Preserve making can feel intimidating at first.

What kind of preserve should I make? What jars do I need? How do I clean and sterilise them properly? Will I make someone ill? How do I even know if it’s safe to eat?

It can all feel a bit of a minefield.

Before I started making preserves, I had built it up in my head as some sort of mystic art — something only professional manufacturers had truly mastered. Back then, part of me still felt that “proper” food had to come from a supermarket, ideally with a reassuringly long list of ingredients, a few mysterious E-numbers, and a nice official Best Before date printed on the side.

But I’ve realised that is part of the trick.

We have become so disconnected from our food — where it comes from, how it is made, and how it can be stored — that it starts to feel like we can’t simply feed ourselves without a factory, a barcode, and a plastic wrapper.

But we can.

With a few basic skills, some sensible safety steps, and a willingness to learn as you go, preserve making opens up a whole world of possibilities. Jams, chutneys, sauces, pickles, fruit butters, relishes — all made from real ingredients, often using food you have grown, foraged, been given, or bought in season.

This guide is here to help you get started.

Not as an expert. Not as someone pretending to have preserved every fruit and vegetable under the sun. But as someone who started with the same questions, made a few jars, learned a few lessons, and realised that preserve making is far more achievable than it first appears.

Why I Started Making Preserves

It’s the kids’ fault. For two reasons.

First, they wanted to grow things in the garden. Which, inevitably, meant that I now grow things in the garden.

And once you start growing food, you quickly realise that the garden and the kitchen are completely linked. You don’t grow what you’re not going to cook — or at least, you probably shouldn’t unless you’re simply trying to feed the slugs.

So when we started getting gluts of things like onions, garlic, herbs, fruit, or whatever else had decided to grow successfully that year, I began looking for ways to preserve them beyond simply dicing everything up and throwing it in the freezer.

Freezing is useful, but it is not always the most satisfying answer.

There is something far more rewarding about turning a glut of onions into chutney, a pile of berries into jam, or a bowl of chillies into a sauce that can sit on the shelf and remind you of the season it came from.

The second reason is also the kids’ fault.

Having children made me worry about things I had never really given a second thought to in my twenties.

Where does our food come from?
How far has it travelled?
What is the embodied carbon in that journey?
What impact has it had on the land, the animals, the people who produced it, and the planet in general?

And perhaps most immediately:

What actually is in some of this food?

The more I started looking at ingredient lists, the more I realised how far removed a lot of modern food has become from anything I would recognise as cooking. Industrial by-products, additives, stabilisers, flavourings, colourings, emulsifiers — things I had eaten for years without ever really questioning them.

Seriously, listen to Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken. You won’t look at food the same way again.

For me, the answer was not to panic, become extreme, or try to live some perfect off-grid fantasy. That is not realistic for my life, and it is not what The Handmade Way is about.

The answer was much simpler:

Make more. Buy less. Eat seasonally where possible. Learn useful skills.

That is really the backbone of The Handmade Way.

Preserve making fits perfectly into that. It is practical, useful, seasonal, and surprisingly empowering. It gives you a way to take simple ingredients and turn them into something that lasts. It helps reduce waste. It helps you understand your food better. And it gives you that quiet satisfaction of looking at a shelf of jars and thinking:

“I made that.”

And honestly, that feeling never gets old.

The Best Preserves to Start With

I may be biased, but for me, the best place to start is with chutneys.

They contain both sugar and acid, which makes them a great entry point into preserve making. There is no tricky “setting point” to worry about like there is with jam. You simply dice your fruit and vegetables, add your vinegar, sugar and spices, then cook it down until there is very little liquid left.

Then, as if by some sort of kitchen witchcraft, you spoon it into jars and get ready to receive compliments.

Honestly, once you start comparing homemade chutneys and sauces to shop-bought versions, it can be night and day. The image below is of my sweet chilli sauce, but you get the idea. There is actual food in it. Real chillies, garlic, tomatoes, onions — not just brightly coloured sugary water pretending to be exciting.

A close second would be simple jams made with fruits that are naturally high in pectin. Don’t worry too much about pectin just yet, but if you are curious, I’ve written a separate article here:

What Is Pectin and Do You Really Need It for Jam?

High-pectin or mixed-fruit jams are generally easier for beginners because they are more likely to set well without needing special ingredients or too much guesswork.

