E-319: Home Canning of Fruits

Home Canning of Fruits

Guide E-319
Martha Archuleta, Extension Food and Nutrition Specialist
College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences New Mexico State University.

Selection and Care of Fruit

Select fresh, recently harvested, ripe but firm fruit that is free of blemishes, bruises, or diseases. Prepare only the amount of fruit that can be processed quickly. A canner load is a recommended amount to prepare and can at one time. A load is usually 9 pints or 7 quarts.

Table 1. Average amounts per canner load.

Fruit	9 Pints	7 Quarts
	lb	lb
Apples	12-1/04	19
Apricots	10	16
Berries	8	12
Cherries	11	17-1/2
Figs	11	16
Grapes	9	14
Nectarines	11	17-1/2
Peaches	11	17-1/2
Pears	11	17-1/2
Pineapple	13	21
Plums	9	14
Rhubarb	7	10-1/2

Preserve Natural Color and Flavor

Preserve the fruit’s natural color and flavor by limiting exposure to air, packing hot into jars, observing the recommended headspace, processing quickly, and storing correctly.

To prevent discoloration of apples, apricots, nectarines, peaches, white cherries, and grapes that have been peeled, sliced, pitted, or stemmed, dip them in a solution of 3 grams of ascorbic acid (3000 milligrams) to 1 gallon of cold water. One level teaspoon of the pure powdered form ascorbic acid is 3 grams. Six 500-milligram tablets of vitamin C also can be used.

Both ascorbic acid and citric acid, available in several forms, are sold in supermarkets and drug stores. Ascorbic acid mixtures are more effective than citric acid mixtures. Follow manufacturer’s instructions when using the commercial mixtures.

Sweeteners

Sugar and syrups help fruits retain flavor, color, and shape, but do not prevent spoilage. Sweetness is determined by the amount of sugar used: less sugar yields a lighter syrup with less calories. Sweeter syrups should be used with tart fruits. A 10% syrup is closest to the natural sugar content of fruit. See table 2 for information on making sugar syrups.

Honey or light corn syrups can be substituted for up to half of the sugar in a syrup, if desired. Make enough syrup to fill the jars in one canner load.

Table 2. Sugar syrup for a canner load.

Syrup	% of Sugar	For 9-pint load		For 7-quart load
		Water	Sugar	Water	Sugar
		-------- cups --------		-------- cups --------
Very light	10%	6-1/2	3/4	10-1/2	1-1/4
Light	20%	5-3/4	1-1/2	9	2-1/4
Medium	30%	5-1/4	2-1/4	8-1/4	3-3/4
Heavy	40%	5	3-1/4	7-3/4	5-1/4
Very heavy	50%	4-1/4	4-1/4	6-1/2	6-3/4

Canning Without Sugar

Fruits can also be canned without sugar. Plain boiling water, unsweetened apple juice, pineapple juice, white grape juice, or a combination of these can be substituted for sugar syrups. For best results it is recommended that sugar substitutes be used at serving time only, not in canning.

Hot Packing Fruits

Hot packing is heating food to the boiling point, simmering for 2–5 minutes, and filling hot jars loosely with hot food and liquid (juice, syrup, or water).

Hot packing removes air from fruit, shrinks it so that more fits in the jar, reduces fruit’s tendency to float in the canning liquid, and improves shelf life.

General Canning Procedures

Use regular and wide-mouth Mason jars with self-sealing lids held in place by screw-on metal bands. The bands hold the lids in place during the processing and cooling periods.

Mason jars are made from tempered glass to resist high temperatures. Jars are available in 1/2 pint, pint, 1-1/2 pint, and quart sizes. Larger jars are not recommended for home canning.

Inspect jars carefully for cracks or chips and discard faulty ones. Wash jars in hot, soapy water and rinse thoroughly or in the dishwasher. Keep jars hot in the dishwasher, a sink of hot water, or in a warm oven until they are filled.

Check metal screw bands for signs of rust or dents. Discard badly corroded or dented bands. Use only new lids and follow manufacturer’s directions for preparing lids for canning.

Fill hot jars with food, allowing headspace as directed in the recipe for each fruit. A wide-mouth food funnel keeps jars cleaner when filling. Remove air bubbles by carefully inserting a plastic or wooden spatula along the inside of the jar. Add food or liquid to achieve the recommended headspace. Wipe the top rim of the jar with a clean damp cloth or paper towel. Place lid on rim and tighten screw band comfortably tight. DO NOT touch screw band until jar has been processed and cooled.

The unfilled space between food or liquid in the jar and the lid is the headspace. This space allows for boiling and expansion of air in foods. The higher the temperature, the greater the expansion. The space also creates a vacuum as food cools. Headspace for home-canned fruit is generally 1/2 inch, but may vary. Recommended headspace for each fruit is located in the canning directions in table 3.

