So last night, before I started any fancy canning of peaches, I wanted to can just some plain ol peaches in medium syrup.  So I did.  I packed all the peaches in the jars, added the hot syrup and processed for 30 minutes – BBB instructions.  But now my jars are only 1/2 full of peaches and when I look at the pretty canning pictures their jars are always clear full of peaches. What did I not do right? Next time instead of raw pack, should I hot pack. I was really diappointed.

Last year I did pints of these and they shrank but not nearly like this….any ideas?  I want to figure it out before I go trying to put together pretty brandy peaches that are only 1/2 full and give them away as gifts.

Jeannie hit the nail on the head…..twice~!!  I prefer hot pack, too…you have to really *mash* them in cold packed if you want a full jar, and then the end up not looking like anything you'd want to eat. :)  AND yep, the pictures are staged. Food photography is an art, and there are sorts of cheats and tricks to make everything look just right.