Post by solargeek1 on May 30, 2012 10:40:02 GMT -7
DINK ON CANNING
Select fresh, ripe, peaches (plums, pears, or other fruits). Make sure it is not under ripe or over ripe.
You can scald the fruit for 10 seconds in boiling water then run through a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process, the skin will slide right off this way. Or you can take the time to peel the fruit...IF you want it peeled. Peeling gives you the chance to make sure any bruises or bad spots are removed prior to canning.
After peeling the fruit, cut into halves, quarters, or bite size sections as you prefer. To keep the fruit from turning brown, you can sprinkle a product called Fruit Fresh on it and gently mix in with your hands, squeeze fresh lemon juice over fruit and mix gently in with hands, or you can make a solution of: 1 gallon water, 2 TBSP baking soda, 2 TBSP apple cider vinegar...For the vinegar mix, simply let fruit set in mixture for 10 seconds and remove to large bowl.
Place NEW lids and new or used (but clean, non-rusty) rings into a pan of water to scald for at least 10 minutes before using. This will not damage the seal on the lid, and it will make sure there is no bacteria on the lid or ring to cause contamination. Do NOT reuse lids. They form to the jar top, and will not form a new seal. Rings can be re-used if cleaned and kept properly. I like to tie one on the end of a string, then slide the others loose on the string.
Scrub jars with hot soapy water to clean, then rinse thoroughly in hot water. MAKE SURE TO GET ALL THE SOAP OFF!! Place cake pan on large burner or griddle and set jars in bottom of cake pan. Put enough water in jars to keep them from moving. Fill cake pan almost to top with water. Let set. You will use this later!! DO NOT get rid of this yet!!!
Fill jars to top with hot water and place in canning pot inside jar rack. Fill pot to 2" over the top of the jars. Turn burner on high and bring to hard boil. Boil empty jars for 15 minutes to sterilize. While the jars are boiling, I am preparing the syrup.
I like to use a medium syrup...4 cups water, 3 cups sugar. while water is heating up, slowly whisk in sugar until it is desolved. I keep this on a medium heat until peaches are done processing. Stir syrup occasionally. DO NOT BOIL YET!!
After peaches are ready in a bowl, syrup is in limbo for its next step....turn burners on under the cakepan of water and bring it to gentle boil, the turn down to a medium heat. You will set the hot jars in this while filling them with peaches. This keeps them from cooling off to much...which will result in jars busting when placed back into boiling water bath. I use a pair of tongs to remove each jar one at a time out of the water bath and let the water empty out into the water bath pan. Place a jar in the cake pan of hot water, spoon the peaches into the jar to keep it in place. Do this one jar at a time. After all jars have the peaches in them, turn the heat up on your syrup stirring it constantly to bring it to a boil. As soon as it is boiling, use a spoon or scoop to add syrup slowly to peaches in jars. Using the cake pan is optional (on this batch mine has a carrot cake in it!!). Extra syrup can be allowed to cool and then placed in a jar and lidded for use on more fruit within 24-48 hours.
After syrup is added, use a butter knife, spatula or something similar to gently work around peaches inside to remove air bubbles. Top jars off with syrup if needed. Fill jars to 1/4" from the top. This leaves room for the peaches to expand and keeps syrup from bubbling out. Place hot sterile lid in center of jar, and ring on and start to tighten. Place finger on top of lid to keep it centered and to keep the seal from being damaged in the process of tightening the ring. Do ALL this while jars are sitting in very hot water in cake pan. BE CAREFUL!!! Or work very quickly to keep jars from cooling off.
Once jars are filled and lids are on, take each jar and slowly lower into the hot water bath and cover with lid. Bring water back to a boil. AFTER the water has started to boil THEN start timing the process. Peaches should be done for 25-30 minutes, depending on batch size and elevation.
