I stumbled upon the 1943 Kerr Home Canning Book at a local thrift store. This is a unique piece of promotional advertising because it is promotes food as a kind of weapon for the World War II effort.
Food is no less a weapon than tanks, guns, and planes. As the power of our enemies decreases, the importance of food resources of the United Nations increases. With this thought in mind, we must further mobilize our resources for the production of food.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
This is a 56 page, full color, stapled booklet. It originally sold for $0.10. It has color photos, charts, tables, and a full index. My copy is in mint vintage condition. Pages are completely clean and clear, but are starting to yellow with age. Stapled binding is sound. There is a slight mildew smell as is common with many old pamphlets.
Kerr Glass Manufacturing Corporation was founded in 1902 by A.H. Kerr. The focus of the company was making supplies for canning in the home. They also produced many cookbooks and pamphlets related to home canning. After many ups and downs, the company sold the commercial glass container manufacturing business to Ball Corporation.
I’m going to show you a lot of pictures from this pamphlet. If you’d like more than that, check out Kerr Home Canning which has a whole host of Kerr canning recipes.
The 1943 Kerr Home Canning Book has some unusual recipes including these for English Plum Pudding, Hot Tamales, Peanut Butter, Spanish Noodles, and Tomato Mince Meat.
The full recipe for Peanut Butter is below.
The canning book also has its fair share of jams, jellies, pickles, and peppers.
But along with the recipes, there recommendations for ‘building a new America’ through gardening, canning, and cooking.
Peanut Butter
The Virginia and Spanish peanuts must be mixed to prevent too much oil in butter. Make butter often rather than making supply for several months.
Ingredients
- 4 quarts Virginia peanuts
- 2 quarts Spanish peanuts
- 8 teaspoons salt
Instructions
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Roast peanuts uniformly brown. Cool, remove red skins and tiny hearts.
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Use nut grinder or finest blade of food chopper to grind peanuts.
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Add salt and grind 2 or 3 more times until mixture does not feel grainy between the fingers.
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Pack closely into clean KERR jars, filling to within 1-inch of top. Put on cap, screwing band firmly tight.
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Process in water bath 60 minutes at simmering temperatures (180 F.)
Love the info. on the Kerr canning book.
Thanks for stopping by, Sherry. I really enjoyed the Kerr Canning Book, too. I wonder if my grandmothers had a copy? They were both definitely gardeners and cooks.
I would like to get this book for my mom. She lost hers.
I do not have the book for sale. Have you checked Ebay or Etsy?
Need the recipe for pickled beets. I’ve lost my book. Same recipe – used it for years and years.
Not the method, just the ingredients and amounts. Thank you so much