It's time to can peaches, cherries, apples and more for luscious winter eating or pie baking. This is an easy process if you have the correct supplies and ingredients.

Some handy equipment includes:

Steam Juicer - No peeling, pitting, stemming, squeezing required - gentle steam action breaks down the fiber of fruits - great way to get started with juices.

Cherry Plunge Pitter - take the tedium our of pitting and process large quantities of cherries! This pitter autmoatically feeds, then removes pit from cherry with one stroke of the plunger. The pit ejects into a container and cherry falls into waiting bowl.

Cherry Stoner - Heavy-duty stoner squeezes cherries to remove stones. The stones are ejected into separate receptacle and the cherry meat falls into bowl, ready to create preserves or fillings.

Peach Pitting Knife/Spoon - It's the perfect utensil for cutting around pits on peaches and other similar fruits. The edge fits nicely around the curves of the pit to remove with less waste.

Pear Corer/Stemmer - The stainless steel blade is rounded at one end to scoop out the seed cavity, and pointed at the other end for removing the stem with a single V-shaped cut. Cut pear in half and remove all unwanted seeds and core in one slick motion.

Apple Peeler/Corer - This apple machine will reduce prep time for making pies, applesauce and more! Peel, core and slice apples in one step, or choose to peel only, or core and slice only.

Canning Magnet  - A handy tool to have when the crops are ready for harvest. Know exactly how many jars you will need to preserve those bushels of luscious fresh fruits. Provides water/syrup ratios to make syrups for canning, from heavy to very light. Keep on refrigerator or use as bookmark for reference to favorite canning recipes.

Ingredients that are great for canning fruits:

ClearJel® Starch - For smooth, dependable thickening of fillings, sauces and gravies. Where recipes call for corn starch, simply substitute with ClearJel. ClearJel won't hide the flavors like flour does and will maintain its thickness and consistency upon reheating after refrigeration or freezing. 1 lb. (approx. 2 cups) is enough to make fillings for up to 14 pies. Storage life of at least 1 year when stored in a cool, dry place.

Fresh Fruit Preserver - Prevent browning of fresh cut fruits. Use to prepare fruit for canning, freezing or drying.

Gel-EZ Pectin - These are the same pectin mixes used by many of the specialty and gourmet preserve manufacturers around the country. It's easily substituted into home recipes calling for dry pectin. One pound of pectin is enough for approximately 8 typical-size home recipes.

Try some of our classic canned fruit recipes such as:

Honey Spiced-Peaches

Homemade Apple Juice

Cherry Pie Filling

Here are some quick recipes for all those with vineyards!

Grape Juice Concentrate

Stem grapes and wash well. boil grapes in a small amount of water until popped. Strain the grapes coarsely and then strain them through a fine sieve. Put them into containers and freeze. When ready for use: 3 parts water to 1 part concentrate.

Easy Process Grape Juice

Put 2 cups grapes into quart jar. Fill jar with boiling water and process to seal. Strain juice when ready to use.