Peaches Are In Season- Quick, Can Them!

In my experience, a fresh peach is only good when it’s peach season. Sure, you can get them year-round, but those hard, bland peach imposters you see in the winter are a mere shadow of their summer counterparts. Instead of satisfying your craving for a sweet juicy peach, they only serve to highlight how bleak and wintery your current existence really is. Not so with homemade canned peaches. They are a ray of sunshine in a jar, providing a momentary respite from cold and rain. Ladle them over some vanilla ice cream or yogurt, make a cobbler or crisp, or just eat them straight from jar – you’ll be transported to a warmer time.

How To Can Peaches:

Equipment

• – Boiling water canner
• – Jars – 1 L or 500 ml are best – with screw bands and lids
• – large stainless steel pot

Ingredients

• – Peaches – ideally freestone as they are easier to work with. You’ll need roughly 2-3 lbs of peaches for each 1 L jar
• – Light Syrup – 2 1/4 cups sugar and 5 1/4 cups water heated until the sugar is dissolved.  This makes around 7 cups, so may need to scale to your needs. You’ll need about 3/4 cup of syrup per 500 ml jar or 1 1/2 cups per 1 L jar (for more info on syrup read this)

Directions

1. Sterilize and prep your jars, lids, and screw bands.
2. Blanch peaches in boiling water for 30-60 seconds, dip quickly into cold water, and slip off their skins. Halve and pit the peaches
3. Prepare syrup as per the instructions above and heat in large stainless steel pot.
4. Slowly place the halved fruit into the syrup. Cook until the syrup boils or the fruit is heated through.
5. Pack hot fruit into hot jars and ladle in hot syrup.
6. Wipe the jar rims clean, place the lids on, and screw the bands on to finger tightness. Process jars in boiling water canner for 20 minutes (500 ml jars) or 25 minutes (1L jars).
7. Remove from canner with canning tongs, and let cool on wire racks undisturbed for 24 hours
8. Once the jars have cooled, check that the lids are curved down (that means they’re sealed). Remove the bands, wipe and dry the bands and jars, and replace the bands loosely on the jars. Label, and store jars in a cool, dark place.