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Canning peaches is surprisingly easy to do at home. All you need is a few jars, a big pot, and a little sugar and you’re on your way. Home-canned peaches stored in glass mason jars also taste dramatically better than store-bought peaches in tin cans, and if you have your own peach tree, they’re almost free.
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We’re just getting in our first peach trees this year, and it’ll be a while until we have our own homegrown peaches. We’re in zone 4, and it’s hard to find peach varieties for cold climates. Plant breeders have been hard at work, and there are now several varieties that produce well in our area.
In the meantime, our local food coop imports Amish peaches from Pennsylvania by the caseload. Every year I buy a case and can up a big batch for wintertime peach cobbler.
Peaches, or more specifically, peach jam was the first thing I canned with a mentor in my youth. Call it a gateway fruit if you want, but I was hooked. My first batch was admittedly a bit lackluster.
I was a kid, and I got to choose how much sugar went into the batch. At that point in my life, more sugar made everything better and I just about ruined the batch. You could barely taste the fruit, and peach-colored candy is a better description of the results.
Fast forward a few decades and I still can’t handle over-sweetened canned goods, jam or otherwise. I use very light syrup when canning peaches, but there are plenty of choices based on your preferences.
Peach Varieties Safe for Canning
All known varieties of yellow-fleshed peaches are safe for water bath canning at home. No exceptions. White-fleshed peaches are another matter.
Scientists at the National Center for Home Food Preservation recently discovered that some varieties of white-flesh peaches may not be safe for canning. While yellow peaches are a high acid food, some varieties of white flesh peaches have a more delicate flavor and far less acidity. Fruits must have a pH below 4.6 to be safe for canning, and white-fleshed peaches may not quite make it.
There’s currently no tested safe method for canning white-fleshed peaches, but theoretically, they should be fine for canning using the same methods as other low acid fruits. Home-canned mangoes are one example of another low acid fruit that’s not acidic enough on its own, but it should, in theory, be safe with added lemon juice.
Pressure canning is also another option if you have a bumper crop of peaches. While you don’t need to pressure can yellow peaches, some people prefer to pressure can in general and there is an approved method.
Yellow peaches are pressure canned at 6 pounds of pressure for 10 minutes anywhere below 2,000 feet in elevation. White peaches would require either higher pressure to be safe, and that might just pulverize the tender fruit.
As always, if you’re canning at home, use your best judgment. If you have white peaches to preserve, the only approved method is freezing, so maybe skip the canner altogether to be on the safe side?
Choosing Peaches for Canning
Just about any yellow fleshed peach can be preserved by canning, but some will do better than others. Here are a few things to consider when choosing peaches for canning:
- Freestone or Clingstone – Most grocery store peaches are freestone these days, and the flesh comes away easily from the pit. Older varieties and backyard trees may be clingstone, which makes it nearly impossible to can peach halves. Clingstone peaches are a bit more work, but they often have amazing flavor in return, just plan on canning them as slices.
- Size – Larger peaches have more flesh per peach, and will save you quite a bit of time in peeling. If you’re planning on canning peach halves instead of slices, aim for small to medium-sized peaches so that the halves will fit in a jar.
- Ripeness – Very ripe peaches have soft flesh and are lower acid than firm peaches. Choose peaches that are just barely ripe. The flesh should still be firm but they’ve lost all the green around the stem. Just ripe peaches will hold together better, and result in a much better texture in your home-canned peaches.
Syrup for Canning Peaches
Peaches are quite sweet on their own, and the fact that they’re high acid means they can be water bath canned in just about any liquid. Plain water works, but will wash out the flavor. Fruit juice or very light syrup work better, since they’re about as sweet as the peaches and won’t leach any of the sugars from the peaches, and they won’t make them any sweeter either.
If you’re not up for a low sugar recipe, light and medium syrups work just fine too. Here’s how to make a number of different syrups for canning peaches:
- Water Pack – Simple enough, just make sure the water is boiling hot before it goes into the jars.
- Juice Pack – Fruit juices such as apple or white grape juice are a natural way to can peaches without refined sugar. Just like water pack, be sure that the juices are boiling hot when packing the jars.
- Very Light Syrup – This mimics the natural sugar content of peaches and will result in the most natural flavor. For a 9-pint canner load, use 3/4 cups sugar and 6 1/2 cups water. For a 7-quart canner load, add 1 1/4 cups sugar to 10 1/2 cups water.
