Canning

The word "Canning" was the scariest word to me until now. I think it was because it was something I watched very skilled women do when I was younger. Women who could whip up the most delicious dinner or dessert out of anything, PRO'S. But last fall when I went to help my sister to do some canning, I discovered it wasn't so hard, then again I had someone right by my side telling me what to do and how to do it. So, when my Mom handed me a bag of peaches and suggested I "can" them I think I joked and felt my heart speed up. But I thought, "Hey, if I can make Eclairs and awesome meatballs, how hard could it be"? So I got my cute little "Better Homes" jars(which were the cheapest at Wal-Mart) some pectin(which Dave helped me find) and started my "canning" adventure. The first recipe I came across wanted me to put lemon juice in it, but I had no lemon juice so we went to recipe #2. It was simple looking, 12 peaches, 4 1/2 cups sugar and 2 oz. of pectin. "Great", I thought "I have all of that". So I began to boil my peaches, and wash the jars in the sink. Well I used my big pot to boil the peaches in, which meant I had my medium size pot to boil and sterilize my jars in(it only fit 2 at a time).  So after boiling the peaches I added the sugar and pectin. Well, after you let that boil for 1 minute you put them in the JARS . So, it was very rushed trying to get a jar sterilized so I could put the jam in and then put it in hot water for 10 more mins. Only two jars at a time which meant the jam was starting to set in the bowel it was sitting in. It was a mess and I think I burned my finger tips so much that the feeling is gone:) But this morning we had some of our peach jam on toast and it was soooo good! "Canning" is something I could really get into, just need another big pot:) I encourage all of you to try it, the out come is very rewarding!