Peachy Keen

My cup runneth over.  With peaches, that is.  Between my little, baby peach tree and the full-grown monster peach tree, I'm estimating we have 3-4 bushels of peaches.  Since the freezer still contains much of last year's bounteous peach harvest, I've had to be creative.  Four batches of peach jam hardly made a dent in the crop.  So, I've been canning peach pie filling for the first time.

It's a labor-intensive process.  Many more steps than any thing I've ever canned.  The first couple of batches came out six quarts to the tablespoon so I didn't really get a taste of the finished product.  This last batch had about half a cup over six quarts so I've finally gotten a taste.  It's very good...will be even better when I'm not absolutely sick of looking at peaches...oh, say, February.

This is also my first canning project using the starch known as Clear Jel, or Thick Gel, as the brand I'm using is called.  That is some powerful stuff!  Think cornstarch on powerlifter steroids.  The first batch I made was so thick that I nearly broke a spoon stirring it.   I cut back on the amount by 1/2 cup in subsequent batches and that seems to be working much better.  I have a few other variations that I want to try as I work my way through mounds of peaches.  I'm going to try juicing some of the softer peaches, then use that juice instead of all lemon juice in the pie filling.  I should probably get around to making a pie out of this stuff, too, to make sure that it really does hold up through the baking process, too.  Pie anyone?!?