Phew...I'm tired

My day started at 7am today -- fun, fun, fun.  I was too sleepy to cook that damn early, so I just relaxed for a while and started around 10:30-11:00.  I started by heating the chicken stock up and then canning it in the pressure canner.  I ended up with 5 quarts and 2 pints of chicken stock.  Not bad for spending only $1.21 for the chicken necks (I don't count the price of the chicken the bones came from since they are just a by-product).  I processed the jars for 90 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.

                                   

I had to wait until the pressure canner was cool enought to move off the stove because I needed the room to get the peaches ready.  Talk about labor intensive!  Ugh!  It was worth it, but tiring.  Took me 3 to 3 1/2 hours to finish and most of that was peeling the little boogers.

This recipe is going to be a little vauge on numbers because I didn't count how many peaches I processed, or even weigh it for that matter.  So you will have to gauge for yourself the proportions.  I ended up with 19 pints of peaches.  And just to give you a rough idea of the amount of syrup to make, I only used 12 cups syrup for the 19 pints. 


I still have 21 peaches that were too soft for canning whole, so I am searching for recipes to use them in.  I think I have a few interesting ones to try out tomorrow.  But first thing tomorrow is Chicken Enchiladas!!!

Peaches in Light Honey Syrup
Firm peaches
Syrup: 1 1/4 cups honey per 4 cups warm water

For the syrup: Mix the honey and warm water together and pour into a tea kettle.  Heat on the stove as you process the peaches.

For peaches: Place peaches, in batches, into boiling water for 30 seconds to 1 minute.  Remove to a bowl of ice water.  The skins should just peel off.  There should be a little crease to one side of the peach.  Use this as a guide to cut the peach in half and twist slightly to divide the halves. Remove pit and slice into hot sterilized jars.  When jar is full, immediately pour the syrup from the kettle to fill to within 1-inch of the top, leaving a headspace.

When you have enough jars to fill your water bath canner, place them inside with hot water to an inch or two above the jars.  Cover and process at a boil for 15 minutes.  While they are processing, continue to put batches if peaches into the boiling water and then the ice water, etc.  Rotate the jars out of the canner and into the canner as they finish.