Important: Safety Warning
This page describes home-canning methods from before the causes of botulism were understood. Canning low-acid foods without a pressure canner, as described here, can allow the growth of Clostridium botulinum, whose toxin is among the deadliest known. Follow current USDA home-canning guidelines instead.
This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon.
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To Keep Fruit Fresh in Jars
Use only self-sealing glass jars. Put into a porcelain-lined preserving kettle, enough to fill 2 quart jars; sprinkle on sugar, 1/4 pound; place over a slow fire and heat through, not boiled. While the fruit is being heated, keep the jars filled with moderately hot water. As soon as the fruit is ready, empty the water from the jars, fill to the brim with fruit, and seal immediately. As it cools a vacuum is formed, which prevents bursting. In this way every kind of fruit will retain its flavor. cloudy and stormy days, they can be brought into the house, and set against the side of the room near the stove or fire-place. 1641. To Keep Apples and Pears Fresh. Gather the fruit during a dry day, and put it at once into earthen glazed pans, deep enough to contain two or three layers of fruit, and each pan having a tightly-fitting lid. If the fruit sweats, the exudation dries on the fruit's surface, and helps to keep in the moisture and flavor. The cover helps to do the same, and to exclude the light. Keep the pans in a dry, cool place, and never wipe the fruit until required for dessert. Pears may be kept in the same way, but require careful and constant watching.