Below are a few beginner-friendly preserves that are a great place to start:

• Caramelised Onion Chutney – Rich, sweet and savoury with deep onion flavour. This is brilliant with cheese, cold meats, burgers, sausage rolls, or anything that needs a spoonful of sticky homemade goodness.
• Tomato and Onion Chutney – A proper all-rounder chutney: tangy, sweet, savoury and full of flavour. It works beautifully with cheese, sandwiches, ploughman’s lunches, grilled meats, or as a way to brighten up leftovers.
• Blackberry and Apple Jam – A classic hedgerow-style jam with deep berry flavour and a gentle apple sweetness. The apple helps bring natural pectin, making it a great beginner jam that pairs perfectly with toast, porridge, yoghurt, or a simple sponge cake.
• Sweet Chilli Jam – Sweet, spicy, sticky and incredibly useful. It is brilliant with cheese, chicken, spring rolls, burgers, sandwiches, or stirred into sauces and marinades when you want a bit of heat and sweetness.

The Books That Helped Me Learn

One of the book series I’ve really got into is the River Cottage Handbook series. I use different books from that range as references for everything from home brewing to baking, and they suit the sort of practical, homemade learning I enjoy.

The one that really helped me with preserves is Preserves by Pam Corbin.

What I found reassuring about this book is that it explains a lot of the principles and techniques in a straightforward way. It does not just give you recipes and leave you to figure out the “why” for yourself. It talks through the basics of jam, jelly, marmalade, chutney and other preserves in a way that makes the whole subject feel much more achievable.

That was important for me when I was starting out, because preserve making can feel intimidating until you understand the basic ideas behind it. Once you start to understand things like sugar, acid, pectin, sterilising jars and cooking to the right point, it stops feeling like guesswork.

Some of the recipes in the book are a bit more involved and lengthy than the simple beginner recipes I would usually recommend starting with, but the ones I’ve tried have been very tasty. It is the sort of book I like having on the shelf because it gives you both inspiration and confidence.

Best for: Learning the principles of preserve making and finding more traditional, flavourful recipes.
Worth knowing: Some recipes may take a bit more time, so I would not necessarily start with the most complicated one first.

Another book I keep around as a helpful quick reference is The Preserver’s Handbook.

This was useful because it helped me understand the difference between the style of preserving we often do in the UK with jams and chutneys, and methods like water bath canning or “processing”, which are more common in American preserving advice.

That difference can be confusing when you first start reading about preserving online. One website tells you to sterilise jars and fill them hot. Another tells you to water bath process everything. Another starts talking about pressure canning, acidity levels, botulism, headspace, processing times, and suddenly you are wondering whether making a jar of chutney requires a science degree and a small industrial facility.

It does not.

But you do need to understand what type of preserving you are doing.

For me, The Preserver’s Handbook gives enough information to help you get on with it without becoming overwhelmed. It is useful as a quick reference, especially when you want to check a method, remind yourself of the basics, or better understand the difference between hot filling, water bath processing and other preserving approaches.

Best for: A clear, practical overview of different preserving methods.
Worth knowing: I use it more as a reference book than a “cook through every recipe” type of book.

I think that is the key with preserve making books: you do not need to own dozens of them, and you do not need to read everything before you start. But having one or two good books nearby can make the whole process feel much less mysterious.

A good preserving book gives you three things:

• Reliable methods
• Recipe inspiration
• Confidence that you are not just making it up as you go along

And when you are standing over a pan of bubbling fruit or chutney, wondering whether it is ready, that confidence is worth having.

The Basic Kit I’d Recommend for Preserve Making

Once you start looking into preserve making equipment, it is very easy to convince yourself you need an entire second kitchen.

You don’t.

At least, not to begin with.

Like most hobbies, there is always more kit you could buy. There are specialist pans, funnels, thermometers, jar lifters, labels, strainers, muslin cloths, bottle brushes, preserving starter kits, and probably some Victorian contraption that promises to turn a marrow into chutney while also polishing your shoes.

But to get started, you only really need a few basic things.

A Large Pan or Preserving Pan

You need something big enough to cook your jam, chutney or sauce without it constantly trying to escape over the sides.

A proper preserving pan or maslin pan is ideal because it is wide, deep, and designed for this sort of cooking. The wide surface area helps moisture evaporate more easily, which is especially useful for jams and chutneys.

