Recipes for Canning Fruits
Cherries
Wash, stem and pit the cherries. Put them on to cook in their own juice. Let them scald well and skim off the froth. Lift the cherries out with a strainer, leaving the juice to be bottled and used in mince pies. Pack the cherries into jars and cover with syrup of 50 degrees density. Sterilize for 15 minutes.
Unpitted cherries should be blanched for one minute, cold-dipped for an instant and packed in jars to be covered with syrup of 30 degrees density. Sterilize for 25 minutes, counting time when the water begins to boil after adding the last jar.
Peaches
Before preparing fruit make a syrup of 30 to 40 degrees of density, as desired. Put in one cracked peach seed for every quart of syrup. Boil for about Ihree minutes and strain. Sort fruit, using firm ones for canning; and saving broken ones for jam. Blanch off the skills and cold-dip for one minute. Slip off the skins, using a silver knife when necessary. Cut into halves and pack at once, placing in overlapping layers with seeded side down. Fill each jar with syrup and run a silver knife or spoon-handle down the side, to make sure that all air bubbles rise. Sterilize for 20 minutes, counting time when the water begins to boil after adding the last jar.
Pears
Select ripe, firm pears which arc not too soft. Blanch for one minute, cold-dip and peel with a silver knife. Cut in halves or quarters and remove the core. Pack rapidly and cover with syrup of 30 degrees density. Sterilize for 25 minutes.
If the hard, green variety of pears are used, prepare in the same way, but sterilize for 60 minutes. These are particularly good for use in salads.
Pineapple
Select large, ripe fruit without soft spots. Remove the cone and blanch the pineapple for ten minutes in boiling water before peeling. Cold dip for two minutes. Slice off the top and bottom and cut the "pine" in rings of desired thickness (about one-half inch). Then peel the edge of each ring and remove the core with a doughnut cutter. Use the small pieces from the edges to pack on top of the slices. Make a syrup of 40 degrees density. Pour over the fruit which has been packed in jar. Adjust the rubber and the top. Lower into the hot water container and sterilize for 30 minutes, counting the time when the water begins to boil after last jar has been added. When pineapple is cubed rather than sliced, sterilize for 20 minutes.
Sweet Pickled Peaches
Prepare a syrup of 60 degrees density, using half-and-half of vinegar and water for the liquid. Add two-thirds cup of stick cinnamon broken in pieces and boil to 224 degrees F. Blanch and pack the peaches as for canning, sticking two whole cloves in each and pour the prepared syrup over them. Sterilize for 35 minutes.