It's not a problem. Ginger is lower-acid, but you're infusing and removing. When you remove something, you're also removing a food source for things like bacteria. That's why garlic in oil can't be stored at room temp but garlic-infused oil could be. (I wouldn't but that's because of rancidity, not food safety.)

The cinnamon is fine. It's a dried spice. Dried herbs and spices lack water and again, food spoilers feed on water.

It sounds like a lovely idea. Go for it. (Try mace and vanilla sometime.)

Carol

Carol,

Thanks so much for your response. Now that I understand I can infuse, remove the item and process, my mind is whirling!

Last year I made C. Ferber's Peach Jam with Lemon Verbena. Actually, I made it 1/2 peach and half strawberry. The lemon verbena was an amazing flavor and I practicaly licked the inside of the last jar.

Mace & vanilla is what my great grandmother used. Maybe I'll make some of those TOO!

The peaches look gorgeous this year in the mid-Atlantic.

Thanks again,
Cathy

I did something similar with pears, cinnamon and vanilla last year.. zomg.. amazing..

I'm liking this ginger peach idea.. hmmm..

Make sure you add ascorbic acid to the syrup so it will prevent oxiizing and turning brown. Ginger does go great with peaches, I use it here too.

Is ascorbic acid the same thing as Fruit Fresh?

Cathy, always learning!

Is ascorbic acid the same thing as Fruit Fresh?

Not exactly the "same thing" but yes, Fruit Fresh has ascorbic acid in it and is fine to use. ;) You can buy bulk ascorbic acid as many of us do for canning. Much cheaper but for small or infrequent use Fruit Fresh works fine.

Dave

Fruit Fresh is mainly ascorbic acid but it has some citric acid and free-flow agents. Basically you're paying more money for the brand name, so if you can find ascorbic acid, that's the way to go.

Carol

mrswhlbarrow, I don't even buy Fruit Fresh. I have some capsules of Vitamin C (not tablets), I think they are 1,000 mg. I just pull them open, add the powder to my water or syrup and voila! Antioxidation!

Annie

The link below as several sites offering ascorbic by the pound or more. Compared to Fruit Fresh, its less than half the cost. I don't use vitamin C tablets as they also contian binders and corn starch, would be difficult to measure unless they were crushed, and you had the added 'fillers' factored in.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ascorbc acid sources

That's true, Ken, but I don't want flavor and it's not a safety issue, I'm just trying to prevent browning and a couple of capsules does that. I don't try to use tablets, they have to be crushed or dissolved and it just doesn't work as well. The capsules, though, work great and I always have them on hand.

Annie

I guess your just 'guestimating' the amount of ascorbic you need, or in your case, vitamin C. Its only used to retain color and offers no real protection for food safety beyond oxidation. I see timed relase Vitamin C but its hard oval pills, and has cornstarch and gelatin to help hold it together.

Here's the end of the peaches in ginger syrup story.

Let me just say one thing, and I suppose all you experienced canners will have a chuckle. FREESTONE. I had seen that sign near peaches at the farm stand, and never thought about it before...

This time, there was no sign about free stones or not, but the peaches were soooo pretty, I could just imagine them all perfect and beautiful halves in the shiny quart jars.

I ripened the peaches on the counter for two days, then set up all the big pots of water to peel, big bowl of ice water to chill, big bowl of Fruit Fresh & water (I happened to have the Fruit Fresh, but will next buy ascorbic acid or vitamin c or something cheaper.) The kitchen was a steamy mess, I peeled the peaches, cut them in half, and the pit split in half and got stuck in the center of each half and I nearly murdered the peaches trying to get the danged pit out.

So instead of halves, I have slices, and I have the lovely ginger syrup (steeped for one hour, then pulled out the ginger and brought it back up to a boil). The peaches looked mangled. I packed the quarts, poured the hot syrup in, and BWB for 25 min. (according to Ball.)

When they came out of the canner, the slices were floating and had blurry edges, if that makes sense, not all pretty and firm! And there's about 1/4 of the jar that's just syrup.