Follow These Steps for Successful Boiling-Water Canning

Fill the canner halfway with water.
Preheat water to 140° F for raw-packed foods and to 180° F for hot-packed foods.
Load filled jars, fitted with lids, into the canner rack and use the handles to lower the rack into the water; or fill the canner, one jar at a time, with a jar lifter.
If necessary, add more boiling water so the water level is at least 1 inch above jar tops.
Turn heat to its highest position until water boils vigorously.
Set a timer for the minutes required for processing the food.
Cover with the canner lid and lower the heat setting to maintain a gentle boil throughout the process schedule.
Add more boiling water, if needed, to keep the water level above the jars.
When jars have been boiled for the recommended time, turn off the heat and remove the canner lid.
Using a jar lifter, remove the jars and place them on a towel, leaving at least 1-inch spaces between the jars during cooling.

Test for Jar Seals

Remove screw bands when jars have cooled and test for vacuum seals by these methods:

Press the lid center with finger. If the lid springs up when released, it is not sealed.
Tap the lid with a teaspoon. A sealed jar lid will make a ringing sound.
Hold the jar at eye level and look across the lid. A sealed jar lid curves down slightly in the center.

Reprocessing Unsealed Jars

Remove lids from unsealed jars and discard. Check the sealing surface of jar for tiny nicks or cracks. If the jar has defects, discard it and replace it with another jar. If not, add a new lid and process for the same amount of time within 24 hours. Unsealed jars can be kept in the refrigerator and the food used within 3–4 days or remove about an inch of the contents and freeze.

Storing Canned Food

Clean the outsides of sealed, cooled jars. Label with date and contents and store in a cool (50–70° F), dark, dry place away from sun, light, or dampness. Canned products are best if eaten within one year.

Accidental Freezing

Freezing may cause food in jars to spoil if the jars become unsealed. Freezing and thawing cause food to soften and lose eating quality. Protect jars from freezing by wrapping with layers of newspapers.

If Canned Food Spoils

Examine jars carefully before tasting fruit. Check lids for a vacuum seal. NEVER taste food from an unsealed jar.

Signs of food spoilage are streaks and dried food at the top of the jar, swollen lids, broken jar seals, rising air bubbles, and any unnatural color. Other indicators include bad or unnatural odor; spurting liquid; white, blue, green, or black mold; or foaming.

Dispose of any food you suspected of being spoiled. For safety, spoiled canned food and containers may need to be detoxified before disposal. Contact your county Extension office for detoxification instructions.

Altitude Adjustments

All communities in New Mexico are above sea level, varying from 3,000 to 10,000 feet with differences even within a county.

Use the chart on the last page of this guide to determine the elevation of your community and then select safe processing times for canning your fruit. The boiling temperature of liquids is lower at higher elevations, therefore food must be processed longer at high altitudes.

Table 3. Canning fruit in a boiling-water canner.

