How to Can Peaches

Earlier, I wrote about the beauty of home canned peaches.  As delicious and gorgeous as they are, you may want to know how to can them instead of looking at them in the pretty jars, right? Well, although it's a little late in my area (Middle Tennessee,) you may want to know how to do it for next year.

I am not canning expert.  It is a science and an art.  The art project side of canning peaches comes in when you add your own special touch to them.  Maybe you'd like to add some spices to change them up a bit. Maybe you'd like to put them in very pretty jars and make cute little jar toppers for them.  Maybe you like them plain like I do.

The science side comes from, well, science.  You MUST can properly.  You MUST follow the rules. You MUST do it the right way (and yes...there is a right way to can...) each and every time.  If you don't follow the rules, you risk your health, and possibly your life.  A few pretty little jars simply don't seem worth the risk to me to do it wrong.  I want to can my peaches and live to enjoy them.

Since I am not a canning expert, I won't go into proper canning techniques here.  There are plenty of good sources for correct information out there.  Unfortunately, there are also plenty of bad sources for incorrect information out there.  Stick to the folks over at Ball Jars or the National Center for Home Food Preservation...I have both sites bookmarked whenever I need specifics on something.

OK...now to the peaches!!!!

Start with good quality peaches.  They are usually cheapest toward the end of June and throughout July in my area.  My dad's trees didn't produce for some reason this year, so I bought my peaches from The Peach Truck.  You'll want ripe peaches, but don't let them over-ripen.  Wash them well and cut off any bad spots. While you're doing that, get a big pot of water on to boil.  You'll also need a big bowl of ice water.

Peaches in the box

Getting ready for their bath

Once the water boils, drop in the peaches for a minute or two and then drop them immediately into the ice water.  Get your jars, lids, and rings washed and prepared according to the directions from your canning expert of choice.  Find a good place to sit for the next part.  

Believe it or not, I find peeling and slicing peaches to be very relaxing.  I know, I'm weird.  :)  Pick up a peach from the ice water and use a paring knife to gently nudge off the skin.  Be careful...it'll be a slippery little devil.  Then, see the little groove on the side of the nekkid peach?  Insert your knife there and slide it around the entire width of the peach.  Twist it apart and you'll have a beautifully halved peach.  This takes some practice, but it is so much fun.  Now, this works best if you have free stone peaches...a.k.a. cling-free peaches.  I'm not sure how it works with the other kind of peaches, so I can't help there.

I like to slice my peaches into sixths.  You can quarter them or leave them halved.  Whatever works for you is fine.  Sprinkle them with Fruit Fresh periodically to keep them from turning brown.

Sliced

Peeling peaches

In the ice water

Once they're sliced, it's time to get the syrup ready.  I like for my syrup to be between light and medium.  My ratio is 3:1.  I usually do 9 cups of water and 3 cups of sugar because I like to have lots leftover for tea and smoothies.

Last year, I cold-packed my peaches.  They were good, but I'd heard that hot-packing creates a much better product.  So, I hot-packed them this year.  I was MUCH happier with the result this time.  Yes, it's a little more work, but I believe it's worth the effort.  They are also much prettier in the jars, and that makes me happy.

To hot-pack them, drop the peach slices into your boiling syrup for about a minute before you pack them into your jars.  Fill with hot syrup, remove the air bubbles, wipe the jar rims, seal the jars, and process them for the length of time recommended by the experts for the size of your jars and your altitude.

Going into the syrup...Please ignore the sticky note taped to the stove...It's a new stove and my kids kept accidentally turning on the wrong burners.  My husband decided to label them.  :)

Going into the hot jars

Finished packing and ready to go into the canner

Out of the canner and ready to cool

Another shot of my pretties

If you do want to cold-pack them, all you do is pack the sliced peaches into the jars without heating them in the syrup first.  Then, fill with syrup, remove the air bubbles and proceed as above.  Your peaches may float for a while, and they may not hold their shape as well, but they'll still taste awesome!  That's what matters anyway, right?

That's all there is to it, really. It's not hard to do, and it's so very worth the effort.  Nothing that you buy at the store will ever taste even close to your own home canned peaches.  The only downside is that canning makes your kitchen really hot.  In the south in July, I do most of my canning either very early in the morning or very late at night.

Wait...there is another downside.  You may become addicted to canning.  You may begin to ask for canning jars for Christmas and/or your birthday.  You may start to drive very slowly by every yard sale you see hoping to score jars.  You may become friends with employees at Goodwill and other thrift stores so that they call you when they get jars into the store.  Your children may begin to worry that you'll start storing jars in their rooms.  Don't ask me how I may know these things.

HAPPY CANNING!!!!

Thanks, and welcome to my world...