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| A few jars each of my canned peach slices and peach preserves and the few remaining peaches left from the 1/2 bushel I started out with. |
Have you ever wondered why I make my own jam? Because I can. Get it, I can. Heh heh OK, I'm done now.
Anyway, on with the story. Every summer, a vendor comes to one of our local hotels and sells Georgia peaches out of a semi trailer. They are fresh and juicy and just plain delicious. I bought a case this year.
My friend Erin is always canning something or another. She and her mother and sisters have given me so many wonderful ideas about canning beyond basic jam. She has canned fruit every which way possible for years. Every summer, she does tons of peaches. This year I decided it was time to give it a whirl. So, I blanched the requisite ten pounds of fruit and put the kids to work peeling it. We have the neighbor kids over today, so I took advantage of my expanded labor force. They made short work of the peeling and before long, we had them all pitted and sliced and ready to go in jars. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I used the recipe out of my handy canning book "Put 'Em Up!" by Sherri Brooks Vinton. I love this book. It is a great companion to the standard "Ball Blue Book" canning guide.
One cool thing about this recipe is that it calls for 1/2 cup honey. Just so happens that the aforementioned wonderful Erin sent me a QUART of raw honey for Christmas. That worked nicely in the peach syrup. Thank you :)
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| A closer look at the sliced peaches |
Last year, my friend Amanda got a case of peaches from this same vendor and she made the most beautiful peach preserves I have ever seen. After the sliced peaches were canned, I still had quite a few left, so I decided to make a batch of this too. It tastes as pretty as it looks. As my Aunt Iris would say "Oh my heavenly days." I'm so glad she shared her recipe! You can find it here. Her blog is really spiffy. I hope you like it.
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| Up close and personal with peach preserves |
Thanks to my canning gals for all your ideas, inspiration and trusted recipes! Oh, and thanks to my teenage neighbor girl for showing me how to work Instagram on my phone and to Dion for telling me how to get the pictures off my phone :)
