STONE FRUITS. I miss them the most.

More specifically, the juicy, candy-like, yellow peaches I’d purchase at the local farmer’s market and then quickly devour with juice streaming down my forearm. Definitely worth the sticky mess!

There are some stone fruits that seem to thrive here in Montana but the yellow peach is not one of them. So this is the time of year to pay a visit to our neighbors Idaho and Washington, which have plenty of peach orchards. For many years my mom has used the fresh fruit from one of these neighboring states and then busiest herself with canning. She just loves peering into the pantry at all the colorful jars of peaches, plums, and applesauce that will satisfy her craving for fresh fruit through the winter months. As a child my favorite was always the peaches. I’d start the day off with a bowl of them. My mom would sprinkle a little nutmeg atop and sometimes a dollop of ice cream. Nowadays, I crave all the yummy fruit she cans. Although I have always appreciated the good food my mother made us, I now better appreciate the time and effort it required on her part.

Last week my three sisters and I spent the day canning peaches with my mother. There were a lot of women and a lot of peaches. We each had our assigned “position” in the kitchen, per usual. Mother, the master canner, and us, the worker bees, aka “peelers”. However, this year, mother decided it was about time we learned the canning process from start to finish. I am pretty sure she is nearing retirement for many of her “motherly duties” and is anxiously waiting for one of her four daughters to take over.

Given that I am now an experienced canner, wink wink. I would love to share with you the entire process. However, the steps are detailed and the process is really better experienced firsthand. So I will save you time and just tell you that the end result is well worth all the peeling, pitting, and stained fingers. So if you know someone that cans, I bet you could learn this lost art!