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This is a guest post from Jennifer Murch of Mama’s Minutia. Welcome, Jennifer!
Peach canning has been known to give me conniptions, but of all the foods to can, peaches—and their stone fruit siblings—are straightforward and simple.
When buying peaches to can, choose freestone peaches such as Glohaven, Loring, Sun High. Redhaven is my all-time favorite for the ease with which they relinquish their stony hearts and for their reluctance to turn brown when cut and exposed to air.
Peaches must be fully ripe before canning. If they’re not, they’ll be pesky to pit. So once you’ve carted your peaches home, lay them out in a well-ventilated room on newspapers you’ve spread over plastic (because the peaches may ooze juice), to finish ripening.
The peaches are ready to can when a gentle finger press leaves an indentation. Keep in mind that the peaches may ripen all at once (and then heaven help you), or just a few at a time over a period of several days.
Tip: If they amass too slowly to amount to a canner load, store the ripe ones in the fridge while you wait for the others to catch up.
A bushel weighs about 48 pounds and will yield between 16 and 24 quarts.
How to Can Peaches
1. Wash, Peel & Slice
Once you have enough peaches to make it worth getting out the canner, wash them in cold water, cut them in half, pop out the pits with a knife, and remove the skin. Simply slip the edge of the knife under the skin, and using your thumb to press the skin to the knife, gently ease the juicy fruit free of its fuzzy skin.
2. Pack Jars
Slither the halves into sterilized quart jars, or cut the halves into slices first. I prefer slices. They’re easier to serve—I can scoop out some onto my kids’ bowlfuls of cereal, no extra prep work necessary.Also, I can fit more peaches into a jar, if they’re sliced, and cut down on time spent slaving over a hot canner.
While packing the jars, bang them up and down on a wadded-up towel every now and then to help the peaches settle. Use a fork to pack them down in even more.
3. Add Sugar
When the jars are three-quarters full, add the sugar. A scant third cup might be enough. Continue adding peaches until the jars are full, tamping them down as you go.
4. Add Water & Lids
Slowly add water to the jars. If necessary, use a table knife to press the peaches to one side to create a space for the water to trickle down and to ferret out any pockets of air that are lurking in the bottom of the jars. The water should reach the base of the jar neck, about ½ inch from the top. Next, wet your fingers with tap water and swipe them over the lips of the jars to remove any stickiness. Put lids on the jars and screw on the rings.
5. Process Peaches
Process the jars in a hot water bath. Your canning manual will tell you to cook the life out of them, maybe keep them at a rolling boil for 25 minutes. But my aunt, a canning queen, proceeds more intuitively. After hers have boiled, about five minutes, she lifts one of the jars out to see if the fruit has moved to the top, creating ½ inch or so of juice at the bottom. Also, after it comes to a good boil, she lowers the heat so the boiling is less furious.
I take the middle path, usually letting the quarts boil for about fifteen minutes, the pints for about ten.
6. Cool, Label and Store
Remove the canned jarfuls to a kitchen counter lined with an old towel. Don’t touch the lids while the jars are cooling.
The next day, remove the rings, wash the jars with soapy water, and label them. If any jars don’t seal (generally, out of about fifty quarts of peaches, three or four don’t seal), store them in the fridge and use the fruit within a couple weeks.
Other canning bits o’ knowledge for stone fruits
Boiling Water Bath
Peaches, apricots, and nectarines easily slip out of their skins when the fruits are first plunged in boiling water for 30 seconds. In this case, halve and pit the fruits after peeling.
Can peaches Via the Open-Kettle Method
- Fill a heavy-bottomed kettle with prepared peaches.
- Add an inch of water and some sugar, and simmer the fruit, covered. Stir occasionally.
- Cook until heated through and bubbly.
- Pack the peaches into washed jars you‘re keeping warm in a 200 degree oven.
- Put on the lids. As the fruit cools, they’ll seal.
Tip to Avoid Overflow
When processing cherries and plums with stones still intact, turn off the heat and allow the canner water to stop boiling before you lift the jars out. This helps to prevent the juices from bubbling out of the jar, a typical problem with non-pitted fruits.
Simply Sweeter
A sugar syrup may be used to sweeten the fruit. This chart gives proportions for light, medium, and heavy syrups.
