such as is used for steaming suet puddings and brown bread. If you can
with a steam-pressure canner or a pressure cooker, then steam the
spinach there. If we boiled the spinach for fifteen or twenty minutes
we would lose a quantity of the mineral salts, the very thing we aim
to get into our systems when we eat spinach, dandelion greens, Swiss
chard and other greens. After the blanching or steaming comes the cold
dip.

There is something about blanching asparagus, either for soups or when
canned alone, that is worth knowing. Instead of blanching the whole
stalk of asparagus for the same length of time, we use a little
discretion, giving the tougher, harder ends a full four minutes'
blanching, but allowing the tender tip ends only two minutes. You are
possibly wondering how that is done.

Tie the asparagus stalks in bunches and put the bunches with all the
tips standing one way on a piece of cheesecloth. Tie the cloth or snap
rubber bands round it, and then stand the asparagus in boiling water
in an upright position for two minutes; next lay the asparagus
lengthwise in the blanching water for another two minutes, and you
have accomplished your purpose. You have given the tougher parts two
minutes' more blanching than the tender parts. Use a deep enough
kettle so the asparagus will be completely covered when laid
lengthwise. After the blanching, cold-dip the asparagus.

Wash the beets. Leave two inches of the top and all the tail on the
beets while blanching. Blanch for five minutes, then cold-dip. Next
scrape off the skin, top and tail. The tops can be put right into the
soup too. Any surplus tops can be steamed with the spinach and can be
treated similarly.