Easy 30-Minute Canned Peaches Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How do you can peaches for beginners? ›

Peel peaches and add to jars!

Then fill your jars with fresh peach slices as you slice them. Add simple syrup: Mix sugar with very hot water, stir and pour into each peach jar. Tap the jars gently on the counter to remove air bubbles. Wipe the rims and sides of the jars clean before applying the lids.

Tips For Canning Peaches

Add a little lemon juice to each jar before adding the peaches to ensure you reach safe acidity levels for canning. Halved peaches take up for space in the jars than sliced. If you are planning on halving your peaches you may need to use more jars.

Process in a water bath canner, 20 minutes for pints and 25 minutes for quarts under 1000 feet in elevation. If you prefer to pressure can, process for 10 minutes at 5 pounds pressure in a weighted gauge pressure canner.

You should have selected a process time of 30 minutes. Recommended process time for Peaches in a boiling-water canner.

To prevent browning while preparing peaches for freezing, canning, or dehydrating, place peaches in a solution of 1 teaspoon (3,000 mg) ascorbic acid to 1 gallon of cold water. Ascorbic acid is available in several forms: Pure powdered form - seasonally available among canners' supplies in supermarkets.

Making a Light Syrup for Canning with Sugar or Honey

Instead, I recommend using a light syrup made with either sugar or honey. To make light syrup with sugar: Mix 2 cups of sugar with 4 cups of water and bring to a boil. Increase with a 1:2 ratio as needed.

Start timer when water starts boiling. Every recipe is different, but you'll usually boil the filled jars about 10 minutes. Once finished, shut off heat and remove canner lid allowing steam to escape away from you. Let jars rest in canner for 5 to 10 minutes.

Peaches can be canned without sugar, their natural acidity is high enough, but they will discolor and their flavor will deteriorate. However, if you opt to can them without any sugar they are perfectly safe to eat.

Bring to a rolling boil, cover the canner and boil for 10 minutes if using 4-, 8- or 12-ounce jars or for 15 minutes if using 16-ounce jars. (Check individual preserve recipes for more specific processing times.) Let cool for 10 minutes before removing the jars from the pot.

How long to boil jars for canning? ›

In order to actually sterilize jars, they need to be submerged in (covered by) boiling water for 10 minutes. When the process time for canning a food is 10 minutes or more (at 0-1,000 feet elevation), the jars will be sterilized DURING processing in the canner.

We put a lot of work into our canning and want our jars of love to be perfect. Fruit float occurs because air is trapped in the cells of the fruit. If products are properly prepared using methods in tested recipes, most of the air will be removed, and the possibility of fruit float will be reduced.

If your recipe called for lemon juice and you forgot to put it in, your mixture will not be acid enough for safe canning. You have to open the jars and put the mixture into a sauce pan. (If you made the jam or jelly recently and you carefully remove the lids without damaging them, you can re-use the same lids.)

Contrary to popular belief, you do not need a pressure cooker to can your peaches. In fact, all you need is a mason jar, a wire rack, a large pot, and some boiling water.

Toss the juice of 1 lemon for every 8-10 peaches and ½ teaspoon of sugar for each peach added. The lemon juice will help prevent browning and the sugar will release juices from the peaches, helping prevent air pockets when freezing.

Pack peaches cut sides down into jars. Pour boiling syrup or water over peaches, leaving a ½-inch headspace. Process pints for 25 minutes and quarts for 30 minutes.

Instead of adding a nasty syrup like in most canning recipes, you're going to add boiled water with a bit of lemon juice to help the peaches retain their color. For 12 pint jars of peaches, you'll need to prepare 1 gallon of boiled water + 1/2 c. of lemon juice.

This is known as enzymatic browning. Keep cut fruits, such as apples, pears, bananas, and peaches from turning brown by: Coating them with an acidic juice such as lemon, orange, or pineapple juice. Use a commercial anti-darkening preparation with fruits, such as Fruit-Fresh®*, and follow the manufacturer's directions.

Peaches can be canned so many different ways: Hot Pack or Raw “Cold” Pack, light syrup, heavy syrup and even with natural juices and no “syrup” at all. In the picture below, you will see a comparison of Raw Packed on the right verses Hot Packed on the left, notice how the raw packed peaches float.

For canning use the following amounts

To make a very light syrup combine 6 1/2 cups water with 3/4 cup sugar. To make a light syrup combine 5 3/4 cups water and 1 1/2 cups sugar. To make a medium syrup combine 5 1/4 cups water and 2 1/4 cups sugar.

Why do they put pear juice in canned peaches? ›

To the rescue comes pear juice. It is extremely sweet and readily available, and best of all, has a neutral flavor. Elliott mentions that you can use pear juice to pack such disparate fruits as apples, peaches and plums, without worrying about the liquid adding its own strong flavor.

Heavy syrup contains water, corn syrup, and sugar, and it has the most calories of the three types of canned fruit. A 15-1/4-ounce can of sliced peaches contains about 10 ounces of fruit and 2/3 cup of syrup, which adds about 200 calories. Light syrup is made from water and sugar.

