The key things to remember when preserving any home produce is to only use the best and they should be preserved as soon as possible after they have been harvested. If it is not in tip top condition then use it up in another way. Some fruit and veg preserve better in bottles than others so check what you have is on the list before you start and if it's not there then find an alternative preservation route for them.
So having choosen what you want to put into bottles the next step is to get them ready. As for freezing, vegetables need to be blanched before they are packed into bottles, it helps if they are all of a similar size. Fruit, including tomatoes, dont need to be blanched but again keeping them to a similar size helps. Below is a prparation guide for the most successful fruits and vegetables for bottling.
| Fruit or Veg | What to do with them |
| Apples | Peel and core then slice or dice. If not using immediately either store in slightly salted water or blanch for 2 mins to stop discolouration, then rinse when ready for packing. |
| Apricots | Bottle whole or stoned and halved, if halved add a few kernals to the bottles to increase flavour |
| Asparagus | Wash and trim, blanch for 2 mins. Pack upright |
| Berries | use whole berries in good condition. Hull and remove any stalks. For strawberries soaking in hot syrup overnight helps to improve flavour |
| Broad beans | Use young beans removed from their pods, blanch for 5 mins. |
| Beetroot | Blanch for 15 - 20 mins befor peeling then either slice or dice. |
| Carrots | wash and scrape then leave young carrots whole, slice older ones, blanch for 10 mins |
| Cauliflower | Break into florets of 2.5cm diameter, blanch for 3 mins |
| Cherries | Use whole or stoned fruit, add any juice to the syrup and add 1/4 tsp citric acid to the syrup as cherries are low in acidity. Chrries are particularly nice bottled in brandy. |
| Figs | Can be peeled or left whole, add 1/2 tsp of citric acid to the syrup due to low acidity |
| Gooseberries | Use unripe fruit only, top and tail |
| Pears | peel halve and core then put them straight into lightly salted water with 1 tsp of citric acid to stop discoloration. Cooking pears should be boiled in syrup until soft. |
| Peas | pod the peas and blanch for 2-3 mins |
| Plums | Use whole fruit unless particularly large when they should be halved and stoned |
| Potatoes | Only use new potatoes, wash and scrape then blanch for 5 mins |
| Rhubarb | Cut the trimmed stalks to 2cm pieces and soak overnight in hot syrup |
| Tomatoes | bottled in the same way as fruit, use ripe and firm fruit, clean and bottle in brine rather than sugar syrup |