Millions of Peaches

So we canned peaches again this year. But it was less exciting and more of a hassle. I think this makes 3 years in a row. And each year we can more and more...I hope this trend doesn't keep happening. And it seems like the early alberta (a type of peach) is ready later and later in the year . . .or maybe this is just my skewed perception?

(Mom, thanks for letting me use the steamer)

We also had a few issues with a jar breaking and sugar getting cooked all over everything. And a REALLY smokey house. But boil some peroxide and it really helps (over time).

Does anyone know the physics behind this picture?


This is my take, (and could be completely wrong):
The air is getting pushed/sucked out because of the heat . . . if this is the case, then why does so much liquid come out too? Because the outside of the air bubbles are made of of the liquid? But still that seems like a lot . . .

We had a lot of jars come out with a less liquid than anticipated.



Jon was wonderful and we stayed up one night til 12:30 to finish the peaches as they were getting too ripe. . . we weren't exactly able to finish them . . .but we got them all in jars. Since it takes like 30-40 mins (from turning the burner on to turning it off) to steam each batch (8 jars). I did that the next day-this is not recommended as it leaves brown spots where air is touching the peaches. I really really really appreciate the help!

This year, I bought an extra box of jars and good thing-we got 30 jars. One broke during the steam, one didn't seal, and we were missing a jar to begin with.

This is the tutorial I follow. It is pretty simple-just time consuming. The first year I canned all by myself, the second year I canned half by myself, and this year I only canned one batch (8 jars) by myself. I watch Friends or Gilmore Girls when I can by myself. It can be done alone, but I prefer to have help.

Then I made sure we left some peaches out so I could make freezer jam. We got 2 batches of peach freezer jam.


We are excited to have this fruit during the cold winter months!