While wandering in the supermarket the other day as I tend to do while here on the coast to fill in time while Brian is away at work, I noticed that pears and grapes were reasonably cheap, so decided to add a few pineapples and can up a canner load of 3 fruits.
Firstly I top and tailed the pineapples and sliced them into rings, then peeled them( I decided about this time to reserve the peelings to attempt to make cordial/syrup) I then diced the pineapple after removing the cores.
Next I pulled all the grapes off the bunches and set aside then peeled and quartered the pears and soaked in water with a good squeeze of lemon juice to keep them white , I later diced them.
I then added the fruit altogether into a big pot and mixed together.
I then filled all my jars with the mixed fruit,topped them up with extra light syrup, released air bubbles with a plastic chopstick,adjusted the syrup levels, and wiped the rims with a paper towel soaked in white vinegar. I then placed on my lids that I had heated to simmer point,turned off and let sit in the hot water until ready, and screwed the bands on finger tight.
Next I placed all the jars into my electric water bath canner, Mine is the Fowlers Vacola type (it holds 14 pint jars), covered them with water by an inch or two, and brought it up to boil point,which I maintained for 20 minutes. After the allotted time, I turned off the canner,removed the lid and let the jars sit a further 5 minutes in the water before removing them onto a towel covered bench out of the draught.
While the 3 fruits were processing, I got on with making the cordial/Syrup. I had never made this before so I looked up a recipe that was on a Blog by Sally Wise for Pineapple cordial and adapted it slightly.I really had to double it all as I had quite a bit of peelings ect.
Firstly I roughly chopped up the pineapple peels( smaller than in the photo below, as this didn't chop the 1st time) ,cores and tops and tails along with the pear cores and peelings and placed them in a food processor and processed until fairly fine.
I then added this into a pot with about 4 cups of water, brought to the boil and simmered for about 15 minutes.
After this, I then strained it through a colander pressing down firm on the pulp to extract as much liquid as possible.,The pulp is discarded.
I Then poured the resulting liquid back through a much finer sieve. I then measured this liquid out and for every cup of liquid there was I added 1 cup of white sugar. I then placed this back on the heat and brought it back up to the boil and boiled for a minute or two only.Immediately on removal add the juice and grated rind of a large lemon( 2 for what I did) and 2 tspns of Tartaric acid( I had none and it was late, so I omitted it and added extra lemon juice and stirred this in. Allow to cool, strain again through a fine sieve and bottle..
I then wiped rims clean and added my new caps for my 500 ml juice/sauce bottles and then placed these along with my remaining six 3 fruit jars that didn't fit in the first load,covered with water and processed for 20 minutes again in the electric preserver.. These really only required 10-15 minutes but it did them no harm to stay as long as the 3 fruits needed.
After the allotted time I observed the same routine as before and allowed the jars and Bottles to cool on the bench.
The final product looks great and I have tasted it and is lovely. It is recommended to be mixed 1 part cordial/syrup to 4 parts water, soda water or sparkling mineral water, which is what I used. I will certainly use my peelings and other bits for this again. The amount of sugar is high, but if used in moderation I see no problem.
There was a fair quantity of pineapple and pear pulp after I had strained the liquid off so I decided that I would put it into the worm farms so that they could have a treat and that nothing would really be going to waste., I'm sure they are enjoying it at this very moment.
The 3 fruit combination is something that I have canned a few times before, always popular and doesn't last very long in the pantry, and it is something that I will probably make over and over again. The cordial/syrup I will make again, but it will vary according to what I am canning at the time as to what flavours I will do.
So until we meet up again,
take care everyone
Cheers,
Jane.
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