tions. Products dried in a sun drier
are superior to those dried in the open without any protection.
Products dry more quickly in high altitudes than at sea level.

CHAPTER XV

EVERY STEP IN BRINING

We have learned how to preserve fruit and vegetables by canning and
drying and now we are going to learn another method to preserve foods,
in which salt is used. We use this salt method for vegetables. It is
not adapted to fruits. We may pickle apples, pears and peaches, but we
ferment, brine and dry-salt only vegetables.

This salt method is not a substitute for drying or canning, but just
an additional method we may employ. Every thrifty housewife of to-day
wants her shelves of canned foods, her boxes of dried foods and her
crocks of salted foods. Each kind has its proper function to perform
in the household. One cannot take the place of the other.

For women on the farm salting is a salvation. In busy seasons when
canning and drying seem an impossibility, a great many vegetables can
be saved by this method in a very short time. The labor required is
very small, as no cooking is necessary. A good supply of salt is the
one necessity.

Besides the saving of time, salting saves jars, which are absolutely
necessary in canning. Old containers can be used if they are
thoroughly cleansed. The vegetables can be put in any container, so
long as it holds water and is not made of metal. Metal containers
should not be used. Old kegs, butter and lard tubs if water-tight,
stoneware jars or crocks, chipped preserve jars, glass jars with
missing covers and covered enamel buckets can all be utilized. Avoid
using tubs made of pitch or soft pine unless coated with melted
paraffin, as they impart a flavor to the vegetables. Maple is the
best.

THREE METHODS OF SALTING FOOD

There are three ways of preserving food by salting: First,
fermentation with dry salting; second, fermentation in brine or
brining; and third, salting without fermentation, or dry salting.

Dry Salting. Fermentation with dry salting consists in packing the
material with a small amount of salt. No water is used, for the salt
will extract the water from the vegetables and this forms a brine.
This is the simplest process of all three and is used mostly for
cabbage. To make sauerkraut proceed as follows: The outside green
leaves of the cabbage should be removed, just as in preparing the head
for boiling. Never use any decayed or bruised leaves. Quarter t