Canning Peaches

For my girls, this is how I can peaches. I like the Elberta peaches. You need nice, just ripe peaches. If some are not ripe spread them out on a table and they will ripen in a day or two. If you can't get to them right away keep them in the fridge or cool place to slow down the ripening. Gather all your equipment. You need:

steam or water bath canner

pot for blanching

pot for lids

quart jars washed in dishwasher

2 piece lids

pitcher

sugar

peaches

paring knife

Put a large pot of water on to boil. Scrub sink and fill with cold water. In other sink put a bowl for the peels and pits. When water is boiling add 6-7 peaches keeping heat on high let them go for at least 1 minute. This is blanching. With slotted spoon remove peaches into a bowl and dump them into cold water

I use the same water for several batches. It does start to get a little cloudy looking but works fine. Once the peaches are in the cold water you can easily slip their skins off, cut in half, take out pit and put directly into your clean jars. I use to put them in as halves with the pit side always facing down. I now slice them in quarters and just drop them in. Actually Ike did most of that step. It seems like I get more peaches in a bottle when they are cut smaller. We cut them when we eat them anyway so it works for us.

When the jar is full I add a little sugar right on top. We use a 1/4 cup and then split it between two jars. Not real precise. Then using a pitcher of hot water, pour over the sugar to within 1/2 inch of top of jar. Wipe the jars with a clean cloth. (Note the crock pot in the background. Great idea to start it first when you are doing a major kitchen project. Takes a lot of stress off come dinner time.) You should have already brought to boil your seals and then turned them off. You can use a butter knife to separate them to get one out at a time or get a tool that is a stick with a magnet on the end that will lift them for you.

Place the lid on top and then screw down the ring just finger tight.

Then take the jars to your canner. It will hold 7 jars. Have water in the bottom of the canner. The steamer just needs a couple of inches and the jars sit on the rack. The water bath needs to have enough water to cover the jars when let down on the rack. You can do this in the kitchen on your stove but it sure works nice to have it outside on a camp chef. Turn on heat and bring water bath to a boil and steamer until it has a steady stream of steam coming out the side holes. At this point turn down the heat to just maintain the steam/boil and start timing. At my altitude it needs to go for 40 minutes.

Once the time is up turn off heat and very careful open the lid away from you to avoid burning yourself with the steam. A bottle lifter is very handy to move the bottles to a table or counter covered with a towel. Allow the jars to cool and then check to make sure they sealed. You push on the top. It should not pop up and down but be concave.
( Not everyone has the opportunity to share the garage with their canning, their son's truck project, soccer balls, bikes, and just too much stuff but here is the proof that even with distractions it can be done.)

With peaches when they are sealed they also float. Unsealed peaches will not be at the top. When they are cooled and sealed, label with at least the year, leave them out to be admired for a time and then store them away in a cool place. (In the making of this project, no young children were hurt. I just want to thank all the little people that helped me make this happen.)

We love to use the peaches all year, eating them fresh, making cobbler, and on Norwegian pancakes.

Norwegian Pancakes

2/3 cup plain yogurt

2/3 cup cottage cheese

4 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup flour

1 t sugar

1/2 t salt

Combine well. Cook on greased griddle. Serve with peaches on top.

Peach Cobbler

In saucepan, combine:

1/2 cup sugar

3 T cornstarch

1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 t. nutmeg

1 qt peaches

Cook until nicely thickened. Pour into a 1 1/2 quart casserole.

Combine:

1 cup flour

2 T. sugar

2 t. baking powder

dash of salt

Mix well together, then cut in: 1/3 cup butter. Cut until fine, then gently stir in with a fork:

4 T milk

1 beaten egg

Drop by spoonfuls over fruit mixture. Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes.

Peaches also make great baby food. A nice snack with cottage cheese, pies, other cobblers, smoothies, in your oatmeal. It is always nice to have fruit that doesn't have to take freezer space. I think we did 75 quarts this year and ate as many fresh as humanly possible. We love peach season.