With so many varieties of tasty, sweet and juicy peaches available from mid-July until late September, we are able to enjoy not only fresh peaches, but also many preserved products. Today’s article will discusses the basics of canning and freezing peaches.

Start with firm, ripe, uniformly colored peaches. Allow peaches to ripen a day or more after harvest to mature to an ideal quality for eating fresh; watch carefully that they don’t over-ripen and become soft. Sort and wash fruit, loosen the skins by dipping the peaches in boiling water for 30 to 60 seconds; immediately dip in cold water to be able to handle. The skins should pull off easily. Peaches may be cut in half, quartered or sliced.

To preserve peaches, it is necessary to stop the enzyme reactions that cause chemical changes as they are exposed to air. Prevent browning of the peaches by placing peeled peaches in acidified water until all are peeled. Mix 1 teaspoon ascorbic acid crystals or crush six 500-milligram vitamin C tablets in 1 gallon of water. Follow the manufacturer’s directions when using a commercial anti-darkening product.

When freezing peach slices, they may be packed in syrup or in dry sugar. To make a syrup pack, mix and dissolve 2-1/2 cups sugar and 1/2 teaspoon ascorbic acid or three crushed 500-milligram vitamin C tablets in 4 cups water. Add 1 cup of this syrup to each quart of prepared fruit. Place a small piece of crumpled, water-resistant paper on top to hold fruit down. To make a dry sugar pack, sprinkle peach slices with 1/4 teaspoon of ascorbic acid dissolved in 3 tablespoons of cold water over each quart of prepared peaches. Stir gently until sugar dissolves or let stand for 15 minutes before packing into plastic freezer containers or wide-mouth tapered jars. Allow 1 inch of headspace in quart jars for expansion during freezing. Ascorbic acid and sugar help to preserve the color and texture. Peaches frozen in water or juice will freeze like an ice cube, breaking down cell walls and, when thawed, will be softer than those frozen in sugar syrup or dry sugar. Peaches are especially tasty to eat when there are still a few ice crystals in them before completely thawing. Thawed peaches darken quickly; heating the thawed peaches briefly improves the keeping quality for several days. Some people like to add a little cornstarch to make a thickened peach sauce.

Sugar substitutes may be added prior to freezing or just before serving. However, they do not provide the beneficial effect of sugar such as color protection or firmness of the fruit.

Applying heat to fresh produce stops enzyme reactions in both canned and frozen foods. When using this technique to freeze peaches, bring them to a boil and then simmer until just heated through. While this will produce a product that maintains its color in the freezer, they will not have as fresh a taste as peaches frozen in syrup or sugar, and are more suitable for use in cooked desserts than eating fresh. You are using this heat application method when you bake a pie or a peach crisp and then freeze the dessert.

To can peaches, follow the directions above for peeling them. Canned peaches may be packed into the jars raw or hot. Raw-packing is a safe method, but generally results in a poorer product than peaches put into the jars hot. Raw-pack peaches float to the top of the jar, and the jar usually loses a lot of juice (along with flavor) through siphoning. Because air is driven out of the tissues of the raw peach when it is heated, hot-packed peaches are less likely to float, more peaches fit into the jar, and the juice is less likely to boil out when jars are removed from the canner.

Peaches may be covered with sugar syrup, water, or apple or white grape juice. In addition to adding flavor, sugar firms the peach. Therefore, those who wish to consume less sugar need to balance the quality of the product with nutritional needs. A medium syrup for a canner load of quarts uses 3-3/4 cups of sugar in 8-1/4 cups of water. A light syrup uses 2-1/4 cups of sugar in 9 cups of water. Heavier sugar syrups will cause fruit to float more than lighter syrups or juice packs. Try a lighter syrup, water pack or juice pack to see what is acceptable to your family.

To hot-pack peaches, place enough peaches for one or two jars into the boiling syrup, water or juice and return to a boil. You will use less syrup when you hot-pack because heating the peaches will draw peach juice into the boiling syrup or liquid. If you don’t heat the peaches through completely, they may still shrink a little, but not as much as if you had raw-packed them. Remove the peaches carefully and fill the jars to within 1/2 inch of the top. Add hot syrup or other liquid to within 1/2 inch of top. Remove air bubbles, wipe the jar rim with a wet paper towel, and adjust lids. Process hot-packed pints 20 minutes and quarts 25 minutes in a boiling water bath or atmospheric steam canner. Adjust times for higher altitudes. Raw-packed peaches require an additional five minutes for processing. After processing is complete, set canner off the heat and remove lid from water-bath canner. Turn heat off atmospheric steam canner and set off the heat, leaving lid in place. Wait five minutes before removing jars from either type of canner. This will equalize the temperature within the jar and reduce liquid loss from the jar.

If you have food preservation questions, a home economist is available to answer questions on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., by calling 717-394-6851 or writing Penn State Extension, Lancaster County, 1383 Arcadia Road, Room 140, Lancaster, PA 17601.

The Well Preserved news column is prepared by Penn State Extension.

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