Chris & Rachel: Adventures in Canning: First Attempt

What do you like to do at 9:30pm on a Saturday night?

Well, I like to learn how to can peaches, that's what I like to do!

We went to the farmer's market early in the morning and they were selling $12 boxes of ripe peaches from a local orchard. I'm a deal finder and I couldn't pass this one up! However, when I asked the lady how long the peaches would last she suggested I preserve them that day or the next. So I basically had one day to learn how to can. I already had plans for the rest of the day so I couldn't get to it until the evening. I was determined to figure it out - so a bunch of blog posts and Ball Blue Book later I rolled my sleeves up and got started.

I was able to borrow some supplies from my good friend Naomi.

I of course wanted to go the all-natural route, so I looked up recipes that didn't call for preservatives or lots of extra sugar. I found that lemon juice helps with the coloring and I used raw honey in my simple syrup instead of regular sugar. (The energy drink on the side was an extra boost!)

The pictures in the Ball Blue Book were a great help! Who knew there were 1. two different methods to canning, and 2. so many steps. Goodness.

Lids warming up in hot water

Millions of peaches, peaches for free, millions of peaches, peaches for me...

So I tried blanching the peaches - which is an art form in itself. Every batch that I blanched turned out different. Sometimes the skins came off no problem, then other times the peaches were completely mush because I boiled it too long. Ugh - definitely my least favorite part.

We also don't have an ice maker, so I had to use a cold pack to try to cool down the peaches after the boiling water. Next time I can I will definitely pick up a bag of ice from the store in advance.

After blanching, peeling, and coring the peaches I put them in a lemon juice bath to help preserve the color. Then I transferred the peaches to the jars and filled up the rest of the space with a honey simple syrup.

Lids on and ready for a bath

Oh man I was so nervous that the jars were going to break. I put them in lukewarm water and brought it to a boil with the jars so that the jars would heat up gradually with the water. I greatly underestimated the amount of time it takes to bring that much water to a rolling boil.

So. Much. Time.