Canning Peaches from Your Food Supply Gardening

Canning peaches from your food supply gardening can be an incredible way to preserve peaches from your trees. I have enjoyed have a few fruit trees in the yard for years. Often, I still get more fruit than I really need for the year, so I get to share with others. Consider having some fruit trees at your house.

So, let’s talk about how to can those peaches.

Things You Will Need:

• Peaches and sugar (the canning syrup is made with sugar and water)
• water bath canner
• canning jars
• canning seals and rings
• jar lifter
• canning funnel
• large pot or blancher
• bowls
• large spoons
• sharp knife
• towels and dish cloths
• ladle

Making A Syrup for Canning

One of the first things you can do is make the syrup for your canning process. I like to make a light syrup, but I am also including a recipe for heavy syrup. (My dad always said the heavy syrup made better cobblers. I just think he liked them sweet!)

To  prepare a light or medium syrup, heat water and sugar in a sauce pan until sugar dissolves.  Here is the ratio of sugar to water:

• Light – 2 cups sugar to 1-quart water
• Medium -3 cups sugar to 1-quart water

Getting Ready to Can

Start by preparing jars, and get water in your canner heating.  The jars need to be very clean. We use the dishwasher often, with the heating element on for drying. You will also want to get your canner about 2/3 full of water, and get it boiling. Once you add the quart jars, you will need to make sure there is enough water to completely cover the jars for the boiling phase.

Peel the Peaches 

Dip the peaches in boiling water for 30 seconds to a minute. Do around 4 to 5 peaches at a time.  Once they are blanched, you also want to make sure your peaches get into ice water to stop the cooking. Then, the skins will come right off. If you have some green peaches, you can use a paring knife to help get the skins off.

You will then want to slice the peaches in half, and take out the peach seed, plus anything other stem matter or bad spots. You only want clean peaches.

Robin and I typically can peaches in halves but you may also cut smaller  pieces. I would not cut them smaller than the sliced peaches you see in the store though.  You may also want to pack peach halves with cavity side down. They pack better,  and you will be able to get more peaches  in each jar.  Another nice tip is to use wide mouth jars for peaches. It makes it easier to place the each peaches in the bottom of the jar cavity side down.

The Canning Process

Now we need to get down to business. We need to quickly fill jars and get them covered with syrup.  You will fill the peaches and leave ¼” margin of air at the top.  This process helps to prevent the peaches from browning.  Another way to prevent browning is to treat with ascorbic or citric acid.  Wipe the rim of the jar with a clean, wet towel. This helps the jar lids to seal well. Place a seal and a ring on your jar of peaches and hand tighten.

Water process the peach jars in your canner for 25-30 minutes. You may need to adjust for higher altitude.  Start the timer on the process when all water is boiling, and you have all the jars covered. You may have to add water occasionally to keep everything covered.

After processing, place the jars out to cool.  If all goes well, you will hear a “ping” for every jar. That is the sound of the seal closing tight.  You are then ready to move your canned peaches to storage.

If you would like to know more about the whole canning process, my favorite book on the subject is Ball Blue Book Of Canning And Preserving Recipes .