Putting up Peaches

We are nearing the end of peach season here in South Carolina, but the summer is just not complete without putting up some peaches.  And I wanted to share the process with y'all in case you wanted to try it for yourselves.  Now, just to warn you, canning peaches is not cheap, and it is labor-intensive, but ((good night!!)) the results are well worth the extra time and effort!  Home canned peaches are the closest thing you can get to summer-ripened peach in the middle of winter.  There are certainly other ways to can peaches, but here is how I set up my itty bitty kitchen.

Ingredients:
* Peaches
* Sugar
* Fruit Fresh - Add this to your canning liquid to prevent your peaches from turning brown while in storage.

Tools:
* Glass Mason jars or Weck canning jars (with lids and/or seals)
* Canning pot with metal canning insert
* Medium saucepan
* Measuring spoons and cups
* Jar lifter
* Induction cook top and medium pot
* Slotted spoon
* 3 bowls (one for an ice bath, one for your peels and stones, and one for your cut up peaches)
* Paring knife

OK...First things first...when it comes to picking your peaches, you want to find freestone peaches that are ripe, unbruised, and heavy for their size.  (A lot of times, you cannot buy ripe peaches because they don't travel from farm to market well, so you may have to buy unripe peaches and wait for them to ripen on their own.  If your peaches are not very ripe you can lay them out on clean dishtowels in a single layer on your counter for a couple of days.)

I am such a goober...and I love peaches.  :)

Preparation is key, firstly to streamline the lengthy process, and also to insure you won't give someone botulism from eating your canned peaches.  I am not an expert, but I have yet to kill anyone from giving them canned food (or any other way for that matter).  So, make sure you follow the USDA recommendations when canning anything.  It's also helpful if you have someone to share the workload with.  It took my husband and me 4 hours to put up 26 quarts of peaches.

Clean your kitchen, then wash your jars, lids, and seals in hot soapy water and let them air dry.

Fill up your canning pot with hot water and set on high to boil.  I have a glass top stove, and was able to lay the pot across two burners to heat.  It takes a long time for this much water to boil, so you may have to wait a little bit to start the rest of the process.  When the water is boiling, start your syrup.  I chose to make a light syrup using 1 cup sugar, 4 cups water, and 4 tsp Fruit Fresh.  This is enough liquid for 2 or 3 quarts of peaches.  Stir the syrup until the sugar is dissolved.  Stir often to keep the liquid from burning. 

On the other side of my kitchen, I set up an induction cooktop.  Fill with water and set to boil.  Have a paring knife and slotted spoon ready.  (We didn't need the vegetable peeler.)  You'll use this for peeling the peaches.

Next to the indiction stove, fill one large bowl with cool water and ice.  One bowl is for discarding peach stones and skins.  The last bowl is for your cut up peaches. 

Wash a couple of peaches and get ready to peel them.  Peeling peaches is easy if you place the peaches in boiling water for 30-60 seconds, then immediately remove with a  slotted spoon and deposit the fruit in a bath of icy water.

Cut around the circumference of the peach using a paring knife.

Twist the peach to free it from the stone, then peel the skin right off.  If the peach sin't ripe, the skin will stick in places.  

See?  You can peel the skin right off with your fingers.  Use a paring knife if the peel sticks.

Slice the peaches and place into your third bowl until you have enough to fill a jar. 

Stack the peaches into your prepared jars.  The USDA  states that you don't need to sterilize your jars if you prepare your jars in a hot water canner afterward.

I'm sure that my sister, Robin (math genius and perfecter of puzzles), would have some  perfect, mathematical equation to put in more slices, but I've found that if you lay them flat you can fit quite a few peaches in each jar.  Our peaches were very large this year, so only 2 1/2 peaches fit per jar.

Leave 1/2 inch of room at the top of each jar.

Pour hot syrup into the jar, covering the peaches.  I strongly suggest you do this part over the sink!

Carefully scrape a knife around the circumference of the jar, releasing the air bubbles trapped between the peaches.   Add more syrup to cover the peaches.  I also press down the peaches to make sure the syrup covers the fruit completely.  (The peaches will float a bit at this point.)  

Leave 1/2 inch space between the contents and the top of the jar.  It is very important to wipe the edge of the jars before placing the seals, lids, and clips on top.

Place prepared jars in your hot water canner.  Make sure there is an inch of water covering the tops of the jars.  Leave jars in the canner for 30 minutes.   