MAKE SURE there is NO air flow (fan, AC, etc) in the room. Try to have room at least warm, so shock of cold air won't bust jars when they are removed from the water. Have 2 hand towels handy. About 1 minute before the proccesing is up, place 1 towel folded in 1/2 on top of the waterbath pan lid to heat up. When processing is done, place towel on counter top for jars to set on, place lid to side and place other towel on lid to absord heat from it. GENTLY AND SLOWLY remove the jar rack from the water. Then remove jars from rack and set onto heated towel. Place jars about 1" apart to allow for air flow. Place second heated towel over top of jars. Allow to set UNTOUCHED until room tremperature...I prefer to wait until the next day.
When cooled completely, test lids for seal. If lid pops or gives, it did not seal. If it sealed, the lid will be firm. If sealed, remove ring, and gently wipe jar down with a damp rag to clean it up. Allow to thoroughly dry and label with date and contents. If not sealed, steps can be redone, USING NEW LID!!!
Peaches will float to top of jar if the jar is not stuffed full. This is fine. Fruit sticking out from syrup may discolor, but that does not mean it is bad. This is why you treat the fruit at the start to keep it from discoloring.
Jars should be stored in area far away from heat vents, furnace, water heater, hot water pipes, etc. I prefer in the basement in a far corner, close to floor. Either on low shelves or in heavy duty cardboard boxes (I like banana pack boxes from the grocery store).
If kept from heat and direct (or indirect) sunlight, canned peaches will stay good for a year, possibly longer. IF they will make it that long without being eaten!!
I hope you give canning a try. Its easy to do, just practice, everyone has to start somewhere! And the food will taste much better, simply because you processed it. Hopefully someone will find this helpful and informative. Grow a garden, grow an orchard, visit a farmers market, the food is more healthy and much more satisfying.
CC MAMA WEIGHS IN
Interesting, Dink. I don't understand why you have jars breaking. I do a lot of canning and have for decades, and I haven't had a jar break in oh, the last eight years or so. Maybe it's my jar prep technique. What I do is load up my water bath canner with clean jars and very hot water and let them come up to a boil in there (because I'll need to have the canner +-2/3 filled with boiling water anyway) while I prepare the product. When I'm ready to fill the jars, I take one or two out of the water, pour the boiling water back into the canner, quickly fill the jars and place them in a waiting canning rack, and when the rack is full (seven jars) put it right back into the canner and start the processing time. It takes me maybe five minutes to fill a rack and get it into the canner, and the jars don't have a chance to cool down. Of course, when I'm canning, my kitchen isn't cool anyway, but more like the boiler room on a steamship! LOL
As for blanching the peaches to peel them, newbies to canning need to know that a lot is going to depend on the variety of peaches you use. On some, the skins will slip off pretty easily, but on others, even if you leave the peaches in the boiling water for a couple of minutes then dunk them into an ice water bath, the skins will still be hard to get off. Use a swivel-type potato peeler if you have to! Another factor in peeling a peach is age. I've found that peaches that are riper are easier to peel.
For you beginners, when Dink says to pack the jars full so the peaches don't float, she doesn't mean pack the jars right up to the rim. You need to leave 'headspace,' and that goes for the syrup as well. Check your recipe to be sure, but you usually need to leave 1/4" headspace. A lot of time fruit in syrup floats because the fruit wasn't the freshest available, too. Just before you put the lid on the filled jar, use a clean damp towel or paper towel and wipe around the rim to remove any bits that might have gotten on there. This is IMPORTANT. If something is on there, the lid might not seal completely.
One more thing. Unless you grow your own peaches and know what you have, before you buy peaches, ask the seller if they're clingstone or freestone. Clingstone peaches are way harder to can because the pit sticks to the flesh and you have to slice down to the pit, then twist the knife to snap off slices. With freestone peaches, just cut around the peach and pull the halves apart, take out the pit and you're ready to go. Most sellers or produce section employees don't mind cutting into a peach right there for you if they don't know offhand what sort they are. Just ask.
