Mixed fruit preserve

12 Large Strawberries
20 Cherries, pitted
2 Pear
2 ½ cup  Sugar or ¾ of fruit weight
4 tbsp.    Lemon juice

Tip in the fruits into a not metallic mixing bowl. Add in about 4 tablespoon sugar. Use your fingers to mash everything up. Cover with cling film and rest (in the refrigerator of course) through the night.

Sterilize all the utensils you’ll be using. The wooden spatula, whisk, canning jars, spoon all goes into a large stockpot with boiling water. Leave them there for about 10 minutes. Remove carefully and dry in and out.

In the meantime, set a large pot on medium heat. Tip the berries and the fruit mix. Once on a rolling boil, reduce heat to bare minimum and simmer for about 10 minutes. Next up, bring in the sugar. Stir it all in. Keeping the heat to just about simmer levels cook for an hour.  Last up: splash in the lemon juice and stir.

I use a whisk to blend in the pulp a little. However, this is optional. Now this is a really old-school recipe without added pectin. The end product will be a nice gooey preserve but not jelly like (rem’er there’s no added pectin). All we want is a nice sticky consistency that just about holds on to some bread, muffin or scones. To check if you have the right consistency a simple trick is to chill a spoon or a bowl. Tip in a teaspoon of the preserve onto it and see if it loosely sets on the cold surface. If you like what you see; you’ve got it. 

Transfer from heat and cool before spooning the preserve to sterilised pots. I usually store these jewelled pots for 6-8 months and therefore opt for a hot bath; which is again a simple process: all you do is tightly screw the lids and emerge the cans into a pot full of simmering water. Leave it for about 10 minutes. Transfer, cool and refrigerate.

Voila, your home made preserve is all ready to be relished.