Summer and early autumn, when fruit is plentiful and even in glut, is the time to “put down†preserves. We’re probably not going to go about this in the same way our mothers did, laying in stores to keep the family supplied with fruit and jam over winter. Nowadays, the canning industry makes big bottling days unnecessary (except for nectarines, if you want those you have to bottle them yourself) and there are plenty of small businesses making quality jams.
But without the necessity of making the shelves groan, we still enjoy making special things, such as fruit preserved with a liqueur, making flavoured vinegars, apricot conserve flavoured with orange blossom water, a fruit curd or a CWA chutney.
Bottled tomatoes need vinegar added to them if they are to keep, so if you want to make a tomato sauce for use with pasta or other meals, it is better to freeze it.
For jam, choose fruit that is firm and slightly under-ripe and include just a few ripe fruits for colour, but too much ripe fruit needs too much boiling to set into jam. Fruit that is bottled should also be firm and undamaged.
If you see a bargain or are given very ripe fruit or tomatoes, make the fruit into a syrup or sauce, the tomatoes into a sauce or soup. Use your freezer, if you do not want to follow the strict rules or equip yourself for preserving in bottles.
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