Water Bath
Any large metal container may be used for a water bather preserver.
- Ideally deep enough to allow 50mm of water above the tops of jars, plus a little extra for boiling space.
- It must have a metal plate (trivet) to stand jars on in the boiler
- It can be heated by gas, stove element, or electric jug type element.
Hot Pack
The washed or peeled fruit is boiled for 3 to 5 minutes immediately prior to packing into hot jars
Cold or Raw Pack
The fruit is peeled and/or washed thoroughly and packed into warmed jars. Note: With cold pack methods, as the fruit cooks up slightly, it is easy to end up with 25% or more liquid at the bottom of the jar after processing. To minimize this effect, put together the fruit, almost squashing it in, but leaving 12mm head space.
Headspace – Hot or Cold Type Pack
Cover food with hot boiling water, syrup or brine, leaving 12mm headspace
Syrup for Preserving
Type Sugar (Cups) Water (Cups)
Light Syrup 1 3
Medium Syrup 1 2
Heavy Syrup 1 1
To Preserve Without Sugar
Use fully ripe firm fruit, hot pack method, top up jars with hot water and process in water bath as normal.
To Keep Fruit From Darkening
Method 1: Preparation: Drop apples, apricots, preaches, pears etc into a solution of 2 tablespoons salt, 2 tablespoons vinegar to 4 litres of water as they are pared, cored, peeled or pitted. Leave in solution ideally no longer than 40 minutes then rinse the fruit before packing
Method 2: In The Jar: ½ teaspoon Ascorbic Acid to each quart. Sprinkle over fruit just before capping jar.
Vegetables and Low Acid Fruit
It is recommended that low acid fruit or vegetables be pressure canned for food safety. Water bathing is NOT recommended.
Fruit Preserving Times
| Time in Minutes after boiler is boiling | |||
| Fruit | Type of Pack | Pints (200/600ml) |
Quarts (600/1200ml) |
| ApplesApples
Apricots or Peaches Apricots or Peaches Berries Berries Figs Grapefruit or Lemons Grapes Guavas Kiwifruit or Tamarillos Kiwifruit or Tamarillos Loquats Mixed Fruit Nectarines or Feijoas Nectarines or Feijoas Pears or Plums Pears of Plums Quinces Rhubarb Tomatoes Tomatoes |
Cold RawHot
Cold Raw Hot Cold Raw Hot Hot or Cold Raw Hot or Cold Raw Hot or Cold Raw Hot Cold Raw Hot Hot Hot Cold Raw Hot Cold Raw Hot Hot Hot Cold Raw Hot |
Not Recommended20
25 20 20 15 85 10 20 15 20 20 15 20 25 20 25 20 85 10 35 15 |
20
30 25 20 20 90 10 20 20 25 20 20 25 30 25 30 25 90 10 45 20 |
Note
After time is up remove jar from boiling water and stand on a folded tea towel to cool. NEVER place a hot jar on a cold surface, this could cause thermal shock – the critical and sudden failure (breaking) of the glass jar.
Altitude
To 1000ft times as above. 1000-2000ft add 10% more time. 2000-4000ft add 20% more time.
If you need to know your altitude simply go to www.whatsmyaltitude.com and type in your address
