Canning Peaches

Today was the day to get those peaches canned. We started out with 2 -3/4 bushels of fresh peaches, purchased at our local Amish bulk food store last week. I had put them in the 'fridge until yesterday, when I laid them out on a table to ripen.

I have never canned peaches w/o my Mom's help. I don't know if I should be ashamed or grateful...actually I'm very grateful for all the times my Mom has helped me. But she was out of town and the peaches needed to be done. I looked at my family and said, "Today we will all can peaches together." We started with much enthusiasm at 10AM, and by 2:30 PM, the kitchen was cleaned up, and the last of the 30 qt. was in the cooker. What a satisfying feeling!

Logan dropped the peaches into boiling water for just a bit, then transferred them to ice water. Annika took them out of the ice water and put them in a bowl. Jamison was our 'go-fer' and filled Logan's bowl with peaches, emptied Annika's bowl when it got full, and kept her supplied with fresh ice water. I frantically slipped peelings off of peaches and pulled the stones out. the children got way ahead of me, so I sent them on breaks whenever I got too far behind. they filled jars with sliced peaches and poured the 'syrup' over the peaches. This year the 'syrup' was 1/2 pineapple juice, 1/2 water and 1 c. sugar. Last year I did it w/o any sugar and my Farmer decided it was a little too tart. So I laid down my lofty ideas of sugar-free peaches and added a little sugar. Keeping the Farmer happy is at the top of my list, and it's really not very difficult.

After the jars were filled, wiped off, lids and rings put on, into the canner they went. I brought the water to a boil, turned the burner down just a bit, and set the timer for 10 min. After the timer went, I turned the burner off and let the jars sit in the canner for at least another 10 minutes.

Pure beauty is on my counter just now, cooling. The memories of canning with my children will put warm fuzzies around my heart every time we open a jar of peaches this winter.

But don't be fooled. A few peaches slipped on the floor, little sister got spritzed with hot water, littlest sister got grumpy, Mom got impatient when the pineapple juice was poured a bit too enthusiastically, and everything was sticky, sticky!

And that's the way canning peaches on a HOT summer day goes at my house.