Peaches

I used to buy peaches at the Farmer’s Market but they got too expensive, so we planted our own Elberta peach trees—they are wonderful. It’s more work but less money. Here is a step-by-step of how I like to make the bottled peaches:

Setup

  1. Fill canning pot half full of water and set it on the counter out of the way; wash and drain quart jars.
  2. In a small pot, cover the canning lids with water and simmer on low.
  3. In a large pot, prepare syrup 1-3/4 cup sugar to 6 cups water; stir to dissolve and simmer on low.
  4. Fill a large pot half full of water for blanching the peaches; bring it to a boil on the front burner.
  5. Fill the one side of sink with cold water to receive the hot blanched peaches; put strainer in the other side of sink.
  6. Fill a large bowl with about 2 to 3 quarts of water and stir in 1 tsp of Fresh Fruit.

Prepare the peaches

  1. When the blanching water comes to a boil, add enough peaches at a time to be covered with water and boil for about 1-2 minutes to loosen skins.
  2. Use a sieve or slotted spoon to quickly remove the peaches to a bowl and to the sink filled with cold water. This stops the cooking process. Continue until all peaches are blanched.
  3. Toss out the blanching water and remove the pot. Bring the half-filled canner to the front burner; turn heat on low. Set the rack on top.

Bottling the peaches

  1. Take peaches out of cold water and slip or peel skins over the strainer.
  2. With paring knife, cut peaches in half and remove the pits to the strainer; also cut out any bad parts.
  3. Slice peaches into the large bowl. Keep them covered with water—this keeps them from browning.
  4. Finish peeling and slicing all peaches into fruit fresh water until the bowl is full.
  5. Pour a half cup of hot syrup into seven of the jars.
  6. Use a slotted spoon or your fingers to scoop the sliced peaches from the bowl of water into the seven funnel-topped jars. Let the water drain off the peaches as you fill the jars with them.
  7. Pack firmly into jars to just above the jar shoulder. Add more syrup if needed to 1/2” from top.
  8. Work out air pockets with knife or thin spatula.
  9. Clean the jar threads and jar top; use lid lifter to set on the hot lids. Screw tight with rings.
  10. Set filled jars on the raised rack over the heating water.
  11. When the rack is full, slowly lower it into the water bath; cover jars with at least 1” water.
  12. Turn heat to high and bath for for 30 minutes from when it begins to boil–this is 20 minutes plus 10 extra minutes for 4,500 feet about sea level.

Sealing the jars   When finished, turn off the heat, lift the wire rack to the edge of the canner for a minute, and then remove the hot jars to a towel on the counter to finish cooling. Do not press down on the lids. The cooling process will create a vacuum in the jars that will pull the lids down and you will hear them pop. This will seal the jar. Wait a couple of hours and then look at the lids to see if they have all popped down. If any haven’t, you can either refrigerate them and eat them first, or check the jar tops again, put on new softened lids and re-bath them. When the sealed jars are cooled, wash the jars and you can remove the rings, but it’s not necessary. Date the jars and store for later use