Canned Peaches
Canned Peaches
Peaches are a heavenly delight in our opinion that we just cannot get enough of! Thankfully we live in the Niagara Fruit Belt in Southern Ontario where we have access to some of the best farms and their delicious golden fruits. This year we were extremely lucky to have access to these delicious fruits right into September; we were told to come back as they still had many green peaches on the trees. We were blessed with impeccably beautiful weather these past couple of weeks and I have to say that these are some of the best tasting, mouth-watering peaches that we have had the pleasure of eating in a very long time so we decided to capture summer in jars to use throughout the year to enjoy all on their own or in some of our favourite recipes. You can just type in peach in our search bar to get some delicious peach dessert ideas such as our Peaches and Cream Crepes, Peach Strudel or Peach Pie to name a few.
INGREDIENTS
Fresh peaches; 3 larges peaches for pint jars and 6 large peaches for quart jars
Water
Sugar Syrup:
Light: 2 cups sugar to 4 cups water
Medium: 3 cups sugar to 4 cups water
Heavy: 4 cups sugar to 4 cups water
Preservation:
4 litres of water
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp vinegar
DIRECTIONS
1. Wash jars, rings and seals with hot soapy water insuring that there are no nicks or cracks on the jars and prepare them for a water bath to sterilize the jars as per the manufacturer’s instructions noted on the packaging.
2. Prepare the sugar syrups keeping the syrup hot and NOT boiling; you don’t want to reduce the volume of syrup. We used a very light syrup with a 1 to 2 ratio of sugar to water, medium syrup is 3 to 4 and heavy syrup is 1 to 1 radio sugar to water. Stir frequently until all the sugar is dissolved and keep hot until ready to use.
3. Blanch peaches in boiling water for about a minute; remove from heat and immediately immerse the peaches in ice cold water to stop the cooking process. Gently rub skin from the peaches; slice in halves or in slices and place prepared peaches in a preservation mixture of 4 litres of water with 2 tablespoons of salt and vinegar to prevent the peaches from browning. Rise the peaches extremely well prior to packing into jars.
4. Pack peach halves or slices into jars (you’ll need approximately 3 large peaches per pint jar and approximately 6 larges peaches for quart jars).
5. Pour syrup into the jars leaving approximately ½ inch head space for each jar. You’ll need approximately ½ to ¾ cups of syrup for each pint jar and about 1 to 1 ½ cups of syrup for quart jars.
6. Run a butter knife or spatula between the peaches to release any air bubbles from the jars and add more syrup if required leaving about a 1/2 inch from the rim.
7. Wipe down the rims of the jars to remove any syrup residue than seal jars and secure rings tightly.
8. Stand jars in a canning pot or large pot insuring there is room between the jars for the hot water to circulate and fill the pot with water covering the jars but about one to two inches of water over the jars and heat to a gentle boil.
9. Process or boil pint jars for about 25 minutes and about 30 minutes for quart jars.
10. Remove from water bath and let cool as the jars cool the lids will suck themselves into the jars to seal themselves. You can test for a proper seal by pressing on the tops of the lids; if the lids stay down the jars are sealed and ready to put them away for storage and future use.
11. In the event you have any peaches and syrup left over and you’ve run out of jars simply place your peaches into extra strong zip lock bags and add syrup to each bag; insure you get as much air out of the bags prior to sealing them up. If properly sealed the peaches will be good for up to 3 months in a deep freezer.
View our step by step pictures below!
