The Tilsons

Movin to the CITY gonna eat a lot of peaches
Im movin to the CITY Im gonna eat me a lot of peaches
Im movin to the CITY Im gonna eat a lot of peaches
Movin to the CITY Im gonna eat a lot of peaches
Peaches come from a can they were put there by a FAM
In a KITCHEN
IN THE CITY, WITH THE TILSONS
GONNA EAT ME A LOT OF PEACHES

Presidents of the USA & guest writer- Lisa Tilson

That was our theme song while we stood (and sat) in the kitchen, Justin, Larry, Josh and I - blanching, peeling, pitting and squishing peaches at 10pm.  Justin - judging that the stress lines on my face weren’t disappearing any to soon- called Larry to see if he and Josh would come over and help us can.  They came over at around 9, and wow was it awesome to have some fresh energy in the house!  Larry is a bartender, and Josh works at the same place as bar-back; they are extremely efficient.  We had canned the peach quarters in syrup last night (I think we were up until 4am?  STUPID) and needed to move through the rest of the peaches for the tomatoes.

Read the complete Post.

Today we realized the magnitude of our decision to order such a gargantuan amount of food.  Food of this quantity needs jars, lids, screw bands, TIME, PATIENCE…and if you are going to can a crazy amount of food - like say 800 lbs, do yourself a favour and buy a propane tank, a large burner and the biggest pressure canner you can buy (ours actually fits 26 pints and 18 quarts).

I figured you all should have a leg up if you’ve made the same commitment we have.  Here is a post of all the helpful canning tips and hints we could think of, so that you could breeze through your canning experience instead of barricading yourself in the kitchen and screaming at the top of your lungs while your husband and roommate cower in the corner. Read the complete Post.

*Due to a complete lack of energy, the “Fruitapoluza ‘08″ posts have been dated retrospectively.  We appologize for any blogging rules we may be breaking at this time and assume no responsibility for injuries incurred while attempting to “catch up” all at once.

The great canning adventure began with Justin and I poring over a freshly posted ad on Craigslist, stating that a woman from somewhere was going up to the Okanogan and could get fruit of all kinds for anyone who needed it (Peaches, Pears, Plumbs, Tomatos, Apples).  Being that our food outside was staying green, due to the global warming of Vancouver, we decided in a fit of insanity, to STOCK UP.

100 lbs of Plums
250 lbs of Tomatos
200 lbs of Peaches
200 lbs of Apples
150 lbs of Pears… or something like that. Read the complete Post.

Yesterday and today my mom and I canned peaches… millions of peaches! Actually, only about 60 lbs. We grossed about 33 quarts and two batches of jam from local BC Okanagen peaches and honey because organic has been too expensive to can. It took us a while to get a system down, but by this morning we were very efficient and tidy. Now that we have figured out the process, I can’t wait for beets and pears to ripen!!!
I’m lucky because my mom canned for quite a few years when I was younger, and my grandma was quite the homemaker as well. My mom has passed on dozens of quart and pint jars and all her canning tools to me, which makes getting into the game easy. Its interesting to see how the instruments have evolved through the generations by looking at some of my grandmas canning jars, with parafin wax sealing for preserves, rubber rings and glass lids to our rubber rimmed lids and rims that we use today.
This round we tried to seal the preserves with wax, but realized shortly after that it is no longer recomended due to the improper seal the wax tends to make. Obviously we did it wrong when we noticed the juice seaping out the top of the wax! Oh well, I guess we will just have to eat it!
We used a preserve recipe that called for honey instead of sugar, but unfortunately it didn’t set - we will continue our search for a local way to make jam!