THREE CHICKS AND A CANNER

Today was PEACH day.  The fall canning season continues.  What could be more fun than enjoying the tantalizing aroma of cooked peaches?  How about canning peaches with friends!  On Monday, I visited a local orchard and purchased half a bushel of peaches.  My friend Hannah also came home from her travels with peaches.  My friend, Wendy,  had recently picked up the Ball automatic jam and jelly maker.  A plan was in the making.  I invited both friends over for a day of peach jam making.  Now, I am usually all for the old fashioned way of making food.  But I was really interested in the automatic jam and jelly maker since it takes on the stirring part job for you.  

messy kitchen!

So we gathered this morning and peeled and cut up the peaches.  Some of the peaches were mashed for making jam and some were sliced for preserving.  In a short time we had all the counter space filled with jars, pots and pans, and cutting boards.  Meanwhile my friend, Hannah's kids played with toys from our storage closet that I had saved from my own kids.  What fun to see these treasures again. 

The Jam and Jelly maker  does a fine job of making jam.  I don't have any complaints about the quality or consistency of the recipes we used.  The peaches were so sweet that we opted to use the low sugar version of the suggested recipes.  The house smelled so good while the peach jam was cooking. Make sure you have your canner heated up and the jars cleaned and heated because the hot jars need to be filled as soon as the jam cycle ends.

 We snacked on peaches and chicken salad and visited.  We talked about other canning we had planned for the upcoming weeks. (pumpkins topped the list)  All of us agreed that this was more fun than canning separately! The automatic jelly and jam maker did help us get more done in less time because we were able to continue peeling and slicing peaches during each batch instead of stirring a pot.

Bottom line, I still prefer hand quilting, knitting by hand and doing most crafts and kitchen tasks the old fashioned way my grandmother did things.  But, I believe I am a fan of the new Ball Fresh Tech Automatic Jam and Jelly maker.  If you get a chance to try one out, I recommend it.  And invite a friend or two.

some of my share of the days work