Today so far
I got a lot done today so far: planted two tomato plants, repotted a grapevine until I can plant it and an olive tree that will stay in pots (too cold in the winter for it), cleaned out a bunny bin and composted the litter, and for the finale, I made peach lemonade and peach preserves!
I’ve made jams and jellies for a long time. I didn’t have to peel the peaches, so it went much quicker than my last canning adventure. I now have 7 1/2 half-pints of preserves (the half-jar will go in the fridge for eating now!)
If you get a chance at a large amount of fruit or veggies at a good price, canning is a great way to preserve them, and making fruit preserves is about as easy as it gets.
The difference between jam and preserves is (as far as I know) that in preserves you have chunks of fruit in there. You need fruit, jars with lids, sugar, lemon juice (if it’s a fruit that browns when exposed to air like peaches or apples), pectin (I normally use commercial pectin, which comes in little boxes that are usually near the canning jars in the grocery store), and a pot to cook the ingredients in.
I simply followed the instructions in the pectin package. 
I use the open kettle method unless for some reason the jars don’t seal. A wide-mouthed funnel and a lid lifter help tremendously, and can be obtained online if you can’t find them with the jars and pectin.
Fun!
June 29th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Yum! That looks great. Can you get local peaches? We certainly can’t in Minnesota, but I’ve been thinking of buying a case at the co-op and preserving them just for a big treat!
July 1st, 2008 at 1:16 pm
They were indeed local peaches! This is a Oklahoma-only food co-op; everything has to be grown in Oklahoma to be sold there.
What grows locally in Minnesota?