I love canning. It sounds so nerdy, but I look forward to “canning season” every year.  Turn on the music, get a few extra hands of good friends in the kitchen, and get ready to spend a few hours putting away the best flavors of the season, saving them for another day.  This year I’ve completed only a few canning projects, but they were all spot on! These canned Peaches and Bourbon Vanilla Bean Peach Jam (I’ll share the recipe in another post) were by far my favorites!

But these aren’t just any canned peaches, these are perfectly ripe, in-season, peaches, with a light raw honey simple syrup poured over them, and a splash of Bookers (or any brand of choice this is just what I had on hand) bourbon just for an extra kick.

INGREDIENTS:

• 8-12 lbs peaches

Honey Simple Syrup

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 cup honey

• 6 cups water

• 12 tablespoons bourbon, optional

INSTRUCTIONS:

Honey Simple Syrup

1. Bring the sugar, honey and water to a boil then simmer until the sugar and honey is dissolved. Keep warm until ready to pour over the peaches.

Canning Peaches

1. Prepare canner, jars, and lids.

2. To peel the peaches, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Score (barely slice in an x) the bottom of each peach. Place peaches in boiling water and remove once the skin from the x starts to peel back (about 1 minutes or less).

3. Place hot peaches in a couple large bowls of ice water to stop them from cooking. Once cool, peel the skin off the peaches.

4. Slice peaches in half then place, cavity side down and overlapping layers, in sterilized hot jars (leaving a half inch of room at the top of each jar).

5. Pour hot honey simple syrup over the peaches then top each jar with 1 tablespoon of bourbon.

6. Wipe rim of jars then place sterilized jar lids on top of each jar and process according to your jar manufacturer's instructions. Pint jars should be processed for 25 minutes and quart jars for 30 minutes.

NOTES:

Bourbon is optional and you may use all honey instead of sugar.

Enjoy on a cold winter day!