Food	Pack	Directions	Head- space (inch)	Jar size	Processing time at altitudes of
Food	Pack	Directions	Head- space (inch)	Jar size	3001– 6000 ft (minutes)	Over 6000 ft (minutes)
Apple slices	Hot	Wash, peel, core, slice apple. Drop into water with ascorbic acid as stated above. Drain. Boil 5 minutes in water or light syrup (1 pint liquid per 5 pounds sliced apples). Stir occasionally. Fill jar with apple, syrup, juice, or water, leaving headspace. Wipe jar rims, adjust lids, and process.	1/2	Pints or quarts	30	35
Apple sauce	Hot	Wash, peel, core apples. Slice into water with ascorbic acid. Drain. Simmer in small amount of water until soft. Stir to prevent sticking. Run through sieve or colander. Sauce may be canned with or without sugar. Add sugar if desired. Reheat to boiling and fill jar with hot sauce, leaving headspace. Wipe jar rims, adjust lids, and process.	1/2	Pints Quarts	20 30	25 35
Apricot halves	Hot	Wash. (Peel if desired. Dip 30 to 60 seconds in boiling water until skins loosen. Dip in cold water. Slip off skins.) Cut in half, remove pits. Drop into water with ascorbic acid. Drain and drop into syrup, juice, or water and bring to a boil. Fill jars with hot fruit and hot liquid to cover, leaving headspace. Wipe jar rims, adjust lids, and process.	1/2	Pints Quarts	30 35	35 40
Berries: Blueberries Blackberries Elderberries Mulberries Raspberries	Hot Raw	Blueberries and elderberries only: Wash, cap, stem. Prepare and boil preferred syrup; add 1/2 cup syrup, juice, or water to each jar. Heat berries in boiling water for 30 seconds and drain. Pour hot berries and liquid into jars, leaving headspace. Wipe jar rims, adjust lids, and process. Wash, cap, stem. Prepare and boil preferred syrup; add 1/2 cup syrup, juice, or water to each jar. Fill jars with raw berries; shake gently while filling. Cover with hot water, juice, or syrup, leaving headspace. Wipe jar rims, adjust lids, and process.	1/2 1/2	Pints or quarts Pints Quarts	20 20 30	25 25 35
Cherries, sweet or sour	Hot Raw	Stem and wash cherries; if desired remove pits. Place pitted cherries in ascorbic acid solution. If unpitted, prick skins with clean needle. Add 1/2 cup water, apple juice, grape juice, or syrup for each quart of drained fruit. Bring to boil. Fill jars with cherries and hot liquid, leaving headspace. Wipe jar rims, a djust lids, and process. Stem, wash, pit cherries. Add 1/2 cup water, juice, or syrup to each jar. Fill jar with drained cherries and shake jar. Add hot liquid if needed, leaving headspace. Wipe rims, adjust lids, and process.	1/2 1/2	Pints Quarts Pints or quarts	20 30 35	25 35 40
Figs	Hot	Do not use overripe or cracked figs. Wash figs. Drain. Do not peel or remove stems. Cover with water and boil 2 minutes. Drain. Boil gently in light syrup 5 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon bottled lemon juice to each pint jar, or 2 tablespoons bottled lemon juice to each quart jar. Fill jars with hot figs and hot liquid, leaving headspace. Wipe rims, adjust lids, and process.	1/2	Pints Quarts	55 60	60 65
Fruit puree of any fruit except figs and tomatoes	Hot	Stem, wash, drain, peel, and remove pits if necessary. Measure fruit into large saucepan, crushing slightly if desired. Add 1 cup hot water for each quart of fruit. Cook slowly until fruit is soft, stirring frequently. Press through sieve or food mill. If desired for flavor, add sugar to taste. Reheat pulp to boil, or until sugar dissolves if added. Fill hot jars leaving headspace. Wipe rims, adjust lids, and process.	1/4	Pints or quarts	20	25
Grape juice	Hot	An average of 24-1/2 pounds is needed per 7- quart canner load. An average 16 pounds is needed per canner load of 9 pints. Select firm, mature, sweet, well-colored, ideal quality fruit. Stem and wash grapes. Place in a saucepan and add boiling water to cover grapes. Heat and simmer until skin becomes soft. Strain through damp jelly bag or double layers of cheesecloth. Refrigerate juice 24–48 hours. Do not mix. Carefully pour off liquid into another container and save. Discard sediment. For clearer juice, strain through coffee filter. Place juice in saucepan and sweeten to taste. Stir in sugar and heat until juice begins to boil. Fill hot, sterilized jars immediately, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Wipe rims, adjust lids, and process.	1/4	Pints or quarts	10	15
Grapes	Hot Raw	Quality: Choose unripe, tight-skinned preferably green seedless grapes harvested 2 weeks before they reach optimum eating quality. Stem, wash, and drain grapes. Prepare very light syrup. Blanch grapes in boiling water 30 seconds. Drain. Fill jars with grapes and hot syrup, leaving headspace. Wipe rims, adjust lids, and process. Fill jars with grapes and hot syrup, leaving headspace. Wipe rims, adjust lids, and process.	1 1	Pints or quarts Pints Quarts	15 20 30	20 25 35
Mixed fruit cocktail (Yield: about 6 pints)	Raw	3 lb peaches, ripe but firm 3 lb pears 1-1/2 lb slightly under-ripe seedless green grapes 10 oz jar of maraschino cherries 3 cups sugar 4 cups water Stem and wash grapes. Keep in ascorbic acid solution. Dip peaches, a few at a time, in boiling water 1 to 1-1/2 minutes to loosen skins. Place in pan of cold water and take off skins. Cut in half, remove pit, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Place in ascorbic acid solution with grapes. Peel, halve, core, and cut pears into 1/2-inch cubes. Place into ascorbic acid sol ution with grapes and peaches. Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Drain fruit, add cherries to fruit, and mix gently. Add 1/2 cup of hot syrup to each jar and gently add mixed fruit and more hot syrup, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Wipe rims, adjust lids, and process.	1/2	1/2- pints or pints	30	35
Peaches or nectarines, halved or sliced	Hot Raw	Wash. Dip 30–60 seconds in boiling water until skins loosen. Dip in cold water. Slip off skins. (Skins of nectarines do not have to be removed.) Cut in half and remove pits. Drop into water with ascorbic acid. Drain and place into syrup, juice, or water. Bring to boil. Fill jars with hot fruit and hot liquid, leaving headspace. Wipe rims, adjust lids, and process. Fill jars with raw fruit, cut side down. Add hot water, juice, or syrup leaving headspace. Wipe rims, adjust lids, and process.	1/2 1/2	Pints Quarts Pints Quarts	30 35 35 40	35 40 40 45
Pears	Hot	Wash and peel pears. Cut lengthwise in halves. Core. Drop in ascorbic acid solution until ready. Drain. Boil in water, apple juice, white grape juice or desired syrup 5 minutes. Fill jars with hot fruit and hot liquid, leaving headspace. Wipe rims, adjust lids, and process.	1/2	Pints Quarts	30 35	35 40
Pineapple	Hot	Wash. Peel and remove eyes and any fiber. Slice or cube. Simmer 10 minutes in water, juice, or syrup. Fill jars with hot pineapple and hot liquid, leaving headspace. Wipe rims, adjust lids, and process.	1/2	Pints Quarts	20 30	25 35
Plums	Hot Raw	Stem and wash plums. Prick skins of whole plums with clean needle. Halve and pit free-stone varieties. Simmer plums 2 minutes in desired syrup. Cover pan and let stand 20–30 minutes. Fill jars with hot plums and liquid, leaving headspace. Wipe rims, adjust lids, and process. Fill jars with raw plums. Pack firmly. Add hot syrup, leaving headspace. Wipe rims, adjust lids, and process.	1/2 1/2	Pints Quarts Pints Quarts	30 35 30 35	35 40 35 40
Rhubarb, stewed	Hot	Select young, tender, well-colored stalks from spring or late fall crop. Trim off all leaves and discard promptly as leaves are toxic. Wash and cut stalks into 1/2-inch pieces. Add 1/2 cup sugar to each quart of fruit in large saucepan. Let stand. When juice appears, heat to boiling. Fill jars with rhubarb juice without delay, leaving headspace. Wipe rims, adjust lids, and process.	1/2	Pints or quarts	20	20
Zucchini & pineapple (Yield: 8 to 9 pints)	Hot	4 qt cubed or shredded zucchini 46 oz canned, unsweetened pineapple juice 1-1/2 cup bottled lemon juice 3 cups sugar Peel zucchini and cut into 1/2-inch cubes or shred. Mix with other ingredients in large saucepan and bring to boil. Simmer 20 minutes. Fill jars with hot mixture and cooking liquid, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Wipe rims, adjust lids, and process	1/2	1/2- pints or pints	20	25

