Canned sunshine

Last week I picked peaches and apples - this is one thing that makes Arkansas better than Texas, the availability of fruit - at an orchard about 30 minutes from Conway. It was quite a large business - many different varieties that ripen at different times - bigger than any of the places I picked at last year in NY. I bought about 35 pounds of fruit in total. After eating some of the peaches, I decided that I needed to do something to save the rest of them for the winter. My first thought was to freeze them for use in smoothies and possibly pie, but then I decided to try canning. I have done it before, but only as helper to Mom, who did most of the work. Oh well, how hard could it be?

Armed with the Joy of Cooking and a convenient home canning website, I set out to can my peaches. It isn't difficult really, but it does take a bit of organization. First the jars and lids need to be sterilized, then the syrup needs to be made, and the peaches need to be peeled. Whew. As you can see, these steps took up all of my stove burners - at least I already had a canning pot and enough other pots to do it all at once. Boy, could I have used an assistant though! Someone eager and useful (like me perhaps) to help with the peeling and chopping of the peaches. Well, I survived and got everything done without cutting myself (peeled peaches are very slippery!) and without making too big of a mess.
I decided to use the hot pack method, which is where you boil the peaches in the syrup for a little while before filling the jars. It is supposed to help prevent air bubbles and keep the peaches looking bright and pretty. Neither Mom nor I can remember what we used the last time we canned peaches. Oh well, it wasn't that hard. Thanks to a lovely little canning funnel, I was able to fill the jars without making too much of a mess on their sides and the counter. One thing to keep in mind about canning though - it is a good idea to have a lot of cloth kitchen towels on hand to mop up spills and drips.

After the all-important water bath to help seal the jars, I was delighted to find that I had done everything correctly - the lids popped down the way they were supposed to. The only small hitch was that I didn't quite fill the jars as full as possible, so there is a bit of a gap at the bottom of the jars (see the jars on the right in the picture below). I was afraid to pack too tightly I guess. Since only about half of the peaches were ready at that time, I had to can another batch over the weekend. I made a few improvement to my methods (including adding an assistant - a more or less willing Benjamin) and the jars got packed a little bit better.


So I now have 12 jars of canned sunshine to help me through the winter when fresh fruit is in short supply. Yum! I also plan to can applesauce in the coming weeks, at some point. Now, if only I had a dehydrator - I could make the lovely dried peach slices that my dad used to make every fall...but that will have to wait until I have a house and more space. Soon. Next fall, I hope.