Canning Sliced Peaches in Syrup

I got to go to the beach for a few days this week and on the way home I just had to stop at a roadside stand and buy some peaches.  I love fresh peaches but could not eat them all so I canned some.  When doing peaches I like to get everything ready before I start peeling so I can work fast.

You will need an average of 17½ pounds per canner load of 7 quarts; an average of 11 pounds is needed per canner load of 9 pints. A bushel weighs 48 pounds and yields 16 to 24 quarts – an average of 2½ pounds per quart.

I used what I had and it took 21 peaches to yield 7 pint jars

21 Peaches
6 cups of water
3 cups of sugar
Jars, Lids, Rings and Water Bath Canner.

The first thing you want to do is get your supplies all gathered up.

 Fill your canner about half full and put jars in to stay hot until ready to fill.

 It is not necessary to sterilize jars if they are processed for more than 10 minutes, but I do anyway since it keeps them hot.

I also bring a small pot of water to a boil.  Remove from heat and put my lids and rings in this until I am ready for them.

 Go ahead and mix your water and sugar in a medium size stainless steel pot.  Bring to a boil to melt sugar.  Keep warm until ready to use.  You can make your syrup as light or heavy as you like.

Peeling peaches is easy if you have good ripe ones that are not too soft.

 You want them just ripe because if they are too hard then you can't peel them by blanching.  Test your peaches by gently pressing them with your thumb.  They should give just a bit.  Bring a pot of water to a boil and have a second pot of ice water waiting to cool them down.  Slice a small X in the top and bottom of each peach.  Work in small batches.

Dip a few peaches at a time into the  boiling water.  Boil for just a minute.  You will see the skin start to peel back.


Immediately remove the peaches from the boiling water and put them into ice water to stop the cooking process.

Let cool a minute and then gently peel the skin from the peach.  As you peel them, place them in a container of cold water with a little lemon juice or fruit fresh added.  I remove the pits by slicing the peach as I go along.  Cut a slice and gently pull it from the pit.  Repeat slicing and add slices to a second bowl containing water and fruit fresh.   

You can Raw Pack or Hot Pack Sliced Peaches.  Either way they will float some when canned.  It's because of the air in the fruit.  Hot packing helps a little, but not much with peaches.  I hot pack mine.  Bring your syrup to a boil and add your sliced peaches.  Heat through and pack into your hot jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  

Cover the peaches with your hot syrup.  Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace to 1/2 inch by adding more syrup. Wipe rims of jars with a wet paper towel.  Put on lids and rings and tighten finger tight.  

If Raw Packing you will process 25 minutes for pints.  If Hot Packing then process 20 minutes for pints.  When time is up, turn off heat and remove lid from canner.  Wait 5 minutes and place jars on counter to cool for 24 hours.

Recommended process time for Peaches, halved or sliced in a boiling-water canner.
–		Process Time at Altitudes of
Style of Pack	Jar Size	0 - 1,000 ft	1,001 - 3,000 ft	3,001 - 6,000 ft	Above 6,000 ft
Hot	Pints Quarts	20 min 25	25 30	30 35	35 40
Raw	Pints Quarts	25 30	30 35	35 40	40 45

Label and Store in a cool place.