Bottling is extremely useful for whole fruit, purees, soups and tomatoes, and has the benefit of freeing up some of the space in your freezer for other things. While I would always try and use the fruit in its fresh state, in times of glut, bottling could be the answer. The special Bottling jars, “Le Parfait”, with wide tops with rubber sealing rings, can be found in season, at John Lewis and Lakeland. They come in different sizes but the ones that I find most useful are the 1 litre size, as they fit into my Prestige Hi-Top pressure cooker. Yes, I know that it is no longer made, but your Granny may still have one or you may find one at a car-boot sale, and the replacement sealing rings and valves are still available. Most pressure cookers now available seem to be very small in comparison.
Bottling works by sterilising the bottle and all the contents, thus killing all organisms such as yeasts and moulds, and inactivate the enzymes, that could lead to spoilage of the bottle contents.
The fruit should always be good quality, with all unsound fruit removed. Top and tail as necessary, if bottling the fruit whole.
Whole fruit such as Blackcurrants, Plums, should be ripe, but use unripe Gooseberries to retain texture. Pack into clean bottles, filled up to the marked filling line ( this allows for the expansion of the liquid ) with a light sugar syrup. This consists of 150 gm of sugar, dissolved in 600 ml of hot water.
Sieved or pureed fruit. This can be used for the storage of Blackcurrants, Raspberries, and Tayberry purees, which can be used later for jellies or ice cream. Bring the fruit to the boil and simmer for some 10 minutes till soft. Sieve or strain into stainless steel pan ( to prevent corrosion from the concentrated fruit acids), before adding 150 gm sugar to each 600 ml of fruit liquid. Fill the bottles to the marked filling line while the liquid is still hot, and pressure cook.
Pureed tomatoes. This is useful for times of tomato glut, and can be used for the base of a homemade Winter Tomato soup. Wash and quarter the tomatoes (do not bother skinning or de-seeding as life is too short! ), bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes, add a little salt. Fill the bottles to the marked filling line, while the liquid is still hot and pressure cook.
Other vegetables, are not usually recommended for pressure cooking.
The bottle should be placed on top of the trivet inside the pressure cooker. Use low to medium pressure. Put 1 litre of water into the pressure cooker, close the lid and bring up to Medium pressure. Maintain the pressure for the recommended time given below, remove from the heat, and then allow the pressure to reduce naturally. Label and date before storing in a cool dark place.
Opening of bottles before use.This can be easier said than done, and strangely, this is not covered by the books!! My method is to heat up the sealed bottles in a pan with water. This causes the bottle contents to expand, and reduce the vacuum, thus enabling the lid to be opened. Simple if you know how!
Maintain Pressure for the time of
5 minutes for tomato puree.
2 minutes for Rhubarb cut into small pieces.
1 minute for Cherries, Damsons, Gooseberries, Greengages, Plums, fruit purees.
Approximate Conversion Table
Weights
50 g = 2 oz
100 g = 4 oz
150 g = 6 oz
225 g = 8 oz
450 g = 16 oz or 1 lb
Liquids
30 ml = 1 fl oz
60 ml = 2 fl oz
140 ml = ¼ pt
285 ml = ½ pt
570 ml = 1 pt.
1.15 lt = 2 pt
Spoons
1 tsp = 5 cc
1 Tabs = 15 cc
