemes with pits
Use a modern processing
schedule to determine
processing time for each
fruit
If you opt for the water
pack, simply follow the
canning instructions for
fruit, but use only water
instead of sugar syrup or
fruit juice
You can use honey instead
of sugar in canning
However, it does have a
caloric value comparable to
sugar and is not appropriate
for diabetic diets. Select a
light, mild honey because
dark honey with pronounced
flavor will overpower the
fruit flavor. You can make a
light syrup by heating 1 cup
of sugar plus 1 cup of honey
with 4 cups of water. If you
wish you can combine 1 or 2
cups of honey with 4 cups
water.
I do not recommend ad
ding artificial sweetener to
fruit before processing. This
can result in undesirable
flavor changes. Also, some
artificial sweeteners lose
sweetening ability when
boiled. Sweetener can be
added at serving time.
PROTECT CHILDREN
FROM POISONS
All cases of poisoning are
tragic, but perhaps they
seem more so when un
suspecting children are vic
tims.
Poisoning accidents can be
prevented, but vigilance is
necessary to protect your
family from poisonous
substances
Medications of all kinds
are potentially lethal if taken
m sufficient quantities. For
toddlers, these quantities
need not be great. For
example, only half a dozen
sleeping pills may cost the
life of a child
Keep all medicines,
pesticides, and poisonous
household chemicals out of
State plowing contest gears
BY JOYCE BUPP
Staff Correspondent
DALLASTOWN - Two
southcentral Pennsylvania
men, Brad Hess of
Dallastown R 1 in York
County, and Bob Miller,
Millersburg R 1 in Dauphin
County, represented the
reach of children and
irresponsible persons -
under lock and key if at all
possible.
Keep the phone number of
your family doctor and the
nearest poison control center
near the telephone, next to
police and me ,kp. f
numbers. The few second*
saved m a poison emergency
can make the difference
between life and death.
EXERCISE IS THE
BEST MEDICINE
Exercise should be as
much „ part of your daily
living as brushing your teeth
or combing your hair. By
practicing the basics of
regular exercise and
adequate nutrition, you can
add years to your life and
make those years happier
and healthier.
There is an unfounded
belief that older persons
should avoid physical
exercise. Regular exercise is
essential to keep muscles
from becoming flabby and
weak, and to prevent those
aches and pains that ac
company sedentary life. It
keeps the joints limber and
maintains the coordinating
ability.
The psychological effect of
exercise is also important. It
invigorates and gives a
sense of well-being.
You can bowl, dance, hike,
bike, golf, even play tennis
and jog all through hie and
into the later years, as long
as your body is accustomed
to this regular exercise
for ‘Bl nationals
state m the national plowing
championship, held last
Saturday at Farmville,
Minnesota.
Winners, from Minnesota
and lowa, will compete in
the world championships
next year in the Republic of
Ireland.
Local plowing enthus
ists are gearing up to select
the 1981 representatives
from Pennsylvania, accord
ing to state plowing contest
committeeman Charles
Hess, R 1 Dallastown.
County contests are un
derway, with the state runoff
set for Saturday. in
at Hershey Estates.
Registration will open at
7:30 a.m., with practice time
allowed until the contest gets
underway at 10 a.m.
In order to be eligible for
state competition, plowmen
PA Florists
to convene
in August
LANCASTER - The
Pennsylvania Florists will
hold their annual convention
at the Treadway Resort Inn
here from Friday August 1-
Sunday August 3
Herb Mitchell will conduct
a design school on Saturday
featuring three wire service
sponsored designers
Bob Berglund, U S
Secretary of Agriculture will
speak at the president’s
banquet Saturday night
Workshops will be con
ducted on handling cut
flowers, minimizing tax
obligations, fuel costs,
pricing and other areas of
interest to floral retailers
For more information on
the convention, contact
Barbara Davis 215/678-9626
must have competed and
qualified at a county contest
level. Past triple-crown
winners, formerly ineligible
to compete, are invited
again to participate.
Contestants are expected
to supply their own equip
ment for the plowing
eliminations.
“There are three con
tests,” says Hess, a long
time plowing enthusiast and
former champion. “Large
plow category is for four
bottom and over, small is for
three-bottom plows and
under, and the contour
category. It’s open to anyone
who wants to plow.”
Plowing judges look for
straightness and cleanness
of furrow, trash coverage,
elimination of air holes that
would dry out soils,
pulverization of soil
throughout, a ridge on the
furrow to catch rams, even
ends and a narrow and
shallow finish furrow.
The Hershey state plowoff
will be held in conjunction
with a local energy fair.
Anyone interested in
further mfoimation on the
competition, should contact
Richard Pennay, A.S.C.S.,
Box 1004, Federal Building,
Harrisburg, PA, or call
717/782-7593.
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