Let's Preserve (fact sheets)
For freezing, select apple varieties that are crisp and firm and not mealy textured such as Golden Delicious, Rome Beauty, Jonathan, York Imperial, or Granny Smith (see Table 3).
Select berries that are plump, firm, have a light-blue to blue-black color, and are of ideal maturity for eating fresh. Refrigerate for 1 to 2 days to improve flavor, then preserve them.
Select freshly harvested cherries with deep, uniform color and ideal maturity for eating fresh. Don’t delay preserving them, with or without seeds.
The following fruit fillings are excellent and safe products. Each canned quart makes one 8- to 9-inch pie.
Prepare products as described on the following pages. All products should be filled while hot into sterile half-pint or pint canning jars, leaving 1⁄4-inch headspace.
Glenglo, Ernie’s Choice, Cresthaven, John Boy, Loring, Redhaven, and Sunhigh. Elberta is less acceptable. All are yellow freestone peaches.
Bartlett, Bosc, Anjou, and Comice are best. Keiffer is acceptable. Seckel pears are suitable for pickled and spiced products.
Select firm, yellow, green, or red peppers free of disease and insect damage.
Use a pickling variety of cucumber. Seed catalogs are a good source of information about cucumber varieties suitable for pickling.
Resistant Golden Acre, Danish Ball- head, and Late Flat Head are good varieties for sauerkraut. Early varieties are lower in sugar and less desirable for making kraut.
Green: Blue Lake types, Bush Kentucky Wonder 125, Tenderette (round podded), and Roma II (for freezing). Wax/yellow: Gold Rush, Rocdor, Indy Gold, Wax Romano 264 (freezing only).
Northeaster, Earliglow, Guardian, Redchief, Jewel, and Sparkle are usually excellent-quality berries for freezing. Most other varieties are suitable, especially for making jams and eating fresh. Strawberries imported from California or Florida are best for eating fresh. Home-grown varieties are best for making jams and freezing.
Most sweet corn varieties are acceptable for canning and freezing. Bodacious, Tuxedo, and Incredible are good extra- sweet yellow varieties.
Select only disease-free, preferably vine- ripened, firm fruit for canning. Do not can tomatoes from dead or frost-killed vines.
