Peaches, Stevia, and Veg-O-Matic

Today was peach day.

Yesterday I picked up two bushels of All Gold peaches. These are a "cling" type peach, similar to Baby Gold. This type of peach is more firm and perfect for canning, but the pit has to be cut out of the peach. Berlin Seed has an awesome stainless steel pitting spoon that works perfectly for cling peaches.


If anyone local is looking for excellent cling peaches, the small orchard where I got mine has some of the nicest peaches for the best prices that I know. $15.00 for a bushel of All Golds! (Email if you want a phone number.)

This year I'm canning all my fruit with stevia instead of sugar. Several of the readers here have recommended stevia for canning. I finally tried it last year and was pleased.


Stevia is expensive, but a little goes a long way. My mom and I ordered a pound of stevia from Berlin Seeds and split it. Berlin Seed has pure stevia (no fillers) for $64.00 a pound. (Sounds like I'm running a commercial for Berlin Seed. I'm in no way affiliated with Berlin Seed - just a happy customer. Since they are an Amish business, they have no website. They give prompt service over the phone. Call 1-877-464-0892 for a free catalog.)

For canning, I used two teaspoon of pure stevia powder in one gallon of water. There is no need to heat the water. Just stir in the stevia until dissolved.


Have any of you seen one of these?

I'm not sure how old this Veg-O-Matic is but they haven't been sold for years. I had never heard of it but my sister-in-law found several at yard sales and gave me one. I like to dice my peaches to can and this little contraption saved a ton of time.


Just put in a peach...


And one "bang", and the peach is diced.

I did find that this only works with firm peaches. I was making fruit slush with soft free-stone peaches yesterday. The Veg-O-Matic turned them to mush.


I love canning but this is one of those days when the feet are tired.

What are you "putting up" for winter?