Saturday, August 15, 2009

Sixty pounds of peaches!!!


Here are the "fruits" of my labor. Sixty pounds of peaches netted me in total: 22 pints of peach butter, 11 pints of sliced peaches in a light syrup, 7 half pints of peach jam, 7 tiny little jelly jars of peach butter, and about a pound in the freezer. Not bad for all my efforts!!! What have I learned from my peach-y exercise in canning?
1. Make sure your peaches are absolutely ripe!!!! The peels will come off so much easier after you immerse them in boiling water for 30 seconds and then dipped in cold water. The first 20 pounds I processed was very laborious because they weren't ripe. By my last 20 pounds, we had it down!!! Make sure they're ripe!!!!!!
2. "Many hands make light work!" The more the merrier and it will go by quickly if you have lots of help.
3. Flying peach pulp will burn you! Trust me...I learned the hard way!!!!
4. I've heard of some people boiling down the pits and peels. I personally gave some of the peels to my worms (I have a small worm bin) and they absolutely love them!!!!
It will be a joy to have that peach butter in winter, but for now, I really don't want to see another peach for awhile, ha, ha!!!
What are you preserving in your neck of the woods???

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