Home Canning Recipes for Fruit and Homemade Preserves (2024)

Seeour easyhomecanning recipes for your excess fruit withstep-by-step instructionsand learn how to can food from yourhomestead and country gardens.

The success of homecanningdepends upon absolutesterilization. If theproper care is taken you shouldn't have any failures, except in rarecases, when a spore has developed in the can. When this happens yourcans have become spoiled and you will have to throw the contents away.

Ilike canning fruit particularly, as you can always freeze excessvegetables, but you cannot always freeze excess fruit as easily.Canning allows me to save my fruit and use it in pies, dessertrecipes, ice-creamrecipes, jamsand jellies.

* Cooking the fruit inthe jars in an oven
* Cooking the fruit in the jars in boiling water
* Stewing the fruit before it is put in the jars

Itis most important that the jars,covers, and rubber rings that you use for canning are inperfect condition. Examine each jar and cover to see that there is nodefect in it.

Use only fresh rubber rings, for if the rubber is notsoft and elastic the sealing will not be perfect. Each year a number ofjars of fruit are lost because of the false economy in using an oldring that has lost its softness and elasticity.

Once you are sure thatthe jars,covers, and rings are all in perfect condition, the next thing to do isto wash andsterilize them well.

Have two pans partiallyfilled with cold water. Put some jars in one,laying them on their sides, and some covers in the other. Place thepans on the stove where the water will heat to the boiling point.

The water should boil atleast ten or fifteen minutes. Have on the stove a shallow milk pan inwhich there is about 2 inches of boiling water. Sterilize the cups,spoons, and funnel, if you use one, by immersing in boiling water for afew minutes.

When you are ready to put the prepared fruit into the jars, slip abroad skimmer under the jar and lift it and drain free of water.

Juicy fruits, such asberries and cherries, require little or no water.Strawberries are better not to have water added to them. The onlyexception to this is when they are cooked in a heavy syrup.

* 48 cups raspberries
* 8 cups of sugar

Put 8 cups of the fruit in the preserving kettle; heat slowly on thestove; crush with a masher; spread a square of cheese cloth over abowl, and turn the crushed berries and juice into it. Press out thejuice, which turn into the preserving kettle. Add the sugar and put onthe stove; stir until the sugar is dissolved. When the syrup begins toboil, add the remaining 40 cups of berries. Let them heat slowly. Boilten minutes, counting from the time they begin to bubble. Skim wellwhile boiling. Put in bottles and seal as directed.

* 40 cups of raspberries
* 12 cups of currants
* 10 cups of sugar

Heat, crush, and press the juice from the currants and proceed asdirected for raspberries.

* 48 cups of currants
* 16 cups of sugar

Treat the same as for raspberries.

* 24 cups of berries
* 6 cups of sugar
* 1 pint of water

For green gooseberries dissolve the sugar in the water, then add thefruit and cook fifteen minutes. Ripe gooseberries are to be treated thesame as the green fruit, but use only half as much water. Greengooseberries may also be canned the same as rhubarb. See below.

* 48 cups of blueberries
* 4 cups of sugar
* 1 pint of water

Put water, berries, and sugar in the preserving kettle; heat slowly.Boil fifteen minutes, counting from the time the contents of the kettlebegin to bubble.

* 24 cups of cherries
* 6 cups of sugar
* ½ pint of water

Measure the cherries after the stems have been removed. Stone them ornot, as you please. If you stone them be careful to save all the juice.Put the sugar and water in the preserving kettle and stir over the heatuntil the sugar is dissolved. Put in the cherries and heat slowly tothe boiling point. Boil ten minutes, skimming carefully.

* 24 cups of grapes
* 4 cups of sugar
* ½ cup of water

Squeeze the pulp of the grapes out of the skins. Cook the pulp fiveminutes and then rub through a sieve that is fine enough to hold backthe seeds. Put the water, skins, and pulp into the preserving kettleand heat slowly to the boiling point. Skim the fruit and then add thesugar. Boil fifteen minutes.

Sweet grapes may be canned with less sugar; very sour ones may havemore.

Cut the rhubarb when itis young and tender. Wash it thoroughly andthen pare; cut into pieces about 2 inches long. Pack in sterilizedjars. Fill the jars to overflowing with cold water and let them standten minutes. Drain off the water and fill again to overflowing withfresh cold water. Seal with sterilized rings and covers. When requiredfor use, treat the same as fresh rhubarb.

