General Directions for Canning and Preserving Fruit
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Select fresh, firm, and not overripe fruit. Remove stems, peel, stone, or core as needed.
Make the syrup
Boil water and sugar for 5 minutes to make a thin syrup.
Cook a small quantity of fruit in the syrup until soft.
Pack and seal
Pack the fruit closely in hot sterilized jars and pour enough syrup to overflow the jars.
Use a knife to push the fruit away from the jar to release air bubbles.
Seal with sterilized covers and fasten firmly.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Fresh fruit
- Provides the flavor and texture of the finished canned fruit.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the syrup and helps preserve the fruit's flavor and shape.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar to form the syrup that surrounds the fruit.
The step that matters
Use a knife to release air bubbles. Trapped air pockets can keep fruit from being fully covered by syrup and may spoil or discolor it over storage. Pushing the fruit away from the jar wall lets trapped air escape before sealing.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
You might also like
Green Corn Pudding64 recipes
Cornmeal mush12 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.