There’s not much better on a cold winter’s morning than breakfasting on preserved summer fruits. But just how do you go about preserving that essence of summer sunshine?
A summer job that has just been completed here in my corner of Australia is that of preserving fruit. There are many ways to preserve fruit, but one of my favourites is bottling (also referred to as canning).
According to Wikipedia, bottling involves cooking food, sealing it in sterile cans or jars, and boiling the containers to kill or weaken any remaining bacteria as a form of sterilization.
Australia has a long history of bottling fruit and the system I use (Fowlers Vacola) was first locally developed in 1915. The great thing is that because the Fowlers Vacola system has been around for so long, there are plenty of places to purchase the components, either new or second hand. I’ve even picked up perfect (but slightly dirty) Fowlers Vacola bottles for free at the local tip shop.
The Fowlers Vacola bottles and seals are available in different sizes, where each size is given a simple part number. For example, I only use a number 27 bottle (900ml capacity) which requires a number 3 lid and rubber seal (3 inch lid and seal). Such a system is easy and standardised. As an interesting side note, the company ceased manufacturing the number 27 bottles (which I use) in the early 1970s, so you can get an idea of just how tough the glass is.