Submitted by themadgardener on Sun, 08/09/2020 - 20:10
I finally scored a box of canning peaches! Living in a colder climate I peaches are one thing that I can not grow in my yard but I still enjoy buying a box of canning peaches and preserving them for the winter months! Peaches, I find, are actually on the the easier foods to preserve!
Was the last one the store had! It is almost always the case that peaches are unripe when you get them and before you can eat or can them you need to wait for them to ripen. Based on what I have read it is best to can them as soon as they ripen. Supposedly they do not preserve as well if you wait for them to be "extremely" ripe. I already ate three of the peaches!
When canning peaches you are going to have to add liquid. Some people will add water, sugar, and ascorbic acid (which is vitamin C and serves to preserve the fruit) and there are various recipes out there, the more sugar you add the thicker the syrup. However, I like to use fruit juice and usually apple juice but grape juice will work as well. Off the shelf apple juice usually has ascorbic acid added but if you pressed your own then it would be a good idea to add it. The main reason why I use fruit juice is then I prefer to not add refined sugars but obviously any apple juice has sugar too so this is purely a matter of preference! On average I need five ounces of liquid per pint sized jar.
Prepare your jars! I will sanitize them in boiling water for ten minutes, this just serves to kill any bacteria that may be on them and does help remove any reside missed during washing!
The next step is to peel the peaches and the fastest and easiest way to do that is to boil them in water for three minutes.
As soon as the three minuets are up transfer the peaches to cold water (I just use a slotted spoon). Main reason to cool them is to not burn yourself! As soon as they cool the skins will skip right off!
I like to simply slice the peaches up, some people prefer to "cube" them. Again this is preference. With the size peaches I use I can put two peaches per jar (2 pints). Simply put them in jars and add the juice!
Transfer to the canner and boil! I boil pint sized jars for 20 minutes and quart sized jars for 25 minutes.
Remove them, put on the counter, and let them set for 12-24 hours. If you look closely you will see the jars on the left have lids that are shinier than the ones on the right. This is because I added vinegar to the canner for the second batch. It does not effect the final product but your jars just end up looking nicer!
