Record Home Bottling Year Predicted For N.Z.

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29722, 16 January 1962, Page 2

Record Home Bottling Year Predicted For N.Z.

[By

SUSAN BAKER

The New Zealand male takes great pride in being a do-it-yourself expert—handy with a hammer, a paint brush or even a concrete mixer. But the truth is that home bottling puts the New Zealand housewife a long way ahead of her husband in do-it-yourself activity.

Every year, about 500,000 New Zealand women “put down” nearly 20 million boiitles of preserves, according to market research. That is an average of 24 bottles for every household in the country, 36 bottles for every one of the seven out of 10 households which do preserving. This season could set record figures. Agricultural experts are predicting a boom season for home preserving because of favourable weather and probable surpluses of fruit and vegetables in home gardens. For those housewives who like to try something a little different, the following fruit recipes could be helpful:— Baked Apples

Select sound baking apples. Wash, core and bake with a little water in a moderate oven; bake thoroughly but not enough to break down the fruit. Put the cores and parings into a pan with water and cook as though preparing apple jelly. When sufficiently cooked, drain the liquid off the parings and add pound for pound of sugar. Pack the hot apples into sterilised jars, fill with boiling syrup a jar at a time and place on vacuum seals. Apples, Red Cinnamon

Select firm apples which will not pulp m processing. Prepare a thin or medium syrup. Flavour the syrup

with cinnamon according to taste and add enough pure red vegetable colouring to give the desired shade to the apples. Peel the apples, leave whole or quarter, and boil for three to five minutes in the syrup. Pack into clean jars and fill to within half an inch of the top with syrup in which the apples were precooked. Place on vacuum seal® and process the jars completely immersed in boiling water for 25 minutes, or in a pressurecooker for 10 minutes at 51b pressure.

Mint Pears

Pare, core and, 1 the peeled fruit is to stand several minutes,, drop into slightly salted water. Drain and precook three to five minutes in thin or medium syrup. Pack into clean jars and fill with syrup to within half an inch of the top. To each quart add half a teaspoon of mint extract and enough pure green fruit colouring to give the desired shade. (If the pears are ripe enough to be soft, they may be packed without precooking). Seal the jars with vacuum lids and process, completely immersed in boiling water, for 25 minutes, or in a pressure cooker for 10 minutes at 51b pressure.

Child Injured. Mary O’Connor, aged two, of 30 Charles street, was treated at the Christchurch Hospital fob minor head injuries suffered wb.ejutfie fell on the concrete the paddling pool in the Gardens about 2