When you’re canning fruit, most methods require that you mix up a light to heavy syrup to add to the jars of fruit prior to canning. This entails measuring sugar into water in a pot and heating it all up, hoping you didn’t make way too much or not enough, and dripping sugar-water everywhere while you’re filling your jars. Why not make your job less sticky and have the perfect amount of syrup for your peaches, pears, cherries, and more by letting the canner make the syrup?
This method of syrup making won’t be found in your canning manuals, so here’s a disclaimer to use it at your own risk although I have never had a problem canning fruits this way.
Instead of mixing up a batch of syrup, just heat a pot of water. Now add the sugar to the jars on top of your fruit. 1/4 cup per quart makes a nice light syrup. Add more for a heavier syrup–up to about 1/2 cup per quart. Halve those quantities if you’re canning in pint jars.
Then pour your hot water into the jar over the fruit and sugar and prepare to process the jar as you normally would. The sugar will dissolve in the water as the fruit is in the canner. Occasionally, the sugar doesn’t dissolve properly and you get a blob of sugar goo at the bottom of your jar (which there’s really nothing wrong with, but you wouldn’t want to take that jar to your local fair exhibits). To me, it’s worth the time, guesswork, and stickiness saved to let the canner make the syrup for my canned fruits.
Keep preparing! Angela
***************************************************************
Subscribe to my email newsletter for updates and special deals.
Please be sure to follow Food Storage and Survival on Facebook which is updated every time there is a new article. You can also find me on Pinterest, and purchase my book, Food Storage for Self Sufficiency and Survival on Amazon.
***************************************************************
Shop the Thrive Monthly Specials or my favorites, the freeze dried vegetables and yogurt bites!
***************************************************************
I put about a cup of hot water in my quart jar, then add my sugar, then swirl it around so the sugar dissolves, then add the fruit, and top it up with more hot water if necessary. That way you don’t get the blob of undissolved sugar in the bottom. The undissolved sugar worries me because the heat concentrates in the sugar, and I worry that there might be increased jar breakage.
It is not recommended to can fruit raw though from what I was taught. I may have to give this a go though. I just did pears and it was a sticky mess.
Just thought I’d add my method of canning apples (we get TONS of them) We use a hand crank peeler which also cuts them into a spiral, the spirals ar them cut through once leaving nice slices. The slices are dropped into a dishpan with water and vinegar to keep them from browning. Once all apples are peeled I drain them through a sieve. The slices are layered into large dishpans and each layer is sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. After they have sat for awhile the sugar makes the apples start to juice. I fill quart jars with the apples, along with the sugar and cinnamon. Jars are shaken to make sure there are no air spaces… and I really pack those jars full! Seals and lids are added then jars are placed into canner with warm water. Once the wter comes to a boil I start timing them- 40 minutes for the quarts. When I want a pie, all I need is a crust, then dump in a jar of apples- YUM
Sounds like a great way to can your apples! Just wondering if you add the juice to fill up the bottle or not?
My family has done this for years, since the 1950’s . It is such a time and mess saver.
Safe too since the same ingredients go into the jar.