Topic: Bottling previously frozen fruit

[Morris]

My freezers are absolutely bursting. So, am considering defrosting gooseberries, damsons and greengages, then bottling them instead.

I know you can do this to make jam. Is it OK for bottling? I can't find any info elsewhere. I'd pre-cook the fruit first, and pack hot, so they can be used in pies, crumbles etc.

Thanks.

[galina]

No doubt Jeannine will know the answer.  But just from a handling point of view I would use fruit such as berries from frozen to preserve as much structure as possible.  Top with warm but not hot syrup (sugar solution) to thaw the berries before waterbathing the jars.

If you had frozen apples, you might as well cook to apple sauce.  Ditto plums.  There are some thickeners that can be used for bottled pie filling and not others.  From memory, corn flour cannot be used, so you would need to add it later when you make your crumble and not before bottling.  I am sure Jeannine knows which ones you can use at bottling time.