Canning Nectarines & Peaches.

Halved and pitted nectarines in the ascorbic acid bath.

I have never canned nectarines or even thought of it.  We just always eat tons of them when they are in season here and available at the local orchard.  They may well be my very favorite fruit.  I can even remember the very first time I ever had one as a little girl!

Be that as it may, while perusing through my Ball Blue Book,  I saw a recipe for canning them and thought, "Why not?"  Canned plums are quite good and so should be these.

Our weekly half shares from Joe Engelbrecht's Fourth Generation Orchard have been great and right now I sit with 10 pounds of apples, 10 pounds of nectarines, and 5 pounds of peaches in my extra refrigerator.  Saturday I will receive more of something, I am guessing apples so I best get busy!

First I placed the quart canning jars, screw bands, and lids in the dishwasher on sterile wash and turned it on.

Peach halves and a couple of nectarines.

First I set a large kettle of water to boil to slip the skins from the peaches.  Next I prepare 2 large bowls of water with an ascorbic acid bath (1 t. ascorbic acid per each 1 C. of water dissolved together) for both kinds of fruit.  You do not peel the nectarines for canning, only halve them and remove the pits.  Both kinds of fruit require 30 processing time so I can do a couple of quarts of each and batch the processing together.

Next I prepare a batch of medium syrup:

3 1/4 C.  sugar
5 C. water
5 t. ascorbic acid

Heat all together until the sugar is dissolved then turn to lowest heat.  Yield 7 C. medium syrup.

Prepare a large bowl with ice and cold water.  Plunge about 5-9 peaches into the boiling water and leave for about 3 minutes.  Remove with a slotted spoon and plunge into the ice water.  Halve each peach and remove the pit and skin.  Place the peach into the waiting bowl of water and ascorbic acid to sit until all of the rest of the peaches have been prepared in the same manner.

After the peaches were completed I halved and pitted the nectarines and placed them into their ascorbic acid and water bath.

Remove the clean hot jars from the dishwasher and fill with the prepared fruit leaving 1/2" head space.  Add the hot syrup to fill again leaving 1/2" head space then use a butter knife to remove any air pockets you see.  Proceed to fill all of the jars.  Wipe the jar rims with a clean wet paper towel and place the lids on snugly.  Place the jars evenly in the cold packers rack and hang the rack atop the rim of the water until it comes to a boil.  Then, lower the rack and jars into the boiling water.  The water should cover the lids of the cans.  Add boiling water if it does not.  Bring the water back up to a boil and process for 30 minutes for quart jars of peaches and nectarines.

Yield 5 quarts of fruit.

When the time is up remove the rack to hang again on the rim of the cold packer for about 10 minutes.  Then lift the rack out and onto a towel on the counter.  Remove the jars again to a towel on the counter and let them sit undisturbed for 10-12 hours before storing.