So, remember when I wrote about seeing the canning demonstration over the weekend? Well, we all were so inspired during that demonstration to go out and immediately purchase the supplies to make our own preserves at home! I’m not even kidding. We were going to see a Candy Demonstration class, but cut that so we could try this out on our own. Luckily, I took excellent notes during the demonstration.
ITEMS YOU’LL NEED:
Firstly, we purchased this while attending the demonstration – man was this an awesome purchase – no burns here. Not even sure what this is actually called…maybe jar gripper???
Jar Handler
You hold it by the black plastic part and this grips around the glass jars very nicely!
You will also need a rack or something for the bottom of your pot so that the jars don’t sit directly on top of the heat – Liana Krissoff said she made her own instead of buying a rack that can be inserted into the bottom of your pan. So, that’s what we did – the hubby was in charge of this task of course – he loves projects like this…this worked beautifully!!
The hubby made this
You will also need a large – mouthed pot that’s about as wide as it is deep and a pretty tall one to “process” the preserves, which means you’ll need a pot tall enough to have your rack, jars, and enough water to cover the tops about 1″ to help seal the lids – all in one pot.
And the canning jars, which we bought at Wal-Mart for $6.00 for a set of 12 – we bought this brand – 12 – 1/2 pint jars. While we were there we also bought additional lids w/ seals, as seals are only good for one use. We also bought additional lids that hold the seals in place over the jars.
INGREDIENTS FOR PRESERVES:
- 3lbs Ripened Nectarines, diced
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla (she used 1 whole vanilla bean, but I don’t have any)
You can use different types of sweetener, but we wanted to do it EXACTLY as we saw it in the demonstration, until we get some practice under our belts, which is why we used plain old sugar.
This yielded us 5, 1/2 pint jars
This recipe is based on Liana Krissoff’s book Canning for a New Generation. I definitely want to get a copy of this book – we briefly looked through it at the demonstration and it’s a beautiful book, well put together.
Nectarines
Diced
Granulated Sugar
Juice these babies
Place jars without their lids into the pot and fill up with water – enough water so that the jars are totally submerged. Turn heat up to high because you want this to boil.
Sterilizing jars - 10 mins
Once the water boils, that’s when you start your timer for 10 mins to sterilize the jars you plan on using.
Timer set
I set the lids with the seals in another bowl, alternating the lids. These will be added to the jars later.
Place lids in separate bowl
While you are waiting for the water to boil, start cooking down the fruit in a large mouthed pot. Combine Nectarines, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla and bring to a boil.
Into the pot they go!
Add sugar to Nectarines
Sugar added
Stir in vanilla and lemon juice
Stir everything together
Bringing mixture to a boil
By the time the water bath for the jars comes to a boil and then are boiled for 10 mins, the fruit should be just about ready for you to add to the jars and then process for another 5 mins in the water bath.
Liana told us we can do a plate test to check to see if the mixture will gel or not. And that is by placing a plate into the freezer. Then remove the plate, add a small amount of the preserve mixture and place back into the freezer to cool down. Once this is removed, if you try to scrunch it up, it should wrinkle a bit – this will indicate that your mixture is ready and will gel. She said this more for making jam and jelly, but you can use it for preserves as well.
We actually did this test, but I forgot to snap a photo of it.
Mixture is ready to be put into the jars
Scoop mixture into jars and then you want to make sure no preserves made it around the mouth of the jar, because this can prevent the seal from forming, so wipe the edges clean just to be sure.
Filling up the jars
To add the lids to the jars, pour some of the hot water that the jars were being sterilized in and pour over the seals. Then place lids onto the jars and secure the ring so that it’s finger tight, but not super tight.
Place the lids and rings on - finger tight, but not too tight
Then place jars carefully, using your new gadget, back into the water bath to “process” them, which means to boil them for a certain amount of time to kill any harmful organisms and to seal the lids. They go back into the water bath and make sure that the water covers 1″ above the jars to ensure a good seal. Boil the water for 5 mins to activate seal.
5 mins
Remove with your handy gadget and set on the counter to cool.
These have been processed for 5 mins
As they cool, they will suck the seals down and you’ll hear a popping sound. Be patient as it takes minute or two. We were fortunate enough that all of these sealed for us…this part was pretty cool! These preserves look exactly how they did at the demonstration.
The finished product
Ta-Da!!! We have preserves people!
