Good evening, All! Hope this finds everyone doing well
It was a work weekend for me, so very little got done at home. I did get a call from our group buy coordinator and picked up some silver dimes as well as a few older silver dollars, so at least I got a tiny bit of prepping done!
I picked up a bushel of peaches at the orchard on Friday; Hubby got them laid out on towels on the island counter yesterday to ripen a bit more. After I get home from aqua aerobics tomorrow, we will make a couple batches of peach jam, and then water-bath can the rest. I will cut them in quarters, then cut each quarter in half. As I'm peeling the peaches and prepping them for the jars, I will set aside any odd shaped pieces to puree with a bit of lemon juice to preserve their color, then put the puree on my fruit leather sheets in the dehydrator to dry.
When canning the peaches, I use a medium syrup of 1 cup sugar to 2 cups water; anything lighter does not keep the peaches firm in storage. If I were going to can them to keep for longer than 1 year in the pantry, I would go to a heavy syrup of 1:1 sugar/water. We are about out of room in the freezer, but I may try to squeeze in a half dozen bags of peaches.... I also plan to run up to the orchard on Tuesday after aqua aerobics to pick up another bushel - if I'm gonna have a sticky mess in my kitchen, I might as well get it all over with at once - and have something to show for it
What to do with home canned peaches? Well, we eat most of them as-is out of the jars; when the grandkids are here, I have to open 2 jars for a meal! We use the canned peaches in cobbler, peach shortcake, and to make peach dumplings; and I also like to use the syrup left in the jars to flavor/sweeten my tea.
Hubby picked and ran a second steam juicer load of our Marchal Fouche grapes today, gaining one half gallon jar plus a pint jar of juice. We'll drink the pint this week with breakfast; we will make grape jelly from the half gallon of juice I made on Friday plus the new one; and will also run at least one more load of grapes through the juicer tomorrow. I also need to go out and check the Concord and white grapes out by the garden to see if they are ready to juice.
It is going to feel really strange not to have the boys underfoot the next couple of days since they are back to school, but I have to admit that I will likely get a lot more accomplished around home; well - other than making memories, which can't be overrated
Off to bed so I have energy enough to accomplish all I want to get done tomorrow.... Take care all; wishing you all a blessed week!
It was a work weekend for me, so very little got done at home. I did get a call from our group buy coordinator and picked up some silver dimes as well as a few older silver dollars, so at least I got a tiny bit of prepping done!
I picked up a bushel of peaches at the orchard on Friday; Hubby got them laid out on towels on the island counter yesterday to ripen a bit more. After I get home from aqua aerobics tomorrow, we will make a couple batches of peach jam, and then water-bath can the rest. I will cut them in quarters, then cut each quarter in half. As I'm peeling the peaches and prepping them for the jars, I will set aside any odd shaped pieces to puree with a bit of lemon juice to preserve their color, then put the puree on my fruit leather sheets in the dehydrator to dry.
When canning the peaches, I use a medium syrup of 1 cup sugar to 2 cups water; anything lighter does not keep the peaches firm in storage. If I were going to can them to keep for longer than 1 year in the pantry, I would go to a heavy syrup of 1:1 sugar/water. We are about out of room in the freezer, but I may try to squeeze in a half dozen bags of peaches.... I also plan to run up to the orchard on Tuesday after aqua aerobics to pick up another bushel - if I'm gonna have a sticky mess in my kitchen, I might as well get it all over with at once - and have something to show for it
What to do with home canned peaches? Well, we eat most of them as-is out of the jars; when the grandkids are here, I have to open 2 jars for a meal! We use the canned peaches in cobbler, peach shortcake, and to make peach dumplings; and I also like to use the syrup left in the jars to flavor/sweeten my tea.
Hubby picked and ran a second steam juicer load of our Marchal Fouche grapes today, gaining one half gallon jar plus a pint jar of juice. We'll drink the pint this week with breakfast; we will make grape jelly from the half gallon of juice I made on Friday plus the new one; and will also run at least one more load of grapes through the juicer tomorrow. I also need to go out and check the Concord and white grapes out by the garden to see if they are ready to juice.
It is going to feel really strange not to have the boys underfoot the next couple of days since they are back to school, but I have to admit that I will likely get a lot more accomplished around home; well - other than making memories, which can't be overrated
Off to bed so I have energy enough to accomplish all I want to get done tomorrow.... Take care all; wishing you all a blessed week!