Skip This Step…
It is not necessary to peel nectarines and apricots before canning them.
Choose Firm Apricots
Apricots should be tree-ripened and firm, not squishy-soft (unless you want jars of apricot mush). Slowly bring them to a gentle boil, and remove them from the canner after five minutes. The fruit will rise as it cools.
Have you ever tasted home preserved peaches? Is there anything so good??
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Do you have to add the sugar that is in your instructions? Could I can them without any sugar? or would that ruin them?
Jen (Real Food Healthy Living)\’s last blog: Snack Dinner
Hi Jen. I’ve never done it, so I can’t say for sure, but I don’t think it would hurt anything. I can my apricot puree without any sugar, choosing to add it when I open the jar, and it’s just fine. I think it would be the same for the peaches.
Maybe someone else out there has tried this? If so, your two cents are welcome…
Jennifer Jo\’s last blog: Simple Bites- In the pits
I have always canned peaches with the skin on – after you process, the skin slips right off when you open the jar to use the peaches.
Great post! I’ve never thought of adding the sugar to each individual jar- I’ve always used a syrup. Is the water you add to the jars (after the sugar) hot? Cold? I just might have to try this- it’s sounds much simpler:-).
Thy Hand, I just use tap water, cool or lukewarm, whatever comes out when I turn it on. It eliminates one little step, but that’s worth something when you’re up to your eyeballs in sticky fruit, standing over a hot stove, feet aching, hair frizzed. There. How’s that for an appealing picture?!
Jennifer Jo\’s last blog: Simple Bites- In the pits
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! My Grandmother has and had always been the big canner in my family. I have fond memories of going to her cellar and bringing up jars upon jars of peaches that I planned to eat while there and to bring home with me haha. Since she lives quite a distance from me, I haven’t been able to have her show me how she does it. My brother does can, and he can’s peaches every summer as well but getting the time between all of his kids and my own for him to beable to show me, has been impossible. Now I know how to can peaches! I was hoping you would post a canning tutorial for them! Thank you again!
I’ve never canned, but seeing those gorgeous peaches all canned up makes me wish I did. How gorgeous and tasty do those look? Yum!
Kristen\’s last blog: An Old Favorite Recipe- Grilled Pork Chops with Garlic Lime Sauce
I love canning peaches – you are right they taste amazing! However, I am surprised to see you mention the “open kettle method” of canning. (Placing hot food in hot jars and letting it cool to seal with no further heat treatment.) I have been told this is an out-dated canning practice that is no longer recommended. The food is exposed to bacteria and yeast in the air when you fill the jar, and then not heat processing the jars means you run the risk of having contaminated jars. You might be fine, but you might get sick – when it’s so easy to process the jars in boiling water – why take that risk?
Robin, You ask good questions. I’m so glad you brought them up.
(One clarification: the “open kettle method” refers to how the food is cooked; the process of putting boiling food in jars and then letting them seal themselves is called “hot-packing.”)
I hot-pack quite a few of my foods, such as sweet pickles, jellies, and grape juice concentrate. These foods are going straight from a boiling kettle into hot (oven-heated) jars; the chance of contamination is minimal.
This method is old-fashioned, I know. But canning is old-fashioned, too! Canning no longer “runs in the blood” and beginner canners run the risk of making mistakes (we all run risks, but I think you know what I mean)—I think it is for this reason that canning guidelines are so detailed and picky, when in truth, the process can be much more intuitive.
If hot-packing seems unsafe to you, then, by all means, put the jars through a hot water bath. I do this sometimes, even when I maybe don’t have to, because I just want to play it safe.
Happy canning!
Jennifer Jo\’s last blog: Simple Bites- In the pits
I think you are right in calling it an intuitive process, I’m not there yet – still watching the timer and measuring every last thing.
You said “open kettle method refers to how the food is cooked; the process of putting boiling food in jars and then letting them seal themselves is called hot-packing.”
Maybe people use different terms? I understood “hot packing” to be heating the food before you put it in jars (like jams) and “raw packing” to be packing jars with unheated food (like pickles) and both methods are then heat processed. I was always taught that the open kettle canning term referred to the method of letting hot food cool to create a seal without further processing. I hot pack my jams and tomatoes but I still process them in boiling water.
