Bottled fruit
For centuries people have pickled and preserved their harvests to see them through the meagre winter months. In fact, it's considered one of the first culinary skills of the human race. While modern technology has made food preserving one of the world's biggest industries, home bottling is enjoying a huge revival.
Fruit (and vegetables) for bottling should be firm and young but never overripe, while small varieties are best used whole. Wash and prepare the fruit as directed in individual recipes, cutting away any bruised spots that might soil a whole batch. Smaller fruit may be left whole, though it's best to halve and stone large fruit such as peaches and apricots, removing any inner fibres that may toughen over a period of time. Peel apricots, peaches and nectarines by blanching and peel, core and slice apples and pears.
Fruit may be bottled raw, cooked or as a puree, depending on the type. The raw-pack method is best for delicate fruits like berries or tomatoes, plums, cherries and currants. Pack the fruit tightly into the jars, filling them a third at a time and adding sugar syrup to the level of the fruit as you go. Syrup preserves the colour and texture of the fruit and makes a delicious accompaniment. You can subsitute water in the syrup recipe with fruit juice or wine and add spices like cloves, allspice, black peppercorns, mustard seeds and coriander seeds, rum or finely grated citrus rind for flavour.
Firm and fibrous fruits should be cooked in sugar syrup to make them easier to pack into jars and it also offers the chance to add flavour by infusing them with spices during cooking. To prevent the fruit from darkening during simmering, rub peeled apples, pears, peaches, nectarines and apricots with lemon juice.
Jars should always be sterilised to prevent any bacteria from lingering, which will cause rapid deterioration of your product. Either put the jars through the wash cycle of your dishwasher just before you use them, or wash them in hot, soapy water, rinse and stand them uspide down on a baking sheet in the oven at 150 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes. Your jars must be hot when you ladle in the mixture.
Use a large, heavy based pan (not aluminium or cast iron) to prevent boiling over.
Add sugar to the liquid over gentle heat and don't stir until it has all dissolved naturally. This prevents crystallisation and burning.
Shrinkage can occur during cooling, so check for this. It's important to exclude as much air as possible, so tap jars to remove any air bubbles.
Immediately seal the jars with lids. If you're using metalic lids, seal the jars with molten wax or double rounds of greaseproof papercut to size, to prevent interaction between the acid and the metal lid.
Store preserves in a dry, dark and cool area. Under moist, warm conditions, mould can grow and spoil preserves. Light is destructive to the food and will bleach the colour of the preserves.
Label jars carefuly, including the date made and the date of maturation.
There's much more to bottling than preserved fruit: pickles are vegetables or fuit preserved, uncooked, in brine, vinegar or mustard. Chutneys, jams and relishes are cooked vegetables or fruits, or a mixture of both, that can range from bland to spicy. Course-textured chutney, what we know as atjar is made with peaches, lime or mango and often accompany curry dishes.
So make the most of the excellent variety of fresh fruits available in the shops and start making bottled magic. For more inspiration, go to our extended search page, scroll down and select Preserves from Side Dishes.
Preserving tip Preserving in alcohol is an excellent way to have fruit all year long and the German, especially, love to make a rumtopf which is layers of stemmed, stoned and cut-up fruit, added as they come into season to a jar of spirits. Distilled spirits like rum, brandy or vodka , which are at least 80 proof (containing 40 % alcohol) are ideal. You can serve small portions with some of the syrup as an after-dinner liqueur, or spooned over ice cream or sponge cake.
