Bottling Fruit

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 80, 3 January 1941, Page 46

Bottling Fruit

Deat Aunt Daisy, I have read of people wishing to know if fruit can be bottled without screw-top jars. As you reach both North and South Islands, I am enclosing my way of sealing jars, and trust it will .be of use, if you have not already got it. Our gooseberries are ready for bottling now. I do the bottling exactly as if I were using screw-top bottles. Then I cut two rounds of butter paper to fit each jar. Butter paper is important, as it is the thickness required. Put a good piled teaspoon of size or sheet glue into an old tin or cover, pour over it some water, and dissolve over the stove. When the fruit is ready, lift out one bottle at a time, take two, rounds of paper and brush over with the hot glue. Push the fruit down from the top of the jar so that the syrup does not touch the paper lid. Stick the first piece of paper on like a jam top; put more glue on the second piece, and place on top of first piece. See that it sticks well to the top of the bottle. Tie down to make certain it is airtight, and finish with a little more hot glue over the top of the papers. The bottles must be stored upright when done this way. These home-made tops are absolutely airtight, and the contents keep beautifully. I hope I have made it quite clear. It is really very simple to do, besides being a war economy, -" Suzannah" (Cambridge). Thank you, Suzannah. Most of us have plenty of jars without proper fitting screw tops, and that will enable us to use them for bottling fruit. Then from Waitotara, comes this tested way of making cloth tops for preserved fruit and vegetables. Place 1 ib. resin, 2 oz. beeswax, and 2 oz. unsalted mutton fat in an old

saucepan and stand in a pot of hot water on a stove till melted, stirring well. Cut rounds of cloth (calico of flour bags) and smear to within quarter of an inch of the edge with this hot mixture, They will dry hard and stiff, and can be packed away till wanted. To use, have the bottles of fruit filled to overtlowing, place the covers on top and press down firmly. The boiling fruit melts the wax and holds it in place, Tie round with string.