- Light Syrup – For the most part, light syrup is used to add just a hint of sweetness to fruits that are very sweet already. Peaches are a great choice for light syrup, and that’s often how they’re packed in the grocery store. For a 9-pint canner load, use 1 1/2 cups sugar and 5 3/4 cups water. For a 7-quart canner load, add 2 1/4 cups sugar to 9 cups water.
- Medium Syrup – If you like your canned peaches really sweet, choose medium syrup. They’ll be pretty over the top, don’t say I didn’t warn you…For a 9-pint canner load, use 2 1/4 cups sugar and 5 1/4 cups water. For a 7-quart canner load, add 3 3/4 cups sugar to 8 1/4 cups water.
Canning Peaches with Honey or Maple
Since peaches can be canned in just about any liquid, the amount or type of sugar in the syrup doesn’t affect their safety. Honey canned peaches are a popular choice because the honey flavor complements the flavor of the peaches. We make our own maple on our Vermont homestead, so that’s an obvious choice for us.
Whether you’re using honey or maple to sweeten the canning syrup, use about 2/3rds as much as you would sugar. Honey and maple are both much sweeter than sugar, and you’ll need less volume to get the same amount of sweetness compared to white sugar.
For example, if you’re making a 9-pint canner batch of canned peaches with very light syrup, use 1/2 cup of honey instead of 3/4 cup of sugar added to 6 1/2 cups of water. Since the sugar level isn’t crucial to the safety of the canned peaches, feel free to approximate. Roughly 2/3rds will give you a similar level of sweetness, but there’s no need to be exact.
Hot Pack or Raw Pack Canning
There are two main ways to pack peaches for canning, or any fruit for that matter. Peaches are safe and approved for both methods, and they each have their pros and cons. While I raw pack my canned pineapple without issue, peaches aren’t as forgiving. Hot pack peaches make dramatically better quality canned peaches.
- Hot Pack Canned Peaches – Peaches are quickly boiled in their canning syrup to heat them and pre-cook them before canning. This drives off some of the air that’s naturally in the fruit’s tissues. Removing that extra air prevents the peaches from floating, and helps keep the canned peaches from browning over time. In many areas, this is the only method approved for entry into a state fair because the peaches retain their quality better over time, and they’re more attractive in the jar.
- Raw Pack Canned Peaches – For a raw pack, the peeled and pitted peaches are packed into jars raw. The canning liquid, usually syrup of some kind, is brought to a boil and poured over the raw peaches before the jars are sealed and processed in a water bath canner. It’s much easier to pack the jars since the fruit isn’t hot, and this is a good option if the peaches will be eaten in the next 2-3 months. If you’re storing raw pack peaches for longer periods of time they may brown or deteriorate. Even if they discolor, they’re still safe to eat for just as long as hot pack peaches.
How Many Peaches Fit in a Canning Jar?
Obviously, the number of peaches that’ll fit in a canning jar varies based on how big the peaches are. Roughly speaking though, it takes around 17 to 18 pounds of peaches to make a 7-quart canner batch or around 10 to 12 pounds for a 9-pint canner batch. That works out to about 2-3 pounds per quart jar or 1 1/4 pounds per pint jar.
That said, if you’re canning halved peaches, slightly less will fit in a jar. Sliced peaches pack more densely in a canning jar, and you may be able to fit slightly more.
Regardless of how you’ve sliced the peaches, be sure to pack them into the jars as densely as you can. Peaches shrink during the canning process, and if you don’t really cram them into the jars you’ll end up with sad looking half-filled jars.
My giant farmhouse sink holds just over one canner load (7 quarts) worth of peaches, and I use that sink to cold water bath them after a quick blanching for peeling. This time I had gigantic peaches, so it took about 28 peaches or 4 huge peaches per jar. It’d take 5-6 average-sized peaches to fill a quart jar.
Peeling Peaches for Canning
The first step to canning peaches is removing their fuzzy skins. Bring a pot of water to a boil on the stove, and then dip each peach in the boiling water for 2-3 minutes. With very ripe peaches, it’ll take less time and firmer peaches require more cooking to peel.
If the peach skins just aren’t listening, try making a shallow X on the bottom of each peach with a sharp knife before placing the peach in boiling water. This will help the skin start to peel easier.
