Canning Peaches!

A couple of weeks ago I ordered a box of peaches from a local farm (http://www.valicofffarms.com/) which is a great deal!!  On a Saturday the 20lb box of the peaches arrived and while I was planning on canning the peaches that day, they were not quite ripe and pealing them was going to be a hassle so I decided to wait.  However, since this past month I have been practically working every day and the next weekend I was going to be out of town I ended up having to wake up at 6am one day to can all the peaches. Not that fun.

I made two different things with my peaches.  First was to just can peach slices in a light syrup and second to make a peach pie/cobbler filling.  That way it makes a super easy dessert in the winter.  All I have to do is open the can, put it in some ramekins and put some oatmeal crumble on the top.  

First thing to do is to peal the peaches.  Most important part and what will make or break you is if the peaches are ripe or not.  You want to be able to easily press into the top and have your finger make a dent.  Get a big pot of water to boil and set up a bowl of ice water.  I did mine in sets of four.  I first made an X on the bottom of the peaches with a knife then let them sit in the boiling water for 30-45 seconds then put them in the ice water for a couple seconds.  The skin should easily peel off then (if they are actually ripe) and you should be able to just use your hands.  There were a couple of peaches that gave me some trouble, so I just threw them back into the hot water for another couple seconds and then it was much easier.

Once pealed I cut up the peaches into slices and then put a fruit saver on them to make them not brown (sold in the store next to the mason jars).  If you don't have it you can put lemon juice onto them.  Do NOT forget this step.  It will make a big difference.  After that I took out the peaches for the peach pie filling and made that first.

Here's the recipe for the Peaches in Syrup...