One Lucky Girl: A Friend Arrived with Pastries and Peaches

My love of ridiculous appliances continues.  Of course I could "can" my jams and pickles with the water bath method.  But wouldn't having an appliance with a "pickles" button be way more fun?  Yes!

My husband gave me the Ball FreshTECH Automatic Home Canning System for my birthday - woohoo! I hadn't used it yet, but was gushing about it with my friend Liz and she offered to be my wingman on the maiden voyage. We had so much fun! 

We chose a Thursday night after work and she arrived with Lebanese takeout for our dinner, two fancy desserts (my birthday!) and an armload of peaches to turn into jam.  What a friend.

We followed these instructions for reduced sugar peach jam word for word and we created a new tradition (obsession?).  It was so easy we started plotting what else we could can/jar/preserve/pickle.

I'll tell you more about the machine, process and results later. Just know that I love it and don't feel ridiculous at all. Small batch canning is just my speed.