Canning Peach Butter
Well, I took an unexpected blogging holiday! {smile} I got so wrapped up in enjoying the long weekend with the family I just didn’t even think to get on the computer. I did snap some pictures though. They all turned out a little…interesting…since it was rainy and foggy for a good part of our three days.
We spent most of the weekend all together at home, just doing home stuff.
One of the things on my TO-DO list for the long weekend was a couple of canning recipes I had been saving on Pinterest.
I’ve done quite a bit of freezing, but I’ve never done any canning by myself. I’ve watched, I’ve followed directions to help out a few times, and I’ve read about it…but I’ve never done it myself. By myself. No Grandma in sight.
We did crock-pot apple butter. I might use a different kind of apple next time for a stronger flavor.
I was a little frustrated at first to discover that my crew had eaten more than 1/2 of the apples and peaches that had filled our fridge and kicked off this whole expedition into the world of preserving…but how upset can I be that my family’s been eating a lot of whole, fresh fruit, right?
And we did peach honey vanilla butter. Very sweet, but YUM! I might use less honey next time.
And we had a few misadventures (like everything I do, apparently) like the sugar canister was empty (what?!) and my drop of vanilla extract ended up being a giant dollop (thank you, Penny!), and we couldn’t find the real lid to the big pot (what?!) but all in all, it turned out fine!
This was my “fancy” setup. The left pot was our canner and the right pot was for cooking our peaches.
I would like to say a few things about my first canning adventure.
1. You can do this! It really, really wasn’t as hard as I thought. We started small and simple, but we’re ready to keep going.
2. Read the recipe carefully! You can do this without a bunch of expensive equipment if it’s just water bath canning. You just need jars, fresh lids, and boiling water. But some recipes and certain foods require a pressure canner–and we’re not there yet.
3. You really do need a jar lifter! I didn’t have one. I was convinced that I wasn’t going to “invest” in anything until I tried it the first time and was sure I would keep doing it. We didn’t buy anything except jars and lids. I used kitchen tongs for lifting in and out–I DON’T RECOMMEND THIS. It worked, but it was the squirreliest part of the procedure and not worth the anxiety.
We had a big jar and 4 little jars of apple butter. We froze the apple butter instead of canning it.
We ended up with one big jar of apple butter in the fridge and 4 smaller jars in the freezer, and 10 small jars of peach butter canned in the pantry (well, 9, one’s in the fridge!).
One other suggestion…if you get a recipe off the web, make sure to read any and all comments that go with the post. There are lots of additional ideas, thoughts, and points you might want to know. For example, on the peach butter recipe, she said that it made about 6 jelly jars worth. But in the comments, people were saying they got a lot more, so I made sure to prep some extra jars–and we needed them! {grin}
Getting those ribbons to stay in place on those smooth glass jars was almost a whole second project!
The Ladybug and I are totally ready for our next preserving adventure! Halfway through I told her I thought it was going pretty well for being my first time doing this alone. She said, “You’re not doing it alone, Momma. I’m here, if you have any questions just ask me and I’ll help you figure it out.”
Hahaha! Well, nothing but truth, I guess! {grin} I did go ahead and order a simple canning tool kit. I think my stock pot is working just fine otherwise.
Do you do any canning or preserving?
I grew up canning, but have never done it since I’ve lived on my own. I’ve not had a nudge to do so yet – although I enjoy helping others 🙂 the jar lifter is a staple – make sure you get one that is solid with a grip for you and for the jars!