Green gooseberries may be canned in the same manner. Rhubarb may becooked and canned with sugar in the same manner as gooseberries.

* 32 cups of sliced peaches
* 4 cups of sugar
* 12 cups of water

Put the sugar and water together and stir over the heat until the sugaris dissolved. When the syrup boils skim it. Draw the kettle back wherethe syrup will keep hot but not boil.

Pare the peaches, cut in halves, and remove the stones, unless youprefer to can the fruit whole.

Put a layer of the prepared fruit into the preserving kettle and coverwith some of the hot syrup. When the fruit begins to boil, skimcarefully. Boil gently for ten minutes, then put in the jars and seal.If the fruit is not fully ripe it may require a little longer time tocook. It should be so tender that it may be pierced easily with asilver fork. It is best to put only one layer of fruit in thepreserving kettle. While this is cooking the fruit for the next batchmay be pared.

* 16 cups of pared, cored, and quarteredquinces
* 6 cups of sugar
* 8 cups of water

Rub the fruit hard with a coarse, crash towel, then wash and drain.Pare, quarter, and core; drop the pieces into cold water. Put the fruitin the preserving kettle with cold water to cover it generously. Heatslowly and simmer gently until tender. The pieces will not all requirethe same time to cook. Take each piece up as soon as it is so tenderthat a silver fork will pierce it readily. Drain on a platter. Strainthe water in which the fruit was cooked through cheese cloth. Put twoquarts of the strained liquid and the sugar into the preserving kettle;stir over the fire until the sugar is dissolved. When it boils skimwell and put in the cooked fruit. Boil gently for about twenty minutes.

* 24 cups of sliced apples.
* 6 cups of sugar
* 8 cups of water

Put the sugar and water into the preserving kettle. Stir over the fireuntil the sugar is dissolved. When the syrup boils skim it.

Wash the fruit, rubbing the blossom end well. Put it in the boilingsyrup, and cook gently until tender. It will take from twenty to fiftyminutes, depending upon the kind of crab apples.

* 32 cups of plums
* 8 cups of sugar
* 1 pint of water

Nearly all kinds of plums can be cooked with the skins on. If it isdesired to remove the skin of any variety, plunge them in boiling waterfor a few minutes. When the skins are left on, prick them thoroughly toprevent bursting.

Put the sugar and water into the preserving kettle and stir over thefire until the sugar is dissolved. Wash and drain the plums. Put someof the fruit in the boiling syrup. Do not crowd it. Cook five minutes;fill and seal the jars. Put more fruit in the syrup. Continue in thismanner until all the fruit is done. It may be that there will not besufficient syrup toward the latter part of the work; for this reason itis well to have a little extra syrup on the back of the stove.

Wash the tomatoes andplunge into boiling water for five minutes. Pareand slice, and then put into the preserving kettle; set the kettle onan iron ring. Heat the tomatoes slowly, stirring frequently from thebottom. Boil for thirty minutes, counting from the time the vegetablebegins actually to boil. Put in sterilized jars and seal.

* 32 cups of medium-sized tomatoes
* 16 cups of sliced tomatoes

Put the pared and sliced tomatoes into a pot and cook as directed forstewed tomatoes. When they have been boiling twenty minutes remove fromthe heat and rub through a strainer. Return to the stove.

While the sliced tomatoes are cooking, pare the whole tomatoes and putthem in sterilized jars. Pour into the jars enough of the stewed andstrained tomato to fill all the interstices. Put the uncovered jars ina moderate oven, placing them in shallow pans of hot water. Let thevegetable cook in the oven for half an hour. Take from the oven andfill to overflowing with boiling hot, strained tomato, then seal. Ifthere is any of the strained tomato left, can it for sauces.

This method of homecanning fruit, is easily and quickly done, and thefruitretains its shape, color, and flavor better than when cooked in thepreserving kettle.

Put into the oven shallow pans in which there are about two inches ofboiling water.

