Can you do the can can

Today we attempted to can.

An old friend of mine (as in we go back to preschool, not her age) posted on facebook that she was driving over to the east side to pick up some peaches, and if anyone wanted some to let her know.  I hadn't talked to her forever, but after a quick google search on canning, I decided to have her grab us a box since it seemed doable.

We didn't have the supplies, but I figured someone I knew would.  Luckily Sydney had been canning all week and brought her supplies...and her cat... over to let us use.  Sawyer loved chasing the cat around for awhile until they had to go.  This cat has thumbs!

 Here are our peaches. We had two layers.

 The first thing we did is put the jars and lids in the canning pot since you are supposed to sterilize them.  I had no idea that darn pot would take so long to boil!  We did everything else we had to do, and still had time to go get pizza (well, Andy did.  I stayed home and manned the pot).

The first step in the canning was to skin the peaches.  You don't want those gross fuzzies floating around!  You take the skin off by boiling a pot of water.  You drop some peaches in the pot for 30-60 seconds, then pop them in a bowl of ice water for a couple minutes to cool off.

It is the craziest thing, the skins just rub off!  A few got stuck a little, but some you could just easily do one quick swipe and the entire skin came off.

We turned it into teamwork and I started rubbing the skins off while Andy sliced the peaches.

The bowl filled up, so we had to improvise and move my ice bowl into the sink.

 The slices start to brown quickly, so you have to put lemon juice on them, or the powder that has citric acid in them (you can find it in the canning stuff at walmart.) Then you stir it up!  This step is necessary even if you go quickly because they will even brown in the jars.

The next thing we did is filled the slices in the jars.  You are supposed to fill them an inch below the top.

 Meanwhile, Andy was making some simple syrup.  We chose somewhere between a light and medium syrup (you can find the recipes onilne, but it just has to do with how much sugar to water you want.)

Once you boil it, you can pour it in the jars.  You are supposed to fill it to a half inch from the top.

 From there you have to make sure the tops of the jars are completely clean or they won't get a seal around the rim.  You put the tops on, and screw the lids on so they are snug, but not too tight.  You then put them in your boiling canning water depending on your elevation.  Ours, for quart jars and 600 feet was about 25-30 minutes for a raw pack (meaning we didn't cook our peaches in the syrup before putting it in the jar.)

30 minutes later we pulled our first batch out.

You have to let them cool over night.  You can tell if the seal worked after they cool if you push down on the lid.  If it pops, it isn't good and you need to stick them in the fridge and eat them within the week.  If it doesn't pop, they last 12-18 months!

We got 10 jars worth.  I got impatient and poked at them.  Our whole first batch was sealed!  I just went and poked the second and 2 popped down but haven't popped back up.  I think I did it too early.  Hopefully they stay down, but I won't complain if I have to eat them this week ;)  We had a lot of space in the jars and could have packed them tighter because there is about an inch of juice at the bottom of each :/   Oh well. I'm sure they will taste awesome!