Rhonda Dieni came over to give my girls a basic canning lesson. We canned 50 pounds of organic white peaches.

My husband loves canned peaches. So last week we bought three cases of organic white peaches from Benchland/Todd Orchards, Keremeos, BC at the Saturday Kamloops Farmer’s Market. The peaches were so delicious we ate one case before canning day!

Rhonda Dieni came over to give my girls a basic canning lesson. My girls are home schooled and canning is a great skill for anyone to learn. Rhonda has been canning all her life. She gives canning lessons at the Kamloops Community Kitchen. Before Rhonda arrived I washed and dried twenty, 1L glass mason jars. I found twenty lids and caps. I cleaned up my counters and removed the tablecloth from the dinning room table.

I have never canned before so Rhonda brought her canning equipment and set up in our kitchen. She has two traditional canning pots with trivets for removing the hot jars. While we peeled, Rhonda made a hot syrup for pouring over the peeled peaches. She prefers to use less sweetener in her syrup but warns that if we don’t use any sweetener the peaches would discolor. Here is Rhonda’s hot syrup recipe:

Hot Syrup for Peaches
16c water
1c local honey

The rest of us stood around the dinning room table and peeled fifty pounds of peaches. We peeled and pitted the peaches and cut the peaches into eighths. We saved all the pits and peels for our hogs. The peach pieces went right into the jars. Rhonda told us to lightly push down the pieces, without crushing, to better fill the jars. With four of us working at peeling, it took less than two hours. Actually, it was really fun to stand around the table peeling, laughing and talking. I feel like everyone should have this wonderful experience!

It is very important to ensure the tops of the canning jars are clean before putting on the lids.

While we peeled, Rhonda poured the hot syrup over the peaches and carefully cleaned the top of the jars before setting the lids on the jars. The first load of jars was ready to go into the hot water bath. Thirty minutes later Rhonda removed the jars and set them to cool on the counter protected by a tea towel to sop up sticky juice. Each load did ten jars.

Here is one fresh organic white peach. In the background are the canned peaches just out of the water bath.

Rhonda said to let the jars sit overnight on the counter, if possible, before moving the jars into storage. This lets the jars set. Rhonda said it was a tradition in her family to not eat any canned foods until after the US Thanksgiving Holiday. This tradition ensures that the family would eat fresh foods during the bounty of fall and save the canned foods for the cold, dark days of winter. I think this is a smart tradition and my family will follow it.

Rhonda Dieni gives canning instruction every second Thursday for the Kamloops Community Kitchen. This would be an excellent course for home schooled young adults or anyone interested in learning how to can. Rhonda is also organizing the First Annual Food Swap on October 17, 2012 at 6:00 to 8:00pm. Please contact Rhonda at 778.470.4442 for more information and to preregister, as space will be limited.

Here are the canned peaches after they have cooled and set. I removed the metal collars and washed the sticky juice off the jars. The collars are not needed and can be difficult to remove later.