Food Preservation: Let’s Preserve Fruit Pie Fillings
(FN434, Reviewed March 2024)The following fruit fillings are excellent and safe products. Each canned quart makes one 8-inch to 9-inch pie. Fillings may be used as toppings on dessert or pastries. Clear Jel is a starch modified to produce excellent sauce consistency even after fillings are canned and baked. Other available household starches break down, causing a runny sauce consistency when used in pie fillings. You can purchase Clear Jel from some retail stores and online.
Because the variety of fruit may alter the flavor of the fruit pie, you first should make a single quart, make a pie with it and serve. Then adjust the sugar and spices in the recipe to suit your personal preferences. The amount of lemon juice should not be altered because it aids in controlling the safety and storage stability of the fillings.
When using frozen cherries and blueberries, select unsweetened fruit. If sugar has been added, rinse it off while fruit is frozen. Collect, measure and use juice from thawing fruit to partially replace the water specified in the recipe and only ¼ cup Clear Jel per quart, or 1¾ cups for 7 quarts.