was given about 20 necturines from farmers market as discarded fruit...can this be used to make jelly or preserves, can you cook up the soft spots also? In canning doesn't it kill anything bad from fruit...
All of the recommendations I've read regarding preserving fruit say to only use perfect fruit and to cut out any bruised or otherwise damaged parts. I once tried to economize (in my younger days) by canning all the peaches in a box (including the more "squishy" ones) rather than just the firm ones, and the results weren't great so now I only can the best and make the rest into frozen desserts.
When it comes to jelly, there tends to be more pectin in slightly under-ripe fruit than in over-ripe fruit. Soft/bruised fruit is more like over-ripe fruit and may mess with your gel.
In your case, cutting out the damaged portions should be no problem, since you aren't canning the whole fruit
Yum.
I had a friend that loved to get the flats of strawberries the grocery stores were going to dump. She picked them up for little to nothing and made the best strawberry jam. Just cut off the bad, eat the good.