Your to-the-point guide on how to can peaches at home.
This guide is suitable for beginners and comes with tips and tricks on how to get it right every time.
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We have been canning fruits at home since ever!
I have always seen my family do that, my mother, my aunties in France, and even my grandmother back in the day.
We prepare not only canned peaches but also canned cherries, Mirabelle (yellow plum variety), apricots, apples, pears, and other stone fruits.
I will share your experience and knowledge with you! If you are looking to preserve your peaches another way, check out our peach jam recipe.
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📕 What are canned peaches?
Canned Peaches are peaches made to last, preserved in a light water syrup, in a jar.
Fresh, cleaned, peeled and quartered peaches are placed into jars and topped with a homemade light syrup.
The jars are then closed and cooked in a water bath in a large pot at a certain temperature to kill all germs so that they will preserve for a long period of time.
Homemade canned peaches can last for 1-2 years, depending on the quality of your fruits, on the cleanliness during preparation, and how you have stored them.
You will want to can your peaches if you love and use a lot of canned peaches in your cooking OR if you have plenty of peaches growing in your garden.
Peaches don't hold for all that long and need to be processed quickly, so preserving them is your solution.
🍑 Ingredients
You can prepare our french family canned peaches recipe with just three ingredients
Peaches
They should be ripe but not damaged.
Damaged fruits can destroy other fruit pieces in the jars in the long term.
The pit and peel should be coming off easily.
Sugar
You can't make peaches without sugar because sugar helps in preserving your peaches.
You will need regular plain ol' granulated sugar.
Water
Water is heated and the sugar is melted in the water to create a simple light syrup.
This is then used to cover your peaches in the jar.
🧰 Equipment
- Knife to quarter peaches
- Canning jars with rubber seals - I use 24 ounce or ¾ liter jars in the video.
- Canning Jar Lifter (aka jar grabber)
- Kitchen towel
- Canner pot with temperature indicator – Or a large pot with a lid to slide a thermometer through.
- regular pot to prepare light syrup with a cooking spoon
🔪 How to can peaches?
The process to prepared homemade canned peaches is easy.
The steps below should give you an idea of how it's done.
The complete recipe with measurement directions and to print can be found at the bottom of this post in the recipe card.
Step 1 - prep
Pick your fruits from your tree or buy them in stores.
Rinse fruits to get rid of impurities.
Wash and sterilize jars and rubber rings.
Keep a pot with water to boil and place the rubber rings for your jars into the water to kill all germs.
Step 2 - cut fruit
Cut peaches into halves and take out the pit.
Cut into quarters and remove the peel.
Place quartered and peeled fresh peaches into your clean jars.
Step 3 - sugar syrup
Prepare light syrup by mixing and heating up water and sugar in a pot.
Water and sugar ratio is 2:1.
Step 4 - cover fruit with syrup
Put rubber ring in place.
Pour light hot syrup over your peaches in the jar until covered.
Close jar with the latch.
Step 5 - place jars in pot
Keep a canning pot ready place jars into the pot.
Cover jars with water (the jars need to be submerged), close the lid and make sure that the thermometer is visible.
Step 6 - water bath canning
Heat up the canner and bring it to about 185 Fahrenheit/ 85 Celsius.
Cook for another 30 minutes at 185 Fahrenheit/ 85 Celsius.
Step 7 - let cool
Spread a clean kitchen towel, near the canning pot, on a kitchen surface to place your hot jars on.
Turn off the heat and lift the lid.
With a jar lifter/grabber (and event. a kitchen towel) take out one jar at a time and place on the spread out kitchen towel.
Leave to cool and store.
🍱 Storing
Keep your canned sterilized fruit jars in a cool and dry place, away from direct sunlight.
Place them on a pantry shelf where you can see them at all times so that you don't forget about your canned peaches.
They keep up to 1-2 years.
In a tropical climate, keep them in an air-conditioned room or use them within months.
The humidity in a tropical climate will reduce the shelf life. Anything above 55% humidity level can be problematic.
📜 Flavor Variations
You can enhance your canned homemade peaches by adding flavors.
Add any of the following to your fresh peaches in your jars.
- liquor - rum, vodka, bourbon
- vanilla bean - split open a vanilla bean and place it into the jar with the peaches
- cinnamon - A small piece of a whole cinnamon spice added to the fruits in the jar
- cardamom - whole crushed cardamom pods.
- cloves - adds a fresh clove flavor
- star anise - for a licorice taste experience
To add honey flavors, place a few tbs of honey to your cooking sugar water and wait for it to melt in.
🏺 How to use and serve canned peaches?
We use our homemade canned peaches all year round.
The most notable way is as a fruit salad with juice. You can just spoon it up as is.
We also use the peaches in pie fillings and in tarts or cakes.
You can prepare pastries too and cobblers and crisps with your canned peaches.
My peach cobbler can be adjusted by adding home-canned peaches. Just skip adding more sugar to your peaches in the recipe.
This peach tiramisu is calling for canned peaches.
I love adding some canned peaches to my overnight oats or to my peach smoothie.
💭 FAQs
To prepare canned peaches you need to peel your peaches because the peel tastes a bit bitter after it was canned. The peel would also detach from the fruit and it would look messy in your jars after your water bath canning.
We just drink it as is (because it's light in sugar) or we mix it with some water. We also love to prepare fruit salads in canned fruit juice. Or you can add the canned fruit juice to your cocktails and drinks such as a punch.
Our peaches tend to not brown that fast (compared to apples) but if yours are and if you want, you can sprinkle some lemon juice over your cut peaches. Toss the peaches in the lemon juice and the browning will stop.
Yes, you can follow the same recipe with the water sugar ratio with other fruits. You can preserve nectarines, apricots, apples, and pears this way.
👁️ More Canning Ideas
For more ideas refer to my water bath canning guide.
📖 Recipe
Canned Peaches Recipe
Instructions
- Rinse peaches to get rid of impurities. Add some vinegar to the water to get rid of insects if there are any.
- Wash jars and rubber rings. Sterilize jars and rings. You can sterilize jars by keeping them in the heat in the oven or by placing them into boiling hot water. Keep the rings in boiling water in a pot too.
- Cut peach into halves and take out pit. Peel and quarter peach.
- Place peach quarters into clean jars and shake the jar on the table top to push the fruits downwards.
- Prepare light syrup by combining water and sugar in a pot over the stovetop. Mix and cook, the liquid should be hot but not bubbling.
- Place sterilized rubber rings around your jar lids.
- Pour syrup over your peaches so that they are covered in juice.
- Close your jar with the latch.
- Keep your large canner pot over the fire and place jars into the canner next to each other.
- Pour water over your jars up to the top. The jars should be submerged and covered.
- Close the canner and make sure that the thermometer is attached as per canner instructions and visible.
- Heat up the canner pot and bring the temperature to about 185° Fahrenheit or 85° Celsius. This can take about 30 minutes.
- Continue to sterilize and cook jars for 30 minutes at about 185° Fahrenheit or 85° Celsius. Control the heat to stay at that temperature.
- To take out hot jars, spread a kitchen towel over a kitchen surface. Turn off heat when done, remove lid and take out jars with a set of jar lifter. Place hot and wet jars on the kitchen towels.
- Allow jars to cool before you store them in a cool and dry place on a shelf preferably.
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