Elevations of Cities and Towns in New Mexico

City/Town	Elevation (ft)	City/Town	Elevation (ft)
Alamogordo	4,350	Las Vegas	6,450
Albuquerque	5,000	Logan	3,830
Artesia	3,350	Lordsburg	4,250
Aztec	5,650	Los Alamos	7,400
Bayard	5,800	Los Ranchos de Albuquerque	4,950
Belen	4,800	Lovington	3,900
Bernalillo	5,050	Magdalena	6,556
Bosque Farms	4,864	Melrose	4,599
Carlsbad	3,100	Mora	7,200
Carrizozo	5,450	Mosquero	5,550
Chama	7,900	Mountainair	6,500
Cimarron	6,450	Portales	4,010
Clayton	5,050	Raton	6,650
Cloudcroft	8,650	Reserve	5,749
Clovis	4,300	Rio Rancho	5,290
Columbus	4,020	Roswell	3,600
Corona	6,664	Roy	5,900
Corrales	5,005	Ruidoso	7,000
Cuba	7,000	San Jon	4,200
Deming	4,300	Santa Fe	7,000
Dexter	3,500	Santa Rita	6,300
Eagle Nest	8,250	Santa Rosa	4,600
Elida	4,345	Silver City	5,900
Española	5,600	Socorro	4,600
Estancia	6,100	Springer	5,800
Farmington	5,400	Taos	7,000
Fort Sumner	4,050	Texico	4,150
Gallup	6,500	Tierra Amarilla	7,460
Grants	6,450	Truth or Consequences	4,250
Hobbs	3,650	Tucumcari	4,100
Hurley	5,700	Tularosa	4,500
Jemez Springs	6,200	Vaughn	5,950
Las Cruces	3,900	Wagon Mound	6,200

This publication is intended for use by individuals with a basic understanding of canning procedures. For more detailed information consult the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, which is available through your local county Extension office.

To find more resources for your business, home, or family, visit the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences on the World Wide Web at aces.nmsu.edu.

Contents of publications may be freely reproduced for educational purposes. All other rights reserved. For permission to use publications for other purposes, contact pubs@nmsu.edu or the authors listed on the publication.

New Mexico State University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and educator. NMSU and the U.S. Department of Agriculture cooperating.

Reprinted and electronically distributed April 2005, Las Cruces, NM.