Would You Believe . . . Flying Peaches!

Title says it all! My housemate is the expert, but I'm learning, too. While I don't have a recipe of my own, perhaps an experience of HM will suffice.

Back in the 60's, HM lived in a place in Central CA which had a peach tree. The man next door also had a tree which he coddled and tended and fed and mulched with fervor. Naturally, the tree produced only 60 or so peaches.

Next door, however, was another tale entirely: 600+ peaches burst forth during the growing season. Problem was, what the heck does a person do with that many peaches? And who the heck did the tree think it was anyway -- James' Giant Peach?

HM's lovely mother-in-law (bless her) provided complete instructions over the phone concerning canning procedure. HM picked peaches, laid out all ingredients and proceeded to can 60 quarts of peaches (only because when friends saw HM with huge brown bag in hand coming up the sidewalk, they hid!).

Anyone who has never canned peach halves has no idea as to what a complete mexx the process makes. First, the floor must be covered with newspaper. then all and sundry not involved with process must leave home canner alone until process is completed. Otherwise, as one person and 2 cats discovered to their great surprize, peaches fly! In this case, the person dodged the peach halves; the cats, took total hits! (The person just wandered off while the cats spoke long and loudly and most profanely regarding such betrayel of trust!)

When they moved, there were still these 60 quarts of peaches, of which HM was only able to get rid of 12. As I sat howling with glee, HM said it was 5+ years before those peaches got used and that never, never, never would this project be willingly undertaken again!

Thank you again, Betsy, for these great new boards; Cheers!