Choose ripe, flavoursome fruit. No matter what type of fruit you're preserving, the flavor and texture will hold up best over time if you use fruit that's perfectly ripe. Discard fruit that's overripe and bruised, and leave out fruit that's not quite ripe yet

Process the fruit according to a recipe. Since each type of fruit has different properties, it's a good idea to follow a preserving recipe designed just for the fruit you're preserving. For example, if you want to preserve  apples, you might decide to process them as applesauce first. For peaches, you may want to peel and slice them before preserving. Either way, as a general rule of thumb, you should remove peel, stones and pips prior to preserving.

Sanitize the preserving jars. Wash each one with hot, soapy water, making sure to rinse them thoroughly when you're finished. Put the jars into an oven at about 120ºC while you are preparing your fruit or veges. Keeping the jars hot until you use them prevents jars from breaking when you pour hot fruit inside. If you poured hot fruit into a cold jar, the glass could break.

Fill the jars with prepared fruit. One at a time, take a jar from the oven. Place a tea towel on your workspace and place hot jar onto the tea towel. Use a ladle or funnel to fill the jar with the fruit from the recipe you prepared. Use a wet cloth to wipe off any residue that gets on the rim of the jar, then place a lid on the jar and secure it. Always leave about 1cm of head space at the top of the jar.  Store your preserves in a place that has the least temperature fluctuations.