Scoop the peaches out of the boiling water with a slotted spoon and drop them into a sink or bowl full of ice water. Once they’re cool, the skins should remove easily with your fingers.
How to Can Peaches
Now that we’ve gone through just about every variation and option available, how do I do it?
In my kitchen, I can peaches in very light syrup using the hot pack method. Most often, I use quart jars because that’s just about the right size for a cobbler to feed my family of 4. Here’s my simple recipe for canning peaches at home, but hopefully you’ve learned a thing or two about how to modify the recipe to suit your family’s needs.
Start by peeling and slicing the peaches. Make a syrup by bringing the right proportion of sugar and water to a boil in a large pot.
For very light syrup, you’ll need 10 1/2 cups water and 1 1/4 cups sugar. Add the peaches into the boiling syrup, wait until the syrup returns to a boil, and then cook the peaches for a few minutes.
Pack the hot peaches tightly into quart or pint mason jars, and top the jars with boiling syrup. Remove the air bubbles, and be sure to leave 1 inch of headspace. Attach 2-part canning lids and process in a water bath canner for 25 minutes for quarts and 20 minutes for pints (under 1000 feet elevation).
Peach Canning Recipes
There are plenty of ways to preserve peaches at home, and these peach canning recipes will keep your pantry stocked!
Canning Peaches
Equipment
Ingredients
- 18 pounds peaches
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 10 1/2 cups water
- boiling water, for peeling peaches
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to a boil and submerge peaches for 30-90 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and cool in ice water. Peel the peaches with your hands, the skins should slip off easily. If they don’t repeat the boiling process.
- Slice the peaches in half and remove pits. They can be canned as half peaches, or sliced, it’s up to you.
- Bring 10 1/2 cups water and 1 1/4 cups sugar to a boil in a stockpot. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Add peaches and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Ladle hot peaches into prepared quart canning jars (or pints if you prefer). This recipe should yield a full 7-quart canner batch.
- Top the peaches in the jars with syrup, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and seal with 2 part canning lids.
- Process in a water bath canner, 20 minutes for pints and 25 minutes for quarts under 1000 feet in elevation. If you prefer to pressure can, process for 10 minutes at 5 pounds pressure in a weighted gauge pressure canner. (Use 6 pounds in a dial gauge pressure canner.)
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Ways to Preserve Peaches
Looking for more ways to preserve peaches?
What happens after everything you think you did right and one of your jar is sealed but the peaches start to drop?
If the jars are sealed, then you’re in good shape. The peaches should drop as they cool (unless you’ve raw packed, in that case, likely they’ll keep floating because of the extra air in their tissues). That’s totally normal.
Why do you have to do the water bath for 20 minutes. What value does that add vs just doing it for 5 minutes.
The canning times are set in the lab of the national center for food preservation. They put temperature sensors into the jars and determine the amount of time it takes to heat that jar through to the center. When you blanch the peaches, they’re not cooked all the way through completely, plus then they’re handled at cooler temperatures (below boiling) before they go into the jar.
The 20 minutes ensures the jar gets completely and evenly heated through all the peaches, and that it is hot enough inside the air pocket to create a vacuum in the headspace.
Question: after I have removed skins from peaches and sliced do I put in syrup while I’m cutting up the rest of my other peaches? Or do I wait and put them all in syrup right before I put in jars? I’m afraid they will turn color while I’m cutting the other peaches. As I’m slicing peaches should I just keep them in a bowl until I’m ready to add to syrup? Sorry, I’m a first timer. Thanks
Just keep them all in a a bowl while your slicing. Mind didn’t brown while I was slicing them up, but I’m pretty fast with a knife. If you’re worried about it browing, sprinkle a little lemon juice on the slices and stir it in. You can add a bit more every few peaches so they all get coated as you work.
While you’re slicing the peaches, bring the syrup to a boil on the stove so it’s ready to go as soon as they’re all sliced. Then you can put the sliced peaches right into the hot syrup as soon as you’re done so you can hot pack the jars. If you’re raw packing for some reason, just pack them raw into the jars and pour the hot syrup over before canning.
Good luck!
Ashley thank you so much for all the GREAT information. I have been canning for years and usually make peach jam. Your recipe and knowledge has inspired me to can the peaches and have them all winter long.