Sterilize the canningjars and utensils. Make the syrup; prepare the fruit thesame as for cooking in the preserving kettle. Fill the hot jars withit, and pour in enough syrup to fill the jar solidly. Run the blade ofa silver-plated knife around the inside of the jar. Place the canningjars inthe oven, in the pan of water. The oven should be moderately hot. Cookthe fruit ten minutes; remove from the oven and fill the jar withboiling syrup. Wipe and seal. Place the canning jars on a board and outof adraft of air. If the screw covers are used tighten them after the glasshas cooled.

Large fruits, such as peaches, pears, quinces, crab apples, etc., willrequire about a pint of syrup to each quart jar of fruit. The smallfruit will require a little over half a pint of syrup.

The amount of sugar in each quart of syrup should be regulated to suitthe fruit with which it is to be used. The quantities given will notmake the fruit very sweet. The quantity of sugar may be increased ordiminished to suit the taste.

Prepare the fruit andsyrup as for cooking in the oven.

Fill the sterilized canning jars and put the covers on loosely. Have acakerack at the bottom of the pot. Put in enough warm water to come toabout 4 inches above the rack. Place the filled canning jars in theboiler, butdo not let them touch one another. Pack clean white cotton rags, orperhaps better, cotton rope, between and around the jars to preventthem from striking one another when the water begins to boil. Cover theboiler and let the fruit cook ten minutes from the time the watersurrounding it begins to boil.

Draw the boiler back and take off the cover. When the steam passes offtake out one jar at a time and place in a pan of boiling water besidethe boiler, fill up with boiling syrup, and seal. Put the jars on aboard and do not let cold air blow upon them. If screw covers are usedtighten them when the glass has cooled and contracted.

In the case of mostfruits, canning with a little sugar is to bepreferred to preserving with a large quantity of sugar. There are,however, some fruits that are only good when preserved with a good dealof sugar. Of course, such preparations of fruit are only desirable foroccasional use. The fruits best adapted for preserving arestrawberries, sour cherries, sour plums, and quinces. Such richpreparations should be put up in small jars or tumblers.

Use equal weights ofsugar and strawberries. Put the strawberries inthe preserving kettle in layers, sprinkling sugar over each layer. Thefruit and sugar should not be more than 4 inches deep. Place the kettleon the stove and heat the fruit and sugar slowly to the boiling point.When it begins to boil skim carefully. Boil ten minutes, counting fromthe time the fruit begins to bubble. Pour the cooked fruit intoplatters, having it about 2 or 3 inches deep. Place the platters in asunny window, in an unused room, for three or four days. In that timethe fruit will grow plump and firm, and the syrup will thicken almostto a jelly. Put this preserve, cold, into jars or tumblers.

Select large, firmfruit, remove the stems, and proceed as forstrawberries.

* 48 cups of cherries
* 12 cups of currants
* 8 cups of sugar

Put the currants in the preserving kettle and on the heat. When theyboil up crush them and strain through cheese cloth, pressing out allthe juice.

Stem and stone the cherries, being careful to save all the juice. Putthe cherries, fruit juice, and sugar in the preserving kettle. Heat tothe boiling point and skim carefully. Boil for twenty minutes. Put insterilized jars or tumblers. This gives an acid preserve. The sugar maybe doubled if richer preserves are desired.

* 16 cups of greengages
* 8 cups of sugar
* 1 pint of water

Prick the fruit and put it in a preserving kettle. Cover generouslywith cold water. Heat to the boiling point and boil gently for fiveminutes. Drain well.

Put the sugar and water in a preserving kettle and stir over the heatuntil the sugar is dissolved. Boil five minutes, skimming well. Put thedrained greengages in this syrup and cook gently for twenty minutes.Put in sterilized jars.

Other plums may be preserved in the same manner. The skins should beremoved from white plums.

* 16 cups of pared, quartered, and coredquinces
* 8 cups of sugar
* 4 cups of water

Boil the fruit in clear water until it is tender, then skim out anddrain.

Put the 8 cups of sugar and 4 cups of water in the preserving kettle;stir until the sugar is dissolved. Let it heat slowly to the boilingpoint. Skim well and boil for twenty minutes. Pour one-half of thesyrup into a second kettle. Put one-half of the cooked and drainedfruit into each kettle. Simmer gently for half an hour, then put insterilized jars. The water in which the fruit was boiled can be usedwith the parings, cores, and gnarly fruit to make jelly.

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