How to Can Peaches

This time of year is magical, guys. Magical! As I explained in my peach crisp post, I love all the fresh produce that you can find almost anywhere. One of the best ways to preserve this amazing produce is to start canning. It is intimidating, especially if you haven’t done it before. But it is totally doable! And once you have had your own canned stuff, you probably won’t want to buy anymore canned fruits and veg from the store. This is especially true for peaches. Nothing compares!

If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen my stories where I did a batch for myself (if you haven’t seen it and would like to check it out, you can find me here. Just check out my “Canning Peaches” highlight). Go take a peek and you’ll get a little familiar with the process.

First, you’ll need some amazing fruit.

I pick my peaches up straight from the grower in Perry, Utah. These are Early Elbertas, which is my mom’s favorite canning peach and the kind that we have used for years. They are a freestone peach, meaning that the pit doesn’t cling to the inside of the peach. In other words, they’re really easy to process for canning because you don’t have to waste time digging the pit out. If you would like to can peaches but can’t find this variety in your area, you could ask your local produce stand which kind is best for canning.

Next, you’ll need a water bath canner, a jar grabber, a funnel, seven quart jars, and seven lids and rings to match the quart jars. If they’re wide mouth jars (which I highly recommend), then get wide mouth lids and rings, etc. If you buy a brand new case of jars from the store, they usually come with lids and rings on them. However, I wouldn’t suggest using the lids that have been on the jars because they don’t seal as well. I’d recommend buying a new box of lids.

You’ll also need a few bowls, a small saucepan, a large stockpot, a slotted spoon or skimmer, sugar, and Fruit Fresh. Fruit Fresh keeps your peaches from turning a little brown as they sit on the shelf.

Time to boogie.

First, make sure your quart jars are nice and clean. I wash mine and rinse them well before I use them. Place them in your oven and preheat it to 180 F. Clean the rings as well, and place the new lids in a small pot of water and place them on the stove over medium low heat to gently simmer while you prepare the peaches.

Next is the syrup! Dissolve the sugar and Fruit Fresh in hot water and set aside. I’ll give you the exact amounts in the recipe below. This is a medium syrup.

Give your peaches a good wash in the sink. You’ll need about 24 peaches, but this can vary depending on their size. Wash off any dirt and use your hands to rub off the fuzz. Place them in a large bowl or on a clean cookie sheet and boil a large pot of water. Set aside another bowl of very cold water to cool off the peaches after you blanch them. Once the water starts to boil, place about four to five peaches in the water and let them boil for about 30 seconds. You don’t want to cook them too long. Remove the peaches with a skimmer or slotted spoon and place them in the cold water to cool off.

Peel and remove the pit from the peaches. At this point, you can simply slice them in half (I prefer it this way, it is easier to pack the jars and looks neater) or you can quarter them. Remove your sanitized jars from the oven and place them on the counter (be careful, they’re hot!). Load in your peaches, but don’t pack anything above the bottom lip of the jar. You’ll probably use three to three and a half peaches per jar, if you’re cutting them in half.

Almost there!

Place a funnel over the top of a jar and pour in the syrup, being careful not to fill past the bottom lip of the jar. Move the funnel to the next jar and repeat.

Next, take a wet, clean paper towel and wipe around the top of each jar, making sure there’s no peach bits or syrup on top. It’s important that this part of the jar is clean so that it can seal really well. Put the lids on top of the jars and secure with the rings.

Pour a couple of inches of warm water in your canner and suspend the rack above the water. Load the quarts onto the rack, and gently lower the rack to the bottom of the pot. Add hot water to the canner so that there is an inch on top of the jars. Bring it to a boil, and let it gently boil (not a full rolling boil–adjust heat as needed) for 30 minutes. When the time is up, use the jar grabber to carefully remove them from the canner and place them on a dish towel on your counter to let them cool.

If your canning was successful, you’ll hear the top of each jar “pop” to seal. Check your jars when they’re completely cooled to make sure they’ve sealed by gently tapping on the middle of the lid. If it pushes down (like an open pickle jar) then the jar didn’t seal. No biggie, just put it in the fridge and chow down the peaches within the week or so.

That’s it!

Look at you, canning expert. Now go forth and enjoy those beautiful peaches all year ’round!