I am curious to ask you this. Most recipes have you dip in lemon juice to protect the color. Your pictures show a beautiful color remaining. Is there any information you may have found about the lemon juice dipping?
Thanks so much –
It’s interesting, I’ve heard that from a number of people, asking about lemon juice. I didn’t and they didn’t brown in the time it took me to get them all sliced, but I’m really fast with a paring knife. I used to work in a commercial kitchen and it literally only takes me a few minutes to peel and slice everything. Lemon juice, in general, is a great idea to maintain color but I haven’t had an issue with the peaches we get here.
Just wondering- when you put the syrup into the jars do you make fresh syrup or use what you cooked the peaches in?
Use what you cooked the peaches in. It’ll have more flavor since a bit of peach flavor will go into it during the cooking, and there’s no need to waste it.
Thank you SO MUCH for this article on canning peaches safely! I recently canned Pickled Golden Beets with Ginger (Recipe Courtesy: https://www.mountainfeed.com/blogs/learn/91230983-pickled-golden-beets-with-ginger ) and had a small pan-full of the brine leftover. I had used Barefoot Riesling to make the brine (the recipe gives a choice of 3 types of liquid to use for making the brine/syrup with). The brine tasted amazing, and we can’t wait to try the beets in a month or so, but I got a hair-brained idea to try simmering a couple of peaches (pitted & quartered) in the remaining brine. We simmered the peaches for an hour, then put them over top of vanilla ice cream along with some of the brine / syrup. OH MY WORD… there aren’t words to express how delicious this was! So, my mom bought a bushel of peaches from the local Mennonite general store near where she lives and is bringing them up later this week for us to can. We plan to use the recipe for the brine/syrup for peaches, from the golden beets canning recipe, and I wanted to make sure to do it safely. I’ve done a lot of canning, but this will be my first time canning peaches.
Again, thank you so much for the information!
Thank you SO MUCH for this article on canning peaches safely! I recently canned Pickled Golden Beets with Ginger (Recipe Courtesy: https://www.mountainfeed.com/blogs/learn/91230983-pickled-golden-beets-with-ginger ) and had a small pan-full of the brine leftover. I had used Barefoot Riesling to make the brine (the recipe gives a choice of 3 types of liquid to use for making the brine/syrup with). The brine tasted amazing, and we can’t wait to try the beets in a month or so, but I got a hair-brained idea to try simmering a couple of peaches (pitted & quartered) in the remaining brine. We simmered the peaches for an hour, then put them over top of vanilla ice cream along with some of the brine / syrup. OH MY WORD… there aren’t words to express how delicious this was! So, my mom bought a bushel of peaches from the local Mennonite general store near where she lives and is bringing them up later this week for us to can. We plan to use the recipe for the brine/syrup for peaches, from the golden beets canning recipe, and I wanted to make sure to do it safely. I’ve done a lot of canning, but this will be my first time canning peaches.
Again, thank you so much for the information!
How many peaches does one jar hold?
Roughly speaking though, it takes around 17 to 18 pounds of peaches to make a 7-quart canner batch or around 10 to 12 pounds for a 9-pint canner batch. That works out to about 2-3 pounds per quart jar or 1 1/4 pounds per pint jar. This time I had gigantic peaches, so it took about 28 peaches, or 4 huge peaches per jar. It’d take 5-6 average-sized peaches to fill a quart jar.
I am canning at 2500 feet. How long do I need to process?
It’d be 25 minutes for pints or 30 Minutes for quarts. For 1000 to 3000 ft, add 5 minutes. For 3000 to 6000 feet, add 10 minutes and above 6000 feet add 15 minutes.
Hi Ashley, I will be trying your canned peaches recipe today as my mother in law dropped off a box of peaches. I usually make peach jam but wanted to try something different. Your canning knowledge is very good and I am confident the peaches will turn out great. One thing I do when I make peach jam is use the skin and pits to make peach syrup. It is excellent and nothing goes to waste. Here is the link to the recipe. http://www.therealfarmhouse.com/how-to-make-peach-syrup-using-only-the-skins-and-pits/
Thank you so much for the great canning information.
Nice! We use the peels to make peach jelly, but peach syrup sounds great too! Thanks for the recipe =)
Just made 10 quarts. I’ve canned peaches before but I really appreciated your discussion of acid and the different levels of sugar. Really, helpful information! Thank you so much.