Lovely Nectarine + Vanilla Preserves
How appetizing does that look! I can’t believe how great these turned out. Thanks to the help of both my sister and hubby, we successfully canned our first batch of preserves. My sister wants me to make her some more this week, but I’m a little worried how it’ll turn out without her help. We shall see!
Preserves served up – Delicious!!
Nectarine preserves + toast
Here’s a good resource that she told us to check out for “processing” times on other items like pickles, tomato products, etc – it’s the National Center for Home Food Preservation.
Can’t wait to try my hand at more things!!!
Peace out y’all….
Looks delicious!
Thank you!
nice post i like it..
keep up the good work….
http://csabi09.wordpress.com
Thanks for checking it out.
This looks delish! I’m thinking I will try it…may be good to a mix of summer preserves with fall desserts (I’m thinking stuff with cranberries, sweet potatoes, etc….)
That sounds like a good idea.
Does this ever look good! Thanks for the visuals and the information.
It was a fun experiment.
Well, God Bless You, you actually made canning preserves look easy! I doubt it is! They look terrific. I might eat them, but I doubt, big DOUBT here, that I’ll ever endeavor to DO it! Thanks all the same, I feel like I did. Congrats on being Freshly Pressed! Maybe you can come to my house & cook!?
Thanks for sharing!!
evelyngarone.com
This particular recipe was definitely easy…might not be able to say that about any others, haha. Just takes a little patience, which is something I’m not usually good at.
Yummy! Isn’t canning fun? I hear “my grandma used to can, I wish I could” all the time, and I always tell them it’s not hard, just do it! It’s no harder than cooking dinner, and you get all this yummy food to eat in the winter. Good job on your first try!
PS. I call my gadget “jar tongs.” I don’t know what they’re really called
You are so right! It takes a little patience and it was definitely less work with someone in the kitchen, but I can’t wait to do more…I feel like I’m carrying on a family tradition, which reminds me, I need to get my granny’s recipe!
Wow great demo!
Thanks!
[...] a serious sweet tooth, check out Vicious Sweet Tooth & get the recipe for the delicious looking Nectarine and Vanilla Preserves shown [...]
Lacey this recipe looks so delicious! We like it so much given it a little shout out and shared a link to it on our blog… http://flipoverthe518.com/2010/09/07/learn-to-preserve-food/ Thank you so much for sharing this recipe and keep up the good experiments!
Thank you so much!! I appreciate the shout out for sure.
I’ve been canning for a long time. (Black plum jelly might be my favorite.) But I have never seen a genius rack like the one you created. Brilliant. Pat your hubby on the back for me!
Crystal
http://www.crystalspins.com
The rack really did work perfectly – such a simple idea isn’t? But I’m not sure if a lot of people try this or not, I’m not sure I would’ve if we hadn’t seen it in the demonstration. Black plum jelly sounds amazing.
Lovely blog–have never done any canning….but you may have just inspired me:) Thanks.
L
You should definitely give it a try. It’s highly rewarding.
Mmmmmm! YUMMY! I have GOT to try this out some day!
Yes, you will be so proud of your efforts!
Looks tasty.
Congratulations on now being Freshly Pressed, as well as Well-Preserved…
Haha! It’s awesome – thanks for checking out my post!
That looks delicious but WOW that’s quite a bit of sugar!
There is definitely some sugar in here, that’s true. Funny thing is, we learned that this is actually considered a low sugar recipe and would only keep about 6mths – 1 year because of the “low” sugar content. We did divide these up between people, so we won’t be consuming all of this ourselves.
Mmm…this just sounds delicious! I sure could have used the jar handler…jar gripper…jar holder? when I was making my pickles this year. Perhaps I will seek one out so I can use it next year…or if I try to make this recipe…
I definitely want to try pickles, that is actually what started us thinking about canning – if you have a good recipe, I’d love to try it out.
[...] Breakfast: Sourdough toast with Almond Butter and Homemade Nectarine + Vanilla Preserves. This was an amazing combo…these preserves rock and if you missed out on how I made them…check it out here. [...]
I loved this! It brought back all these great memories of my Mom and Grandma canning everything from our garden and the woods behind the house — grape and blackberry jelly, cinnamon apple slices, tomato sauce, pickles, carrots and green beans and vegie relish. We usually made enough to last us until the next fall — when we started all over.
In fact, we found the two huge canning pots and the racks for holding jars when we were cleaning out Dad’s basement. Now I’m wondering if I can still remember the pickle recipe . . .