Yeah, you’re probably right about the terms—people call the same process different things, and there’s more than one way to can. It sure can be confusing! The way I was taught, hot-packing means that you don’t process the jars in a hot water bath, but I’ve never bothered to look the definition up in the dictionary, and I very well could have my terminology all twisted up. Whatever you call it, as long as the food gets in jars and tummies are full, I’m happy!
Jennifer Jo\’s last blog: Simple Bites- In the pits
I love canned peaches! I did over a bushel last year, and boy was I sick of peaches by the end, but they were my favorite thing I canned and we ran out of them too early! I peeled them by putting them in the boiling water, but I learned that if they are in there too long the flesh starts to get mushy, but if they aren’t in long enough, the skins don’t come off easily. So I ended up just canning half of them with the skins on. I figured, you eat the skin when you eat a fresh peach, so you can eat the skin from the can. And it tasted just fine.
Kaytee\’s last blog: Apricots and Raspberries- Oh My!
I think I might do this too, Kaytee. I actually love the texture a peach skin brings, and almost always lave them on when I am cooking with peaches.
Great post. I received 2 lb. of peaches from my CSA share. I’ve been looking for recipes, because I’m concerned they’ll spoil. That was Tuesday. Today, I looked in the refrigerator, and only a quarter pound remained. I will dream of canning… peaches. one. day. Until now, this post takes the mystery out of canning stone fruit.
Thank you for the inspiration, Jennifer! I remember canning peaches with my mother as a child, but those long afternoons spent sitting on a stool, pitting peaches when I would rather have been playing outdoors left a tainted mark on my memory, I fear! Time to move on, grow up, I guess, and tackle my own peach preserves project.
You’ve made it all so attainable; thank you for your contribution.
Terrific post, Jennifer! When there’s no “canning queen” nearby to show how to can, it can be a scary thing to venture into it solo. Your tips are wonderful and you inspire me to put up a few jars this year.
Lynn\’s last blog: Bun Out Of The Oven
I’m so excited to try this! I got a case of peaches today from my produce co-op. I’m heading out tonight to get jars! I may try to pack a couple of jars with agave rather than sugar to see what effect it has. Anyone tried this?
I have never worked with agave, so I really have no idea, but I can’t imagine that it wouldn’t work, but, seeing as I really don’t know, this response is totally non-helpful. Sorry. I’ll be quiet now.
Anyone else out there have a clue? If you do, it’s more than I’ve got!
Jennifer Jo\’s last blog: Picklehead
If you want peaches that are really decadent try adding a Tablespoon or two of brandy before sealing. After a few weeks the peaches are even more wonderful than you can imagine. They are especially good spooned over poundcake with ice cream. Those jars didn’t last long enough!
Vicki, I am SWOONING. And now I can not WAIT for my four bushels of peaches that I ordered. I am so doing this. Bless you, dear.
Jennifer Jo\’s last blog: Picklehead
Jennifer do you know why peaches come up from the bottom?
Wanda
No, I don’t know, but I just asked my science teacher dad and he said he doesn’t know but that it must be a density issue. The peaches become less dense when the sugars come out of the peaches and go into the water, which makes the water more dense and pushes the peaches up. That’s our best guess!
Jennifer Jo\’s last blog: Some sweet stuff
I enjoyed your post, although like Robin, I too was surprised that you mentioned using the open kettle method of canning and instructing people to simply let the jars seal on their own without processing them in a water bath canner for the correct time for their altitude.
While canning may be an old-fashioned process, there are many things from long ago that were considered safe that are now no longer considered safe for health. Health issues aside, using unapproved methods for canning in the name of being old fashioned puts one at risk not only for food borne illness, but also the loss in the time, effort, money and love and care put into producing a food, if it should go bad using a method such as open kettle canning.
I, too, believe that home food preservation is an important and lost/forgotten art, but there are ways to do this using modern knowledge to produce a safe, quality product.
The National Center for Home Food Preservation offers excellent advice and tips for how to do this.
http://uga.edu/nchfp
Article referring to methods best left in the past.
