Nothing beats the taste of homemade. This easy step by step tutorial for canning peaches will have you preserving this summertime favorite in no time.

My husband and children love peaches. I used to, but something about canned peaches at the store makes them taste funny to me… I can’t tell you exactly what it is, but I stopped eating canned peaches years ago because of it. Needless to say, I was really hesitant to can my own home-canned peaches but figured the rest of the family would devour them if I didn’t care for them.

Canning peaches is really straightforward and a perfect beginner recipe for using a water bath canner. You only need water, sugar, peaches, jars and lids, and a pot deep enough to cover the jars with a couple inches of water that has a lid.

Which peaches to use for canning

Any yellow peach variety is safe to can. While yellow-fleshed freestone peaches are the best peaches to use because they come apart easily. That said, you can use clingstone peaches if you choose. Just keep in mind, if you use a clingstone variety, be prepared to lose a decent amount of fruit by removing the pits.

While you can use any yellow peach variety, white-fleshed peaches are not considered safe to can at home. The reason is that the pH may not be 4.6 or below in the white peaches, meaning the acidity isn’t high enough to can in a water bath canner.

If you have a bumper crop of white fleshed peaches, the only approved method to preserve these is going to be by freezing. While it’s probably safe to add a little lemon juice or pressure can them, there aren’t any tested recipes so I can’t give you specifics. Just know that you can use yellow peaches and can them up to your heart’s desire.

Use ripe peaches for canning. They will feel firm with little give, but the green from the stem area will be gone.

Syrup for Canning Peaches

One of my favorite parts about home canning fruit is being able to choose how much sugar I add to it. Peaches are pretty sweet, and I don’t want to ruin the flavor with too much sugar, or too little for that matter.

You can safely can fresh peaches in plain water all the way to the heaviest syrup you can make. However, plain water will result in washing out the flavor and heavy syrup will make peach flavored sugar… if you’re lucky.

• Very light syrup – This will result in the most natural flavor. For a 9 pint load you’ll want to use 3/4 cups of sugar and 6-1/2 cups of water. For a 7 quart canner load you’ll mix 1-1/4 cups of sugar to 10-1/2 cups of water.
• Light syrup (my preferred sugar content) – . This will still leave plenty of natural peach flavor with a little added sweetness that isn’t overwhelming. For a 9 pint canner load combine 1-1/2 cups of sugar with 5-3/4 cups of water. For a 7 quart canner load mix 2-1/4 cups of sugar with 9 cups of water.
• Medium syrup – if you want a lot of added sweetness… this ratio will probably best suit your tastebuds. For a 9 pint canner load mix together 2-1/4 cups of sugar and 5-1/4 cups of water. For a 7 quart canner load combine 3-3/4 cups of sugar with 8-1/4 cups of water.
• Juice – You can utilize commercially-purchased juice to can in as opposed to plain water or sugar syrup. The most common choices for canning are apple juice, white grape juice, and pineapple juice. It is said that white grape juice will have the least impact on the flavor of the final product. Most people prefer unsweetened fruit juice, though it is safe to use sweetened fruit juice. You can dilute it with water if you choose as well.
• Honey or maple syrup – you don’t have to use refined sugar to make your syrup. In fact, peaches canned in honey syrup are very delicious. If you want to use honey or maple syrup you’ll want to use about 2/3rds the amount of honey or syrup as you would if you were using sugar so adjust the totals above accordingly if you want to can using honey or maple syrup.

Canning Peaches

Canning peaches at home is really easy and a great beginner recipe. The following steps will show you how to can peaches with the measurements found in the recipe card below.

Prepare jars and canner

Begin by washing jars and lids in hot, soapy water. Fill the jars with water, place them in a water bath canner, and fill it with water. Place over medium-high heat and begin heating to 180°F while you prepare the recipe.

Peel and slice peaches

You’ll have to remove the fuzzy skins from the peach and the pits before packing them in jars. To do this, bring a pot of water to a boil. Score the bottoms of the peaches with a shallow x and place them in the pot of boiling water for 1-2 minutes to loosen the skin.

After, immediately remove them from the boiling water and plunge them into a waiting cold water with ice cubes to stop the cooking process. The skins should be loose enough to peel them off. You can halve them, remove the pit, and can them in peach halves, you can slice them so they’re ready for cobbler or snacking without being too cumbersome. You can also fit more in the jar.

Prepare the syrup and heat peaches

Prepare the syrup of your liking. I prefer making light syrup by mixing together 2 cups of sugar and 6 cups of water in a large saucepan and bringing it to a boil over medium heat. Next, add the peaches to the boiling syrup and bring it back to a boil. Cook the peaches in the syrup for 2 minutes after bringing the mixture back to a boil.

Pack the jars

Carefully ladle the hot peaches into the hot jars, topping them with syrup and leaving a half inch inch of headspace at the top of the jar. Using an air bubble remover, remove any air bubbles and adjust for proper headspace if necessary.

Using a clean towel dipped in vinegar, wipe the rim of the jar to remove any sticky residue.

Center lids on the jars, finger tighten rings and place prepared jars back inside the canner.

Process the jars

Make sure the canning jars are covered by at least 1″ of water, place the lid on the canner and bring the water to a boil. Process pint jars for 20 minutes and quart jars for 25 minutes, adjusting processing time for altitude if necessary.

After processing, turn off the heat and remove the lid from the canner. Allow the jars to sit for five minutes before carefully removing to a towel-lined counter.

Leave jars undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours before checking for proper seals. Remove rings from properly sealed jars of peaches and store them in a cool, dark, and dry place for up to 18 months.

How to can peaches using the raw pack method

I don’t recommend the raw pack method for peaches because the final product shrinks so much during the processing, you wind up with mostly syrup and juice and not a lot of peach. So, the above method is the hot pack method. However, you can safely raw pack peaches.

If you choose to raw pack, you’ll remove the skins, slice and remove the pits and pack tightly into jars. Pour hot syrup over the peaches, remove the air bubbles, adjust for the proper 1/2 inch of headspace, and process quarts for 30 minutes and pints for 25 minutes.