The boiling water canning method is an easy way to get started because the equipment investment is minimal, says Vinton. It's suitable for acidic foods, like fruit jams and jellies, salsas, tomatoes, and vegetables that have been made more acidic with the addition of vinegar, lemon juice, or citric acid.

by Rachel Saunders of BLUE CHAIR FRUIT If you're making jam, marmalade or chutney, you can skip the steamy water bath canning process and use the heat of the oven to sterilize and seal your jars.

Make sure the jars are fully submerged and are covered with about an inch of water (you need that much to ensure that they won't become exposed during boiling).

Place a shallow bowl of peaches in direct sunlight but be careful that they don't get too hot, or they will start to bake. The heat will help ripen the fruit quickly. You could also try the famous paper bag trick that's known to speed things up due to the ethylene gas that the fruit emits.

The fiber is intact and the fruit still feels soft, but is not juicy. You experience this when you bite into a piece of fruit and the fiber is there, but the actual fruit is dry and it does not feel right in your mouth. This is caused by changes to the cell wall of the fruit during the ripening process.

Reduce sugar and salt content by rinsing canned fruits and vegetables in a strainer. For canned fruits, choose options that are packed in light syrup or 100% juice. For canned vegetables, choose low-sodium or no-salt-added options.

Very quickly the jar rims are wiped down with a hot cloth and the hot lids are put on along with the bands. Invert and allow the jars to sit in this position for 30-40 minutes. When the lid does not pop, or move up and down, then the jar is sealed.

Yes, you can pressure can 4 oz jars. The process is the same as for larger jars, but the processing time is shorter. Place the jars on a rack in the canner, fill the canner with water, bring to a boil, and process for 10 minutes.

Can I process jars the next day? ›

Canned food can safely be re-canned if the unsealed jar is discovered within 24 hours. To re-can, remove the lid and check the jar rim for tiny nicks. Change the jar, if necessary. Add a new treated lid and reprocess using the same processing time.

According to The National Center for Home Food Preservation, jar sterilization is not required for safe preserving if you'll be processing your filled jars in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes or more. That's because harmful microorganisms will be destroyed during processing.

Inversion canning consists of boiling food before placing it into clean jars and securing the lid and band. Once secured, the jar is inverted (flipped upside down) and left to cool for several minutes before placed right side up.

Before beginning any canning recipe, prepare jars and lids as directed by the manufacturer. Ball recommends the following: “it is no longer necessary to pre-warm lids before use. If you desire, it is still safe to simmer your lids before use, however, you should never boil them.

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.

Tap the lid with the bottom of a teaspoon. If it makes a dull sound, the lid is not sealed. If food is in contact with the underside of the lid, it will also cause a dull sound. If the jar is sealed correctly, it will make a ringing, high-pitched sound.

You don't have to blanch peaches but it does make peeling peaches much easier for canning! When you blanch fruit correctly it does not cook at all. Fill a large soup pot with water and bring it to a boil. Blanch or scald the peaches by dipping them into the hot water for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Choose firm, unblemished peaches for canning. It is best to use ones that are slightly underripe. Overly ripe fruit is more likely to float in the jars, and also has a lower acid content. It is the natural acidity of the peaches that helps to preserve them, not the canning liquid.

Nectarines do not need to be peeled, if you don't mind the skins. Neither do peaches, but most people prefer them with skins off - they tend to be slimy after all this.

Freezing peaches is a little easier and quicker and produces wonderfully sweet and delicious peaches to put in your freezer. Canning peaches produces jars of peeled and halved peaches for your pleasure.

Do you have to add sugar when canning peaches? ›

Peaches can be canned without sugar, their natural acidity is high enough, but they will discolor and their flavor will deteriorate. However, if you opt to can them without any sugar they are perfectly safe to eat.

We put a lot of work into our canning and want our jars of love to be perfect. Fruit float occurs because air is trapped in the cells of the fruit. If products are properly prepared using methods in tested recipes, most of the air will be removed, and the possibility of fruit float will be reduced.

Lower peaches into the water and let them blanch/soak for about 30 seconds. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the peaches from the pot, into a bowl full of ice water to cool. Once cooled, the peach skin should be very easy to pull away gently with your hands. You may use a knife to make a slit in the skin, if needed.

You could also try the famous paper bag trick that's known to speed things up due to the ethylene gas that the fruit emits. Just pop a few peaches in a paper bag solo, or with a banana, and you'll be pleasantly surprised by how quickly they'll be ready to eat.

For starters, you can preserve peaches in an extra light syrup of 3/4 cup sugar and 6 1/2 cups water. Or in a light syrup that contains 2 cups of sugar plus 6 cups of water. A medium syrup consists of 3 cups of sugar to 6 cups of water. Heavy syrup would be 4 cups of sugar for every 6 cups of water.

Honey is used in place of sugar in this recipe for home-canned peaches. A perfect way to preserve the taste of summer all year long!

Why won't my peaches peel after blanching? If your peach skin will not peel away easily after blanching, they have not been boiled long enough.