August Sunlight in a Jar
Each August I buy 2 bushels of freestone Redhaven's if I can get them. Usually,
it takes 1 to 2 days for the peaches to ripen enough to can. The tricky part
is catching them at the right moment before the bruised spots darken and yet
still have the unripe parts softened enough. Two bushels yields about 30 quarts.
I plan ahead to make sure I have most of the day available for this many.
It takes about 5 hours from start to finish. (Having help is very nice!)
See the VCR control on the left? A very important tool. My preference is
old movies while canning. Gaslight, (Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer), Long
Hot Summer (Paul Newman and Joann Woodward), and Sunset Boulevard (Gloria
Swanson and William Holden) are just a few of my favorites.
Scald the peaches until they float. The riper they are the quicker they float.
Take them to the sink and plunge in cold water until cool. Remove skins (this
should be easy if you scalded them long enough) and cut into chunks (the pit
will fall out, hence the term "freestone". Very important.)
Take the juice from the peaches and add sugar to your taste.
Put in a separate pot and bring to a simmer. If you like allot of sugar you
may need to add a little water.
Wash your jars (I like quarts for peaches) in hot, soapy water.
Sterilize them by steam or boiling water. Have your lids sterilized also.
Put the cut up peaches into the jars, fairly tightly packed but don't mush
them. Pour the super hot sugar-peach juice into each jar until the peaches
are covered, leaving 1/2 inch space of air at the top of the jar. Put the
lid on and then the ring. Tighten the ring hand-tight.
Set your jars in the rack that comes with your enamel canner.
Now here's the really important part..... fill your canner up to the line
with the hottest tap water you have. DO NOT turn the heat on under the canner
until you have lowered the jars into the bath. The bath must completely cover
the tops of the jars and yet not be so full it boils over and puts the flame
out on your burners. If you heat your water before your jars are in there
is a good chance that some will break from the heat differential between the
mildly warm peaches and the super hot water. By the same token, NEVER put
very hot jars into cold water. Put the lid on the canner and blast the heat
to them.
Once the water boils, (this could take as much as a 1/2 hour.
I like to set my canner over two burners for speed) set your timer for 30
minutes. After this amount of time your peaches are sealed and harmful bacteria
are considered dead. Remove the rack from the canner and let the jars cool.
As they cool you will hear a "pop" as each jar seals. There is a
little button in the center of each lid which will be sucked down and look
like a slight dent when the jar is sealed.
When cool, remove the rings and reuse. Mark the date on the
lid. Store in a cool, dark place. They will last several years if the lids
don't rust or the seal isn't broken. You'll know if it's broken because there
will be mold inside the jar. It's obvious.
Open and eat at your leisure. Especially in the middle of
winter on a bowl of granola... or maybe a pie, or tarts, or cobbler.... you
get the picture! August in a jar.
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