It brought back good memories for me too! I would love to try canning all of those items – if you do happen to remember your pickle recipe, I’m all ears. I hear that pickles can be hard sometimes to pickle – getting the acid right…
This looks fantastic. I can’t wait to try it. I spent all weekend canning tomatoes and would love to make something sweet this weekend.
I have to agree that the jar lifter is fantastic. I don’t know how many times I tried using stainless steel tongs and burning my fingers in the process. Thanks for the great post.
Jennifer
http://1840farm.wordpress.com/
I’m so glad we found it. My mom was always burning herself, this would be a nice stocking stuffer for her or anyone that cans now that I’m thinking about it.
Hi! Nectarines are absolutely my favorite fruit, so this post is as “um, um, good” as a post can get.
The pics are great. Congrats on being Freshly Pressed!
Thank you – it’s great to see my blog up there, especially with this post, which was fun to create.
Nectarines are amazing and lemons as well.
Looks delicious. I am sharing your post with a friend who is into making preserves and such. Congrats on being freshly pressed.
Freshly pressed is cool, thank you and thanks for sharing the post with your friend.
Well thanks to you im off to the market…I gotta give this a try. thanks for sharing
Yes, try it!
Yummy!
They sure are!!
Ooo! I just made seedless Raspberry jam to use in the cakes I bake. Canning is bit a addictive, maybe I’ll try this next. It looks Delicious!
You’re right, it is addicting…I’m probably going to make another batch of this, but then I want to experiment with other fruits.
Yum, raspberry jam.
sounds interesting, learnt new ways of preserving food.
rgds
santosh
Yeah! That’s why I love blogs…there’s so much out there that you can learn from everyday people.
Thanks googness there are people like you who can so that people like me can enjoy the fruits of your labor. Congrats on being Freshly Pressed!
Thank you! And thanks for visiting my blog – I was really excited to share this post!
Oh nice, could I print this out? A recipe with pictures really does help.
Mouth Watery @_@
Sure.
That looks amazing! Last year I did apricot/lavender, but I think I’m going to give this one a try!
That sounds amazing. I’m going to head to the farmer’s market tomorrow in search of lavender – I think that would be amazing to try with fruit!
And how is lavender with apricots?
Looks Scrumptious! I must try them myself!
Thanks! If you do, hope they turn out great!
Great demonstration post. I have a nectarine tree and have tried normal jam from the fruit before but haven’t added vanilla. I shall give this a go when it fruits just after Christmas (I live in the souther hemisphere). Cheers!
Thank you! You are sooo lucky to have your very own tree – I hope we have that one day – that would be even more rewarding.
I have lemon trees.
[...] So, remember when I wrote about seeing the canning demonstration over the weekend? Well, we all were so inspired during that demonstration to go out and immediately purchase the supplies to make our own preserves at home! I'm not even kidding. We were going to see a Candy Demonstration class, but cut that so we could try this out on our own. Luckily, I took excellent notes during the demonstration. ITEMS YOU'LL NEED: Firstly, we purchased this … Read More [...]
I need to get some of those jar tongs, would stop me burning my fingers.
I love making jam one of my favorites being plum jam using the plums from my parents tree. Soo good, especially when I use a little less sugar so it has that yummy slightly tart flavor. I found you can gradually add the sugar to taste as you are boiling the fruit down so you can make it to your tastes.
The other thing I have found is jars of jam or fruit make great presents and if you invest in some glass paint or pens and some ribbons you can make them look very festive.
I hope you continue having fun canning
Thank you for sharing these tips with me, I will test out the sugar for my next batch. My sister and were actually talking about making preserves as presents, I know I would love to get something homemade like this. Those jar tongs are great and it was only like $5…you must get a one!!
thanks for sharing
Good recipe, I liked it very much.
I’m so glad – thank you for checking it out!
[...] September 8, 2010 in What's cooking in your kitchen for the World? … discovers the practical, simple joy of a pair of jar tongs. [...]
Thanks for posting this on your blog!
I cannot believe that canning is all the rage now! Great post!
Wow, it looks so delicious. The process is so specific, I want to have a try someday.
You definitely should – they are amazing.
I like your articlle very much. Thanks for your hard work.
Thank you for looking at my post
Thanks for sharing! Preserves are actually a lot easier than they are sometimes made out to be.
I hope it’s like this when I try out other recipes. I’m actually surprised we got it right on our first try.
Thanks for sharing (great pictures, too). This has almost become a lost art. It gives me warm, fuzzy memories of my childhood. Keep up the good work and congrats on the “cherry on top” award.
http://elderwiggins.wordpress.com
Thank you! It definitely has become a lost art, which is why I was excited to give it a try!
