Canning Peaches ... Delish!

Canned peaches from the store = gross.
Canned peaches from home = divine … just ask my kids 😉

While there are a lot of good reasons to can your own food, I have to admit that peaches for my family are canned purely for the enjoyment of eating them. The cost savings is not significant … and I use enough sugar that I don’t know that I can say they are healthier. But boy oh boy we love to eat ’em.

If you are still nervous about canning, peaches are soooo easy. Here is my step by step process to help you out!

Tools you need

Water bath canner
Large funnel with the bottom cut off
Metal tongs
Jars and lids

Canning Peaches Tutorial

Step 1: Buy or pick peaches Grandma Lori picked these up for me and my little girl was VERY excited to see them in our trunk
Step 2: Blanche the peaches I dipped them in boiling water for about 30 seconds. Then moved them to a bowl of cold water. Makes them VERY easy to peel. I did mine in small groups only peeling enough to fill one jar at a time.
Step 3: Slice the peaches You can half or quarter them but we like them in nice small slices and you can pack more in that way. Fill a jar about 2/3 of the way full of peaches.
Step 4: Pour sugar into jar Most canning books will tell you to make a hot sugar syrup and pour that in, but I found it way easier to just pour in a 1/2 cup of sugar at this point. You can adjust based on the sweetness of your peaches and what your family likes
Step 5: Add hot water Once you have your sugar, fill the jar the rest of the way up with peaches. Then pour in hot water leaving about 1/2 inch of space from the top. You may need to stick a clean knife into the jar to let the peaches settle a bit and fit in some more water.
Step 6: Give it a good shake After putting on sterilized lids and rings, make sure to shake the jar well, especially in a side-to-side motion. You want to get all the sugar dissolved in the jar.
Step 7: Burn your finger Yes every good canning experience must involve an injury. I was trying to heat my jars in the oven and burnt my finger on the element. Ouch. Then I realized I didn’t need to heat them since I was pouring in hot water any way. sigh
Step 8: Boil those bottles Put all the jars in your canner and fill up with boiling water, completely covering the jars. Process according to the instructions in your canning book, taking into account for your elevation (Utah = longer processing times)
Don’t follow this step One of my jars BROKE during the last batch I was making. It was a huge mess but the other jars turned out just fine (just a little sticky on the outside). I have to share my failures so that it will make you all feel better if you have things that don’t work out perfectly either 😉 Glad to be of service.
Step 9: ENJOY! I had 2 boxes of peaches which is about a bushel. I made 3 batches of 7 quarts each (and lost one to the explosion as noted above). We had a few rotten ones and had eaten a few, and had a few left over. Not sure if I could have squeaked out a full 7 more quarts though. Hopefully that gives you a little guideline when you are planning your own peach canning adventures!