peachy

due to a last minute schedule switch, i found myself with the day off yesterday.  i’d bought a case of peaches the day before, thinking maybe i’d get to can them sometime on friday (my original day off this week).  but since i had the whole day off and the peaches were already ripe and delicious, i decided to take advantage of the situation and try canning them.  i had some wide mouth pint jars and thought peaches would look good in them, so i rolled up my sleeves and dug in.  first, i cut a shallow “x” in the bottom of each peach, then dropped them into boiling water for about a minute, then switch them into a bowl of ice water for another minute or so to loosen the skins.  oh man.  is there anything more wonderful than slipping peach skins off of ripe peaches? (maybe peeling sunburns.  maybe.)  just look at those glistening beauties!

then, it started raining outside.  perfect, surprisingly cool august weather–just right for a hot kitchen full of canning jars.

finally, when all of the peaches were skinned, pitted and halved (and sprinkled with lemon juice) i started packing pint jars.  hmm…. i only seem to be able to fit approximately 3 peach halves in each jar before it’s full.  this is going to take awhile, isn’t it?  four hours and 24 pint jars later, i’ve got this:

aren’t they gorgeous?  i suppose that single serving jars aren’t necessarily a bad thing.  if i find time to can more, i think i’ll try small-mouth jars instead.  i think packing the peaches in tightly will be easier if the “shoulders” of the jar help to hold the peaches down so they don’t float in the liquid.  also, i think i’ll do quart jars.  preserving a little sunshine for the middle of winter.  yay!