John Myers
The fruit harvest is often larger than the family’s stomachs and you have to preserve part of the harvest. A popular method is the extraction of fruit juice. These juices are a real treasure because you know exactly what’s in the bottle. In addition, they taste incomparably aromatic and score points with their high vitamin content.
The juicing
There are two ways to get the delicious fruit juice:
- Cooking method: Put the fruit in a saucepan, cover it with water and cook until soft. Then pass the fruit through a sieve and collect the juice obtained.
- Steam juicer: The purchase of such a device is recommended if you regularly want to boil down medium amounts of juice yourself. Fill the lower container of the juicer with water, then put the juice container on top of it and the fruit basket with the fruit on top of it. Everything is closed with a lid and heated on the stove. The rising water vapor causes the fruit to burst and the juice to escape.
Boil down juices
When exposed to air, juices quickly oxidize, lose their valuable properties and spoil. They must therefore be used up quickly or preserved by pasteurization.
The germs in the juice are reliably killed by heat. When it cools down, a vacuum is also created so that no bacteria can get into the juice from outside.
- First, sterilize the bottles in boiling water for ten minutes. Be sure to heat the glass and liquid together so that the containers do not crack.
- Boil the juice for twenty minutes to 72 degrees and fill it into the bottle with a funnel (€1.00 at Amazon*). There should be a 3cm border at the top.
- Immediately cap the jar and turn the bottle upside down for five minutes.
- Turn over and let cool at room temperature for a day.
- Then check whether all lids are tightly closed, label, and store in a cool and dark place.
Awaken fruit juice
Optionally, you can boil the juice in a saucepan or in the oven:
- Sterilize the bottles in hot water for ten minutes and pour the juice through a funnel.
- Place this on the grid of the preserving machine and pour in enough water so that the preserving food is half in the water bath.
- Wake up at 75 degrees for 30 minutes.
- Remove and let cool at room temperature.
- Check that all lids are tightly closed, label them, and store them in a cool, dark place.
