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Bottling with Fowlers Vacola

In Greener Homes on January 30, 2011

Bottling your own fruit and tomatoes saves money and much more.

It’s nearly harvest time: tomatoes are heavy on the vine and full fruits are ripening on trees. The glut need not go to waste because an old-time Australian invention can help you guzzle it for the rest of the year.

In 1915, Joseph Fowler began selling home-bottling equipment door-to-door in Melbourne, from the back of a cart. During the depression, his kits – known as Fowlers Vacola – became an essential item. At that time, the company’s ads featured an illustration of a dainty housewife by the name of Mrs B. Thrifty.

His bottling system is now finding favour with an altogether different generation. Footscray resident Janet Ray learnt the knack from her grandmother decades ago and has become a Fowlers enthusiast. She’s not alone.

“It’s thriving,” Ms Ray says, “particularly among people who want to know where their food comes from and want to reduce their carbon footprint through the way they eat. Once you get started it’s quite addictive – you look at fruit on trees in a totally different way.

“It’s something that not only creates no waste, but actually uses excess. Our recycling bin is empty, and we’re not using the fridge or freezer to maintain the fruit.”

Ms Ray shares her knowledge by running occasional workshops through the Permaculture Out West community group.

The process is straightforward, she says. Fill clean jars with unblemished fruit and add water (and sugar or fruit syrup, if you have a sweet tooth) to just below the rim. Clip on the lids and bring the jars to the boil over the course of one hour, in a water bath. When the jars cool down out of the water, the seals form a vacuum.

“It’s only for bottling high acid fruit, including tomatoes,” Ms Ray says. “Everything is sterilised in the process. Store the jars in a cool dark place and they’ll easily keep for up to a year.”

She stocks her jars with produce she grows at home, swaps or buys in bulk. “We save so much money. I never pay more than $1 per kilo for fruit to bottle, even at the organic market,” she says.

She recommends buying Fowlers jars second-hand from opshops or tip-shops. A dozen reusable jars can cost under $50, including the lids, seals and clips.

A few years ago, Ms Ray discovered a cache of Fowlers equipment at a fete run by St Margaret’s Uniting Church in Mooroolbark.

Through that network, she has established an informal supply chain extending well into country Victoria. The jars are sold to raise money for pastoral care services in Wycheproof, in the state’s drought ravaged north-west.

We’ve got this symbiotic relationship with the people of Wycheproof,” she says. “Any time someone in the aging population around there comes across a kit, they send it on. There’s been a steady flow over the last few years.”

With hindsight, the link doesn’t seem so unlikely. Ms Ray has found bottling to be a consistently rich means of connection with the community.

“People find out that you bottle and they’ll ring you up with fruit or drop it off at your door,” she says.

“It’s one of those old fashioned things that people long for, where you’re industrious together, to an end that meets everybody’s needs.”

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Comments

  1. Alan Hayes says

    January 28, 2012 at 11:19 pm

    I’ve been bottling with Fowlers Vacola for 32 years. All the produce (fruit & vegetables) comes from my own garden. I have about 500 jars, all of different sizes, most of which are now unavailable. This has become an integral part of my self-sufficient and sustainable lifestyle.

    Reply
    • michael says

      January 31, 2012 at 1:16 am

      Gosh Alan, that’s a lot of jars, and a lot of produce! I bet your neighbours have learnt who to drop in on in the dead of winter when fresh fruit is scarce. Good luck with this season’s harvest…

      Reply
    • Greg Moreland says

      December 28, 2012 at 9:18 am

      Hi there,

                     I wonder if you could take some time to list down all your bottle size numbers, as I am trying to build a comprehensive list of the Vacola jar sizes and times when they were available as I also have a lot of jars pasted down from my Nan and have been bottling my produce for over thirty years but I know I don’t have one of every bottle but would like to achieve this goal some day ( hobbiest ).

       

      Thanks for your time and looking forward to your reply, Greg ( fellow bottler )

      Reply
      • Graham says

        January 26, 2013 at 10:41 pm

        Hi Greg,

        if you contact me I can send you a list of all the bottle numbers I have found, there are alot.

        Cheers Graham, soors27@iinet.net.au

        Reply
      • Dawn Snook says

        January 27, 2013 at 8:40 am

        http://www.ozfarmer.com/fowlers-vacola-ring-sizes

        This ia a great list from the ozfarmer.com website.

        Reply
      • julie coutts says

        January 3, 2014 at 1:11 pm

        this is on the fowlers vacola site

         

        http://fowlersvacola.com.au/shop/bottle-size-and-accessory-guide

        Reply
    • mark benbow says

      February 25, 2013 at 12:46 am

      hello Alan,

      I was ineterested to read your comments. W have only just started collecting Fowlers jars, both for our produce, but also because of the esthetics. Can you recommend where I might go to get a comprehensive list of their jars? And also where can I see image examples? Mum and her relatives used to preserve. And friends I have since spoken to were/are unaware of the fact that glass lids were also used at one stage. Do you know anything about that?

      thanking you in advance, Mark

      Reply
      • Greg Davies says

        November 17, 2013 at 4:21 am

        There is a full list of Vacola bottle sizes made since 1915 here:

        http://fowlersvacola.com.au/shop/bottle-size-and-accessory-guide

        Reply

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