FRUIT BOTTLING

New Zealand Listener, Volume 10, Issue 239, 21 January 1944, Page 23

FRUIT BOTTLING

or without sugar. The sugar improves the flavour of the bottled fruit, but it is sometimes necessary to do the fruit’ when one hasn’t enough sugar. In that case, reheat the fruit with sugar before eating. Without Sugar Pack the firm, ripe fruit carefully into jars, grading for size so that all is cooked equally. Fill up with boiled and cooled water, put the lids on loosely, and sterilise in water-bath, or in very slow oven (regulo % to 1), until the fruit is cooked but not broken. Take out the jars one by one, screwing each down tightly immediately. If no screw tops, or no rubbers, cover the fruit with one inch of hot fat (half beef and half mutton), and then paste over the whole top of the jar with two or three thicknesses of paper covered with flour-paste. Fat is less likely to shrink away from the sides of the jar than the prepared wax, and so makes a safer seal. The jars must be sealed while still boiling, so that when cold and the steam has condensed, a vacuum will be formed between the fruit and the lid, If No Rubbers If you have screw-tops, but no !rubbers, you may pour melted wax around the inside of the tops, and leave to cool When these tops are then screwed on to the hot, filled jars, the wax melts and makes the seal complete. For safety’s sake, paste over the outside as well with two or three thicknesses of paper, or else cover the whole top thoroughly with more melted wax. may be bottled either with Sterilise Jars or Tins It is quite all right to use golden syrup tins for jam, on account of the press-in lid. Other tins are not advisable. In all cases, whether using glass jars or tins, see that these are not only clean, but sterilised before filling, or all your trouble may be in vain, and your fruit wasted after all. To sterilise, place tins, jars, and lids, in a pan of cold water, bring to boiling point, and hold there for a few minutes. Bottling With Sugar First Method:-Make a syrup by boiling sugar and water together for 10 minutes, and then let it cool. The quantity of sugar varies according to whether you want a heavy or light syrup. A fair thing is six ounces of sugar to a pint of water. If the syrup is very strong, the fruit is apt to rise to the top of the jar. Pack the prepared fruit into the jars, add the cooled syrup-put the lids on loosely, and sterilise in water-bath for required time. Then seal, either with screw-tops or by pouring half to three-quarters inch of hot, clean fat, half mutton and half beef, on top of the fruit, Finally, make sure by pasting two thicknesses of paper covered with flour and water paste over the whole top of the jar. Second Method:-Fill the jars with fruit, and then put about a dessertspoon of sugar on top of each. Fill up nearly to the top with water which has been

boiled and cooled, and cover loosely with lids as usual. Sterilise the fruit till it is soft but not broken, seal as above. This way is recommended by many experienced housewives, who find that the sugar dissolves properly and flavours the fruit. Bottled Cherries Make a syrup of %lb. 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 jars, boil up the syrup and fill the jars to within one inch of the top, and sterilise in waterbath or slow oven for 30 minutes. Seal as usual, This special method removes any possibility of the cherries being hard. Bottled Gooseberries Top, tail and wash gooseberries. Pack in jars. Fill nearly to top with cooled syrup or boiled water as described above. Put lids on loosely and ssterilise in water-bath or slow oven (regulo ¥% to 1), until soft, but not broken. Seal immediately. Bottled Strawberries (Special) Make a heavy syrup by boiling 2 cups sugar to each cup water. Boil for five minutes, then add the strawberries and simmer gently about 20 minutes. Leave in syrup till next day. Then simmer again for five minutes, and ladle into hot sterilised jars and seal immediately. Bottled Raspberries, Loganberries, Strawberries, Red and Black Currants Have them fresh and dry. Wash and leave to drain. Fill hot jars, shaking down well. Pour boiling syrup over till nearly full, cover loosely, and sterilise in water-bath or oven till ’ cooked but not broken. Seal immediately.