Canning with Jane

Since the summer is coming to an end Jane and I decided to do something to say goodbye. We canned tomatoes and peaches for the winter. There is a local orchard called Highlands Orchards where you can go to pick your own fruit. Jane and I went there and picked our own peaches. That was the first time I actually saw fruit on a tree. I know that’s pretty sad since I am 21 but it was very cool. It was even more fun to go from tree to tree and decide what peaches we wanted to take. It was great knowing that the peaches we would  be eating later on in the year were handpicked by us.

Jane has a book about canning food that has the instructions for each specific food. It’s a very detailed process but once you get the hang of it, it goes by fast. The peaches were a little harder to do than the tomatoes. The jars that the fruit will go in all have to be cleaned and sterilized. The fruit has to boil for a certain amount of time before you can skin them. Once you skin them there is a science to putting them in the jars. There has to be a certain amount of head room, no air bubbles, extra juice added. It is all a very interesting process. I thought it was cool to learn because this is what people used to do with their food all the time. Rather than buy it in a grocery store. I feel like there will be a time when people realize how bad processed foods really are and will go back to growing their own food. The tomatoes that we canned were from Jane’s garden. This was even more satisfying because not only did we hand pick them but she grew them all herself.

 I can’t wait to eat the food that we canned later on in the year. Jane and I love peaches so it will be great that we can eat them in the middle of the winter when you can’t get them anywhere else.