Once again we have rolled back around to canning season. I have a love hate relationship with the whole canning thing. On the one hand, I truly don’t love canning. I resent it really if I’m being honest about it. Which is kind of a problem since every year my husband becomes more and more obsessed with the idea of canning everything. The problem with it for the most part is that he thinks I should be the one doing most of the canning. And for someone who has a lot of health issues, spending hours on end, using up what little energy I have that day to can what I could have spent the same money for in the store…. not terribly appealing. Especially when I have about a million other things around me screaming for my time and attention.
On the other hand however, there are some benefits to canning. Ignoring all of the cookie cutter reasons like, ‘Oh, it’s healthier.’ ‘It’s better for you.’ yada yada. For me the biggest reasons are more along the lines of, ‘Because I can’t find this in stores.’ I can’t find a version of this that I can eat in stores.’ A prime example of this would be salsa. I have only ever once found a salsa in a store that I could eat. And I want to say it was like six dollars for a little jar of it. Which was just not sustainable for me. My budget just doesn’t allow for that. So, in the case of salsa it is way more affordable to make it myself. Especially since my husband is in the habit of growing a bunch of tomatoes that he has absolutely no intention of eating himself.
My intention was not to get caught up in discussing salsa however. Salsa season is not quite here yet. Almost, but not quite. What is here though is peach season. Which I do love peaches. Especially beautiful fresh juicy peaches straight off the tree. Yumm. However, peaches don’t exactly have the longest shelf life, which leaves us with freezing and canning. Now, I’ve tried both options and for really juicy peaces, I got to say, canning is by far the way to go.
This week my peaches came ripe and they look great. My tree is still pretty young so it doesn’t produce tons of peaches, but this year it really outdid itself. That poor tree had branches that were so loaded down that they were bent right down to the ground. I imagine it was quite relieved to have us go out and start picking some of the peaches. So yesterday, while my website was in the middle of crisis anyway, I took the opportunity to can up 8 quarts of peaches. I think my bigger pan could have held 9 jars but I didn’t realize that, so I only did 8 jars worth.
It was tiring, and it was draining of my energy, but there is this small sense of satisfaction in looking at that little collection of ‘my’ peaches. Home grown and canned. I may not like it, but I can appreciate it. Today I intend on finishing up the bulk of them. One more canner full is all I think it will take. Partially because my daughter is talking about making a big of pan of peach crisp and that will use up a chunk of what’s left. I want to express my enjoyment of it, but unfortunately, my body has decided it doesn’t like oatmeal this days, so I will be content to just enjoy a couple of the fresh, ripe, juicy peaches. There is nothing quite like them.
Observations about peach canning and canning supplies in general :
- Ok, I know the price tag is a fair bit higher, but as far as comfort and grip, hands down the Ball Jar Lifter is top of the line. I got one years ago and I have never found one that I have liked better. I am super nervous about the idea of dropping a hot jar of something and this lifter makes me feel a lot more comfortable.
- Yesterday I did the cold packing option of the peaches and I did find that the rumors are true, for the cold packing at least, the peaches are floating so they may start to brown on the top. Today I think I am going to try the hot packing method and see how that goes.
- Not all jar lids are created equal. Ball and Kerr are still top of the line for sure. But I have had good results so far with the RoxRulie brand lids. I have used them for both dry and wet canning. I have even used them for dry canning and then turned around and reused the same lids for wet canning.
- Magnetic jar lid lifters are amazing. Seriously where have these been all my life? I bought these ASTER brand ones 3 years ago and they are still holding up amazing. I don’t even put them away. I just stick them to my stove hood and they just hang there until I need them.
- I just tried out these new reusable lids just yesterday and so far so good. They came with this whole kit of stuff. Although I didn’t need most of it, it might be helpful for someone just getting started out. The kit did come with a magnetic jar lid lifter. (Quick update: However, after a couple of uses, the magnetic jar lifter lost it’s magnet.)
- Removing the peach skins by putting them in a bath of boiling water for 30 seconds or so works absolutely amazing. I wish I had known that the last time I canned peaches.
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