Culinary school came with many different cooking classes. From the basics of Culinary Foundations to the advanced lessons of World Cuisines, I enjoyed all of them for different reasons. My favorite class by far was Farm to Table. That was the class that started my love of local, seasonal, scratch made cooking. One of the first things we learned was how to make jars of fruit preserves.
I remember doing this assignment and I was so excited about it. I made a trip to the farmers market to buy fresh strawberries. Making it as close to farm to table as I could get was my goal.
Ingredients for making fruit preserves
Making homemade fruit preserves is not difficult to do. It only takes a few simple ingredients, a little bit of time, and you will be topping your toast before you know it. You can use any berries that you like. I made strawberry and blueberry preserves with this recipe and they were both amazing. The technique is the same either way.
- 8 oz of fresh seasonal fruit
- 8 oz. of granulated sugar
- 1 tsp. pectin
- 1/2 oz. of lemon juice
*Pectin is available in the canning section of the supermarket.*
Directions for making
This is a small batch that makes one cup of fruit preserves. You can increase the recipe to make more if needed. Mix the berries with sugar in a small bowl and refrigerate overnight. If using larger strawberries you can cut them in half or quarters if needed. Blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries will be fine as is.
Add the sugared fruit to a saucepan and simmer until a pureed consistency. Remove from heat, sprinkle in pectin and stir. Add back to the heat and cook 3-4 more minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and pour the fruit mixture into glass canning jars, seal and refrigerate until ready to use.
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