Sweet Deliciousness

I've been itching to can lately, and I just couldn't stand it anymore.  We went to our local orchard, and bought a half of a bushel of "grade 2" peaches.  They were half the price of the "grade 1" peaches, for no good reason!  There were no bruises, holes, or anything wrong with them.  Their loss!  Aren't they pretty?

I washed the peaches off a batch at a time.

While water was boiling to prepare the peaches for skinning, I made a simple syrup of 1 part sugar to 3 parts water.  Yes, it's clear, you're not missing anything here.

I boiled the peaches for 30-45 seconds, then threw them in a (cleaned) sink with ice water.  I cut them in quarters, and the skin just about fell off.

I'm using the hot pack method.  So I took the skinned peaches and put them in the simple syrup.  I kept them hot as I funneled the peaches and juice into the jars.

So gorgeous!  (You can even see more peaches hanging out in the sink.)

 

I used a hot water bath to can these, even though I used a pressure cooker.

I only did an eighth of a bushel, and this is what I canned!

I had some peaches left over, so I made my mom's famous peach cake.  Oh, is it good.  I've never quite made it as well as she does (and I over filled this pan below) but it will hopefully be pretty good.

 

Mom's Peach Cake

4 cups Jiffy Baking Mix
6 Tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 cup milk
2 egg, slightly beaten
4 Tbsp. shortening, melted
Blend together batter ingredients and spread into 1/2 mix on bottom of prepared pan. Cover with layer of sliced and peeled peaches with juice. Add other half of mix.  Put as many peaches as will fit (with some juice) on the top of the cake.  Bake 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees.