John Myers
If you are one of the lucky ones who can look forward to a rich fruit harvest in your own garden year after year but do not really know what to do with the fruity all sorts to preserve it for a long time, we have a good idea for you: Just insert the fruit. Our tips and the basic recipe will help you!
Insert fruit – general information
Pickling, preserving, preserving – these three terms are all too often used synonymously, although there are definitely differences. While fruit or vegetables are (strongly) heated when canning and preserving, this is not the case when pickling. Normally, pickling is done without heating – you can put the fruit in the preserving liquid fully blanched if you like, but with the right ingredients, you can do all that preliminary work too.
Note: Not every type of fruit is suitable for all three preservation methods mentioned (pickling, canning, and preserving). Some should only be pickled (elderberries), and others only boiled down (currants). The majority of the fruits, however, allow all variants. These include apples, pears, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, plums, apricots, peaches, cherries, plums, and more.
When picking vegetables, vinegar or oil is commonly used as a base; You can also pickle some fruit in vinegar – such as cherries, pears, or quinces. However, most types of fruit do not go particularly well with vinegar, so we recommend that you use alcohol (only high-proof!) for pickling fruit. Like vinegar, alcohol has a preservative effect. Vodka, gin, brandy, and double grain are suitable.
Recipe for pickling fruit
Basically, you can combine whatever suits your taste. The main ingredients are the desired fruits and suitable alcohol. In addition, cinnamon sticks and vanilla pulp are often suitable for flavoring preserved fruit.
You always need:
- fruit of your choice
- high-proof alcohol
- Sugar*
- Extras of your choice (such as cinnamon sticks, vanilla pulp, fresh parsley, etc.)
* It is advisable to use birch sugar instead of normal sugar – your health will thank you.
How to pickle fruit correctly
- Mix the alcohol and the chosen extra (e.g. vodka with vanilla pulp).
- Wash the fruit and remove any inedible parts. If necessary, cut the fruit up into small pieces.
- Put the fruit and sugar in the mason jar.
- Pour the alcohol over the sugared fruit. The fruit must be covered.
- Close the jar tightly.
- Leave it for at least two weeks.
