A Little Bit of Canning

A couple of years ago I had my first experience with canning - pickles!  I've done them again a few times since, including a couple of weeks ago.

I usually stick to freezing for most of my preserving, just because it's easy.  But I love how jars of fresh food look on the shelf, and it's nice to have some things that don't have to go in the freezer and don't need to be thawed.  I've really been wanting to try canning a few other things.  

Last weekend I had a big box of peaches that I was slicing for the freezer.  Then I thought I'd really like to try canning some of them.  I decided to keep it easy and try canning just a few jars, to see how they turned out, and if it was something I wanted to pursue more next year.  I don't have a canner, but for what I was doing, I was able to get an inexpensive stock pot at the thrift store, put a towel on the bottom, and do a water bath that way.  My pot fit three pint jars at a time, so I canned six jars total, and it didn't take me very long, especially since I was already slicing up all the peaches!

The jars look awesome; hopefully they taste just as good!

I'm hoping to try a few jars of tomatoes next, since they're starting to ripen in the garden!