How to can peaches

This is what I do for canning peaches.

I bought a boxof 20# for $14.95 and took them out of the box to sit for a few days and ripen. Do not leave them in the box or they ethanol gasses from the top peaches will cook the bottom peaches and you get uneven riped peaches. I had 30 peaches in this batch and they were so big, I got mostly 2 peaches (4 halves) per jar = 15 jars from this batch. Wash your jars.

Blanche them in hot water to make the skins removable.

ice bath them after the blanching process so you can touch the peaches to peal them.

My peels came right off, easy as butter.

Slice in half

pull pit out

I keep my jars warm in the oven at 200 degrees if I don't time the dishwasher drying setting in time. Jars must be hot when you are working with them.

compost your peach skins.

prepare your syrup with 4 cups artesian water and 1 cup sugar - for a light light recipe. If you like more sugar, add it! Use bottled water to keep the cholorine out and for a pretty perfect syrup.

Heat up the syrup. At this point, you have the lids heating, syrup heating and you are preparing the stock pot for the jars. It feels like a lot to manage.

pull your jars from the oven/dishwasher hot, place peaches in a pretty format, pour in your hot syrup.

Use a stainless steel knife to carefully go down the sides of the jars to release air bubbles. I broke a few jars being too rough at this point, so be gentle and know that the heat is already causing pressure in the jars.

Take a sterile rag, dip in hot water, and clean off all the rims and areas that will be important for sealing.

if you own a canning utility kit, this great little magnet tools helps retrieve hot lids.

Place lid on, place ring on, just to finger tightness, don't go as hard as you can. Carefully, place hot jar into hot boiling water and cover by an inch of water above the top. Set for 30 minutes. I broke 7 jars in my 2 days of canning and learned lessons. I angle my jars in so the bottom of the jar doesn't hit flat against the water as I go in, due to pressure. I also learned that you have to be careful when you set the jar on the bottom of the pan as there are air bubbles at the bottom, creating pressure. Just treat the jar very delicately is my strategy.

After 30 minutes, let stand for several hours on towel on the counter. Use a dry rag to dry off top of jar, don't jostle the jar as you remove it, there is pressure escaping still and you need to keep the jar level as you lift it and set it in it's resting place. Test seal by tapping on the lid after it has rested for several minutes. You should hear no popping on the lid.

Prepare next batch.

Later when cool, you can store in your cupboard for winter.