How to can Peaches

One of my favorite things are peaches. Not fresh peaches, right off of the tree, though. I like peaches that have been home-canned and sitting in syrup for a year. SO YUMMY!

I remember watching my mom can peaches off of our tree when we were little. And since I’ve been married, I’ve loved to help my mother-in-law do the same.

So, when it came time to can peaches, I thought maybe I could do it on my own this time… and I was right.

My mother-in-law gave me a 5-gallon bucket full of peaches from her tree, and we also purchased a bushel from a local fruit stand. All together, we got 33 quarts and 2 peach pies.

 

Want to do your own? Here’s how:

This process is very similar to canning tomatoes, see my post about those {here}. Or, check out my recipe for canning salsa {here}.

First you need to blanch your peaches. Start with a big pot of boiling water. Once it’s boiling pretty good, stick your peaches in for about 30 seconds to a minute. This helps the skins to come off easily.

Once you’ve blanched your peaches, put them straight into cold water to stop the cooking.

Then peal and pit the peaches.

If your peaches aren’t too big, cut them in half and stick them in your bottles. Our peaches were HUGE! So we cut ours in quarters.

 Enlist help if needed.

You want your bottles to be full. So stick as many peaches in as you can.

Once your bottles are full, fill them up with simple syrup.

Simple syrup is just sugar water. I do a medium to heavy syrup, but you can do yours more or less sugary.

Light syrup: 1 part sugar to 2 parts water

Medium syrup: 3 parts sugar to 4 parts water

Heavy syrup: 1 part sugar to 1 part water

Make sure you stir it up good and let it dissolve for a minute before you fill your jars.

Wipe the tops of your jars and put on a NEW lid and a ring. You can’t use lids that have been used before.

 Leave some head room.  This is about how you want your peaches to be. (see photo below)

Then fill a stock pot with boiling water. Once the water is boiling, submerse your jars fully, and boil for about 20 minutes. This is called processing.

Make sure your water is boiling when you put your jars in, and make sure there is at least an inch of water covering the jars.

 Let the jars sit for 24 hours and completely cool before you store in a cool, dry place.

You’ll know the jars are sealed if the tops have popped and you can’t push the tops down.

 And if you have any extra peaches, make a pie! YUMMY!