CHAPTER Il 
BOTTLING SOFT FRUIT 
Tue best soft fruits for bottling are gooseberries, 
cherries, currants, raspberries, apricots, plums, damsons, 
blackberries, tomatoes, apples, and pears. Strawberries 
can also be successfully bottled, but they require more 
care and trouble than other fruits, because they are so 
much softer. 
Gooseberries.—Gooseberries are the easiest of all fruits 
to bottle, and as a rule give the most satisfactory results. 
The following directions should be carefully followed. 
Have the bottles ready, making quite sure that they are 
perfectly clean and quite dry. ‘The gooseberries should 
be picked when green and hard, and before they get too 
large. For bottling they ought always to be picked in 
the same condition as that in which they are used for 
green gooseberry tart. Before putting the fruit into 
the bottles it should be topped and tailed, and to insure 
a good appearance when finished it is always best to 
grade the fruit, and only put berries in which are the 
same size, rejecting any that are too large or not sound, 
or are disfigured in any way. These can always be 
used up in the preserving pan. Pack the fruit closely 
into the jars without bruising, to within an inch of the 
top, and fill up with cold water or syrup to the very top of 
the bottle. Do not put on the cap at once, as the water 
often sinks when it has worked its way down amongst 
the fruit. If this happens the bottles should be filled 
up again, as the fruit ought always to be well covered. 
Capping the Bottles—The bottles are now ready for 
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