First Time Canning

Canning has never been a desire of mine!  However, I decided to try it because prices are skyrocketing and I want to provide as healthy of options for my family as possible.  With canning I know exactly what is going in to each jar.  If you are new to this like me, here's what we did...


1. Washed the peaches in cold water, put them into a single layer big pot with hot water for several minutes and then put them into cold water.  This allowed us the get the peels off so easy!
2. In the meantime I prepared a light syrup (3 1/4 c sugar, 7 tsp fruit fresh, 5 cups of water...bring to a boil). I wasn't sure how much of this I would need so I would make a batch, use it up and then make another, etc.
3. After peeling, I cut the peaches and threw them in the syrup right away so they would not get brown.
4. Once I had filled my pan up as much as I could with peaches I used a slotted spoon to get the peaches out of the sryup and then poured syrup over top.

Before filling the jars, you need to prepare the jars...
1. wash them with soap at water
2. sterilize them in hot water by filling up your sink with hot water, sit them in and fill them up with hot water (have boiling water to stick the lids into)
3. fill the jars up with peaches after they've sat in hot water for a bit
4. wipe the edge of the jar off with a very clean cloth to get any stickiness, etc off
5. Pull the lids out of boiling water one by one and put on the jars
6. Tighten the lids

Lastly,
1. Stick the jars into a large pot of hot water so that the water comes up over top of the jars by a few inches
2. Bring to a boil
3. Boil underwater for 20 min
4. Sit on counter to cool and seal

While you can use a pressure cooker for fruit, you can also just do a hot water bath to seal them up.  Even though there are a lot of steps, it was quite easy!

I made one bushel that filled 43 pint jars.  Next on the agenda is applesauce!