Fall's Bounty

Greengage plumbs on the dryer rack.

Peaches from the interior of BC.

The Excaliber dryer with peaches.

Jars are ready

Done.

One Cup

For Christmas I was given a book, Canning, Freezing, Storing Garden Produce (1977) published by the US Department of Agriculture. It is an excellent guide. I highly recommend it. It isn’t over cautious like many of the books of this kind, and it explains some of the reasons why you should heat process pickles (something I haven’t done but I will consider doing now).

Like all books of this kind, it talks a lot about botulism. Botulism occurs when non-acidic fruits and vegetables are not processed correctly. In this guide they say that one cup of botulism is enough to kill the entire world. It reminds me of a home economics class. The instructor said that one cup of licorice extract was enough to colour the great lakes.

Just one cup and the world ends and the lakes turn a waxy black shade.

More canning of Tomatoes

I forgot to mention in the Gorilla Canner recipe for tomatoes, when canning the tomatoes you need to pack them down, so that they will seal properly.

How to be a successful Canner: Gorilla Style

1. You will need to skin and core the tomatoes before you can them. Just drop the tomatoes in boiling water for 30 seconds and then place in a cold water. The skins should peel away very easily. Allow two tomatoes per jar (depending on size).

Once the tomatoes are prepped, you will need:
- large canning pot (big enough to hold four or five jars and tall enough to cover jars with water and allow it to boil).
-one sauce pan to heat lids
-four or more wide mouth or narrow mouth jars, sterilized (place in oven for 10 minutes at 225 degrees).
-lids and rings to match
-lemon juice and coarse salt

1. Place the tomatoes in jar. Squish the tomatoes down and run a knife along the insde of the jar to remove trapped air. Fill the jar to about 1/2 an inch head space.

2. Add a tbsp of lemon juice and a 1/4 tsp of salt to each jar. The salt is for flavour (optional) but the lemon juice is to bring-up the pH. So use prepared lemon juice in order to be sure you have the right pH.

3. Clean the top of jar. Place lids in simmering water. Do not overheat the lids. Just heat enough to make the rings soft. Place lids on jars and screw-on the rings. Screw rings until they are just tight and then back-up a quarter of an inch. The rings should not be too tight.

4. Place jars in the canner. Top-up with warm water, cover jars and then put cover on pot. Bring to a boil and let boil for 20 minutes.

Canning Peaches

I was just passing through the Okanagan on a week-long roadtrip, so I thought I would pick-up some fresh fruit along the way. It seems such an odd year for growing. Everything is ready all at once. I knew cherries were available as well as apricots but peaches and nectarines were ready too. I even found some freestone peaches, which is really early.

My peach canning recipe
I use a hot water bath for the peaches. And my canner fits four wide mouth jars at a time, so I will give a one batch recipe.

Equipment
4 wide mouth canning jars sterilized, rings and lids, and ready to go
(To sterilize the jars, you palce them in the oven at 250 degrees F for ten minutes.)

To peel peaches:
1 canner (fill half the canner) bring to a boil
1 bowl of ice cold water
1 small pot half filled with hot water for heating lids

Ingrediants:
6 or seven freestone peaches (1 1/2 per jar is the general rule although this changes with size)
2 cups of sugar
8 cups of water

1. Use a large pot and add the sugar and the water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Stir constantly. Allow syrup to bil and then turn off the heat.

2. Bring the canner to a boil. Place peaches in the boiling water for 30 seconds or so. Do not cook peaches. Once the peaches are ready place them in ice cold water. The skin should peel away very easily. If not then you need to leave them in the scalding water a little longer. Peel the peaches and cut them in half. Use the knife to pry the flesh away from the pit.

3. Place peaches in jar and cover with syrup immediately so that the peaches do not brown. You can add a little at a time. Do not overfill. Allow 1/4 of an inch head room at the top so that the lids will seal.

4. Place lids in a small pan filled with hot water (almost boiling). Do not boil the lids.

5. Once the jars are filled, clean the rims with a clean cloth so that the lids will seal. Place a lid on the jar, put on the ring and screw it on but not too tight.

6. Add some cold water to canner so that the level rises to around 3/4 of the way and so that the liquid is not too hot. Add the jars. Make sure the water just covers the lid. Boil for 15 to 20 minutes.

7. Place hot jars on a dry cloth and allow to cool down. Keep away from open windows, as cold temperatures will cause the jars to crack. You should hear the lids "pop" as they cool down and seal. It is pretty easy to tell if the lids have sealed by tapping on them (when they have cooled). Remove the rings, clean the jars, label them, and place in a cool dry place for eating when peaches are out of season. Enjoy.