Canning Your Fruits for Later Consumption

If you’ve ever lived somewhere with a fruit tree or two, you have probably realized that the fruits are produced at an extremely fast rate. Usually the fruit comes off the tree faster than you could possibly eat it, even if you are giving them to your friends and neighbors as well. Therefore, at the zenith of your trees fruit production period, you may think about doing a canning project to save a large number of your fruits for your later enjoyment. All you need to buy is a few supplies, and put a few days into slicing and canning the fruit. They will last for a huge amount of time, and make for great gifts.

Naturally you need the fruits first. Pick them at the ripest time of year, and pick all of them. Cut them up however you prefer to have them cut. This depends on all of your personal preferences, although you might find some tips saying that it works better to cut them a certain way in order for the syrup to get full permeation. Dump all of the appropriate portions into each jar. Usually you will dump the fruit into the jar until there is about an inch of space above it, without packing it down. Then you will proceed to making the syrup.

The syrup is simply a mixture of water and sugar. The exact ratio depends entirely on the fruit that you are dealing with, but 1 cup of sugar for every 2 cups of water is a fairly standard amount. After you have the fruit up to an inch below the opening of the jar, you will fill it up with syrup until the syrup is at the same level (so that it filled up all the cracks between pieces of fruit without going up higher). Then top it off with another little dash of syrup to take care of the fruit on the top, and seal the jar. After this, you will have a perfect can of fruit.

This is just a general overview of the process. Without knowing what fruit you are dealing with, it is impossible to get into specifics. For each different kind of fruit, there are minor alterations you can make in order to maximize the taste that you get out of it. As soon as you start learning these, you will be a very happy canner.