And I dance well, too! Oh, I jest. :)
In all seriousness, for the first time ever I decided to try canning. I've always pictured canning as this long, arduous ordeal that involved boiling things for hours and getting very sticky and messy. But after picking 20 lbs of peaches, as well as blackberries, I had to do something--was I ever surprised!
I've had to improvise a bit since I don't have, um, any canning equipment. Mark bought some quart jars and pectin, but when he got them home I realized that I didn't have a pot big enough to process the jars once they were full. So back the jars went and we got some pint jars. I still didn't have a pot big enough, but I improvised. I haven't used my crockpot in awhile so...it's now a canner. LOL
Since I'm improvising with most of the equipment (I do have recipes), I've been doing very small batches--usually 2-4 jars at a time, so it goes really fast. I've now put up 2 jars of peach jam, 2 jars of blackberry jam, and 4 jars of canned peaches. We've tried both of the jams and they're both good, although the peach seems really sweet to me. I made the canned peaches in a very light sugar syrup, so I'm hoping they won't be as sweet.
This is fun! I need more jars... ;)
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
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4 comments:
Sounds fun! I've got a tree full of peaches that will be coming on soon. Want some! There's way more than I'm going to use.
Um...uh...ok. For safety reasons (food safety that is) you really do need a pot big enough around and tall enough will do. Even a large stock pot will do. They're not very expensive. I can put 8 pints at a time in mine. Whatever pot you use for as a water bath, you need to have it large enough to completely cover the jars by about 2". You start timing when the water reaches a full boil and then keep it at a full boil until the timing is finished.
I use no sugar needed pectin for all my jams. It's a little more expensive, but you can use no sugar, or a little bit of sugar, or even Splenda if you want. Your peaches in very light syrup should be just about right if you don't like them terribly sweet (I don't either.)
I'm more than happy to answer any questions you have about your new-found "hobby." I've been canning for a lot of years and have done quite a bit of studying and research on it. Just shoot me an email and I'll be happy to do what I can to help.
Don't worry, my crockpot does actually cover these jars (with water) and it boils, so I'm all good. Thanks for the concern, though! If I end deciding this is something I could do more regularly, I will go out and get some more equipment (particularly a jar lifter--that's been the biggest hazard so far!).
Oh, and after doing some reading before I canned I thought I might like the no sugar needed pectin too, but I wanted to use what we already had before I bought any more. I liked doing the peach slices since I could choose how much sugar to add.
I'm so jealous! I've been wanting to learn how to can for a few years now, but I don't feel confident learning on my own. I've wanted to get together with Diane Rhodes but she's so busy! Anyway, good for you! I hope you have many more happy canning memories :)
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