__________________
Select fresh, ripe, peaches (plums, pears, or other fruits). Make sure it is not under ripe or over ripe.
You can scald the fruit for 10 seconds in boiling water then run through a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process, the skin will slide right off this way. Or you can take the time to peel the fruit...IF you want it peeled. Peeling gives you the chance to make sure any bruises or bad spots are removed prior to canning.
After peeling the fruit, cut into halves, quarters, or bite size sections as you prefer. To keep the fruit from turning brown, you can sprinkle a product called Fruit Fresh on it and gently mix in with your hands, squeeze fresh lemon juice over fruit and mix gently in with hands, or you can make a solution of: 1 gallon water, 2 TBSP baking soda, 2 TBSP apple cider vinegar...For the vinegar mix, simply let fruit set in mixture for 10 seconds and remove to large bowl.
Place NEW lids and new or used (but clean, non-rusty) rings into a pan of water to scald for at least 10 minutes before using. This will not damage the seal on the lid, and it will make sure there is no bacteria on the lid or ring to cause contamination. Do NOT reuse lids. They form to the jar top, and will not form a new seal. Rings can be re-used if cleaned and kept properly. I like to tie one on the end of a string, then slide the others loose on the string.
Scrub jars with hot soapy water to clean, then rinse thoroughly in hot water. MAKE SURE TO GET ALL THE SOAP OFF!! Place cake pan on large burner or griddle and set jars in bottom of cake pan. Put enough water in jars to keep them from moving. Fill cake pan almost to top with water. Let set. You will use this later!! DO NOT get rid of this yet!!!
Fill jars to top with hot water and place in canning pot inside jar rack. Fill pot to 2" over the top of the jars. Turn burner on high and bring to hard boil. Boil empty jars for 15 minutes to sterilize. While the jars are boiling, I am preparing the syrup.
I like to use a medium syrup...4 cups water, 3 cups sugar. while water is heating up, slowly whisk in sugar until it is desolved. I keep this on a medium heat until peaches are done processing. Stir syrup occasionally. DO NOT BOIL YET!!
After peaches are ready in a bowl, syrup is in limbo for its next step....turn burners on under the cakepan of water and bring it to gentle boil, the turn down to a medium heat. You will set the hot jars in this while filling them with peaches. This keeps them from cooling off to much...which will result in jars busting when placed back into boiling water bath. I use a pair of tongs to remove each jar one at a time out of the water bath and let the water empty out into the water bath pan. Place a jar in the cake pan of hot water, spoon the peaches into the jar to keep it in place. Do this one jar at a time. After all jars have the peaches in them, turn the heat up on your syrup stirring it constantly to bring it to a boil. As soon as it is boiling, use a spoon or scoop to add syrup slowly to peaches in jars. Using the cake pan is optional (on this batch mine has a carrot cake in it!!). Extra syrup can be allowed to cool and then placed in a jar and lidded for use on more fruit within 24-48 hours.
After syrup is added, use a butter knife, spatula or something similar to gently work around peaches inside to remove air bubbles. Top jars off with syrup if needed. Fill jars to 1/4" from the top. This leaves room for the peaches to expand and keeps syrup from bubbling out. Place hot sterile lid in center of jar, and ring on and start to tighten. Place finger on top of lid to keep it centered and to keep the seal from being damaged in the process of tightening the ring. Do ALL this while jars are sitting in very hot water in cake pan. BE CAREFUL!!! Or work very quickly to keep jars from cooling off.
Once jars are filled and lids are on, take each jar and slowly lower into the hot water bath and cover with lid. Bring water back to a boil. AFTER the water has started to boil THEN start timing the process. Peaches should be done for 25-30 minutes, depending on batch size and elevation.
