The other day at the farmer’s market I realized that I hadn’t yet canned any peach slices! Katie doesn’t seem to like them in her lunch anymore but we use them in smoothies all winter long. Plus, I can them with a lighter syrup so they are great to use for making cobbler or crisp too. I use the same method as usual and ended up with 5 beautiful golden quarts.
FRUIT: half-bushel of peaches
SOURCE: farmer’s market
RECIPE: the usual
YIELD: 5 quarts
For the last few years I’ve made peach jelly from peach syrup left after canning peach slices. It’s alright but we always end up with a bunch left because it’s not great. This year I decided to just make some peach jam. And I added some vanilla, just for the fun of it.
DATE: 08/12/2011
FRUIT: about 6 pounds peaches
SOURCE: farmer’s market
RECIPE: on the pectin box with the addition of the seeds from three vanilla beans
YIELD: 13 half-pints
NOTES: I also let the vanilla pods cook in the jam. I removed them before processing.
This peach butter was made the same-old-same-old way using Marisa‘s recipe and my parents’ old slow cooker. I ended up with 8 jars, peach always seems to make more.
DATE: 08/12/2011
FRUIT: 8 cups pureed peaches
SOURCE: farmer’s market
RECIPE: Slow Cooker Blueberry Butter from Marisa at Food in Jars substituting peaches for the blueberries
YIELD: 8 half-pints
When I returned the empty half-bushel box with the apricots I heard myself say that if they filled it up with peaches I’d take it back. Why did I do that? He said to give them a few minutes so as I walked away I thought, I guess I’m making salsa this week!
DATE: 08/12/2011
FRUIT: 12 cups chopped peaches
SOURCE: farmer’s market
RECIPE: OMG Peach Salsa
YIELD: 8 pints
This month’s can jam challenge ingredient is stone fruits. You may remember we went crazy for apricots back in July, and there were sour cherries before that. Peaches are what’s happening right now and earlier in the month I canned some more slices for our February eating pleasure.
DATE: 09/1/2010
FRUIT: about 40 peaches
SOURCE: farmer’s market, I bought a half-bushel crate for $25
COST: $18
RECIPE:
peel the peaches by cutting a small x in the bottom and scalding them, then submerging them in cold water
pit the peaches and slice — I find slices to be much more useful than halves
in the meantime make a 3:1 water:sugar ratio syrup, you do not need much of it
I put the slices in the syrup and bring the whole thing up to a boil
with a slotted spoon hot pack the slices into quart jars
cover with syrup leaving a half-inch headspace
using a wooden skewer or the handle of a wooden spoon make sure any air pockets or bubbles are released, add more syrup as necessary — this step is very important!
put the lids on and process for 30 minutes in a boiling water bath
YIELD: 6 quarts
TASTE: delish
DATE: 09/01/2009
FRUIT: strained leftover light syrup from canning peaches
SOURCE: n/a
COST: $0
RECIPE:
YIELD: 9 half-pints
TASTE: yummy and not too sweet
DATE: 08/25/2010
FRUIT: about 40 peaches
SOURCE: farmer’s market, I bought a half-bushel crate for $25
COST: $18
RECIPE: peel, the peaches and cut into slices, hot pack and cover with syrup (3:1 water:sugar ratio), process for 30 minutes
YIELD: 6 quarts
TASTE: yummy and not too sweet
Same as last year except we made a double batch and canned it in pints. Eight ounces just got used up too fast.
DATE: 08/03/2009
FRUIT: 20 peaches, 6 jalapeños, 1 large red onions, 3 red peppers (two were really small)
SOURCE: farmer’s market, CSA, and from the garden
COST: $10
RECIPE: OMG Peach Salsa from the Lazy Locavores
YIELD: 7 pints
TASTE: once again there was none left in the pot but I’m sure it tastes great
DATE: 09/09/2009
FRUIT: 3 peaches left over
SOURCE: farmer’s market
COST: $1.80
RECIPE: puree the scraps and peels. For each 2 cups of puree add 3 T honey and 1 T lemon juice. Spread evenly on dehydrator trays and dry.
YIELD: 18 rolled strips
TASTE: yummy
DATE: 09/09/2009
FRUIT: 7 peaches, 4 jalapeños, 2 red onions, 1 red pepper
SOURCE: farmer’s market and CSA
COST: $5.50
RECIPE: OMG Peach Salsa from the Lazy Locavores
YIELD: 9 half-pints
TASTE: there was not a drip left in the pot so we’ll see when we crack open a jar, it sure smelled good.
