You're so welcome Donna! I saw the kit and immediately thought, "Donna would totally LOVE this!"

Now you're all set to kick some butt in the kitchen! :-)

Start out easy with a jam or relish...then you'll be hooked!

Very great Surcie! Lucky girl!

I have most of that stuff..and it certainly does come in handy this time of year. LOL

That's a wonderful gift, Donna! Now you have everything you need to get started on preserving some summer!

Very cool, Kathy!

Linda

Thanks for the encouragement - I am feeling the "canning bug" grabbing hold of me:-) Someone on this forum had posted a recipe for a peach jam or butter that started with frozen peach slices. Does anyone have this recipe? It may have had raspberries in it as well, I just can't remember. Peaches here tend to be hit or miss, so I thought if I can't find any good ones, the frozen ones are usually pretty reliable in terms of quality.

Kathy, I'm out of the delicious strawberry jam we had canned together in February, so I can always make some more of that, though it won't be with those delicious Plant City strawberries.

DONNA

What a nice gift this time of year.....now get busy making those jams!

That's a really nice gift. Enjoy!

Nice surcie! Your idea to make peach butter sounds perfect.

Nancy

Donna, use the frozen peach slices! As much as I love a good, fresh peach, they're a pain in the butt to peel and pit for canning! Now, if I had a peach tree and was loaded with peaches or came across a windfall of fresh peaches, then I would muck through it and use them. But otherwise, use frozen!

Also, when I first started out, I primarily used frozen fruit for jams/jellies until I got the hang of it...you know in case I messed up. :-) Make it fun and convenient at first, then tackle the heavy stuff!

Can away, sister!

Kathy, you are a wonderful and most enthusiastic coach! Ok, I do love the idea of using frozen. So do you have to thaw them first before you cook them on the stove with the other ingredients? Or just thaw lightly until you can chop them? The Ball Blue Book recipes for peach butter and peach jam/preserves look easy, anyone tried them?

We have bags of frozen WILD blueberries in the local Publix, which I think would make better preserves than the regular big blueberries. I've heard the small, wild ones taste sweeter. Maybe I'll buy a couple bags of the peaches and the blueberries and just make blueberry/peach preserves. Is the ratio one cup of sugar to each cup of fruit?
DONNA

Donna, yes I let them defrost a little, but not all the way. They're easier to chop when slightly frozen, kinda like frozen chicken breasts. Not as slippery. Frozen berries usually get mooshed in the pot, so I throw them in whole and frozen.

For combining recipes. I just substitute equal amounts of another fruit. For example, if a recipe calls for 4 cups of chopped peaches for a peach jam and you want to make a peach/blueberry jam, just substitute what ever amount of blueberries you want for peaches (1/2 & 1/2, etc.). As long as your TOTAL amount of fruit, sugar, pectin, etc. stay the same, you're good to go! Follow the recipe the same way after that.

You can have a lot of fun coming up with your own creations!