Years ago when I ate my first fresh peach from the tree, I vowed to never eat canned peaches again. I now recant.
I have two peach trees in my backyard. One bears fruit this month, the other next month.
My mother-in-law is a bit like my father in that she will go into the yard and bring in natures bounty. My dad was here picking up pecans. Peaches are different. No shelf life. After giving away three bags of peaches and tossing a bag of moldy peaches,I had to figure out something to do with them. No room in the freezer. Then I recalled my Aunt and Grandma home canning.
My sister-in-law has parents who do canning and such, so I gave her a call. "Where do I get Ball jars?" I asked. "Try Wallmart." she replied. It's a big store, surely they would have everything I needed. Nope. "Ball jars? What's that?" was the typical response. "Mason jars . . . for canning peaches..." I would reply. "We sell jars of peaches." was a response.
This is getting me nowhere I thought. What the heck, I'll go to ACE hardware. THOSE people ARE helpful and smart. If they don't have what I need, they will tell me where I can find it. Within two minutes of entering that little store, I had two associates helping me AND educating me. They even gave me the Ball booklet on canning.
After two days of cutting fruit, making jam and canning fresh fruit I am psyched. Now, I am thinking of making fig jam, canning my grapefruit juice, orange juice, apple sauce, plum jam, kumquat marmalade, grapefruit marmalade, orange marmalade, lemon juice, lime juice all from the yard! Talk about organic! My bug control is my chickens! Too bad summer is almost here, I would like to can tomatoes and beans from the garden. Maybe pickles too.
Then there was the taste! Wow! Warmed peaches on ice cream. Tangy, sweet, wonderful. Never tasted peaches this good that were immersed in corn syrup. (bad for ya too).
Anyway, this story dovetails nicely with my last post. Just had to share.
My mother-in-law is a bit like my father in that she will go into the yard and bring in natures bounty. My dad was here picking up pecans. Peaches are different. No shelf life. After giving away three bags of peaches and tossing a bag of moldy peaches,I had to figure out something to do with them. No room in the freezer. Then I recalled my Aunt and Grandma home canning.
This is getting me nowhere I thought. What the heck, I'll go to ACE hardware. THOSE people ARE helpful and smart. If they don't have what I need, they will tell me where I can find it. Within two minutes of entering that little store, I had two associates helping me AND educating me. They even gave me the Ball booklet on canning.
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