How to Preserve Peaches
Preserving food is a practice that dates from antiquity, one useful to master and gratifying in its results.
Below are some suggested steps in the preserving process — always consult the canning jar manufacturer’s instructions for details.
1. Purchase two quart canning jars with lids and bands, a jar lifter, secure-grip hot jar handler and boiling rack.
2. Purchase eight or nine fresh peaches and honey.
3. Blanch and carefully peel the peaches.
4. Half and pit the fruit.
5. Mix a honey syrup consisting of:
- 3 cups water
- 2 cups honey
6. Wash all equipment in hot, soapy water and rinse thoroughly. Bands should be dry before use.
7. Run jars through the dishwasher to clean and heat them. Jars should be pre-heated when filled.
8. Place the boiling rack in the bottom of a pot large enough to completely surround the jars and immerse them by at least an inch of water. Fill the pot halfway, cover and bring to a simmer.
9. Heat syrup by bringing ingredients to a boil in a medium saucepan.
10. Place peaches and then syrup in hot jars leaving ½ inch of space, using a spatula around the inside of the jar until all air bubbles are removed.
11. Use a clean cloth slightly dampened to clean the top of the jar thoroughly. Carefully place the lid so that the bottom seal of the lid is centered on and in full contact with the lip of the jar. Screw on the band until it is fingertip tight.
12. Use the jar lifter to place jars in the pot, making sure they are submerged by at least 1 inch of water.
13. Cover pot, bring to boil and set timer. Boil for 30 minutes.
14. After 30 minutes, uncover pot and leave jars in place for 5 minutes.
15. Use the jar lifter to remove the jars and place on dishtowel. Leave jars in place for 24 hours.
16. Inspect lid seals to be certain that there is no flexing when pressed down.
17. Unscrew the bands on both jars. Test the seal by lifting each jar from its lid. If the jar does not separate then the seal is properly set.
18. Label with contents and date of canning.
19. Hold the jars up to the light for final inspection
20. Ignore the discomforting similarity to a jar full of egg yolks.
21. Photograph the jars by the kitchen window and post to social media.
22. Place jars in a cool dry cabinet for storage.
23. Sleep secure in the knowledge that in the event of Armageddon you now have a single day’s provisions on hand.
24. After one week return to the store, purchase 2–3 fresh peaches and enjoy them.
25. Go about your life as usual.
26. During this time allow the jars to be relegated to positions further and further from the opening of the cabinet. Allow them to complete their natural migration all the way to the back.
27. Keep jars in place seven to eight years.
28. Yard sale remainder of preserving equipment.
29. Discover jars while emptying the cabinet in the process of moving out of the residence.
30. Hold jars up to the light and inspect the delicate fungal growth within the top ½ inch of each jar.
31. Gain a more personal understanding of the word ‘futility’.
32. Resolve to not waste the peaches and the time it took to prepare them.
33. Open and empty all jars near the edge of the woods for the deer to eat.
34. Thoroughly wash lids and jars.
35. Recycle lids, bands and jars.
36. Find fruit undisturbed in its place two days later.
37. Discover that a deer is no more willing to poison herself than you are.
38. Walk thoughtfully home.
39. Stop and stand awestruck that in your complacent browsing of your grocer’s fully stocked produce section you take for granted a privilege denied to kings of centuries past.
40. Marvel at the myriad organizational, economic and technical advances that have developed over millennia to allow you to eat a February peach in Detroit on Saturday that was picked in Brazil on Monday.
41. Shudder at the seeming frailty of systems so complex and interconnected, so susceptible to the greed of people and the caprices of nature, that their collapse seems not only inevitable but imminent.
42. Go to Step 1.
