35 pounds of peaches

A fraction of the box of peaches

This past weekend I bought a box of peaches. As you may recall, from previous posts, I love peaches. My dad used to buy boxes of peaches every fall to slice and put in the dehydrator.  They would be set out on the dining room table, and the kitchen counter, and any other flat space, to ripen, filling the house with their lovely perfume.  Then they would all ripen at once, and the kitchen became an unsafe place to be in the evenings, as he peeled and sliced peaches like a madman (well, OK, and time he is in the kitchen he is kind of like a madman, even if he is only making a sandwich), laying them out on dehydrating trays and dripping peach juice down the stairs and through the hallway to the dehydrator hidden in the storage room. Peaches bought directly from the farmer, as these were, and as were those long ago peaches, taste nothing like the mealy, rock hard one minute, over-ripe the next, peaches that you can buy at the store. As a result, canned peaches, dried peaches, and any other peach products all taste that much better.

Raspberry vodka, brandy, and rum

Anyway, I bought this box of peaches, and now I had to think of what to do with them all. I didn't really want to can them, although I like eating the results in the middle of January and remembering that winter doesn't last forever (especially not in Arkansas). Cobbler is always a good option, but wouldn't use enough peaches to make a noticeable dent in the box. Then our friend Taine mentioned a recipe she had just seen for making boozy fruit - fruit marinated in sugar and hard alcohol. Canning without some of the fuss and mess of canning. Perfect. I found the general recipe at the New York Times and decided to give it a try. After a trip to the liquor store, I made six jars, two each, of boozy peaches in raspberry vodka, brandy, and rum. You will have to wait until December or January to hear how they turned out, since they have to marinate for 3 months before they are ready to eat (or should that be imbibe?). I also made a batch of peach frozen yogurt, which was divine.

From several years ago, but the scene will be similar tonight.

 Of course, six jars of peaches and a half gallon of frozen yogurt also hardly make a dent in a 35 pound box, so I did the sensible thing and ordered a dehydrator. Well, maybe it wasn't entirely sensible - would have been cheaper just to can the darn things and be done - but I have wanted one ever since I moved away from home, and I do so love dried peaches... Excalibur (hey, that's the name on the box) arrived yesterday, and I will be spending my evening peeling peaches, slicing peaches, and getting peach juice all over the kitchen.

This is turning into the summer of trying to can new things. First pickles and now pears. Not that pears are all that different from peaches, but I have never canned them before. Anyway, my CSA/farmer's market had pears for sale a week or two ago, so I decided to purchase a batch and can them. Canned fruit is just lovely in the middle of winter, especially if you are trying to eat locally as much as possible.

I used the reliable Joy of Cooking for my instructions, which were much the same as for peaches.  Peel, boil in syrup, can. I managed to do it in about an hour on Sunday afternoon. Now, I was only doing about 5 pounds, or 3 1/2 jars, but still, pretty simple.

Here you can see both my canning pot, on the left, and the pears boiling in their light syrup, and my canning funnel - best tool I have for canning (although I could definitely use one of those grippers for wide neck bottles...).

Close up of the pears. One difference from the peaches is that I used an anti-browning powder to keep them a lovely white color. I could have used it when I canned peaches (Dad always did when he dried apples), except that I didn't have any on hand. This time, I made sure I was properly prepared.

Love the steam coming off the top of the funnel in this shot. It was all swirly in the air-currents from the boiling water and the air conditioner.

And the final product. I had a small amount left that wouldn't fit in the jars (but not enough to make the little jar into a big jar) so I stuck it in the fridge and at it for breakfast this week. Yum.  There may still be peaches available at a market or farm stand, although this summer has been so hot and dry that isn't a given, so I may have more canning to do this month.