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Just Peachy!

Posted on September 16, 2009 at 12:32 AM

Last Sunday on the way home from my trip to Spokane, I stopped at the big produce barn in Thorp Washington and purchased a box each of peaches and pears.   The pears were quite green and need a few days to ripen.   The peaches were just perfect though, and needed to be preserved within a very short time frame.   Monday was just far too hectic at work to even consider getting away on time to tackle the peaches, so Tuesday evening (today) was the designated day for it.                        

 

Doing preserving efforts in the evening after a long day at the office requires really good organization skills and a little planning.   The first order of business is to ensure that the evening meal was prepared ahead of time to keep the schedule clear for the canning/freezing work.    I started some barbeque pork chops with diced potatoes in the crock-pot and prepped a large bowl of coleslaw that went into the fridge - before I left for work today.   The second thing that was necessary was to actually leave work on time.   That is harder than it sounds but I managed to accomplish it. 

 

After a fast meal of the sweet and spicy barbeque pork chops, potatoes, and coleslaw, the box of peaches was attended to.   First I processed some canned peach halves in light syrup.   Then I made a batch of peach jam.   Finally, I sliced up peaches, coated them with sugar, and packaged them in 5-cup amounts in gallon zip lock freezer bags.   I ended up with 7 quarts of the peach halves, 3 pints and 2 half pints of peach jam, and 2 gallon freezer bags with sweetened peach slices.   

 

 

The picture does not show the freezer bags of peach slices, as I rushed them into the freezer as soon as I could after packaging them up.   The 5-cup amounts per freezer bag are just the right amount for peach pie or for  peach cobbler.     

 

If all goes well, I plan to do a similar effort on Thursday to get the pears processed.   For now, I am glad to get the box of peaches done and I think the end results are "Just Peachy"!

Categories: Fruits, Preserving

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8 Comments

Reply Becky
06:58 AM on September 16, 2009 
Wow, that does make for a long day! The results of your hard work look yummy though :)
Reply hsheather
09:12 AM on September 16, 2009 
My son and hubby would be in heaven with all those peaches. I'm all about the pears myself.
Reply kitsapfreedomgardener
12:17 AM on September 17, 2009 
Becky - These were really good peaches, firm, sweet, very peachy taste. I am quite happy with them. Tried the peach jam for breakfast this morning and it was pretty delish!

hsheather - I really love pears too. I am hoping to tackle them tomorrow night (Thursday).
Reply Dan
12:47 AM on September 17, 2009 
You are one busy lady! If I did all that preserving it would kill my whole day. I would have to say tree ripened peaches are my favorite summer produce. We eat at least a 3L basket a week for the whole season. I made peach jam this year for the first time, it turned out tasting almost like orange marmalade. Ever experience this?
Reply Sustainable Eats
03:07 AM on September 17, 2009 
I just canned peaches for the first time this year and I'm glad to see you have some dead space in the jar too. I thought I had done it wrong despite the fact that I did so many batches of them! Now what does the sugar do on the frozen peaches? Does it help them from oxidizing until they freeze solid? That is a good tip! I also made peach salsa, peach chutney, peach jam, peach fruit leather, peach juice to freeze for popsicles and dried peaches. I went peach crazy this year! They are so good though, we are cruising through the jars already...
Reply kitsapfreedomgardener
08:39 AM on September 17, 2009 
Dan - It definitely takes quite a bit of time, which is why I have to make sure the evening schedule is totally clear before I even think about starting. I don't really like doing so much in the evenings during the weekdays - but sometimes the produce just will not wait. I have not had the peaches end up tasting like marmalade, but I could see how that might occur if fruit fresh or citrus was used to keep the peaches from browning - and for some reason it ended up overwhelming the actual peach taste more than normal. Hence it would produce a more citrus sensation. I do use some lemon juice diluted in water on my peaches to keep them from browning but have not had that happen.

Sustainable Eats - Yes, it is pretty annoying when you get a batch that loses alot of the syrup or has lots of juice at the bottom and less fruit than you thought you had. Having lower syrup levels actually does not hurt anything but it does not look as appealing. It largely occurs because there are air pockets that were not removed (more prevalent in peach halves because the air is caught in the upside down "cup" of the peach half) and when processed the gas is released and lowers the level of the fluid down in thejar. It can also happen because some of the fluid is actually pushed out during the processing before the seal is made. Dead space at the bottom of the jar where there is juice but no fruit is just a function of the fruit compressing from the cooking during processing and from them being "lighter" than the syrup and thus floating up to the top. I have found if you wait until everything is completely cooled and sealed (wait 24 hours) you can gently shake the jars (turn up side down first) and the fruit will often times remix with the syrup and become more uniformly distributed in the jar. It's absolutely NOT necessary but can produce a more appealing looking jar of fruit. You guessed correctly about the sugar on the peach slices. It is not necessary, just something I have found makes the end product better looking. When I use them in pie or cobbler, I just back down a bit on the sugar in the recipe. I don't use very much sugar on the fruit. Just enough to create a light sweetened juice film over the fruit.
Reply Sandy
11:17 PM on September 17, 2009 
Looks great! I processed two boxes of peaches a few weeks ago. I can't get enough of them! I just wish my two little peach trees, which are varieties that are supposed to do well in the Puget Sound area, would actually do well in the Puget Sound area. :-(
Reply kitsapfreedomgardener
12:13 AM on September 18, 2009 
Sandy - I wish I had your fruit trees! These did turn out good. Just did the pears tonight and they turned out really well too. Both boxes of fruit were superior quality. I really love Yakima and Wenatchee area fruit.