Cherry & Peach Canning

Posted by on Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

Cherries-in-Basket

I’m SO excited because the southern peaches are finally ripe for harvest. The blueberries are ready to pick, and it is time to really get serious about preserving and canning all the wonderful fruits God made for us to enjoy. Only in the past couple of years have I been courageous enough to attempt canning and freezing. I encourage all of you wanna be canners out there to round up some jars and lids, buy some sugar and SURE JELL, stop by your local farmers market and GET BUSY! In the dead of winter – you will thank yourself when you can go to your pantry and retrieve a jar of peach or cherry preserves.

I was able to find Georgia Peaches at Publix for 88cents a pound recently. I’m also heading out to KY to Mennonite country for more. Here’s my first batch of peach preservers I’ve ever made.

Peach-Preserves

Now I’m addicted. There’s nothing better on a hot steaming buttered biscuit than home made peach preserves. What a treat!

My mother built the house next to us. She was such a fantastic gardener. When the house was complete, she immediately set out a variety of fruit trees in the back yard. Although Mom has been gone 15 years, the cherry tree was loaded with blossoms, then later, cherries this year. I called our neighbor and kindly asked him if he’d like me to make him some cherry preserves from the cherries on his tree. We made a family event of cherry pickin’ this year.

Cherries-Picking

And Hope and I had a blast pitting 2 gallons of cherries and making cherry preserves. I just love these cute little half-pint Elite Ball jars. You can order them online if Wal-mart is out of stock.

Cherries-in-Jars

I don’t have a secret recipe for preserving. I simply followed the SURE JELL instructions for cooked jam/preserves. I have copied and pasted those instructions from the SURE JELL web-site below. You can also visit their site www.surejell.com for all the tips and related recipes from KRAFT.

Who’s with me? Come on and give canning a try. It’s pretty easy and a lot of fun to can with the family.

  • Bring boiling-water canner, half-fill with water, to simmer.
  • Wash jars and screw band inserts in hot soapy water; rinse with warm water. Pour boiling water over flat lids in saucepan off the heat. Let stand in hot water until ready to use.
  • Prepare fruit as directed in the following chart below. For berries, crush 1 cup at a time with a potato masher for best results. If using a food processor, pulse to very fine chop. DO NOT PUREE. Jam should have bits of fruit.
  • Measure exact amount of prepared fruit (or juice) into a 6 – 8 quart saucepot. Stir in lemon juice and water (if required) as indicated in the chart.
  • Measure exact amount of sugar into a separate bowl. (Reducing sugars or using sugar substitutes will result in set failure unless you use SURE-JELL FOR LESS OR NO SUGAR NEEDED RECIPES for no or low sugar jams and jellies.)
  • Stir 1 box SURE-JELL PREMIUM FRUIT PECTIN into fruit or juice in saucepot. Add ½ teaspoon butter or margarine to reduce foaming, if desired.
  • Bring mixture to full rolling boil. (a boil that doesn’t stop bubbling when stirred) on high heat, stirring constantly.
  • Stir in sugar quickly. Return to full rolling and boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, Skim off any foam.
  • Ladle quickly into prepared jars, filling to within 1/8 inch tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with two-piece lids. Screw bands tightly. Place jars on elevated canner rack. Lower rack into canner. Water must cover jars by 1 to 2 inches; add boiling water if needed. Cover; bring to gentle boil. Process jams 10 minutes. Adjust processing time according to altitude chart. Remove jars and place upright on a towel to cool completely. After jars cool, check seals by pressing middle of lid with finger. (If lid springs back, lid is not sealed and refrigeration is necessary.)
  • Let stand at room temperature 24 hours (or time indicated on recipe). Store unopened jams in a cool, dry, dark place up to 1 year. Refrigerate open jams up to 3 weeks.

