What book are you using? My Ball Complete book as a recipe for Peaches in Syrup that is BWB (20 min for pints, 25 for quarts). I am not surprised they're mush, you cooked for 35 min and then PC'd for 10?

which is the books recipe

Agree with ajs question, what "book" are you talking about? Can't tell what went wrong without that info. A pressure cooker manual? Never use cooker/canner manuals for canning info - waaayy outdated and inaccurate.

Hot pack sure doesn't require any 35 mins of cooking and only 10 min at 5 lbs. for pressure canning. And of course they can be done in a BWB. Most do just that.

Here is a link that might be useful: Canning Peaches NCHFP

I think he means the amount of time it takes for the pressure canner to come up to pressure and then cool off. I do my tomatoes in the pressure canner for 20 minutes at 5 lbs - and the tomatoes end up in the canner for nearly and hour.

OK lets try again, as this doesn't make any sense.
I hot packed the Peaches as per Berardin's book. So they had 5 minutes there to get them hot. Into the canner covered with 3 quarts of hot water, brought to a boil, estimate 5 mins. Then 10 minutes venting, up to pressure 5 mins, then process for 20 mins, add the cool down time makes a total at least 45 mins.
The Presto book says 10 mins at 6 lbs, still with the access times as above. So all in all, soggy peaches.
Perhaps I should go back to BWB, as it worked well last year with nice Peaches.
So was it a waste of time buying the pressure canner?

So was it a waste of time buying the pressure canner?

If you bought your pressure canner just to do peaches then yes, it was a waste. But surely not? Pressure canning peaches is purely optional. Raw pack rather than hot pack is another option and you might like it better.

But I think the real issue is how you are using your pressure canner. Which brand and model do you have?

10 min at 5-6 pounds isn't what you did. You processed for 20 mins after it got up to pressure of 10 lbs. That is more than 2x as long at 2x the pressure called for.

When using only 5 lbs pressure (6 if the BBB) it gets there very quickly and depending on your altitude you could easily be up to 5 lbs on the gauge (assuming you have one) before you even put the weight on. If you then vent for 10 mins you are done processing before you even put the weight on.

I do hot pack and pressure can them simply because it is so quick. This is what I do with my Presto gauge canner with weight set.

Put the water in the canner and turn the heat on under it and bring it up to a simmer boil. Meanwhile heat the peach 1/2s for 5 mins in the hot syrup, fill the hot jars and as each is capped it goes into the canner. When all jars are in the canner put on the lid and seal it. Turn the heat up under the canner and within 5 min it is rapidly boiling and the pressure needle begins to climb to 2 lbs. Within another 5 min the pressure gauge is reading 5 lbs and I put the 5 lb. weight on it will begin to rock almost immediately and when it does turn the heat down by half.

10 mins. later turn the burner off. The canner cools down quickly, remove the weight when it hits 0, wait 10 mins. and remove the lid. The peaches are done.

Dave

I bought the Presto Dial gauge Pressure canner and the instructions are nothing like you mention.
For example you don't mention the vent time. My book of Presto instructions says watch for steam for 10 mins, before adding the pressure regulator which of course is heating the jars all that time.

I have also found an error, it mentions filling the canner with 3 quarts of boiling water which is sufficient to cover the jars completely.

I think it's back to square one while I look for better instructions.

It is 3 inches of water, and that will not cover the jars... I think you must be looking at the wrong mark.
Someone else did the same thing.

Please, toss that book and use the Ball Blue Book or the NCHFP at the University of Georgia.

Using a pressure canner is not good for fruits unless you use it as a BWB canner and do not tighten the lid down. Cover the jars with water if you do that by 1 to 2 inches over the tops.

For example you don't mention the vent time. My book of Presto instructions says watch for steam for 10 mins, before adding the pressure regulator which of course is heating the jars all that time.

That is because those instructions are written for normal pressure canning. The venting for 10 mins. is crucial when you are using more than 5-6 pound of pressure. But pressure canning peaches is not "normal" pressure canning.

As I explained above pressure canning with 5-6 lbs is very different since the canner can reach, or almost reach, that level while still venting. Very very few things are pressure canned at 5 lbs. 10-11 is the normal minimum and your canner cannot get to that level without the venting and the weight in place. But it can get to almost 5 lbs just sitting on the burner.

All of your confusion stems from trying to learn pressure canning while doing a food that isn't normally pressure canned and requires only minimal pressure to be processed. If you had started out with normal PC foods like corn or beans etc. then it would all make much more sense to you. Honest.

Dave

Dave - this is the first I ever heard that venting is not required when pressure canning at 5-6 lbs.

When I look at the instructions for pressure canning crushed tomatoes - my options are 20 minutes at 5/6 lbs or 15 minutes at 10/11 lbs. Is it safe to assume that if I chose the 20 minute option at 5/6 lbs, I can skip the venting?

Here is a link that might be useful: Crushed Tomatoes

I am not saying it is not required. I am talking about 1 specific case - peaches in a Presto gauged canner.

I am saying that because of the way a gauged Presto PC works, that because it of its thinner weight it begins to build pressure as soon as the lid is locked and the water is steaming. Watch the gauge on your Presto canner. What does it read when the venting begins?

That venting time at a pressure of 5 lbs. automatically becomes all or part of the processing required when doing peaches where the pressure required is so low and the time required so short.

The tomatoes require 2x the length of processing so if you HOT PACK your tomatoes and did it that way for 20 min you risk boiling the canner dry depending on how much water you have in it.

Sorry but I don't know how to say it more clearly. I wish I could but please do not extrapolate anything more from this, ok?

Dave

Dave did vent - he didn't put the weight on until the lid had been on for 10 minutes... beeman_gardener please re-read...

"within 5 min it is rapidly boiling and the pressure needle begins to climb to 2 lbs. Within another 5 min the pressure gauge is reading 5 lbs and I put the 5 lb. weight on it will begin to rock almost immediately"