Bottling Fruit in Brandy

Appears in
Farmhouse Kitchen
Farmhouse Kitchen

By Audrey Ellis

Published 1971

  • About
Since the cost of fruit bottled in brandy is extremely high in the shops, it is worth the cost of the ingredients to do your own bottling at home. In many farmhouse kitchens, a few bottles are prepared when peaches are in season, and kept for Christmas. Other luxury fruits which are very good bottled in this way are pears, apricots, dessert cherries, raspberries and damsons.
The following method is useful when you are making up sugar syrup for bottling a batch of fruit:
  1. Prepare the fruit in the usual way according to kind. Where the fruit has a rather tough skin (damsons, peaches, etc.,), prick with a darning needle four or five times, so that the brandy-flavoured syrup penetrates the fruit.
  2. Make heavy syrup, allow to cool. To each measured pint of cold syrup add 1/2 pint of brandy.
  3. Cover the fruit with the syrup, and proceed to sterilize either by the oven method or deep pan method.

    This alternative method is easier if you are not sterilizing other bottled fruit.

    Remove hairs on 1 lb. peaches with damp cloth, but do not skin. Put 12 oz. sugar and ½ pint water into a saucepan and heat gently until sugar has dissolved, then boil for 8 minutes without stirring. Add the peaches, a few at a time, to the boiling syrup and simmer until tender, about 5 minutes. If the peaches are not covered by the syrup, turn during cooking. Remove the peaches with a draining spoon and pack into two 1 lb. jars. Cook the syrup for a little longer, then measure and add an equal quantity of brandy. Bring this syrup to the boil. Pour over the peaches and seal.