Canning - Peaches

I gave canning peaches a try recently.  Since we don’t grow them ourselves we purchased approximately 24lbs of peaches.  The idea is to use firm peaches, soft will just not work.  I tried and you can immediately tell the difference when you eat them.  They are mushy.  They taste O.K., but the texture is not what we were looking for.

Preparing the peaches takes some effort.  They need to be peeled and pitted.  I sliced mine, but you can dice them or just half them.  It’s totally up to you and what you’ll be using them for.

Make sure you follow the information about canning safety by making sure your jars are not cracked, nicked, etc.  Wash them along with the lids and rings and keep them in hot water until needed or in my case in the dish washer on the dry cycle.

Wash the fruit, fill your water bath canner (or really large pot) about half way with water, place a metal rack on the bottom, so the jars do not sit directly on the pot itself and heat the water to hot, boiling is not necessary at this point.   Now for the sticky part, make the sugar syrup.  I used medium syrup, recommended for peaches.

3 cups of sugar to 1 quart of water (since I did 6 jars, I made this recipe twice and had some left over)

Place sugar and water into a saucepan, and cook until the sugar dissolves.  Keep the syrup hot, but not boiling while you finish preparing the peaches.  You do not want the syrup to boil down.   This recipe makes about 5-1/2 cups of syrup.  You’ll use between 1 and 1-1/2 cups of syrup per quart of fruit.

Now for the fun part, start peeling and pitting.  Note from Sista: . I peel them by scalding them in boiling water for about a minute or less depending on how ripe. (the riper the less time it takes) Then plunge them into ice water. The skins slip right off. Then slice into halves or quarters. 

This recipe from Ball called for placing the cut fruit into a salt-vinegar solution of 1 TBL of each into 1 gallon of cold water.  This will help stop any browning.  Be sure to rinse the fruit before packing.  I had the Moose’s help, so it went pretty quick for us, and I only did about 6 quarts, so I skipped this part.

Take out a hot jar, and place it on a cloth.  Pack the peaches, leaving approximately ½” of head space.  Cover the peaches with the hot syrup leaving the same ½” head space.  Run the bubble remover down the sides of each jar to release air bubbles, and add more syrup if needed (this really makes a difference).  Wipe the top of the jar with a clean damp cloth.  Place the hot lid on top, and screw down the ring, evenly and hand tight.  Do not over tighten.  Place into the water bath canner, or very large pot.  Be sure the jars do not touch each other.  I could only do 4 jars at a time in mine.  The water should be 1-2” above the top of the lids, and hot, not boiling. 

Put the cover on the canner and bring the water to a boil.  Begin timing when the water starts to boil.  25 minutes for quart jars.  Once the timer ends, remove the jars and place on a cloth.  Allow to cool (jars should not touch) for at least 12 hours.  Test to make sure the jar is sealed.  Then store in a dry, dark, cool area.

I refrigerated a jar, and ate them the next day.  They were delish!