Gauteng Smallholder Gauteng Smallholder November 2011 | Page 43

From page 39
unpeeled, but the skin must
you with satisfaction and
be pricked to prevent
make you the envy of your
bursting. Berries are left
friends.
whole.
But you can also bottle
You can get around the chore
plums, apricots, quinces and
of peeling peaches by using
berries.
the following:
Use slightly under-ripe fruit.
Make a weak caustic soda
This will ensure that the
solution in a bucket ~ not in
preserved pieces retain their
your sink ~ comprising two
crunchiness and tang on
tablespoons of caustic soda
eating.
dissolved in three litres of
Firstly, gather your wide-
boiling water in a bucket, and
necked glass bottles of about filled with cold water. Fill a
a litre capacity and sterilise
second bucket with cold
them and the lids.
water to which is added the
The syrup that you make will juice of a lemon or two.
vary according to the fruit that Wearing rubber gloves, dunk
you are using:
a few peaches into the caustic
soda solution for a few
~ Thin syrup – three parts
seconds. As you remove them
water to one part sugar, for
you will find the caustic soda
sweet fruit , eg strawberries;
~ Medium syrup – 2 to 1, for has turned the skin to slime:
simply rub them over with a
peaches;
rough cloth or scouring pad
~ Thick syrup – 1 to 1, for
to remove the skins, and toss
acid fruit such as plums and
them into the second bucket
apricots.
to rinse. Take care not to let
Remove the stems. Smaller
the peaches stand in the
fruit such as plums and
caustic soda solution for more
apricots can be bottled
IN THE KITCHEN
than a few seconds or the
flesh, along with the skin, will
be turned to mush.
Rinse the skinned peaches a
second time in fresh water
before preparing them for the
bottles.
Discard the spent soda
solution and rinsing water by
pouring it on to a patch of
weeds you want killed. Do
not empty it down your drain
if it ends in a septic tank
system, as it will poison your
septic tank.
If your peaches are relatively
small you can prepare them
for bottling the traditional way
by halving and packing the
jars symmetrically, with the
halves all facing downwards.
To halve a peach run a sharp
knife around the circumfer-
ence along the ridge-line of
the fruit. Next, insert a
kitchen spoon (not your
grandmother's heirloom
spoon as the handle will
become bent) at the stem end
and, wiggling it from side to
41
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side, slide it over the pip,
loosening half as you go.
Repeat on the other side and
discard the pip.
If the peaches are large,
however, halving wastes
space in the jars and it is
easier and faster simply to cut
large chunks off the pip.
To prepare the syrup, boil the
water and sugar in a sauce-
pan or in the microwave,
making sure all the sugar is
dissolved. Some like to add a
few cloves to the syrup.
Fill the jars with fruit: put in a
few pieces and jiggle the jar
to allow the fruit to settle,
then add some more and
Continued on page 42