Tuesday, August 14, 2012

CANNING PEACHES

Today was all about peaches.  We purchased some from our favorite locker.  I think they were a bit over priced for what we got, but we committed to them so they are ours.  They were very lovely peaches and a nice large size.  I would have liked more to make jelly with, but we canned these and they really did turn out quite nice as far as I can tell at this point.  We had a total of 41 peaches which yielded a total of 18 pints.  IN the past I have used quarts, but there are only 2 of us and we are not big fruit eaters; I am sure we will have these jars well into the year. 
    I started by washing the fruit and then I put them in a pan of boiling water for a few minutes.  I was sure they should be in there 3 to 5 mins as my tomatoes the other day then plunged into the ice water.  Come to find out that was too much time and the first 11 turned out kind of mushy.  Once I figured out to just leave them in a minute or so they were much firmer and gave a better product in my jars. 
     While those were in hot water, I prepared a batch of water with fruit fresh in it.  I used an entire jar with about 4 1/2 cups of water.  I just kept putting new batches of peaches into the same mixture and it lasted just fine and the peaches have not turned brown as of 2 hours later.  I chose to make a medium syrup using 10 cups of water and 6 1/2 cups of sugar, which I heated then ladeled over the fruit i placed into the jars.  I processed the pints for 20 mins in a boiling water bath.  The recipe says 25 mins for quarts.

No comments:

Post a Comment