How do you preserve fruits and berries?

Home canning is a convenient way to preserve surplus gifts from the forest, fields, gardens and vegetable gardens for the summer. Salt, sugar, vinegar and lactic acid are four natural preservatives that have been known for centuries. Sugar is most often used for long-term storage of fruits and berries – compotes, jams, preserves, jellies, marmalades are preserved, but there are also preparations with vinegar and salt, such as chutney and other fruit and berry sauces.

One of the basic rules of canning is to carefully select your ingredients! The fresher the products you use, the richer the taste and aroma of your dish. Avoid bruised or spoiled fruits and berries, wash and dry the rest. Choose recipes for canning in advance to avoid unexpected shortages of ingredients. Try making, for example, spicy apples. They will be a great addition to baked or fried meat, poultry, and a cheese plate. You will need 13 pounds of apples, 12 cups of sugar, 6 cups of water, and 1 1/4 cups of 5% vinegar (apple cider vinegar is best), as well as 3 tablespoons of cloves and 8 cinnamon sticks.

Wash the apples. Peel and cut into slices, removing the core first. In a large six-liter saucepan, mix sugar, water, vinegar, cloves and cinnamon, heat to a boil and cook for 3 minutes. Put the apple slices into the hot syrup and cook for another 5 minutes. Now the preparation can be canned.

Sterilize the jars. Fill a wide saucepan, equal in height to the prepared jars, two-thirds full with water. Place the glass jars on its bottom, upside down, and put the lids in the same saucepan. Some housewives first put a special stand on the bottom or put a towel folded in several layers; in their opinion, such a precaution prevents the jars from bursting. Put the saucepan on high heat and bring the water to a boil, boil for 10 minutes. To avoid accidentally scalding your hands, put on gloves. Remove the jars and lids from the boiling water using large culinary tongs. Place them on a dry, clean kitchen towel. Do not remove the saucepan with boiling water from the heat; you will need it later.

Fill the jars with the ingredients. For spiced apples, first lay out the fruit slices and then pour the syrup over them, leaving a small space at the top of each jar unused. Close the jars with lids. You can use regular iron screw caps, or you can roll up the jars if you have a special machine. It is believed that to prevent mold from forming under the lids, it is worth soaking a piece of parchment paper in alcohol and placing it on the neck of the jar before screwing it on. Using the same tongs, lower the jars back into the boiling water, also with the lids down, and leave there for another 10 minutes, then take them out and cool.

Store canned goods properly. Keep them in a cool, dark place, such as a basement or the bottom shelves of a kitchen cabinet. If you have a small supply or a very large refrigerator, put your preserves in it. Under ideal conditions, canned fruits and berries will last for many years.

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