How to can peaches

I canned twenty fucking pounds of peaches today. 

I kind of love canning. Not the hard work part - but there's a lot of satisfaction in filling my pantry with home canned goodies. It is definitely a skill I want to continue to practice and develop... it is certainly less and less terrifying each time.

I prefer canning vs freezing because food stays fresher, it's shelf stable so I don't have to worry about power outages, and I don't have to worry about freezer space - I fill my freezer with meat! 

I remember watching my grandma can when I was a kid, and I wish I had tapped into that resource and paid closer attention. She used to can peaches every year, and it was always one of my favorite things to indulge in.

Unfortunately, I did not pay attention. 

So I have set out on this adventure of learning to can armed with ignorance, fear of exploding canners, sheer determination and the interwebs. 

If I can do this - YOU can do this. Let the blind leading the blind commence:

Ok canning shit you will need: 

 - Water bath canner  - safe canning jars 

 - lids and rings

 - jar lifter

 - non metallic spatula 

 - canning funnel doohickey

 - ladle

 - peaches

 - ice

 - sugar 

So first you should wash your jars and lids, hindsight wisdom right here. This should be step 1. Now you can pour yourself a glass of wine or champagne like me, because i'm a classy bitch.

 

You do not need to sterilize jars like they used to tell you, the new guidelines point out how pointless that is since you cannot keep them sterile anyway and the canning process kills everything.

So just wash with hot soapy water and dry - SOOO much easier. srsly. What asshat is responsible for all the jars I sterilized literally a month before they released the new guidelines?! "JK! LOL that's fucking pointless!"  EFFFFF

Anyhooters:

Next you need to bring a pot of water to boil 

Once the water is boiling rapidly, drop in a few peaches - carefully. 

And once the peaches are in - fill a bowl with ice water 

I let my peaches sit in the boiling water for two minutes and then transfer to the ice water so they stop cooking immediately

Repeat this process until all peaches are blanched (I just take them out of the ice water after a couple minutes and put them in a clean bowl to make room)

Once your peaches are blanched get your water bath canner on the stove heating up (because it takes all damn day to boil I swear), and start making your simple syrup.

This is a light syrup:

 - 2 1/4 cups sugar

 - 5 1/4 cups water 

Heat to a boil then turn the heat down to a low simmer.

In the meantime grab a knife and start prepping peaches!

First halve them by following the natural crease all peaches have, you know, the butt.

Then core and peel your peach and remove any bad spots or whatever

 (why is this photo upside down?)

If you didn't totally fuck up the blanching process the skin should just slide off. Don't work too hard, you can pop them back in the boiling water for 30 seconds if you need to.

Start packing peach halves core side down into the jars layering until full - leave 1/2 head space 

... mmmmm your kitchen should smell amazing right now

Now ladle your simple syrup into the jars leaving 1/2" head space

Remove air bubbles with a non metallic spatula or air bubble tool thingee. 

Clean off the top of the jar with a damp rag and set your lid and tighten your ring. (don't wrench the rings down, just 'finger tight')

Lower into the canner and process pints for 25 minutes, quarts for 30 minutes. 

My helper as usual, because 30lbs of squirming toddler on your back makes every chore cross fit.

Carefully lift out jars onto a kitchen towel away from drafts to cool completely - try not to fuck with them the rest of the day while they set. 

You will know which jars sealed properly because the lid will not give in the center when pushed. Remove your rings and wash your jars before storing - these will be good for a while but for the best taste use within a year or so 

Cheers!