BOTTLING FRUIT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 October 1941, Page 2

BOTTLING FRUIT

QUESTIONS ANSWERED. In bottling fruit having stones, will the flavour be improved by leaving in an occasional stone? —This is a matter of individual taste. Some people prefer the slightly bittei’ flavour occasioned by leaving a stone or two. What causes peaches and pears to turn dark brown after they have been bottled? How can this be prevented? — (a) Discolouration of fruits in the top of the jar is often due to enzyme activity, and. sometimes indicates underprocessing. The remedy is an increase of 5 to 10 minutes in the processing time, and a thorough exhausting of all ail’ from the jars, (b) In oven bottling, occasionally we find an oven which seems to accumulate an excessive amount of heat at the top which will cause upper layers of fruit to turn brown, but in no way affects the flavour. (c) Fruit exposed to the air too long after being peeled and before bottled. This can be overcome by dropping the peeled fruit into slightly salted or plain water until ready to put into jars, (d) Pears bottled by the coldpack method will retain the original colour better if a tablespoon of lemon juice is added to each quart jar. (e) Fruit bottled without sugar, after being opened and exposed to air, sometimes turns brown just as fresh fruit does when exposed to air.-