Canning Peaches At Home Complete Guide To Perfect Canned Peaches

Canning Peaches

During the cold winter months, when fresh fruit is hard to come by, these peaches are so refreshing and the bottles disappear quickly. Peaches contain a bounty of antioxidants which keep the skin clear and slow down the aging process. If you’re a beginner in canning peaches and home food preservation, this is a great easy-to-follow complete guide with tips, tricks and recipes! Canning peaches at home preserves the taste, texture, and quality of fresh peaches. This recipe uses the raw pack canning method, where the peaches are blanched, skinned, sliced and canned in a hot syrup. Another method for canning peaches is the hot pack method, where peaches are cooked for 5 minutes before they are canned. We prefer the raw pack canning method because it is quicker and easier – and you don’t have to handle hot peaches.

Ingredients Needed for Canning Peaches

ripe peaches – large lemon juice water sugar Fruit-Fresh

What are the Best Peaches for Canning?

I like to use the Elberta peaches that come on in September. They are a freestone variety and are easy to work with. Free-stone peaches slip right away from the pit, or stone. Clingstone peaches need to be cut away from the pit, which isn’t a problem either, it just takes a little more work. This recipe works with any traditional yellow varieties of peaches. Do not use white-flesh peaches with this canning method. According to the National Center for Home Food Preservation, white peaches are lower in acid than yellow peaches and are not safe to can.The most important thing is to use ripe peaches. If the peach is hard and greenish in color, wait a day or two to do your canning. I often can the ripe ones the first day and wait a day or two to can the rest when they have ripened.

Canning Peaches in Light Syrup

A light sugar syrup is really the best for canning peaches. Too much sugar can overpower the fresh flavor of the peaches. For my recipe, I use a 2:1 water to sugar ratio. I also use Fruit-Fresh, which contains citric acid, to keep my peaches looking bright and to prevent browning. I use 1 teaspoon of Fruit-Fresh per cup of syrup.

Do Peaches Need To Be Pressure Canned?

No, peaches are not required to be pressure canned. They can be canned using the water bath method or a steam canning method. Many people prefer pressure canning their peaches and that’s ok too! Yellow flesh peaches, in general, can be pressure canned at 6 pounds of pressure for 10 minutes below 2,000 feet in elevation. Be sure to check your pressure canning manual for exact pressure and times depending on your altitude.

Tips For Canning Peaches

To prevent browning, toss your peeled, sliced peaches with Fruit Fresh or a lemon juice mixture before canning (see how in recipe below). Blanch your peaches to easily peel peaches. Use a knife to easily pull the peels away from the fruit. Add a little lemon juice to each jar before adding the peaches to ensure you reach safe ph acidity levels for canning. Halved peaches take up for space in the jars than sliced. If you are planning on halving your peaches you may need to use more jars.

More Home Canning Recipes: How To Make & Can The Best Homemade Tomato Juice, Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce and Virginia Chunk Sweet Pickles. Processing time for water bath canning peaches is 25 minutes for elevations of 0-1,000 feet. Check exact processing times for your elevation on the National Center for Home Food Preservation website.

Recipes Using Peaches

Peach Pie – This Peach Pie is out-of-this-world good! It’s made with the perfect pie crust and the best peach pie filling you have ever tried. Trust us, you’ll never be satisfied by a store-bought peach pie again! Peach Lemonade – You will love how simple this peach lemonade is. You can be enjoying your delicious drink in just a few minutes. The best part is: no lemon squeezing! Raspberry Peach Cobbler – Raspberry Peach Cobbler is a tasty treat, a delicious way to use fresh summer peaches and raspberries. So simple to make, with only five ingredients! Peach Galette – This Peach Galette is a warm, rustic dessert that is so simple to make. You will love the flaky crust and the sweet filling. Peach Freezer Jam – this peach jam has fresh raspberries in the mix and is so tasty! Fruit Salsa – this is a fresh mix of peaches, apples , bananas, and berries. Served with cinnamon chips.