SUMMER PRESERVING TIME

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 29, 12 January 1940, Page 44

SUMMER PRESERVING TIME

The Art Of Bottling Fruit

ODERN methods of preserving have made the process much: easier than it used to be. A very popular way nowadays is to do the bottling in the oven. The process is really very easy, and furthermore, you can do small quantities at a time, and really hardly notice it as any extra work at all. Put a few bottles in the oven after cooking the dinner, thus using the remaining heat. Preparing the Materials (1) The fruit must be clean, unbruised, and not over-ripe-as perfect as possible. (2) The jars must be clean, and sterilised in the oven, or by putting them into a pan of cold water and bringing them to the boil. Leave them in the water, taking them out one by one to fill with the fruit. (3) The rubber rings must be new every season, and must also be steérilised in boiling water. (4) Treacle tins or jars without screw tops may be used quite well, provided they are properly clean and are sterilised before using. For tins, hammer the lids down tightly after flooding the cooked fruit with boiling water or syrup, and then pour melted paraffin wax all over the top, so that the seal may be complete. For open glass jars, pour the wax over the cooked fruit to a depth of about half an inch, and when cold, paste parchment or greaseproof paper over them. (5) The Syrup. Use thin syrup for mild sweet fruits, and medium syrup for tart fruits. Heavy syrup is used with very acid fruits. Fruits that are to be used for pies may be bottled in boiling water instead of syrup. (6) The oven needs to be very slow, and the heat can be lessened after the first half hour, Fruit, when done, is usually just beginning to break the skin. Put the jars on the lowest shelf, and be sure that they do not nearly touch each other, or the sides of the oven. The Process Place the prepared fruit in the hot jars, and shake and tap them so that the fruit may settle tightly down, Use a folded cloth to stand the jars upon. Pour boiling syrup over the fruit to within an inch of the top of the jar; water may be used instead of syrup, but each must *be boiling. Dip a knife in boiling water and run it round the sides of the jar, to remove the air bubbles. Then fit on the rubber rings, and place the screw tops on loosely. Put the filled jars in the oven and heat for the length of time necessary to cook the fruit. Remove from the oven one at a time and stand them on a

folded cloth while you screw the lids down very firmly indeed. Stand the jars upside down for some hours to make sure that the sealing is perfect. Never stand them in a cold draught, or they may crack. Never try to tighten the screw tops again when cool. Black or Red Currants Make the syrup with a pound of sugar to a pint of water, and boil for five to ten minutes. Pack the bottles, pour in the boiling syrup to within an inch of the top, fix on the rubber rings, and the screw top just loosely, as’ described above, and heat for one hour in a very slow oven. Finish as per detailed instructions, Cherries (Special Method) Make a syrup of quarter of a pound of sugar to a pint of water. Heat the cherries and syrup in a saucepan, and bring to the boil slowly. Allow the cherries to remain in this syrup overnight. Next day put the fruit in clean hot jars; boil up the syrup and fill the jars to within an inch of the top and heat in the oven for thirty minutes on low heat. Finish as usual. This special method removes any possibility of the cherries being hard, but they can also be done in the ordinary way, without being left overnight. Gooseberries require a syrup made with half a pound of sugar to a pint of water. Then proceed as usual. Heat in the oven for thirty minutes, Pears and Plums Have pears firm-rather hard is really best. Pare, cut into halves, and remove the cores. Heat the prepared fruit in a saucepan with a syrup of quarter of a pound of sugar to a pint of water and bring slowly to the boil. Pack the fruit into the hot jars, pour thé syrup over and proceed as usual, keeping in the oven for forty-five minutes. Plums are done exactly the same, but of course, without cutting or skinning. Peaches and Apricots Have peaches not too ripe. Place them in boiling water for a few seconds, to loosen the skin, as one does with tomatoes. Skin them, cut into halves, and remove the stones. Proceed in the

manner already described, making the syrup with half a pound of sugar to a pint of water. Heat in ‘a slow oven for one hour, and seal in the usual way. Apricots are done the same way, but without skinning. Raspberries and Loganberries Make a syrup with one pound of sugar to a pint of water. Put the berries into this, in a saucepan, and simmer gently for five minutes. Then pack the fruit into hot jars, pour the boiling syrup over, proceed as usual, leaving them in the very slow oven for 35 minutes. Strawberries These must be done very carefully, or the fruit will shrink, lose colour, and rise in the bottles. Cover the strawberries with a cool syrup, made if possible by stewing raspberries or loganberries in a syrup, so that it is a beautiful colour. The syrup is made with a pint of water to every pound of sugar. Bring the strawberries slowly to the boil in a saucepan in this strained and cooled syrup, then take off the fire and leave them standing till next day. Then pour off the syrup and pack the strawberries carefully into the hot jars. Boil up the syrup and pour it. over the berries. Heat in the very slow oven as usual, for thirty-five minutes, and seal. Strawberries are better if bottled small jars. Two Fruits Together This sometimes improves the colour of the preserve-as when red cherries are mixed with green gooseberries. Make your syrup with one pound of sugar to a pint of water. Into this put first the fruit which takes the longest time, adding the other after five or ten minutes as the case may be. Cook until the fruit is tender, but not broken. Then ladle into the hot jars and proceed as usual cooking for twenty minutes or so, If one of the fruits has been added in a raw state, sterilise in the oven for as long as it would take if alonesay gooseberries, thirty minutes. Quick Method of Bottling Fruit This is an old way of bottling fruit, and the simplest of all. It may not be quite so safe, as regards keeping for a long time, but it was formerly in general use and considered quite satisfactory. Allow half a pint of water and quarter of a pound of sugar to every pound of fruit. Make a syrup of the sugar and water, and let it boil for five or ten minutes. Then put the fruit in, and simmer gently till quite soft. Have ready the jars, which must be airtight stand on a damp cloth, put in a little syrup, then fill up the jar with fruit, cover with the syrup, and pass a knife round the inside to allow the air bubbles to escape. Close down, and keep in a cool place until wanted. Peaches, pears, and quinces should be peeled, and the cores boiled in a piece of butter muslin in the syrup.