Can I Can?

 

I have two peach trees in my yard.  The trees are about 8 years old.  They produce a lot of peaches from sometime in mid-June until mid-July.  This year, I harvested about 40 pounds of the fruit in two batches, and canned them.  (No way was I going to eat 40 pounds of peaches.)

This blog post is about the canning process.  Once picked, the peaches will remain usable for a week or so, after which they start spoiling.  When I have all the peaches I'm going to get for a batch of jam, I start by placing the peaches in near boiling water for a few minutes.  This helps loosen the skin of the peach.  The next step is the removal of the skins, and discarding the peals and the pits.  The flesh of the peach can be sectioned into convenient pieces. This process takes the most time, since it will need to be done in batches.

Once all the fruit is skinned and sliced, it can be placed in a large pot.  Add granulated surgar (about half the wieght of the peaches), and a cup or so of pectin powder.  As the pot warms, use an immersion blender to reduce the peaches to a jam like consistency.  Leave larger peaces of peaches if desiring to make preserves.  Bring the pot of peaches and sugar to a low boil.  Let the mixture boil for about 10 minutes.

While the peach mixture is heating, boil the canning jars, lids, and rings.  It should take about 5 minutes to sterilize the jars.  After the jars are sterile, place them where they can be easily filled.  

Fill the jars with the hot mixture.  Use a damp cloth to clean anything that gets on the rim of the jars.  Place the lids and rings on the jars, and tighten loosely.  Once all of the jars are filled and covered, the filled jars can be placed in the waterbath canner, which should be boiling.  The canner should have a rack to allow easy lowering and removal of the jars.  Leave the jars in the boiling water for 10 minutes, and then remove them.  Place them on a counter to cool over night.  If there are more jars than will fit in the canner at once, you may need to run multiple batches.

After the jars are cool (usually the next morning), check the jars for a good seal.  If you press down on the lid, there should be no give.  If there is any flexing of the lid, the jar was not sealed properly.  The jam (or preserves) is still good, but it should be refrigerated and used within a couple of months.  The sealed jars are shelf stable for a few years.  Once opened, they will need to be kept in the fridge.  Label the jars with the canning date, and their contents.

As I mentioned, I ran two batches of peach jam/preserves this year.  The first batch used about 14 pounds of peaches, and yielded a dozen jars of preserves and jam.  The second batch was about 23 pounds, and resulted in 22 jars, all jam.  As  you can see in the picture, I use a number of different jar sizes, from the little 4 ounce samplers, the 8 ounce jelly jars, and 16 ounce jars (I tend to use these for preserves).  Not shown in the picture are 32 ounce jars.  I didn't use any of those this year, but last year I canned sliced peaches in a few of them.  Canned peaches can be used for a number of purposes... I use them to make a mean peach cobbler.

That's the process.  It is a hectic two or three weeks as I try to get the fruit off of the tree before it falls off.  I managed it this year, leaving a very few peaches on the highest branches that I just could not reach.  This is the bird and squirrel share.

If you decide to try canning, you will find that you will want extra canning lids.  These come in sleeves of 50.  Do not reuse a lid... it is impossible to get it clean enough.  Rings are ok, since they never come in contact with the product.  Glass jars can be reused, and I tend to user the ones that have a pebbled finish for looks.

Next month, I hope to can figs from my fig tree.