Should I worry? What the heck did I do wrong, other than that FREESTONE thing?

There was 1/2 a jar of peaches leftover and they are absolutely delicious over pound cake. I also imagine I could blend it with ice and a little rum and call it a frozen ginger peach daquiri. :)

Thanks for all your help,

Cathy, still cleaning up a very sticky kitchen, in DC

Freestone is just that. The stones are not embedded into the flesh of the peaches, they tend to be a bit softer once handled. The CLING type is what you just bought and you have to use a sharp knife to cut the pits away from the flesh. Even for that, some stones can split into small slivers and these if bitten can do some serious damage to your mouth. When I buy peaches for canning, I like to buy only a couple, take them outside and cut one open to see if its a freestone or a cling. If its a cling, I don't buy them. In most cases the two kinds of peaches ripen at different times too, so keep a lookout and ask before you buy a lot.

Yes, I've got it now. Look for those Freestone peaches.

But what made the edges all blurry? Was that just the mangling of pit-removal? With freestone peaches will they be tidier in the jar?

And what about the floating? Not packed tight enough? I thought I would crush and mangle the pieces more if I pushed down too much.

Are peaches just difficult???

Cathy

Yes, peaches are difficult to deal with. If you look at commercially canned peaches they usuaully can cling types and the pits are removed by machine. They tend to remain as slices and look nicer in jars compared to the softer freestones. Freestones also have a red center next to the loose seed. These are usually made into peach halves when commercially canned. In any case, if they ripen too much they can get very soft and mushy once processed, so a slightly underripe peach cans better, but the skins are much harder to remove. I had a batch two years ago that simply would not allow me to blanch the skins off even after sitting in boiling water up to 3 minutes. Instead, I used a potato peeler and it was really a messy job. Luckily it wasn't too many that were hard to remove skins. I also can apricots, but make preserves and use no sugar, and don't peel them. I grow both here and soon a new pluot tree will be getting fruits, hopefully next year. Floating is going to happen. Use regular mouth jars as opposed to wide mouth, as they taper enough so that larger slices will help hold them under the syrup. I always have issues with darkening even though I use plenty of ascorbic acid. Now, I add a sprinkle of it to the top surface of each jar just before a lid is put on, and don't try to move the jar much so the ascorbic isn't lost in the syrup. Peaches are usually canned in heavy syrup too, so if you don't want a lot of sugar added, but need a thick syrup, you can add a little Clear Jel to the syrup and cook it to a slightly thicker syrup, where it will coat each peach slice. I add the ascorbic when the syrup is cooled down some, as heat seems to kill it too.

KSRogers,

Thank you so much for your directions for peaches. I'm not sure why they need to be canned in heavy syrup? And with the darkening -- mine are still a gorgeous peachy color. Can I expect the darkening will happen with time? (I did soak the slices in fruit fresh & water.)

Yesterday at the farmers market, my favorite orchardist told me that she tightly packs peeled slices into a quart jar, puts 1 tsp of fruit fresh and 1/4 c of sugar, lets it sit for about 20 minutes, then pours it into a freezer bag and freezes flat on a cookie sheet (to help stacking).

She promises the slices will taste fresh and fantastic in mid-winter, served still slightly frosty. Sounds like an easier plan than the canning, I have to admit, and with a brand new chest freezer waiting in the basement, it may be the direction I'll head when the next freestone peaches are available.

All the best,
Cathy

Yes, they will contine to darken and travle down into the jar, not just on th surface. A heavy syrup may help to reduce the floating. Most commercally canned are packed in heavy syrup. With a new freezer, you might want to look into a Food Saver machine. They offer a lot more protection for frozen things and you never get freezer burn. The way she does them is simple and will work fine too. They do get a bit mushy once thawed. To peel, 1 minute dip in boiling water, then in cold will help get skins off easier.

Thank you for the Food Saver tip. I'll research that. My husband is still suspicious of the freezer and sure we'll never use what's in there.

Cathy