Look what I did! I've never canned anything before in my life even though I come from a long line of canners. I always refused when my mom, aunts, and grandma would encourage me to come help them. Now I wish I had let the women relatives in my life teach me other things like making bread and sewing. I just had no desire and probably thought it was demeaning to women to do those things. I was a modern girl! I think if I had to do it alone, I wouldn't enjoy it so much, but doing it with a friend on a whim was actually quite fun. This is her picture. I don't think she'll mind that I "borrowed" it. There were some suspenseful moments like, opening a peach and seeing live earwigs swarming about! Ack! I didn't know earwigs had a thing for peaches.
The process can be long, but it was easy to do. First we rinsed our peaches and separated them into 2 piles. One for canning, and the other for making Peach Pepper Jelly. Then we sliced them and put them in jars. We used quart jars with a wide mouth on top. Then when the peaches were filled to about an inch to the top, we poured fresh apple cider over each jar until it reached the top of the peaches. The apple juice we used was from a local fruit stand. It has a scary warning on it that says it is unpasteurized and if you are a young child, or an elderly person, or someone with a weakened immune system to use at your own risk. Yikes. But we've been drinking it for years and figure it's one of those liability things. Ha ha. Famous last words. After putting lids on each jar, we had a handy dandy canning pot that we put the jars in and boiled for about 35 minutes. As they cool, the lids make a cool popping sound when they are being sealed. They seal as the cool down.
Now that I know I can do it, I want to can everything!
Here are some yummy looking peach recipes:
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