MAKE SURE there is NO air flow (fan, AC, etc) in the room. Try to have room at least warm, so shock of cold air won't bust jars when they are removed from the water. Have 2 hand towels handy. About 1 minute before the proccesing is up, place 1 towel folded in 1/2 on top of the waterbath pan lid to heat up. When processing is done, place towel on counter top for jars to set on, place lid to side and place other towel on lid to absord heat from it. GENTLY AND SLOWLY remove the jar rack from the water. Then remove jars from rack and set onto heated towel. Place jars about 1" apart to allow for air flow. Place second heated towel over top of jars. Allow to set UNTOUCHED until room tremperature...I prefer to wait until the next day.
When cooled completely, test lids for seal. If lid pops or gives, it did not seal. If it sealed, the lid will be firm. If sealed, remove ring, and gently wipe jar down with a damp rag to clean it up. Allow to thoroughly dry and label with date and contents. If not sealed, steps can be redone, USING NEW LID!!!
Peaches will float to top of jar if the jar is not stuffed full. This is fine. Fruit sticking out from syrup may discolor, but that does not mean it is bad. This is why you treat the fruit at the start to keep it from discoloring.
Jars should be stored in area far away from heat vents, furnace, water heater, hot water pipes, etc. I prefer in the basement in a far corner, close to floor. Either on low shelves or in heavy duty cardboard boxes (I like banana pack boxes from the grocery store).
If kept from heat and direct (or indirect) sunlight, canned peaches will stay good for a year, possibly longer. IF they will make it that long without being eaten!!
I hope you give canning a try. Its easy to do, just practice, everyone has to start somewhere! And the food will taste much better, simply because you processed it. Hopefully someone will find this helpful and informative. Grow a garden, grow an orchard, visit a farmers market, the food is more healthy and much more satisfying.
CC MAMA WEIGHS IN
Interesting, Dink. I don't understand why you have jars breaking. I do a lot of canning and have for decades, and I haven't had a jar break in oh, the last eight years or so. Maybe it's my jar prep technique. What I do is load up my water bath canner with clean jars and very hot water and let them come up to a boil in there (because I'll need to have the canner +-2/3 filled with boiling water anyway) while I prepare the product. When I'm ready to fill the jars, I take one or two out of the water, pour the boiling water back into the canner, quickly fill the jars and place them in a waiting canning rack, and when the rack is full (seven jars) put it right back into the canner and start the processing time. It takes me maybe five minutes to fill a rack and get it into the canner, and the jars don't have a chance to cool down. Of course, when I'm canning, my kitchen isn't cool anyway, but more like the boiler room on a steamship! LOL
As for blanching the peaches to peel them, newbies to canning need to know that a lot is going to depend on the variety of peaches you use. On some, the skins will slip off pretty easily, but on others, even if you leave the peaches in the boiling water for a couple of minutes then dunk them into an ice water bath, the skins will still be hard to get off. Use a swivel-type potato peeler if you have to! Another factor in peeling a peach is age. I've found that peaches that are riper are easier to peel.
For you beginners, when Dink says to pack the jars full so the peaches don't float, she doesn't mean pack the jars right up to the rim. You need to leave 'headspace,' and that goes for the syrup as well. Check your recipe to be sure, but you usually need to leave 1/4" headspace. A lot of time fruit in syrup floats because the fruit wasn't the freshest available, too. Just before you put the lid on the filled jar, use a clean damp towel or paper towel and wipe around the rim to remove any bits that might have gotten on there. This is IMPORTANT. If something is on there, the lid might not seal completely.
One more thing. Unless you grow your own peaches and know what you have, before you buy peaches, ask the seller if they're clingstone or freestone. Clingstone peaches are way harder to can because the pit sticks to the flesh and you have to slice down to the pit, then twist the knife to snap off slices. With freestone peaches, just cut around the peach and pull the halves apart, take out the pit and you're ready to go. Most sellers or produce section employees don't mind cutting into a peach right there for you if they don't know offhand what sort they are. Just ask.
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