Having the best of the summer harvest canned or frozen right in your pantry is such a treat and becoming a lost art in our culinary world. We have included several preserving recipes along with our traditional recipes just in case you are inspired to embrace the old-timey ways of our mothers and grandmothers. Buying local and canning is more affordable and as fresh as the summer day it was picked. Use in all your favorite recipes or eat right from the jar! Yum!
When canning peaches in syrup you will want to select firm and fully ripe peaches. They should be a healthy golden color with no green colors. This recipe will make about 8 pint jars or 4 quart jars and uses the Raw Pack Method.
Ingredients
- 10-12 lbs of peaches
- One batch of hot syrup (shown below)
Directions
1. Prepare jars and lids
2. The Peaches should be peeled, halved and pitted.
3. You are now ready to pack the peaches in to the jars with the cavity side down in overlapping layers. You want to make sure that you leave at least a 1/2 inch of space from the top of the jar. You can now ladle the hot syrup into the jar covering the peaches. Again, make sure that you leave at least 1/2 inch of headspace when adding the syrup. You want to make sure that you remove air bubbles and add more syrup in necessary. It's very important that you wipe the rim of the jar to make sure that no particles interfere with the sealing process. You are now ready to put the lid on the jar. The next step is to screw the band down and finger tighten.
4. Put the jars in the canner and make sure they are completely covered with water. Cover with lid and bring the water to a boil. Process the pint jars for 25 minutes and quart jars for 30 minutes.
5. Remove the canner lid and let it cool for about 5 minutes. Remove the jars and let cool.
Fruit Syrup Recipe(Medium) - Home Canned Peaches
- 3 1/4 cups of Granulated Sugar
- 5 cups of water
Note: This yields about 7 cups of syrup.
A sweetened syrup helps to maintain the fruits flavor, color and texture. It has been tradition to use heavy syrups when preserving fruit, however if a person needs to watch their sugar intake it might be desirable to use a lighter syrup. Again this recipe is for a medium syrup. You can certainly make it lighter or use unsweetened juice or water as alternatives.
How to make the medium syrup:
1. Combine the water and sugar in a stainless steel saucepan.
2. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
3. Stir until sugar is dissolved.
4. Reduce heat and keep warm.
In general you will need about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of syrup for each quart jar.
