How to Can Fresh Peaches at Home; Step by Step

Canning and preserving peaches is one of my favorite summer activities. It is also one of the first canning projects that beginners learn. Peaches are such an easy canning project and it is good to include your whole family. Throughout the year, we have peaches on our dinner table at least five days a week. The peaches are beautiful in the pantry and fabulous on your plate. Today I am going to give you a step-by-step tutorial to teach you how to can fresh peaches at home.

Canned peaches

How to Can and Preserve Fresh Whole Peaches

The following directions will make a 8-quart jars of canned peaches. This makes it easy to add to your food storage.

The first step is to blanch and peel about 24 peaches. Place them in a saltwater mixture of 1/4 cup salt in 1 gallon of water. This keeps them from turning brown. Here is a video teaching you hot wo blanch peaches.

Place a small amount of hot water into the bottom of the jar so it doesn’t break when you put in the cool peaches.

Then, halve or slice the peaches and remove the pit. I prefer to halve my peaches, but you can slice them into 1-inch slices.

Next, place your peaches into your hot jar. If you are doing slices you can use a jar funnel. If you do halves be sure that the cut side faces down.

Using a jar funnel, top the peaches with 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice per jar.

Fill the rest of the jar with hot water. Leave a 1/2 inch headspace.

Place the lids on top of each jar and screw the metal bands until they are fingertip-tight.

(For quality, American made Superb canning lids and jars follow this link and use the coupon code WP20 to get 20% off your purchase.) 

Place the jars in a boiling water bath canner, ensuring they are covered with at least an inch of water. Bring the water to a boil and process the jars for 30 minutes.  (Adjust the processing time if you are above 1000 feet.)

Once your peaches have completed the appropriate time in the boiling water bath canner , allow them to cool in the water bath with the heat off and the lid removed for 5 minutes. Take them out and set them on a heat resistant surface, spacing them about an inch apart, for 24 hours to cool and completely seal.

If your jar of peaches did not seal then place it in the fridge and use it after a week or two so that the sugar can disperse throughout the jar. Allow the sealed jars to rest for 3 weeks before using them for the same reason. Store the sealed jars in your lovely pantry to enjoy for the next 1-3 years. After three years the nutritional value of canned food diminishes.

If you have any questions about canning with the boiling water canner or how to adjust the pressure or processing time for altitude, take a look at my canning basics videos.