Canning Peaches

I have been wanting to find peaches to can all summer; trying to think of a way to get a lot of good peaches for a reasonable price. Imagine my surprise and delight when I discovered that my very own parents-in-law have a peach tree that is loaded with peaches and they said we could pick some (thanks Dave and Gayle)!!! The next day I set to work canning them and had a grand time.

I started with the freshly picked peaches and gave them all a good washing.

Then it was time to peel them. I tried the method of blanching them in boiling water, then soaking them in cold water. I was skeptical that this would work for some reason, maybe it just seemed too easy, but it was worked great and was indeed easy. The only problems I had were with a few peaches that were either overripe and the skin disintegrated or underripe and it didn't come off. Otherwise, it worked like a charm.

Boiling the peaches for a minute.

Letting them cool in cold water. The instructions said to use ice water, but I didn't have ice so I used cold tap water and that worked just fine. 

And the skin peels off like magic! 

Next, I sliced the peaches and put them in a bowl with a little vinegar to keep them from getting brown. 

I ended up with a large bowl of sliced peaches and a small bowl of peach skins, which I'm saving for later. 

Then I made a simple syrup which was one part sugar to two parts water. 

I cooked the peaches in the syrup solutions for 5 minutes, packed them into jars, topped them off with the syrup, and processed the jars. 

I ended up with 8 1/2 pints, not quite as much as I was hoping for, but certainly a good amount. We tried the small jar today and they are tasty. This was my first time canning fruit and I had fun and I'm happy with the results. Also, just in case anyone was wondering, the pickles are good too.