Fruits of thy Labor

On my labor day this year, I ventured into a new project.  It was long, it was exciting, and most of all it was (or will be) YUMMY.  I canned fruit.  I did 26 quarts of peaches, 14 quarts of pears, and 6 quarts of applesauce.  We borrowed a pressure cooker, and some jars from Dusty's Mom, and went to work.

I learned a few things about canning that I found very interesting.

• It takes a long time (or I am just slow)
• It is more fun when there are a couple people
• Your feet hurt after a while of standing in the kitchen
• Babies don't like being ignored even though you have peach juice and sugar all over your hands
• Blanching is amazing
• Salt and vinegar keep pears from browning
• It is hard to stuff fruit into jars tight enough
• The whole process uses lots of pots and leaves everything sticky

Dusty helped peel and slice the peaches, and peeled a few pears.

Here is the finished product (applesauce not pictured)

I am very excited to eat all the yummy fruit.  And I plan on doing more in the years to come.