Peach Preserves

By á-471

This is a taste of summer - all year long. One of my nonna's serve-it-up quick desserts was to spoon canned peaches onto vanilla ice cream. This is still one of my favourite desserts!

Ingredients

• 8 x 3L baskets ripe peaches.
• 12 cups sugar
• 12 cups water
• 16 x 1L Mason jars

Preparation

Step 1

1. Wash 16 jars and put them upside down on a
cookie sheet in a 250 F for half an hour to sterilize
them.

2. Put caps in a small pot of water and keep hot (not
boiling) until ready to use.

3. Steam about 8 - 10 peaches (you don't want to
crowd them on top of each other) at a time for 7
minutes, or until the skin slips easily from the fruit.

4. Transfer them to very cold water to stop the
cooking process. Peel and slice into a bowl.

5. While you are doing this, get your syrup ready in
your biggest pot and let it boil for 5 minutes, or
until it is clear and the sugar is dissolved.

6. After all the peaches are sliced, transfer as many
of them as will fit into the syrup pot. You will have
to do several batches. Bring them to a boil.

7. Take four jars at a time out of the oven and, using
a large glass measuring cup, fill them about ¾ of
the way with peaches. Stick a knife down the
sides of each jar to dislodge all the bubbles. Fill
with syrup to ¼" from the top.

8. Wipe the tops of the jar with a clean, wet cloth.

9. Put caps and screw tops on, finger tightening only.
Transfer the jars to a draft free area, spacing them
about an inch or two apart and cover with a towel.
Leave to cool and seal well. Do not move for a
week. If any jars don't seal, empty them into a
pot, bring to a boil and repeat steps 7-9.