Canning Peaches

Okay, after Saturday's fiasco, I have decided that I wished we had done a section in the book on Canning. So, with your patience, I will tell you what I learned and you can jot it down in the back of the book if you want.

First of all, if you use anything other than "free-stone" peaches, you will be pulling your hair out or throwing peaches across the room within fifteen minutes of beginning your adventure! I almost gave up completely before I figured out I had two different kinds of peaches in my bags. "Free-stone" means the pit easily comes 'free' when you cut the peach open. "Cling-stone" is more headache than they're worth, even when they're ripe! I ended up throwing them out. They make good jam if you're willing to put up with the mess they make.

Second, Grandma Duncan says to add a scant 1/2 C. of sugar directly to each jar and when the peaches are ready to go into their water bath, add hot water. I think this makes for a very sweet jar of peaches and my sugar didn't dissolve all the way. Not that it's a problem, but next time, I will dissolve the sugar in water and then add it to the jars of peaches. I'll probably use less sugar as well.

And lastly, plan on having tired feet and a sticky kitchen. Of course, if you aren't using those *#!& "cling-stone" peaches than you're less likely to chuck peaches around, thus saving yourself the stickiness.

If anyone is interested, I will post Grandma Duncan's exact directions, start to finish on how to can peaches.