Well I have now gone where I never thought I'd go . . . bent over the kitchen sink skinning peaches and CANNING them! Yes you heard me . . . CANNING! An ancient art I have yet to embrace . . . until tonight! At first I didn't think it was all that bad. I wondered what all of the fuss was about. I learned a new technique I had never heard of "BLANCHING" (I'm sure I"ve spelled it wrong).
Let's take it from the top. To can peaches, you first collect all of your goods (mason jars, fruit, sugar, bowls, paring knife etc.). You rinse off a bunch of peaches and put them in some sort of culinary contraption that lets you dip them in boiling water - this is called blanching. For you proffesionals out there, I know this is totally remedial cooking. You "blanche" the peaches for like 30 seconds, and voila when you pull them out and rinse them with cold water the skin comes right off in your hands! You cut the peach in half, take out the pit, and peel the skin off. Done - beautiful. I never thought fruit was so beautiful as I thought it was tonight. I became kind of an elitist, throwing tainted peaches to the side to go into the fruit cocktail instead of into my beautiful little bottles. I actually passed my sister-in-law all of the ugly peaches.
Once I had filled my bottles (7 of them), it was time to pour a little "lite" syrup over them. This was made by mixing 8 cups hot water with 2 cups sugar. Easy enough. I thought I was just about done. Canning is a peice of cake! Then came the tricks. Now that I got to that stage it was time to boil the lids. You are suppose to boil them for 5 min. Then you get this crazy magnet to pull the lids out of the boiling water in order to place them on top of the jars. You put that little ring around the lids at that point. Done? No, not yet. My mother in law busted out this serious steaming machine with 3 little holes in the side to prevent it from blowing up. This contraption is to steam the peaches? Whatever it does, it cooks them and seals them inside by adhering the little rubber seal on the inside of the mason jar. Needless to say, I see the intensity and complexity of the canning process. It overwhelmed me for a moment.
Am I boring you? This stuff was pretty intense. I had to watch the giant steamer until it was shooting bursts of steam out of the tiny holes, once that happened it was time to reduce the heat, and then let them steam another 30 minutes. At this point, I was committed to these little jewels by about 2 hours. All in all, it is my estimation that to produce 7 pint sized jars of peaches it was a 3 hour process (aside form the shopping and the peach picking).
My mother-in-law has canning marathons. There were days worth of peaches in her kitchen. Canning is a labor of love I tell ya.
Somehow, I felt all "homemakey" inside. I felt all self-reliant like I was storing away for a long winter. Somehow, when I look in my pantry at my peaches, or in my freezer at the fruit cocktail and apricot and raspberry freezer jam that I have made I feel so domestically accomplished. I feel a bit proud, a little bit like a homesteader. Little House on the Prairie style, expect I don't think Ma has a blancher.
Speaking so much of peaches, does anyone remember the song, "Moving to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches . . ." It won't leave my head. Bottom line, I have made some serious progress with regard to my domestic abilities tonight. I know what blanching is and I have experienced the toil of bringing a well preserved (and beautiful might I add) can of peaches to fruition. 
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