Afro American Courier

Canning a Valuable Asset to Humanity

By
HENRINE WOODS, A. B.,
Tougaloo College.

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 used when freshly cooked. It is a desirable and economical method of many foods, by means of which their use is over seasons and in places where they are not fresh. Canned food thus adds variety and makes a better-balanced diet at all seasons, the value to health cannot be measured in dollars and cents.

What housewife does not appreciate the wonderful convenience and value of canned foods! Scarcely a meal is prepared but what some part of it consists of a canned food product, used either alone or in combination with others.

How gratifying it is to be able to draw from the store-room a can of luscious fruit for a mid-winter dessert! Or to open a can of sweet corn "on the cob," months after the last "roasting ears" have disappeared! Or to produce a delicious roast on a few minutes notice, for the unexpected guest.

Only the housewife who has been forced to carry her family through a period of unchanging menus can realize what a relief it is to be able to have constantly at her relief a bountiful supply of fruits, vegetables, meats, preserves and similar goodies, to tempt tired appetites.

The extent to which canned food products enter into the food supply of the nation is truly remarkable. Millions of pounds of foods of all kinds have been distributed to the needy the past three years which have saved millions of people from starving. The gathering, preparation, canning and distribution of food products involve many large establishments, multitudes of workers, and the expenditure of many millions of dollars.