Preserving Hints

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 94, 10 April 1941, Page 46

Preserving Hints

Dear Aunt Daisy, I generally listen to your session each morning, and have heard how many of your listeners have preserved fruit, so I thought I would send you a method I used during the last war. I was in the Old Country, and our ration of sugar was only half a pound per week for each member of the family, This quantity did not allow much for preserving fruit, after making jam. I did plums and damsons this way: I used glass jars (without metal caps), First of all I wiped the plums, and made sure they were quite sound. I filled the jars to the top with the fruit, put these into a cool oven (mine was a fire oven), and I had boiling water ready. When the fruit had sunk down in the jars, and the skins cracked, each jar was filled to overflowing with water, I had some thin starch made ready, also tissue papers cut. One paper was ready with starch, and as I filled a jar with water, I popped the paper on quickly, then put a second paper over. There was no sugar used. When we used the plums later, I poured the water in a pan, adding sugar, made the syrup, then put in the fruit for a minute or two. They were lovely also for tarts. I do not know whether this will interest you-I hope it will. Please excuse my typed letter — I cannot write, as I had a stroke two years ago, so write all my letters this way. I do enjoy your talks — they are grand. -‘Worthy" (Auckland). It certainly does interest us, "Worthy," and thank you for telling us, And we admire your spirit in typing your letters, as you cannot write. We are never beaten, are we?