That said, when you’re starting out, you can absolutely use a large heavy-bottomed saucepan if that is what you already have.

The important thing is that it is big enough, sturdy enough, and not so thin that everything catches and burns on the bottom. This one here is a good example: Jam Pan

Jars and Lids

You will need clean jars with good lids.

You can buy new preserving jars, or you can reuse jars from shop-bought products as long as they are in good condition. The jars should have no chips or cracks, and the lids should be clean, undamaged, and still able to seal properly.

If in doubt, use new lids.

This is one of those areas where I would rather be sensible than overly tight. Reusing jars is great, but there is no point spending time making a lovely chutney only to put it in a jar with a lid that has seen better days.

I like to keep jars of different sizes because not every preserve needs a huge jar. Smaller jars are especially useful for gifts, testing new recipes, or when you want something that will be used up fairly quickly once opened. Ive personally found 190ml jars are a really good size for personaly use and gifting, and Ive fallen in love with the hexagonal design; they’re no more expensive but just look so cool! These are the Jars I use: 190ml Hexagonal Glass Jars

A Jam Funnel

This is one of those small bits of kit that seems unnecessary until you use one.

Then you wonder why you ever tried to fill jars without it.

A jam funnel sits over the top of the jar and gives you a much wider opening to aim for. This is especially useful when filling jars with hot jam, chutney or sauce, because trying to carefully spoon boiling sticky fruit into a tiny jar opening is a game of danger, mess, and regret.

You can manage without one, but a jam funnel makes the whole process cleaner, easier and safer. I got mine as part of a set with tongs for safe handling hot sterilised jars. I recommend this one: Sterilising set.

A Thermometer

You do not absolutely need a thermometer to make jam, but it is very useful when you are learning.

Jam reaches setting point at around 104–105°C, and a thermometer gives you a clear target. You should still learn the cold plate test, but having a thermometer takes away some of the guesswork.

For chutneys, a thermometer is less essential because you are usually cooking by texture rather than aiming for a set point. But for jam, especially as a beginner, it is a helpful confidence booster. I use this thermometer: Thermometer.

I still think the best approach is to use both:

• A thermometer to guide you
• The cold plate test to confirm the set

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What I Wouldn’t Buy Straight Away

I would not rush out and buy everything.

When you’re starting a new skill, it’s very easy to overcomplicate it. You watch a few videos, read a few articles, and suddenly you convince yourself that before you can make one jar of chutney you need a full preserving station, matching copper pans, a pressure canner, a label printer, and a rustic pantry that looks like it belongs in a National Trust property.

You don’t.

For basic UK-style jams, chutneys, sauces and relishes, you can start with fairly simple kit.

I would not buy a pressure canner unless you know you are moving into the type of preserving that actually needs one. I would not buy huge quantities of jars until you know what sizes you like. I would not buy every specialist gadget in one go.

The aim is not to build a museum of preserving equipment. The aim is to start making preserves.

Buy the basics. Make something. Learn what annoyed you. Then buy the thing that solves that problem.

That is a much more practical way to build up your kit.

Beginner Mistakes to Avoid

I have made some of these mistakes myself, and I am sure I will invent new ones as I go.

That is part of learning.

But there are a few beginner mistakes worth avoiding if you can.

Trying to Change Too Much Too Soon

Once you start getting confident, it is tempting to change recipes immediately.

Less sugar.
Different vinegar.
Extra fruit.
More spice.
Half the cooking time.
Swap the apples for courgettes because you found one looking sad in the fridge.

Some changes are fine, but sugar, acid and cooking time are not just flavour choices. They affect texture, set and preservation.

When you are starting, follow reliable recipes fairly closely. Once you understand how they work, then you can experiment more confidently. If you do want to reduce sugar content, I wrote this adivce article: Reducing Sugar in Jam: What You Need to Know

Not Understanding Pectin

Pectin sounds technical, but it is simply one of the things that helps jam set.

Some fruits have lots of it. Some fruits do not.

If you make jam with low-pectin fruit and do not support it with jam sugar or added pectin, it may not set how you expect.

This is why I like mixed fruit preserves. Apple and blackberry works so well because the apple helps bring natural pectin, while the blackberries bring flavour and colour. I have extra guidance on Pectin and what it does here: What Is Pectin and Do You Really Need It for Jam?

