Last
night the girls and I spent our Friday evening canning pears. We did the peaches on Wednesday because they
couldn’t wait. We canned a total of 20
pints of peaches and 18 pints of pears.
We lost one jar of peaches when it broke in the canner. I think I over packed it. Dang it!
I ran out of pint jars so I stopped canning pears and we will be making
the rest into jam. Not quite enough left
for pear butter but enough for jam.
As a
working mom I have found through trial and error the best way to get things
done is in smaller increments. I can
smaller batches of fruit and I try not to do it all on the same day. Sometimes ripening fruit can ruin the best of
plans but for the most part it works out.
I do
try to plan ahead a little bit. On Wednesday
morning I knew I needed to can those peaches that evening so before I went to
work I loaded the jars and rings into the dishwasher and ran it so they would
be clean and sterile when I got home. I
also set everything out we needed to use to get the job done. As soon as supper was finished we were ready
to rock and roll.
Having my helpers makes it much less of a task than it used to be. I absolutely love the fact that they can actively participate and I appreciate their help tremendously. They even help with the clean up afterward! I’m a lucky Mom!
We all
take turns peeling and slicing fruit, making sugar syrup, filling jars and
putting on the lids and rings. While the
first batch processes in the canner we clean up the majority of the mess. While the rest of the jars process we do
other tasks and put away the air dried dishes.
One batch out, one batch in and one batch waiting.
I wait
until the next morning to remove the rings and wash the jars. I want them to be completely cooled. Once the jars are all dry then I write the
date on the lids and put the fruit away in storage.
The pears after this mornings bubble bath.
Today I
will make up the pear jam and then our canning will be officially complete for
the season. I’ll be able to get all the
canning equipment put away in the garage too.
I have to admit I am really looking forward to getting that box of
canning supplies off of the top of the refrigerator.
I still
have tomatoes to preserve but they will be stewed and then bagged and frozen. I will be grating up some zucchini too.
So far
we have canned:
12 pints salsa
10 half-pints rhubarb jam
3 pints bread & butter pickles
20 pints of peaches
18 pints of pears
Plus 10 pints of raspberries in the
freezer
We
still have some pears, peaches, applesauce and zucchini relish leftover from
last year. We’ll use those up first
before we eat this year’s bounty. J We are not huge fruit eaters so this is
plenty for us. Add the fresh fruit we plan
to buy – bananas, oranges and apples - and we’ll be in great shape.
I love other peoples' housekeeping details, especially canning!
ReplyDelete(I usually put my sealed jars away without washing them first! Too lazy. I just wash them a jar at a time when I bring them up from the basement)