Can it, would ya?

Apart from all the cooking and household tidying and laundry and scrubbing of the kitchen and organizing my pantry, I took some time out on Sunday to get my ye olde fashiony groove on. Sometimes I really dig on the 1940s housewife thing, and this was one of those weekends. My weekly grocery shopping trip was marked by a visit to Simonian Farms, and the procurement of a nice basket of peaches.

I’ve gotten into canning this summer. Canning always seemed like this magically difficult thing my mother did when I was a child. There were pots bubbling and brines brewing and much kerchief wearing and Bert Bacharach-on-the-stereo-ing. My father loved to garden; between our big family and his do-it-yourself-ish-ness, we had a veritable vegetable plethora of edibles. And mom’s prowess was to take said massive plethora and make it all last into the seasons ahead. The key? Canning.

While I planted a various veggies this year, my little “garden” didn’t turn out to be nearly the haul my father would usher forth. So I’ve been hitting the farmer stands and utilizing the cost effectiveness of their fresh veg to get some canning done all on my own. And let me tell you: I love it. Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble—and I end up with quarts of tomatoes and pickles and jams all ready to use in the months ahead. I am so my mother’s daughter… sans kerchief and Bacharach.

This weekend I put up 3-quarts of peaches. It was fairly easy. Here’s how I did it:

1) Sterilize the jars and lids. Do this by boiling them for 5 minutes.
2) Create a simple syrup for the peaches by dissolving 3 cups of sugar to a quart of boiling water.
3) Skin the peaches: Drop peaches in boiling water (more boiling—canning is a warm process!) for about 30 to 45 seconds. Pull them out and put them in a bath of icy water. The boiling water will loosen the skins, making peeling MUCH easier; the cold water will stop the peaches from continuing to cook.
4) Halve the peaches and remove the pit.
5) Place peaches in sterilized jars.
6) Pout the simple syrup over the peaches and fill the jar to about ½ inch from the top. Cover the jars with lids and seal tightly.
7) Place jars back into boiling water, making sure the jars are completely submerged; there should be at least an inch of water above the jar.
8 ) Process jars (meaning: boil them in this way) for 30-minutes for quarts, or 25-minutes for pints.

When finished, remove the jars and let them cool. Once the lids suck down, they’re sealed.

As I’m no expert, be sure to check out these helpful sites for tips and basic rules to canning.

Enjoy!

Make it do
Simply Canning