Bottling Without Sugar

New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 508, 18 March 1949, Page 26

Bottling Without Sugar

Dear Aunt Daisy, I am suffering from diabetes and would like to know how to bottle fruit with saccharine tablets, as I am not allowed sugar and would like to bottle some for the winter. I. have tried the boiling watgr method, but find the fruit does not keep. "A Whataupaka Link." Try this recipe for bottling fruit without sugar, which is perfectly safe and quite reliable, and was used almost universally during the war, when sugar was so scatce. Then you can add~-your own saccharine, when you eat the fruit, according to taste. I think perhaps you did not thoroughly sterilise your fruit, and that would cause the deterioration. You may use either a "skin" or screw tops ort the fat method to seal your preserves, so long as they are made properly airtight while the fruit and water are still as near boiling as possible. , Pack the fruit carefully into jars, fill up with boiled and cooled water, put the lid on loosely, and stetilise either in the oven or in the water-bath, till (continued on next page)

_ (continued from previous page) the fruit is cooked, but not broken. Then screw down tightly at once, 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. Pulping fruit is an excellent way of preserving fruit ready for making into jam, or sauce, or for use in pies and tarts later on. By pulping, it is preserved until you need it; and you can make up a little at a time, as sugar is available. Simply boil the’ fruit till soft and pulpy, using only enough water to prevent the fruit from burning. Soft berry fruits and tomatoes should be crushed against the side of the pan to draw sufficient juice to commence cooking, and no water will be needed at all. Harder fruits like apples and pears will need a little water, according to the kind. When all is pulpy, fill hot sterilised jars to overflowing with the boiling pulp, and seal aittight immediately. When making into jam, bring pulp to boil, add cup for cup of sugar, stir till dissolved, and boil fast till the jam will set when tested.