Peaches are hard to find outside of the summer. That’s why we prefer to freeze or can them. When you want fresh, uncooked peaches for recipes like this raspberry peach upside-down cake, freezing peaches is a great option. Any cooked peach recipe tastes great with canned peaches.
A step-by-step guide for canning peaches with a water bath canner is here. Ripe peaches, jars, sugar, and water are all that is required.
Let’s start!
Table of Contents
Peaches Canning Supplies
A single batch of peaches will yield 7 quarts.
- 7 sterilized quart jars with lids and rings
- Waterbath canner
- Jar grabber, or some sort of tongs to lift the hot jars
- Peaches (about 17 lbs fresh, ripe peaches)
- Sugar, honey, or juice
How To Can Peaches At Home?
1. A big pot of water should be brought to a boil. Water should be ice-cold in a big bowl. Each peach’s bottom should have a shallow “x” cut into it using a pairing knife.
2. Boiling water with peaches added should be left for three minutes. Remove peaches and immediately place them in an ice-water bowl. Peel peaches when they are cool enough to handle.
3. Peach slices with the pit removed. Divide the peaches among the four sterilized canning jars, leaving a space of about 1 inch at the top of each jar.
4. Making simple syrup involves adding sugar and 8 cups of water to another medium pot and heating it to a simmer. Once the sugar has dissolved, stir.
5. Simple syrup should be added to the peaches, leaving about 1/4″ of space at the top of the jar. Tap the jars lightly on the counter to help the peaches and syrup settle. Each jar should be filled with additional syrup as needed. Jar lids should be tightly fastened.
6. To seal, add water to a big stockpot until it’s about halfway full, then heat to a boil over medium-high heat. Use tongs to carefully lower jars into hot water once it has reached a simmer. 25 minutes should pass after the water reaches a gentle boil.
7. Jars should be carefully removed from the stockpot and left to cool completely at room temperature. Test whether jars’ lids are properly sealed by pressing down on them. The jar seal is broken if the lid pops or bounces back. Replace the seal or refrigerate, then consume within a week.
8. When jars are completely sealed and cooled, keep them in a dry, dark place until you’re ready to eat them.
Can Peaches Be Canned Without Sugar?
Yes, sugar is utilized during the canning process for flavor, preservation, and color. In general, sweet food keeps longer, tastes better, and maintains a vibrant, fresh color.
Peaches have enough natural sugar and don’t need any sweetener added while canning to be considered safe. However, your finished product might have a shorter shelf life and a slightly different appearance. For canning peaches and pears, I personally balance low sugar and no sugar.
Which Kind Of Peaches Are The Best?
Unlike “cling stone” peaches, which require a lot of effort to remove the pit, freestone peaches are the best and simplest to use for canning. When attempting to remove the pit from cling peaches, you’ll probably lose a lot of the tasty peach flesh because they are very difficult to separate from the pit.
White peaches should not be canned because their acid content is deemed to be insufficient for safe canning. Choose peaches that are large and ripe, but not overly ripe. Squeeze them to make sure they’re still a little firm.
Storing Tips Of Peach:
How long? Peaches should be stored properly after you have finished canning them. At their peak quality, they can be stored for 12 to 18 months, and they are frequently still safe to eat even after that.
Did they seal properly? Look for leaks or rust on the mason jars to see if your peaches are safe to eat. Put pressure on the lid’s middle: it should not pop back. It is safe if it lies flat, but it has not been properly sealed if it pops back up. Additionally, check to see if the peaches are still covered in liquid and have a pleasingly vibrant appearance.
What if they failed to seal? You have a few options if your peaches haven’t sealed properly. You have three options for them: eat them right away, store them in the fridge for up to a few days, or reprocess them. Before using a new lid to reseal the jar when processing in a water bath canner, make sure there are no cracks in the container.
Raw Packing Vs. Hot Packing Of Peache
In contrast to the hot pack method, which involves packing jars with hot, cooked peaches, this recipe uses the raw pack canning technique, which involves packing jars with raw peaches instead. Both techniques involve adding hot syrup to jars after adding the peaches. Although raw packing is easier and quicker, it could lead to floating fruit—fruit that after processing floats to the top of the jar. Fruit preserved in hot pack cans is thought to be more vibrantly colored and may have a longer shelf life. Because you have to handle hot peaches and liquid, and they need an additional five minutes to process, hot-packed canning takes a little longer. See the list of recipes below for the hot pack method.
Peaches must be hot-packed if you are canning them without adding any additional sugar (just water; no simple syrup, honey, or juice).
Peach Recipe Variations:
- Hot pack canning: Using a large pot, warm the 6 cups of water for the hot pack method in step 7 of the recipe card before adding the sugar gradually. After bringing the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and then stir in the sliced meat. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the hot peaches to the jars after the peaches have simmered for about 5 minutes. Fill with hot syrup and follow the rest of the instructions.
- Add vanilla: for a yummy vanilla flavor, add a vanilla bean pod (slit and seeds removed), to the simple syrup when you heat it. Before you put the liquid on the peaches, remove it.
- Honey or juice can be substituted with sugar: see the graphic above for ratios to use when substituting honey or juice in this recipe.
- No water bath canner: If you don’t have a water bath canner, take a look at this guide for instructions on how to can peach in a standard stock pot.
- Freeze peaches: another great option for preserving fresh peaches is to freeze them. Peaches can be frozen for up to six months after being peeled and cut. Use them to make peach frozen yogurt or smoothies.
- Add cinnamon: for a yummy cinnamon flavor, place one cinnamon stick in the bottom of each jar before adding the peaches.
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