3 easy recipes to preserve fresh fruit

There's no need for fruit to go to waste when you can preserve it for enjoying with meals or by themselves. These 3 preservation methods will keep your cupboards stocked with delicious preserves.

This delicious sauce is great as a complement to many meat dishes – especially pork and lamb. Follow these steps for mouthwatering colonial plum sauce.

Ingredients

• 2 kg plums, washed, cut and stoned
• 2 large ­cooking apples, peeled and chopped
• 1 litre pf brown sugar
• 15 ml osal
• 5 ml of ground ginger
• 6 peppercorns
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 5 c vinegar

Instructions

• Put plums and apples in a large, heavy-based pot. Add sugar, salt, ground ginger, peppercorns, garlic and vinegar. Bring the mixture to the boil, then simmer, uncovered, while stirring occasionally, until it is reduced by about one-third in volume to a rich, thick sauce.
• Strain out skins and peppercorns with a sieve. Pour into hot, sterilized bottles and seal immediately with non-corrosive lids. Label when cool and store in a cool, dark place for up to four months. Serve with roast pork or spring lamb. This recipe makes about two litres of sauce.

Tasty as an addition to a special meal, brandied pears are surprisingly easy to prepare. Follow these steps for success. Makes about 1 litre:

Ingredients

• 250 to 400 g sugar
• 15 ml lemon juice
• 15 ml lemon rind
• 500 ml brandy
• 500 ml water
• 1 ½ to 2kg of pears, peeled, halved and cored

Instructions

• Mix the sugar, lemon juice, rind, brandy and water and bring them all to the boil.
• Add the pears a few at a time and cook them until they are tender (about 20 minutes).
• Pack the pears in jars leaving approximately one centimetre (1/2 inch) of airspace below the rim of the jar.
• After all the pears have been processed and packed into jars, return the liquid to the boil and pour it over the pears until the jars are full to the same level, within about one centimetre (1/2 inch) of the top.
• Process by the boiling-water bath methodor in a standard commercial preserving unit.

What’s more tasty than a spoonful of spiced apples to go with a meal for a special occasion or just to have mixed with yogurt or ice cream? These tips will help you make the most delicious spiced apples:

Ingredients

• 450 to 600 grams of sugar
• 300 to 500 ml water
• 500 ml green ginger wine (check your liquor store)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 x 2 cm piece fresh ginger, peeled
• 6 cloves
• Thinly peeled rind of 1 lemon
• 10 green apples, cored and sliced
• Extra cinnamon stick and cloves

Instructions

• Place sugar, water, green ginger wine, cinnamon stick, ginger and cloves into a pot.
• Stir over a low heat until sugar dissolves, boil steadily for 10 minutes.
• Strain liquid into another pot, add lemon rind and apples. Cook until apples are tender.
• Add fresh cinnamon and cloves.
• Pack into sterilized jars.
• Seal and label.

There are so many delicious ways that you can use fruits to enhance any main course or dessert. If you’re in the mood for try a new recipe, take a look at these 3 recipes for a prime preserve.