SURE-JELL Cooked Jam Recipes

Fruit to Buy (Fully Ripe) How to Prepare Fruit Ingredients Makes (About)
Apricot
3 ½ lbs. apricots
2 lemons
(May take 2 weeks to set)		 Discard pits (do not peel) and finely chop apricots. 5 cups finely chopped apricots.
¼ cup fresh lemon juice.
7 cups sugar.		 9 cups
Blackberry,
Boysenberry,
Dewberry,
Loganberry,
Red or Black Raspberry
or Youngberry
4 pt. berries		 Crush berries. Sieve ½ of the pulp to remove some seeds if desired. 5 cups crushed berries.
7 cups sugar.		 9 cups
Black Raspberry
4 pt. black raspberries		 Crush black raspberries. Sieve ½ of pulp to remove some seeds, if desired. 5 cups crushed black raspberries.
6 ½ cups sugar.		 8 cups
Blueberry
3 pt. blueberries		 Discard stems and crush blueberries. 4 cups crushed blueberries.
4 cups sugar.		 6 cups
Cherry (sour)
3 lbs. sour cherries		 Discard stems, pit and finely chop cherries. 4 cups finely chopped cherries.
4 3/4 cups sugar.		 6 cups
Hot Pepper Relish
2 medium green peppers
3 medium red peppers
10 large jalapeño peppers		 Protect hands with rubber gloves while preparing jalapeño peppers. Stem and halve all peppers; discard seeds. Finely chop peppers. 4 cups prepared peppers.
1 cup cider vinegar.
5 cups sugar.		 6 cups
Orange Marmalade
4 oranges
2 lemons
(May take 2 weeks to set)		 Remove only colored part of peel from oranges and lemons with vegetable peeler; chop and set aside. Peel and discard white part of peel from fruit. Chop fruit, reserving juice; set aside. Place peels, 2 ½ cups water and 1/8 teaspoon baking soda in saucepan. Bring to boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add fruit and juice; simmer 10 minutes 4 cups cooked fruit.
5 1/2 cups sugar.		 7 cups
Peach
3 lbs. peaches
1 lemon		 Peel, pit and finely chop peaches. 4 cups finely chopped peaches.
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice.
5 ½ cups sugar.		 7 cups
Pear
3 lbs. pear
1 lemon		 Peel, pit and finely chop pears 4 cups finely chopped pears.
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice.
5 cups sugar.		 6 cups
Plum
4 lbs. plums		 Discard pits (do not peel) and finely chop plums. Place plums and ½ cup water in saucepan. Bring to boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 5 minutes. 6 cups cooked plums.
8 cups sugar.		 10 cups
Strawberry
4 pt. strawberries		 Discard stems and crush strawberries. 5 cups crushed strawberries.
7 cups sugar.		 8 cups
Triple berry
3 pt. strawberries
1 ½ pt. raspberries
1 pt. blackberries		 Stem and crush strawberries. Crush raspberries. Crush blackberries. 2 ½ cups crushed strawberries.
1 ½ cups crushed raspberries.
1 cup crushed blackberries.
7 cups sugar.		 8 cups

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Cherry and Peach Canning

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Filed in Canning | 8 responses so far

8 Responses to “Cherry & Peach Canning”

  1. Ashleighon 22 Jul 2009 at 7:49 am 1

    I’m so excited about this post! I’ve been itching to do peach preserves, and I think I’ll try cherry too. So far this year, I’ve canned chow chow, bread n’ butter pickles, green beans, and tomatoes. I’ve frozen my share of okra too. I’m going to go get some good peaches this week!

  2. Taraon 22 Jul 2009 at 6:18 pm 2

    Wow Ashleigh, you have been busy! It is a lot of fun to can. I hope to give a lot of these jars as gifts for the Holidays along with some home made bread. I’m looking forward to Christmas because of the stockpile I now have in the pantry. Keep it up!

  3. Ashleighon 19 Aug 2009 at 9:34 am 3

    Tara,
    Did you use any of the Fresh Fruit powder when you did your peaches? I’m finally getting to doing my peach preserves, and I was just wondering. I think it’s supposed to keep them from turning. Also, did you do any wax at the top of your jars?

  4. adminon 19 Aug 2009 at 10:04 am 4

    Hi Ashleigh

    No I didn’t use any fruit fresh on the frozen peaches nor wax in those jars of preserves. So far, the peaches that I froze have not turned – they are just as bright as they were when they were fresh. I used all the peaches I froze the year before, and they never turned brown either. I try hard to squeeze all the air out of the packages before freezing – that’s all. Good luck. A lot may depend on the variety of peach – as far as them retaining their color.

  5. Edward Chavezon 02 Jan 2010 at 12:32 pm 5

    I can (rather, jar) among other fruits, strawberries.
    I would like to know how much pectin for 25lbs of strawberries
    1) regular pectin
    2) low/no sugar pectin

    Thank you very much for your assisstance. Edward Chavez

  6. Ray Waleson 28 Jun 2010 at 2:28 pm 6

    We are trying to can some Bing Cherries. What recipe do we follow?

    Thank you

    Ray

  7. Ray Waleson 28 Jun 2010 at 2:39 pm 7

    When canning Bing cherry jam do you follow the recipe for Peach jam?

    Thank you

    Ray

  8. Taraon 28 Jun 2010 at 6:53 pm 8

    Hi Ray, I would follow the recipe for the cherry preserves. The proceedure is the same for cherry and peach, but the amount of fruit and sugar varies – for each kind of fruit.
    I’ve copied the proportions for cherry preserves/jam straight from the SURE-JEL box:

    For Cherry:
    Start with 3 lbs. sour cherries, discard stems, pit and finely chop cherries to make 4 cups chopped cherries. You will need 4 3/4 cups sugar and the recipe should make 6 cups of jam/preserves.

    Hope this helps. I am going to try raspberry jelly tonight or tomorrow. Should be fun! And I am going to try canning some dill pickles this year. Never done that before.

    Happy Canning!