Ok…stupid question…did you sterilize the lids too, or was the quick wash with the boiling water good enough?
We washed the lids and jars before hand and then just poured the hot boiling water over that and let them sit until we were ready to place on top of the jars. I might look into that a little further though.
Jar Handler? That looks like some crazy gynecological instrument. They should have used a nice pic of peaches for the homepage.
I know, I did think it was a little odd that they chose that image as well because it doesn’t say much about what the post is about.
It’s super easy to process anything down into preserves and get the perfect gel. It’s pectin. Some fruits are higher in it than others.
I’ve done strawberries, blueberries, peaches, etc.
Right you are! We learned a lot about pectin while attending the canning demonstration and learned ways to use the pectin in other fruits as opposed to powdered pectin. I think I was more worried about not getting the seal right.
These preserves look amazing! I just tried my hand at canning for the first time a couple of days ago. I wish I’d seen your tutorial before doing it myself, because I was pretty clueless! One of those things where I *thought* I knew what I was doing, but probably should have done a little more research first! Anyhow, after my small fiasco, I went out and bought all the proper ‘tools’ for canning, including the jar handler, because yes, that is apparently key in the canning process! Now that I’m properly equipped and a little more knowledgeable, I think I may try your recipe; it has all things I love in it. Thanks for sharing. And congrats on being Freshly Pressed!
~Christy
The “jar handler” definitely made it easier and less frightened of burning myself. What did you can the other day? Thanks for checking my post out.
I canned Dilly Beans – green beans that are packed in a vinegar / salt solution, and seasoned with dill, cayenne and garlic. The recipe says they taste best if you let them sit for a couple of weeks, so we’re trying to be patient and wait the last week out (which means the verdict is still out on how they taste)! And mostly by ‘we,’ I mean my 9 year old son, who discovered these this summer at a family get-together and is now hopelessly addicted. The fact that he was eating green beans with wild abandon inspired me to try my hand at the canning process. It’s crazy sometimes the things you’ll do to get your kids to eat their veggies!
Lacey, that looks amazing!! I recently went mostly raw in my diet but my little guy will LOVE this! Thx for sharing.
Btw:I totally chuckled at thejamminjabber’s comment! Too funny.
Anyhow, Congrats on getting Freshly Pressed! I’m glad you did so I can follow you now
~Elle
Looks fabulous and the combination with the vanilla sounds mouth watering! I Stumbled you! Thanks!
Your preserves look delicious! I am not a big fan of nectarines, but yamm they look nice on that bread!
Thank you Thank you! These look amazing. I can’t wait to make them this weekend!! Keep the delicious posts coming!
I am totally trying this on the hubby tonight… i’ll let you know how it goes…
It looks so amazing . . . I would kill for some on my toast for breakfast tomorrow.
We have been canning pickles and tomatoes – Your recipes looks fabulous and simple! Can’t wait to make them this weekend!
thriftyideastoday.com
Nice easy recipe and it looks damn tasty. Thanks for this!
While I have more of a savory tooth, this looks divine and I would love to pair this with a nice brie! I’m still intimidated by canning, although I did recently purchase “Canning and Preserving with Ashley English.” A great guide as is your post here…thanks for the step-by-step process with photos!
http://vegoutandabout.wordpress.com/
Yummy!!! Will make some tomorrow, or maybe day after tomorrow, need to buy nectarines first, or maybe peaches.
http://jornaldowhisky.wordpress.com/
Cheers!
[...] Breakfast: This morning I decided on toast w/ jam…we have just a little more sourdough bread left. Usually, I don’t like to eat “white” bread very often because of the lack nutrition, but today I made an exception because it tastes amazing toasted and topped with almond butter and nectarine preserves. [...]
I have a serious sweet tooth and will definitely give this one a try… the jar opener made me laugh- it looks like some medical instrument… but I have to say, I am gonna go on the hunt for one…
)
Great post..thx for recipe sharing
[...] But with this canning gizmo you can ensure that all your jars pop, every time. And actually, Vicious Sweet Tooth pre-empted me on this one and was featured in Freshly Pressed. I am totally trying her vanilla and nectarine preserves. [...]
[...] and Nectarine Preserves I told you I was going to attempt Vicious Sweet Tooth’s Vanilla and Nectarine preserves, and so here we [...]
Oh this looks so good. I’m going to have to get my canning supplies out this weekend!