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/general/equp_methods_not_recommended.html
Sarah, Thanks for your comment! There are many, many ways to do the same thing, and each person has his/her own limits for what they are comfortable with. I believe that our culture has gone overboard with safety issues (and not just in regards to food) and that fear can suck the living daylights out of us.
But now I’m getting off-track. We were talking about canning…
The methods I detailed in my post work great for me. I even reuse my canning lids (shh! don’t tell anyone!) to no ill effect. My experience is just that: my experience. Maybe it will inspire some to branch out and try new things, and maybe others will turn tail and run squealing in the other direction.
And really, what do I know? I’m just a mom-of-four, schlumping around my kitchen in my bare feet, playing with my food and trying to keep my head above water…
Jennifer Jo\’s last blog: Calling for corn
Have you ever used honey instead of sugar for peaches or any other canned fruit?
I have never tried that, Michelle. Sorry, but I don’t think I can help you on that one. Anyone else have experience canning with honey in place of sugar?
Jennifer Jo\’s last blog: Totally worth it
I’m another one who uses the open kettle method (though I’ve never heard that term until today – hot pack would do it for me) for jams and pickles. But that’s normal where I’m from and it’s only low-acid foods that would be processed. The amount of sugar and/or vinegar combined with good hygiene while preparing and sterilising and filling your jars (I’m not sure I’d use a finger for wiping down rims for example but that might be because my fingers have a tendency to spend a lot of time in or near my mouth when I’m cooking
) is more than sufficient for preserving purposes. The only time I’ve had things go wrong (a few jars of chutney the first year I made it) was because I overfilled the jars and didn’t check that the rims were really clean before closing the lids.
Anyway, that wasn’t what I really wanted to say. I haven’t done any processing with honey but I remember reading on a blog (two frog home I think) once about a book, which has been on my wishlist since. Here’s a link to it on amazon today (saying that because who knows who might be reading this post in 20 years time when the link might not work anymore!): http://www.amazon.com/Putting-Up-Honey-Preserving-Cookbook/dp/0930356136 – it’s called Putting it Up with Honey.
Great article on canning peaches. Nothing tastes better come January than a “fresh” peach! I’ve canned peaches for the last 3-4 years now and they’ve always turned out great but I have one question. When I pour water in my jars I really try to pay careful attention to how much head space I leave. However, after the water bath it seems that I have much less water in the jars and the tops of my peaches are exposed. Does anyone know what I’m doing wrong?
Karen, that happens to me sometimes, too. I think it’s because we aren’t getting all the pockets of air out of the jar—then when the fruit cooks, it compresses and the bubbles rise to the surface, and voila, there’s more head space then we started out with. It might help if you use a table knife to gently push the peaches to one side while adding the water. Go at it from several angles. You might want to even knock the jar on a wadded-up towel on the counter. Hope that helps!
Jennifer Jo\’s last blog: Washing machine worship and other miscellany
can you can the peaches if they have been cooked already and stored in the fridge?
Ricardo
Yes. If they taste good in the fridge, then they should still taste good in jars. Just make sure that you process them long enough to get them to heat all the way through—perhaps five minutes longer than you would with peaches that started out at room temperature.
Jennifer Jo\’s last blog: My life in points
Great information… I have a bunch of peaches to can. I did a test run yesterday using a very light syrup. After a hot water bath for 25 minutes per the Ball Blue Book, the peaches really shrank and are a little soft to mushy..
Before I proceed with the remaining 25 pounds, I hope to find out why they shrank and why they would be so soft. They were not over ripe when I started.
Any suggestions?
Thank you
Debbie
Hi Debbie. I think they probably shrank because of extra air space in the jars. All canned fruit rises to the top thanks to the extra air space. Perhaps you had larger cuts of fruit and larger air holes as a result?
As for them getting mushy: it could be due to the type of peach (one that I’m not familiar with?) or the long processing time. I water bath my canned goods for less than the recommended time (and endure a bit of tsk-tsking from the by-the-bookers) because of this very thing—I’m afraid of mushy fruit.
Those are my two best guesses. I hope it helps!
Jennifer Jo\’s last blog: Why I dont teach my kids science
I tried these a few days ago, and am so pleased with my results! Thanks! I also tried out the tomato sauce recipe on your blog, and have shared both on mine
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