Fowlers Vacola-d fruits

For my birthday this year I requested and received a Fowlers Vacola kit.

For the uninitiated, Fowlers Vacola is an Australian company that manufactures home canning kits. Canning is the process of preserving foods by packing them into glass jars and then heating the jars to kill the organisms that would create spoilage.

The American equivalent is a Mason Ball system. From what I can gather, the main difference is that the Mason Ball is a pressure canner and capable of processing low acid foods including meat. Conversely, the Fowlers Vacola is a water bath canner and can only process high acid foods such as fruit. I'm not really interested in preserving meat and seafood, so was happy enough to buy a Vacola.

Basically, you fill your jars with whatever you want, put your filled jars in the Fowlers Vacola and turn it on. The Vacola heats up and creates a vacuum seal, thus preserving the contents of the jars.

Vacolas were extremely popular in the 30s - 60s. My grandmother had a Vacola that she used to preserve the excess fruit from her family's orchid. Hers was an older style stove top pot but my Vacola is a new style that you plug in.

I am fortunate enough to have a couple of Aunts who live in Stanthorpe. One of my lovely Aunts brought me down a mixed box of peaches, nectarines, apples and pears for my first attempt at Vacola-ing.

I prepared the fruit by peeling and coring it and then segmenting it. I also prepared a jug of sugar syrup. I made a 'light sugar syrup' which was 3 cups water to 1 cup sugar, but next time I think I will go 2 cups water to 1 cup sugar because I have a sweet tooth.

I poured an inch or two of sugar syrup into the jars, then started packing the fruit. It's pretty time consuming because you need to pack the fruit tightly and ensure there are no air bubbles.

I then clipped the lids on and put the jars in the Vacola. 50 minutes later they were done! The jars can be stored for years.

Pears on the left and peaches on the right

After 7 days I opened a jar of the nectarines. It was very hard to open the jar. I was pretty weak compared to the vacuum seal. The jar had to be prised open with a knife. Quite impressive. I ate nearly a whole jar, with a generous slug of cream. Delicious!