Content

• Ingredients
• To step
• Tips
• Warnings
• Necessities

Whether you have an orchard or have received a huge bag of fruit from your neighbors, you can only keep that delicious crop for a while if you don't take steps to preserve it. There are three basic ways to preserve fruit for a long time: freezing, preserving or drying. This article mainly focuses on canning.

Ingredients

• Fruit
• Sugar
• Water
• Lemon juice or ascorbic acid (vitamin C)

To step

1. Select the fruit you want to keep. It should be firm and ripe, with not too many visible bruises, insect holes or signs of rot.
2. Choose the method of preservation. The quality of fruit deteriorates quickly when you freeze it, but if you want to use it for cakes and pastries, that's not so bad. Drying is a good choice for firm fruits such as peaches, apricots, grapes and so on, and also works well with apples and bananas if done right. This article focuses on canning.
3. Have hearty fruits such as pears, apples, or peaches to start with. These varieties are easier to prepare than soft fruits such as figs, plums and the like.
4. Peel the fruit. You can do this with a sharp potato peeler or vegetable peeler, make sure you peel as thinly as possible. A small piece of peel here and there will not diminish the quality of the end product, but if you peel too deep, you will have less left over to make.
   • You can also peel soft fruits such as tomatoes and peaches. Use a strainer or slotted spoon to hold the fruit in boiling water for 30-60 seconds. The peel often tears open. Using the strainer or slotted spoon, transfer the fruit to a container of cold water for easier processing. The peel now slides off easily. You may need to help out with a knife here and there.
5. Cut the fruit in half, usually top to bottom and take out the center and stalk. If done correctly, you will have two chunky, edible halves of the fruit. Also remove any rotten or damaged pieces. You can preserve tomatoes whole.
6. Cut the fruit into the size you want. You may want to keep halves, especially with pears, but you may want smaller pieces for pie or other pastries.
7. Place the fruit in a saucepan large enough to cook without boiling over, add a few inches of water and place on the stove over medium to high heat.
8. Add sugar to taste, but at least enough to get a syrup. One cup of sugar per kilo of fruit is a good guideline, but this can be adjusted to your personal taste.
9. Add other spices if you want. Cinnamon can add an extra rich flavor to apples and pears, but use it sparingly as it will brown the syrup and fruit if you take too much.
10. Bring the ingredients to a boil, then reduce the heat to just keep simmering.
11. Prepare your jars, rings, and lids while the fruit is cooking. The pots should be clean and a dishwasher is a good, quick way to do that. Place the jars on a work surface with enough space, put the rings and lids on the jars that are completely dry and make sure you have a spoon or spoon to hand to scoop the fruit and syrup into the jars.
12. Cook the fruit until soft, usually about 20 minutes. The pulp should be slightly glassy and the juice boiled out to get a nice syrup.
13. Turn off the heat and place the pan near your pots.
14. Spoon the fruit from the pan into the jars, fill them to about 1 cm below the rim. This goes well with a slotted spoon.
15. Fill the jars to about half an inch from the rim with syrup, then screw on the lids tightly. Some people turn the jars upside down so that the hot liquid can sterilize the lids, but for best results it is necessary to heat the jars after filling.
16. Heat the jars of fruit. Make sure the rings and lids are tight and bring a large pot of water to the boil. There are special preserving kettles for this step, but any large pan is fine, although it is better to place a rack on the bottom of the pan so that the glass jars do not touch each other.
17. Boil the jars in water approximately 1 cm above the lids, adhering to the time recommended for the size of the jars and the type of fruit you are using. This ensures that the content is hot enough to kill all the microorganisms that are still alive up to now.
18. Place the pots on a kitchen towel on the counter to cool. The lids should now be sucked in as the contents cool, making a "popping" noise. If there are any lids that haven't been sucked in after a few hours, the lid is probably not on properly and you should keep these jars refrigerated and use them sooner.
19. Wipe the jars, lids and rings dry to prevent them from rusting and store them in a cool, dry place.

Tips

• You can also soak them in lemon juice.
• Glass tongs are very useful for putting the pots in and out of the water.
• With a funnel you can fill the pots more easily.
• Discard any rusty or deformed rings.
• Use real preserving jars.
• Make sure you have all materials at hand so that you can work quickly and efficiently.
• Pears and apples are very easy to make.
• Keep your hands, work surface and utensils as clean as possible.
• Use a few teaspoons of lemon juice or ascorbic acid to keep the color of your fruit nice and fresh.

Warnings

• Unhygienic or incorrect canning methods can be dangerous.

Necessities

• Large pan
• Ladle, slotted spoon
• Jars, lids and rings
• Very large pan, preferably a preserving kettle
• Stove