Cheap jars

powershopper

Thanks Pink_winged, I have an order in with Tesco for next week, think I'll try to add some mint sauce........

powershopper

done that!!! I can see my baskets of small but beautiful tasting goodies for christmas will be full!!!!!

moanymoany

value salad cream, value jam, value pickled beetroot

How do you bottle fruit in the microwave? My gran used to bottle fruit but I can't remember how, I seem to remember her putting stuff in the oven.

This year I'm going to make some jams and chutneys. After being severely influenced by the 'pantry' thread I intend to turn my under the stairs into a pantry and I need jars of HM stuff to give it authenticity.

[Deleted User]

Mint sauce is 7p in sainsburys. I don't know how they can produce the jars for that.

powershopper

Hi moanymoany.
This is how I do it

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1 get some nice fruit, under-ripe is best, over-ripe or bruised is a big no-no
2 peel, de-stone or de-seed. Pineapple works a dream!
3 cut into bite size pieces, if you imagine the size and shape of canned fruit---you got it
4 pack into a sterilised jar (old cooks tip coming up----put your jars through the dish washer, or wash and rinse well, then put about an inch of water in the jar and MW for a min or so until it boils. This will sterilise it. Don't pour out the water yet, cover with a CLEAN cloth to keep it hot. Boil some water in a pan and drop the lid in until you need it) all this hygeine stuff is REALLY important, but you already know this!
5 You can use sugar syrup- prepare 2oz sugar dissolved in 1/2 pt water, boil for 5 mins or so. You can prepare this in advance and keep it in a jar in the fridge. I like to use fruit juice, eg pineapple!!!
warm the syrup or juice and pour into the jar of fruit. tap the bottom of the jar to get all the air bubbles out.
6 The fun bit

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when the jar is full, put the lid on. NOT TIGHT
7 Stand the jar on a plate to catch the dribbles and MW on MED for about 5 mins. At this point you are cooking the fruit. The liquor in the jar will boil, expect to see bubbles coming up the jar. If not, give it another minuit.
If loads of juice comes out (usually does with me) then carefully top up the jar from the dish) put the lid on loosely and MW another min.
8 At ths point the fruit will be cooked,everything will be BOILING HOT, switch off the MW, open the door and with you hand protected with your clean tea towel, TIGHTEN THE LID QUICK!!!
Then go and have a nice cup of gin, er tea and wait till it cools a little.
When the lid goes ping and the centre button goes down, you've done it!

Sometimes there is a space between the lid and the fruit, as long as the lid is sealed it,s ok

If you have more than one jar, space them out well in the MW and add 2 mins per jar.

Good Luck

aurorahelios

powershopper wrote: »

put the lid on loosely and MW another min.

Doesn't the lid contain metal though and so shouldn't be put in the microwave?

buxtonrabbitgreen

powershopper wrote: »

This is really a double subject thread..... I just found out how to bottle fruits OS in the microwave! and make jam....and marmalade! I use two books for starting, 'Luxurious Jam' by Sonia Allison(she includes chutneys and pickles) and 'Microwave Bottling' by Isabel Webb.
The great thing is that you don't have to have buckets full of spare produce, so when you find the last two baskets of plums(or anything else you fancy) going for Really Cheap Prices on the supermarket shelves, you can whisk them home and have them nicely stashed away in the storecupboard/pantry/garage/spare room for winter when you are desperate for something other than apple pie! ---nothing wrong with apple pie, but you get the drift--
The other subject is the availability of jam jars----yes I know about Freecycle etc etc, but yesterday I saw in our local Nice Kitchen Shop, new jam jars with lids for 99p, and I thought I could buy a product in a jar for a lot less, eat, or not, the product and re-cycle the jars. Nothing new there you say, so lets see where you can buy the cheapest stuff in jars............
I know I have missed the 4p mint sauce, but today I found in :-
Asda - sliced beetroot at 20p
sweet pickle at 26p

OK then all of us Old Stylers, any more?.........

Dont you find it immpossibel to get the picling smell out of them though. I have washed a pickled onion jar in the dishwasher 3 times then tried bicarbe but it still stincks

moanymoany

Thanks powershopper, I've got a coffee jar with a plastic lid and I will have a go with that first.

Where to get jars - ask the neighbours, hang out at a busy glass re-cycle bin, ask at a hotel kitchen or restaurant - fast food.

I've gathered a few for my jams and chutneys. I have more success with jam in the microwave. No matter what I do with a pan it burns.

At school I made plum jam. The teacher could not get it to set and wrinkle on the saucer and so I had to wait through break to boil it. When it was finally in the jars and set it was so solid we couldn't get it out of the jar!

When making jam from stoned fruit - rub it through a colander - stones in jam mean broken teeth and dentist bills!

skinnygirlnot

Hi,

I've been making loads of jam recently and ran out of jam jars. I remembered a recent thread about using mint sauce jars so off to Asda I went and bought a dozen jars for 3p each!!!

Problem is that no matter how many times I wash the lids they still stink of mint sauce. Even the dishwasher smells minty.And I've had to repot some raspberry jam :mad: .

Can anybody from that thread tell me how they got rid of the smell- please.

hardpressed

If it's just the lids that smell could you use the transparent jam pot cover that you can buy?