Just made 10 quarts. I’ve canned peaches before but I really appreciated your discussion of acid and the different levels of sugar. Really, helpful information! Thank you so much.
Whenever I am looking up info or recipes for canning, I always find your articles to be the best, most informative and thorough! And your photos are great, too! Thank you!
Wonderful, thank you Lisa! So glad you found it helpful =)
Is it necessary to remove the skins?
It is not strictly necessary to remove the skins from a safety perspective (as far as I know), but it’ll affect the quality of the finished product. I would guess that the skins would fall off during the canning process, and they’d likely be tough when you went to use them. That said, I’ve never done it, so I can’t say for sure. If you try it, let me know how it goes!
I rub the peaches in a towel to remove the fuzz and leave the skins on. Some fall off during cooking. The rest can be easily peeled off, if you want, when you open the jar. They’re tougher than the peach, but that isn’t surprising. Whether you want to eat them or not is personal preference.
I usually peel, slice the peaches and put them in freezer bags with no syrup just Ball Fresh Fruit. They are delicious! I don’t have much freezer room this year so (fingers crossed) I’m going to quarter the peaches again with only Ball Fresh Fruit, put in Ball quart jars and boil. I do not like to put any sugar on them. I hope I’ll be successful! ALSO, I peel my peaches with a vegetable peeler. It works great for me. Once in awhile a too ripe peach is alittle difficult. Still easier than boiling, cooling, peeling. Wish me luck all!
I use 2 t stevia to a gallon of water as a light syrup.
I pack my peaches for water bath and only have room for 7 qts. Can I water bath the remaining after I finish first or do I have to do em all at once
If that remaining jar cools while the others are canning, it’s likely that it’ll explode in the canner from thermal shock. What you can do though, is remove all the other jars AND remove the water from the canner. Then place the jar in with warm-ish water. Bring the whole pot to a boil together and begin timing when the pot comes to a boil. That’s the best way I can think of to actually can that remaining jar without breaking it.
Alternatively, of course, you could just put that last jar in the fridge and use it within 2 weeks or so. Good luck!
Can you use a stock pot instead of a water canner?
Yes, you can. Just be sure that you put something in the bottom so that the jars are not sitting directly on the bottom of the stock pot.
Our 4 year old 5 foot peach tree just yielded about 100 peaches! Your recipe looks perfect for my needs. Thanks!
Woah congratulations! And happy canning =)
FIRST YEAR OUR PEACH TREE YIELED ANY FRUIT!! YOUR SITE HAD SOO MANY HELPFUL HINTS FOR SUCCESS..THANK YOU..CANT WAIT!!
So glad you found it helpful.
How long do you process for 5000 feet elevation? Great article BTW. Thank you!
Here is a chart that gives you the break down of processing times for different elevations and sizes for both water bath canning and pressure canning.
How do I make a peach pie with the home canned peaches?
The same way you’d make a pie with fresh ones, or you can use the juice too, it’s up to you. You’ll need a bit of thickener (corn starch, flour, or whatever your preference). I used to drain the liquid and just use the peaches like I would a fresh peach, but eventually, I started draining the liquid into a pan, thickening it with corn starch and then tossing the peaches back in. Saves more flavor that way. Then I just pour it all into a pie pan.
Can you get botulism from canning peaches easily?
Not if you use the safe canning procedures outlined in this post.
I just got a bog ole box of peaches, thanks for the great information!
I just got a bog ole box of peaches, thanks for the great information!
Thank you for this thoroughly detailed post! Now I know why my first ever batch of canned peaches appeared to float in a jar full of liquid. No more raw pack for me!
Awesome! I’m so glad it helped solve your canning issue!
What does “raw packing” mean
Raw packing simply means putting your raw fruit into the canning jar. You then boil your canning liquid and pour it over top of the raw fruit as opposed to hot pack where you are actually cooking your fruit in the canning liquid for a short time prior to filling the jars.
I tried raw packing for the first time this year per my question and response from the administrator. I opened my first jar this morning and am very pleased with the results. The liquid I put in the jars was mostly just water with just a bit of the “juice” made from natural juices as I sliced them with “Fresh Fruit” sprinkled during preparation.
Thank you
You’re very welcome. So glad they turned out well for you.
New at this so I’m reading a lot
Good! Hope you found what you’re looking for, let me know if you have questions.