PRESERVING VEGETABLES AND FRUIT

New Zealand Listener, Volume 8, Issue 187, 22 January 1943, Page 15

PRESERVING VEGETABLES AND FRUIT

HIS year it is more important than ever that not even a pound of fruit or vegetable should be wasted. Preserve vegetables while young and tender, and fruit before it is overripe. Pulping (No sugar) This is an economical, easy and quick method of preserving fruit. Put the clean, cut-up fruit in the pan, with only sufficient water to prevent burning. It is also a good plan to rub the pan over with butter first. Soft berry fruit and tomatoes will need no water, but just crush a few to draw sufficient juice to commence cooking, and as the fruit heats, the juice will run freely. When the fruit is a soft pulp, fill the hot jars with it, while boiling hot, pour on the usual %-inch of hot melted beef and mutton fat, and cover with two thicknesses of paper, using flour and water paste, Fruit Bottling (Old-fashioned) Make a syrup in the preserving pan by boiling together the sugar and water for five minutes, allowing 4o0z. sugar to a pint of water. Then put in the prepared fruit and simmer very gently till cooked. If boiled rapidly or stirred carelessly, the fruit may break, and thus the appearance is spoiled. Peaches,

apricots, either whole, halved or sliced, are good done this way, but berries are very apt to break. As soon as the fruit is cooked, ladle it immediately into hot, sterilised jars, and seal with the usual %-inch of hot fat, then cover at once with paper, and flour and water paste. Honey Syrup for Preserving Fruit is excellent preserved in honeysyrup, and many people will be able to get far more honey than sugar this year. For sweet fruits allow 2ibs. honey to 6 pints water, for sharper fruits allow 3ibs. Simply boil the: honey and water together for 5 to 10 minutes as for sugar syrup. To ensure the bottled fruit being very clear, it may be strained through muslin, Cover and set aside till cold. Fill jars as usual with fruit, fill up with the cold syrup, put lids on loosely, and cook in oven or water-bath till fruit is cooked, Seal immediately, A Link in the Daisy Chain wrote as follows about her honey preserves-"Red cherry plums, small and large yellow plums, large dark blue and satsuma keep well, are good to eat, and do not get any bitter stone taste. Any more than one minute at boiling point caused the skins to crack, and in some cases, the fruit to float, Nectarines are delicious, and don’t lose their colour, Pears looks very well in the

golden syrup, and taste even better, with a rich flavour lacking with sugarbottled fruit. French or Runner Beans (1) With sugar; This way is both excellent and very easy. To 2%4lbs, of beans allow ilb, salt and %4lb, sugar. String and cut the beans and put in a big basin or bowl, Mix the salt and sugar well, and sprinkle over the beans. Leave overnight. Next day, pack the beans into clean jars, and pour over the brine which has formed, covering them well, Cover the jars with muslin or brown paper-they should not be airtight. Keep. in a cool place. When wanted, wash the beans and cook as usual, (2) Without sugar: Cover bottom of earthenware jar evenly with an inch of salt. Then put in a layer of tender beans, cut up as for cooking (but not too finely). Then put another layer of salt, and another layer of beans. Continue day by day as beans are available, until jar is filled. To cook, wash them thoroughly under running water, put on in boiling water, boil for a few minutes, strain, and put on in fresh boiling water, with a little sugar, and cook till tender. (3) Sterilised: Do just like the green peas, String and cut up, and boil first for about 10 minutes in unsalted water. Strain through colander and run cold tap over them for a minute or two. Then f. into clean jars, cover with cooled boiled water, add a tablespoon of sugar and a teaspoon of salt, and a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to each quart jar, put lid on loosely, and sterilise in water-bath for 3 hours, after the water comes to the boil. Seal with hot fat.