Use a jar lifter to remove jars from the boiling water, and let cool.  Check the seal by removing the clips and gently trying to lift the lids.  Place in a cool, dark storage for up to a year.

I also love canned peaches! (Still a goober!!!)  :)  This jar was straight out of the canner.  After a couple of days the peaches absorb some of the syrup and swell, so they fill up the jar.

And while we're on the subject of canning, here is a bit about Weck canning jars....  I LOVE the way they look, but in the past I have had upwards of 50% fail rate with the jars sealing....which, as you can imagine, is a real bummer when you have done all of that hard work into putting them up!  My mother-in-law found this site, and I used her suggestions  regarding the use of 3 clips, instead of 2, and not sealing them all the way down in order to let the air escape.  I did not have one single jar fail this time around!  Woo hoo!!!

Cucumbers!

Last week was a bit crazy for me.  The school year is coming to a close and it seems like everyone's going a little stir-crazy.  We are definitely ready for Summer break!  Shopping, packing, and planning for vacation have monopolized most of my time lately.  And, I've been attempting to get all of my listings posted on my etsy site for a big shop update (just have to take those pictures!).  I finished up the Sew, Mama, Sew! giveaway and will post the results this week. Jesse went to the principal last week for the first time because he told a little girl he was going to moon her.  (On a side note, that's totally something his Daddy would do!)   And last week, during a failed attempt to have a play date with one of Jesse's friends at the pool (the pool was EMPTY due to some maintenance problems), Micah fell into the duck pond and is now trying to get over a cold, which he has since passed on to his older brother.  (He shares so nicely!)

In the midst of craziness, our vegetable garden is sprouting like crazy.  The cucumber vines have dozens of little yellow flowers on them, just waiting to bring forth more cucumbers.  Here are two beauties we picked this weekend.

Micah got to pick the first one.

He pulled so hard, that he fell backwards when the cucumber finally let go of its vine.

Jesse got to pick the biggest one.

He's so proud.  

Ready to eat

There's no better way to get my kids to eat veggies than to let them grow their own.  Even Jesse, who wouldn't eat a store bought cucumber even if I bribed him with candy, devours one he grew himself.  Soon, there'll be enough cucumbers to start making our own pickles.  (The boys are so excited about homemade pickles!  Do your kids like pickles?  Mine LOVE them!!!!)  And I  know I've been posting about my garden a lot lately, and not much else, but I promise, there is some crafty goodness coming very soon.  

Growth

I love my little garden!  So far, the peas aren't doing so well, thanks to a bunch of slugs and aphids.  (They also devoured Jesse's flower garden.  We have since planted new seeds, and they're doing well - poppies, nasturtiums, and more giant sunflowers, as well as his snap dragon.)  I was desperate to save my cucumbers and tomatoes, so I have to admit that I caved and used traditional vegetable pesticides.  After I did it, I stopped by the Bluffton Farmers' Market and found our "gardening expert" who gave me a huge list of ways to get rid of pests without spraying them with chemicals.  Well....next time....

One of the 6 cucumber plants

I have never planted tomatoes from seeds, and so far, I'm so pleased with their progress!

18 tomatoes and 6 cukes!

We got our first "harvest" of peas this week - 3 whole pea pods!

Jess was so excited to pick his peas

Proud gardener

This is how he washes off his peas.  Isn't this how you do it?

I am dreaming about the vegetable goodness that will soon be blooming in our backyard!  But, I am also savoring the little moments we can stop and rest, discussing how the plants grow and how God made all plants different, what we can do to help them grow, and just plain sitting and enjoying each other's company...  Because I know all too well, that my garden is not the only thing growing...

Jess and I

Sharing a pea pod with his little brother 

Bite

Yum!

I am so thankful for these little moments with my boys!  Hopefully, I'm fostering a love for gardening, and the Creator who allows all things to grow.

He's 6!

We celebrated Jesse's 6th birthday in full "force" (get it?!) with a couple of his friends last week.  He is all about Star Wars right now, so of course, we had to have a Star Wars party, complete with light sabers (or "life savers" as Jesse calls them), Star Wars cake pops, and episode VI aired outside on the big "screen" of our neighbor's fence.

Chewbacca, Luke Skywalker, Yoda, Han Solo, Ewok, and Princess Leia Cake Pops (Storm troopers not shown...they weren't very good.  hehehe!)

I found these adorable pops on pinterest, and once Jesse saw them, I had to make them.  These were the first cake pops I've ever made, and I learned a lot during the process.  My Mother-in-law bought me this book, and I got to work.  It took me all day, but Jesse's reaction made it worth it!!!  He LOVED them.

