R ~I'm peached out...

[Guest Guest]

I only got through 150lbs of peaches today and I still have 300lbs to go...*sigh* I had to fire my daughter (she sux at peeling peaches rofl)...

 

The good news is I have beautiful quarts of canned peaches, I have peach preserves, and I have peach butter simmering in the crockpot to be finished up tomorrow.

 

The good thing is all I hafta do is look at one of the jars and see how pretty they look and it's all worth the work. 6 months from now when peach season is long gone, I'll look forward to cracking open the jars I labored over.

 

Tomorrow is peach day, Friday is peach day and I hope I get done with these soon lol....I might even make some peach/blueberry jam tomorrow now that I think about it....

 

hmmmmmmmm.....

[redhenfarm]

It is satisfying to look at jars of things you've canned yourself.

I think this is why people used to have big families (and kids who knew how to peel peaches) and other relatives all living close by.

Do you use the peel method where you dunk the peach in boiling water briefly, then cold water and the skin slips right off?

I think we need a canning jar graemlin.

 

[Homesteader]

So, I guess by now, you are really in the "pits"

[Guest Guest]

Yeppers, I dunk in hot water, chill in cold water and peel the skin off and pit it.

 

So far I have 32 Quarts of peaches canned and 22 1/2pts of preserves...as I said before the peach butter is in the crockpot doing it thing all alone for now lol.

[Guest Guest]

Darlene, where in the world are you storing all this canned food? I wish I didn't have to work, and could do more home made, and canned food. You have been one busy little bee!

[redhenfarm]

Darlene, your kitchen must smell heavenly.

 

[motherearth]

Darlene, would you share how you make peach butter? My mom has put a request for some. She also said that she used to get pear honey from my aunt's MIL years ago. Have any of you heard of pear honey and/or know how it is made? Mom said she thought that it was made from pear peels and was the consistancy of honey.

 

CeeGee

[Guest Guest]

Mare, was just thinking I need to rearrange my kitchen cabinets...I have one ceiling to floor cabinet that is 3' deep filled with home canned goods, I have a ceiling to floor closet in my laundry room that is filled with home canned goods and 1 shelve in my towel closet is double stacked with stuff I've canned...I ended up canning 300lbs of peaches in light syrup and 250lbs of peaches into jam...

 

Peaceful, the house does have a natural beautiful peach smell throughout it. Just think, all those years I bought peach poupourri (sp? i'm too tired to think lol) and all I really had to do is order hundreds of pounds of real peaches lol.

 

CeeGee...here's the recipe that I used for Peach Butter;

 

Peach Butter

 

4-4 1/2lbs peaches (I used 4 1/2lbs)

4c sugar

 

To prepare pulp: Wash and blanch peaches. Put peaches in cold water. Peel, pit and chop peaches. Combine peaches and sugar in crockpot, put crockpot on high until peaches start to simmer, then turn down to low setting. I let them cook in the crockpot for 24 hours like that, then took a stick blender and blended the peach chunks until they were the consistancy of butter. I took a little of the mixture out with a spoon and put on it on a plate to make sure it wasn't *weeping* (spilling excess liquid away from the peach butter) and when it got to that consistancy, I poured into half pint and pint jars and water bathed in 15 minutes boiling water.

 

The peach butter turns a warm and deep color as it carmalizes with the sugar and has a very unique flavor and texture.

 

You could also add spices, i.e. cinnamon, nutmeg or cloves, depending on your own personal tastes.

 

That's it from me, I'm done for the night...I hafta finish up making the jam with the peaches I have cut up and in zip lock bags this weekend...I can hardly walk or type lol...

[ToAutumn]

can you also share your recipe for straight canning the peaches too? Ilove trying out other peoples recipes to see if theirs taste different or even better than the way I do it.

[Guest Guest]

I LOVE your kitties, Karen!

 

Many times it's the peach variety that is the difference in flavor.

 

I always canned "Red Havens" or "Elberta" (like Mom did ), then one year I missed them and tried "Glohaven". They weren't as good eating straight from the can, but were tastier in pies, cobblers, etc... anything cooked or baked.

 

I canned them the same way, but the flavor was just different. I usually use a medium or heavy syrup.

 

Light (Thin) Simple Syrup:

2 cups sugar to 4 cups water

 

Medium Simple Syrup:

3 cups sugar top 4 cups water

 

Heavy Simple Syrup:

4 cups sugar to 4 cups water

 

 

Cat

[Guest Guest]

Karen, I just followed the instructions in the Blue Ball canning book and used light syrup for canning which was 2 1/4 cups sugar to 5 1/4 cups of water...I used the light syrup so that the peaches would taste more like peaches and less like sugar.

 

I blanced the peaches, peeled and pitted them (cutting them in half and then cut halves in thirds to go into the jars). I packed the peaches into the jars, poured the hot light syrup over them and gave them a water bath...pints for 25 minutes and quarts for 30 minutes.

 

Nothing fancy or special there...but I also made my dad a double batch of pickled peaches...it's something his grandma usta make years ago when he was a child.

 

That's one of the things I love about canning...natural and fresh fruits and veggies that far surpass the stuff we can buy canned in the grocery store and the jars look SO PRETTY!

 

lol

[motherearth]

Here I go again.....Darlene, how do you make the pickled peaches? My Mom would love some and I have been thinking about making her some.

 

CeeGee

[Guest Guest]

(((((CeeGee)))))

 

Feel free to ask anytime!

 

Here's the recipe I used outta the Bllue Ball canning book for pickled peaches:

 

Pickled Peaches

 

8 pounds peaches

4 sticks cinnamon

2T whole cloves

1T fresh grated ginger

6 cups sugar

1 quart vinegar

 

Blanch and peel peaches, treat to prevent darkening. Tie spices in a spice bag. Combine spice bag, sugar and vinegar in a large saucepot and boil 5 minutes. Drain peaches and cook drained peaches in boiling syrup until they can be pierced with a fork but are not soft. Remove from heat and cover, let stand 12-24 hours in a cool place. When ready to can, bring pot to a boil, remove spice bag. Pack peaches into hot jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Ladle hot liquid over peaches, leaving 1/4" headspace. Remove airbubbles, adjust 2 piece caps and process 20 minutes in a boiling water canner.

 

Yield: about 3 quarts.

 

I doubled the recipe and for some reason got 7 quarts, but one jar broke.

 

Good luck and hope your mom enjoys them!

[motherearth]

 

 

CeeGee