Pitted, peeled and chopped
I have a special place in my heart for the September issue of Tigress Can Jam Monthly. 
Peaches were my first, all-by-myself sealed jar project, completed one year ago this September! Happy anniversary to me.
Boy, do I wish I’d known about the whole dip peaches in boiling water trick to skin them. I also wish I had someone there to tell me “RELAX, those miniscule bubbles in the jam are not botulism spores, not possible (put your feet up and have a margarita).”
Enough about me, Tigress has granted me the great honor to present you, fellow canjammers, with not just peaches, but the entire family of stone fruits.
Stonefruits belong to the genus Prunus which includes apricots, cherries, peaches, nectarines and plums.
Stone fruit seeds are a curious lot. Pips (my favourite word for seeds) are protected by a cyanide-producing enzyme that also produces benzaldehyde, which gives almond extract its distinct aroma. Almonds are the seeds of a stone fruit species (Prunus amygdalus), but the ones we’ve domesticated aren’t as bitter (nor are they highly toxic) like wild almonds. (Harold McGee let me in on these fine little morsels, pun intended.) I suppose this is why some recipes ask us to toss our stone fruit kernels into our boiling vats of yum, to take advantage of free almond extract. [Boiling the seeds also makes them safe for consumption.]
Stone fruits may come as no surprise to many of you. I’ve seen your summer-infused blog posts. You’re champing at the bit with your plum jams, your peach chutneys, your luxurious halved peaches doing the backstroke in syrupy glaze. Well, here’s the signal, the e-high-five to keep it up.
Start your browsers folks, blog posts with your stone-fruitful recipes must be posted between Sunday, Sept 12th and Friday, Sept 17th to make the round-up, with midnight Friday the 17th being the cutoff.
p.s. I know, I’m a dork, but you can’t talk stone fruits without involving Van Morrison.
Canning
Reader Comments (23)
Stone fruits, what joy! Couldn't be better as far as I'm concerned. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
As I type, I have someone heading over the mountains with directions to bring home peaches!
Oh yipppee! I can get stone fruits and loads of it. Happy, happy, me. And if it contains a stone or pit I'm a happy gal!
This is a great year for stone fruit in Ontario! Hooray!
Look at you, one year ago you were freaking out about bubbles and a year later, you're advising others freaking out that it's o-kaaay. How far we come in twelve months.
That's STONE fruit, not STONED fruit ;)
but thanks for the tune!
I worked with an Indian women who taught me to split the plum pit and eat the seed in the middle. 'Very yummy.
Yay! I have 25 lbs. of small golden plums in the freezer from my mom's trees. I'll make my favorite plum and pineapple jam, but I can't wait to get even more ideas for jams and sauces!
Wow I learned a lot just reading this post, and I got to listen to Van Morrison, thanks! Very exited about this month!
I'm doing a peach canning demo to day at the local farmers market. Yay!
I was so hoping you would say that. The peaches are wonderful this year in Georgia. Yea! Thank you!
Fantastic, we have been given loads and loads of peaches and apricots. Thank you!
Yes!!! Peaches. I am alllll over that. I just purchased my third box of peaches this summer. The question is which recipe do I save for the CanJam? Hmmmm...
-the redhead-
I've already got my western slope peaches ordered. Now what to do with them... I'd love to make a peach habanero barbeque sauce but can't find a recipe to can with. May have to try peach habanero jam instead.
Man I just did peach salsa for August canjam! What to do, what to do....
Can't believe how behind I am! That's what a few days at the beach do for you. Hooray for Kate! I have pounds and pounds of nectarines and plums in the fridge. Woo hoo!
Not a dork, no not a dork at all.
Yay! I'm so excited! I've been saving a peach recipe post in hopes for this topic. Happy weekend!
Oh, lordy, Hip Girl, it's recipe posting week and I've just emerged from the woods of Alaska with lots of recipes for apples and cranberries! Luckily I've got one stone fruit recipe in my pocket that I saved from July, which is prime time for those babies in the Bay Area. I'll see if I can reconstruct it in time.
I thought the Can Jam was going to skip stone fruits altogether, so I'm glad to see this. It will be a roundup to cherish!
Oh, and thanks for posting one of my favorite songs. :-)
Again, thank you for the selection you made. I just made a post about how we put our peaches to use: http://www.englishfamilyfarm.info/2010/09/putting-up-peaches/.
Whew, just under the wire in my timezone... http://marriedwithdinner.com/2010/09/17/perfect-simple-peach-preserves/
Thanks so much for hosting!
What do I have to do to take part in the round up? Can I take part? I live in the Caribbean. No stone fruits here but my most recent post talks about a substitute. Technically it's not a stone fruit but the pit is remarkably like a peach and it cooks up pretty much the same way as a peach except of course it has a different flavour.
Thanks, Anita and Alex! Can't wait to read about what you came up with.
Wizzy, visit the Tigress here. We signed up for the year in December last year, but you might be able to get in on the rest of the year!