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| My friend April |
If you've never canned, don't be afraid....if I can do it, so can you!!!
Here is how I did it:
Supplies
Peaches
Canning Jars/Lids/Rings
Pot for water bath
Pot for boiling peaches
Small sauce pan for boiling lids
Sugar
A friend to help (not required)
Start by boiling your peaches for about 30 seconds so the skins will peel right off.
Cut the peaches in half and take the pit out.
Make sure your jars are nice and clean.
Add one cup of water per quart jar.
Microwave for 1 minute.
Add 1/3 cup sugar, stir till dissolved.
Now that your jars have sugar and water in them, you are going to fill them with peaches.
If you are really fancy, you make sure that the pits face the inside of the jar.
*I'm not fancy, I just shove my peaches in.
Make sure you leave 1/2 inch from the top clear, but put enough peaches in that they are all covered in the water/sugar syrup.
To make sure you get a nice tight seal you will want to:
1. Boil your lids for a few minutes (not the rings).
2. Wipe off the top of each jar before placing the lids on.
Place the hot lids on each jar, and screw on the rings.
Place your jars in a boiling water bath for 30-35 minutes.
After their water bath, let them cool and the lids should be sealed. If you can push the top down, you don't have a good seal and you will need to eat that jar quickly, the others can be stored long term.
Now, let's hear from you! What are your tips and secrets to canning? Or leave a link to your own blog where you describe how you can. Let's educate and inspire each other!!!
~marisa
11 comments:
We do pears about the same way, but we stick an orange slice in the can with the pears (like Grandma Johnson's used to), and it tastes so good.
We try to do a lot of canning....this year I canned peaches with my SIL (that was at the beginning of August). The peaches were so ripe we didn't need to blanch them first! Also, we don't do the simple syrup method. Just love having all those canned goodies in the middle of winter! I'm working on applesauce right now. :)
Leighanne, great idea with the orange slice!
Astrid, I have a ton of apples, do you have instructions on making your apple sauce?
Interesting. I've never canned this way. The way I was taught involves a lot more steps!
Do you ever have problems with the sugar still being grainy? All instructions I've ever seen say to cook the syrup separately in a pot and then add once peaches are in the bottle. This does require a step of removing trapped air bubbles around the fruit -- so no matter what I'll have to try doing the liquid first. Often, I used diluted apple juice instead of a sugar syrup.
To preserve color, I put the peeled peaches in a bowl of two quarts water and one tablespoon each salt and vinegar. It really works, and it's much cheaper than Fruit Fresh! (This works great for apples and pears, too.) Rinse fruit before packing.
Canning seems to work better for me when the jars are hot, so I either have them swimming in my water bath on the stove until I fill them, or let my dishwasher keep 'em warm.
One note of caution: Yes, you want lids to be hot before plopping them on top, but I checked my Ball Blue Book and it says that boiling them can actually lead to seal failure.
P.S. I'm making applesauce today. If you have access to a Victorio strainer it's super slick. Cut apples into quarters, cook in water until tender, then run through strainer to make sauce and remove cores and peels all at once. Alternately, peel and core your apples before cooking, then mash them.
In Hawaii we do mangoes twice a year (May and Nov). There's nothing better than eating mango cobbler underneath the tree it came from!
We go even simpler with the sugar at our house. We fill the jars half full with peaches, pour the sugar in, fill with peaches to the top and then pour in water. We don't have any problem with the sugar, of course at our altitude we process for so long, it dissolves completely. It may be different at shorter times.
By the way, what happened to the P-day first aid kit posts? I'm thinking of giving one as a Christmas gift.
I never want to see another peach again after canning this summer...but I know they'll look good come January!
Marisa, I fear my comment came across as know-it-all. (You know I don't!) When I said I've never canned this way it was spoken like this: "Wow! I wish I've canned this way!" As it was
oops. Don't know what happened. Maybe my toddler pushing buttons? (figurative and literal)
As it was, all the extra labor-intensive moments I've spent canning over the years flashed before my eyes.
p.s. my word verification is melying
Jennifer, I didn't read any negativity into your comment, I don't think you have a mean bone in your body. I wish you were my neighbor so that I could glean all of your wisdom.
NDSHawaii, canning MANGOS??? Oh, I'm extremely jealous!!!
Teakaroo...I will get my rear in gear and finish those up! Sorry!
Kim, you will be thanking yourself come winter when everyone else is buying canned peaches. Good for you!
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