We needed light sabers for the kids, so Jesse and I made them out of pool noodles, duct tape, and black electrical tape.  We have been playing with these non-stop since we made them weeks ago.

A barrel of light sabers

My Star Wars boys

I tried to deter this wardrobe choice.  He wanted to wear all black, like Darth Vader, even if it was 85 degrees.  He needed a lot of juice boxes!

Eli and Lizzy, joining the Jedis 

Jared made a cake pop stand by drilling a bunch of holes in a board and painting it with chalkboard paint so we could use it again.

Blowing out the candle sticking out of Yoda's head.

I can't believe he's 6!!!

Enjoying the cake pops

Micah Bean and one of his best friends, Jaime

When it got dark, Jared set up our home theater speakers to a projector he purchased on ebay.  I'm so glad he understands how all of those electronic things work, because you know I have no clue!

Our outdoor theater, complete with concession stand.  We served boxes of movie theater candy, and popcorn with different seasonings

Micah and Jared enjoying the show

This little guy made it all the way to the end of the movie.  Eli and Jesse were the only ones who stayed awake the whole time.

The boys.  It was so funny that the boys sat on one blanket, and the girls sat on the other.

As Jared put Jesse into bed that night, he told him that it was the "best party ever."  :)  I just love that boy (sigh!).

Pumpkin butter!!!

Have I mentioned how much I love pumpkin?!  And pumpkin butter has to be one of the best pumpkin-y things I've ever tasted!  YUM!!!

As of Friday, I was still trying to decide what I wanted to can this weekend, and then Jared brought home a bunch of little pie pumpkins that his work wasn't going to use for an art project.  We started processing the pumpkins after going to to the pumpkin patch on Saturday afternoon.  It was a family affair.

I've never made pumpkin pulp before.  Every time I've baked anything pumpkin, I've used the canned stuff.  So, Jesse helped scoop 1/2 of a pumpkin, and Micah just wanted to hold and sniff a pumpkin half, and take little licks of the inside when he thought we weren't looking.  (I don't think that he was too impressed with the taste. ha ha!)  Jared gutted the rest of the pumpkins.  We cut the pumpkins into chunks and lined them up on 2 large jelly roll pans.

We covered them with foil, then baked them at 375 degrees for just shy of 2 hours, and scooped out the pulp.  We blended the pulp until smooth using a hand blender.  Then, I looked for at a couple of recipes and tweaked one a bit to come up with my own (because I'm a rebel like that!).  16 hours in a crock pot, and a bit of canning, and we've got....

Pumpkin Butter (in a crock pot)
Ingredients:
9 pie pumpkins, cooked, pulp removed, and blended until smooth (see above) ***

Juice from 5 small lemons

2 Tbsp vanilla extract

1 cup apple cider

4 cups sugar

2 Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ground cloves

Directions:
Place half of the pumpkin pulp into a large crock pot with all of the other ingredients.  Make sure you have at least 2 inches of room at the top of the crock pot.  Blend with a hand blender until smooth.  Place the lid on top, but do not seal or close tightly.  You want the steam to escape.  Cook the pumpkin on high for 5-6 hours or until the pulp has halved in volume.  You can stir the pulp, but it's not necessary.  I let mine cook overnight.  Add the rest of the pulp, and continue to cook the pumpkin until it's thick and dark brownish-orange - approximately 5 more hours.  Use a hand blender to smooth out the mixture once more.

The USDA says that pumpkin cannot be safely canned because the acidity of pumpkins varies so much...so spoon hot pumpkin butter into jars that have been run through a dishwasher with "heated dry" or boiled in a pot of water for 10 minutes.  You want to have the pumpkin butter about the same temperature as the jars.  Top with lids.  Let jars cool on a towel-lined counter top.  Store pumpkin butter in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks.  Makes approximately 12 pints of pumpkin butter.

There's not much that I wouldn't eat this yummy pumpkin-y goodness on.  So far, we've tried it on crackers, pretzels, apples slices, pumpkin pancakes, bagels with cream cheese...but I'm thinking that it would be pretty amazing on a cheesecake, or on muffins, or how about chocolate chip banana bread?  YUMMY!!!!  Happy canning!!!

***If making your own pumpkin pulp seems like too much work (it is a bit labor-intensive), you can always substitute a couple of cans of already prepared pumpkin pulp.  Just make sure it's not pumpkin pie filling.