Peaches and Cans

Back in the day {before babies} Mom was quite the canner.  Mom canned almost everything, and at a great price; free! She and her friend, Teri, knew the "right people" who would allow them to come glean. {Very Ruth of her, if I do say so.} This went a long way in helping with my parents then tiny budget.

This year I asked her to teach me.. and she was more than delighted!

 Mom had a pressure-cooker explode on her when she was young, so she is very anti-pressure-cooker. We used the water bath method to can peaches. 

First we sterilized our jars and rings, and placed our lids in a small saucepan with a little water to simmer. {Not boil. That is important for some reason, but I can't remember why}

Then we rinsed the peaches {fresh from the Yakima Valley- where all the best produce comes from :) }and placed them into a pot of boiling water to blanch for 30-60 seconds.

After blanching, we tossed the peaches into an ice bath to cool. After this the skins just slipped right off. We then halved our peaches. 

{Mine were a little ripe, so some weren't as firm as you'd like}

We started the light syrup... 9 cups water, 2 1/2 cups sugar: bring to boil in a medium saucepan.

Then we packed our peaches face-down {pit side down} in our warm jars. Mom was fast at this; I was distracted by how pretty they looked. 

We packed the jars just to the top curve and then covered with syrup, leaving 1/2 inch of space. We used a butter-knife to get out the air bubbles; wiped the rim of our jars; then screwed on the lids. 

"Tighten with your fingers, not you whole arm."  - Mom

After this we placed the jars evenly on to the rack of the canner, and lowered into warm water, with just about an inch of water covering the jars.  {Pic is pre-water. Sorry} 

Then we waited. And waited. And waited for that large pot to boil. It was a long time. {It probably just felt longer.} You have to wait for the water to be boiling before you can even start the clock. 

By this point Hadley was tired of all this...

{couldn't help the cute baby pic}

Once boiling, you then start the timer base on altitude. I believe we set the clock for 25-30 min. 

After they were done, we carefully removed the rack and lined the jars up about an inch apart on a towel to cool. As the jar lids seal they making a popping sound.. this is Mom's favorite part.. but since I had fans going I missed it. 

I left the cans on the counter overnight to cool. 

I've already been mixing some of these in with my morning oatmeal. YUM!
I think I may love canning. Jellies, Apples, Apple-butter, Applesauce and Garlic Pickles may be next. :)

{Family- expect some for Christmas}

A Special Thanks To:
Mom- for teaching
Rachel- my in-house photographer
and Nick- for keeping an eye on the baby.