Posted by Ashley | Posted in Produce, Recipes, Tricks of the Trade | Posted on 28-08-2013
First I started this batch with 1/2 a bushel of StoneFree Peaches… there were 67 peaches in the half bushel… I laid them all out on my kitchen table to examine them… and I knew it would be a day before I got to canning them and I like to take them out of their basket to breath… 
The I got my jars all ready… First I clean them in hot water and a little dish soap, and I make sure to rinse them well so that no soap remains in the jar… then I take the jar and in a wide sauce pan I place about an inch of water, and put the jars in mouth side down and bring the water to a boil leaving the jars in until I am ready to fill them with peaches…
The I get all of my stove ready, they just don’t make the burners wide enough… The large granite blue is the caner.. fill it up with water and put on to boil… it takes a while so if you start it now by the time you get the jars packed it will be boiling… The small sauce pan in front is for making the simple syrup you will top off the jars with… place one quarter cup of sugar with 6 cups of water and heat until the sugar dissolves, then remove from heat…. the tall pot in the front it my blanching pot fill with water and bring to a boil to drop the peaches in… the red pan in the back is for the jars…
Next in the boiling pot of water, take and make an X with your knife along the bottom of your peach, and drop into boiling water for a few minutes, this is to remove the skins… once they look like the skins will fall of, remove from boiling water and place under sink and run cold water over them, then pull off the skins, so easy now…
Next let the packing begin… cut them in half and then into quarters, remove the pit and layer them into the hot jars from the boiling water in the pot on the stove… once the jar is full of peaches, pour in a little of the simple syrup to fill in the air pocket in between the peaches… Then place a lid and a screw top on to the jar… once you get enough jars filled to fill up your caner place them all in at the same time… and boil for 7 minutes… the books all say for 30 minutes, but I find that makes the peaches get mushy in the jars, and as long as the lid on your jar pops down the cans are sealed and ready to go….
The freshly caned peaches … all ready for storage until winter!