Panicking When Jam Looks Runny

Hot jam always looks runnier than cooled jam.

This is one of the easiest things to forget when you are standing over the pan wondering whether you’ve made jam or fruit soup.

Use a thermometer if you have one. Use the cold plate test. Give the jam time to cool. And if it still does not set, it may still be fixable. I have adivce for this too here: Why Hasn’t My Jam Set? How to Fix Runny Jam at Home

Not Sterilising Jars Properly

Sterilising jars is one of those jobs that sounds more intimidating than it is.

But it matters.

You are putting food into jars and expecting it to keep, so the jars need to be clean, hot and properly prepared. Make sure you understand your chosen method before you start cooking, because the last thing you want is a pan of ready-to-jar chutney and no jars prepared.

That is stress you do not need.

Making Huge Batches Too Early

I understand the temptation.

If one batch is good, surely four times the amount is four times better?

Not always.

Large batches can take longer to cook, longer to reduce, and can be harder to get right. Jams in particular can struggle if the batch is too large because it affects evaporation and setting.

Start small. Get the method right. Then scale up carefully.

Where I Would Start Today

If I was starting preserve making from scratch again, I would keep it simple. I would not try to master every type of preserving at once.

I would start with one chutney, one jam, and a few basic bits of kit.

Step 1: Read One Good Beginner Book

Start with one book that explains the basics clearly.

For me, Preserves by Pam Corbin is a great starting point because it gives both recipes and useful background. I would not try to read the entire thing before making anything, because that is a brilliant way to procrastinate.

Read enough to understand the basics, then get stuck in.

Step 2: Buy or Gather the Basic Kit

You do not need much to start:

• A large pan
• Jars and lids
• Jam funnel
• Wooden spoon
• Digital scales
• Thermometer, if making jam
• Labels

You may already have some of this.

If you are buying new kit, I would prioritise jars, a funnel and a thermometer before worrying about anything more advanced.

Step 3: Make a Chutney First

My honest recommendation would be to start with chutney.

It is forgiving, useful, and does not require you to hit a jam setting point. You are mainly cooking it down until it is thick, glossy and there is very little loose liquid left.

A caramelised onion chutney or tomato and onion chutney is a great place to begin because they are genuinely useful in everyday meals.

Cheese sandwich? Chutney.
Burger? Chutney.
Cold meat? Chutney.
Sausage roll? Chutney.
Standing in front of the fridge looking for something to justify eating cheese? Chutney.

It earns its place.

Step 4: Try a Mixed Fruit Jam

Once you have made a chutney, try a jam that gives you a decent chance of success.

A mixed fruit jam like blackberry and apple is a good beginner choice because the apple helps with natural pectin. You still learn about boiling, testing for set and filling jars, but the recipe is more forgiving than some low-pectin fruit jams.

This is where you start to feel the difference between simply following a recipe and actually understanding what is happening.

Step 5: Keep Notes

This is not exciting advice, but it is useful.

Write down what you made, when you made it, which recipe you followed, and anything you changed.

Also write down what you would do differently next time.

Because you will forget.

You will absolutely think, “I’ll remember that.”

You will not.

Future you will open a jar six months later, decide it was brilliant, and have no idea whether you used 1 tsp of chilli flakes or accidentally emptied half the packet in because one of the children distracted you.

Keep notes.

Final Thoughts

Preserve making can feel intimidating from the outside, but once you start, it quickly becomes much more approachable.

You do not need to know everything on day one. You do not need every piece of equipment. You do not need to make perfect jam, perfect chutney, or anything that would win a village show.

You just need to start with something simple.

For me, that would be a chutney first, then a mixed fruit jam. Get a couple of reliable books on the shelf, buy only the kit that actually helps, and build your confidence one batch at a time.

The more you make, the more you understand.

You start to recognise when chutney is thick enough. You learn how jam behaves as it reaches setting point. You begin to understand pectin, sugar, acid and heat. You learn which recipes your family actually eats and which ones sit at the back of the cupboard looking decorative.

And eventually, you get that very satisfying moment where you look at a jar and think:

“I made that.”

That is what keeps me coming back to it.

Not perfection.
Not expertise.
Just the quiet satisfaction of learning a useful skill and making something real with your own hands.

Thanks for reading, and until next time — keep crafting independence, one skill at a time.