Friday, July 12, 2013

Canning peaches with no sugar and conquering fruit flies...

If you are currently, or will soon be canning peaches, please check out my previous posts about doing it without sugar.  These have been VERY popular.

1.  Canning peaches is easy! (no sugar)

2. Sugar-free home canned peaches

3. Canning cling stone peaches without sugar - whew!

Here are some that I canned 2 days ago.  I stopped into Walmart to pick up one small item, and they had these lovely, freestone, fully ripe peaches for 50 cents a pound!  I bought 60 pounds, went home and canned most of them.  It was not what I was planning to do that day, but at that price, I couldn't afford NOT to get them!


Where we live, fruit flies are always a problem this time of year.  I keep a bucket for compost on the kitchen counter, and even though I empty and wash it often, opening it reminds me of Pandora's box!  Here is a way to "win" the battle with fruit flies!

 


6 comments:

  1. I bought a pressure canner last year on sale (75% off with sale & coupon combo =)) so it's time to learn the fine art of canning, right? I found a great deal on peaches in Amish country and am looking for no added sugar recipes. Yours looks great, but I am confused... when pushing the peach halves into the jar, does that create juice? And I also wonder, if it doesn't create enough to cover the peaches, can I just add plain water? I have read that I need to wash the peaches in citric acid to help retain the color. And I kind of just want to add the peaches along with a few cinnamon sticks and cloves to the jar... then plain water. Will that work?

    Every other "no sugar added" recipe I have found uses a syrup made of "unsweetened" apple or grape juice. Which, of course, is added sugar. Just a different form, of course. So it's been a frustrating search.

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    1. Press the peeled peach halves down in the jars until there is enough juice to fill all the space in the jars leaving head space of course. Peaches are processed in a water bath canner, not under pressure. Do Not add water. It will ruin the flavor. No citric acid needed if you fill the jars as you peel the peaches. I would not add the cinnamon, personally. Good luck!

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  2. Thanks for the advice! For some reason I was thinking peaches are a lower acid fruit & needed to be canned with pressure. At any rate, I just processed the peaches in a water bath as shown here. No cinnamon. They did get a little squishy as I pressed them down, but there was plenty of juice for them to cook in.

    Thanks for answering my questions! And thanks for posting such a great, informative blog :)

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    Replies
    1. You will love these peaches...cold with some cottage cheese...heavenly! You 're more than welcome.

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  3. Just a few more quick questions, if you don't mind... my lids started "popping" shortly after taking them out of the water bath. Is this good? Bad? Doesn't matter? For some reason I thought they would pop further along in the cooling process.

    Also, while I was wiping around the edge of the jars before attaching the lids, I don't recall if I actually wiped the rim. This probably sounds dumb, but I totally forgot about the rim being the actual part which needed to be cleaned until after the first few jars were already filled. Can I assume the seal is good if all of the seal tests turn out ok?

    Have you ever had a bad batch? I am assuming that if something has gone wrong I will notice a distinct odor or appearance as the bacteria starts to grow. But many sources say that canned foods can sometime look & smell normal but still be contaminated. That really has me freaked out :(

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  4. I have never had a bad batch. If they go bad, for instance once in a great while a seal will fail when that happens they get moldy. The early popping is normal! If they stay sealed, your rims were clean. Please don't worry. You are not in danger from canned peaches.

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