While I could can my peaches, it is easier to freeze them. Here is how I do it. . .
You will need a pot, bowl, strainer, spoon with holes, cutting board, knife, cookie sheets, spatula, freezer, containers for the freezer, peaches, lemon juice and water. Also, you will need some free time. This year the peaches ripened when we had family visiting so it was a bit crazy! Our peaches ripen usually the 2nd or 3rd week of July.
Here are the steps to storing peaches in the freezer:
1 ) Gently slice an “X” on the bottom of the peaches.
2) Put the peaches in the boiling water on the stove for a few minutes until the skin starts loosening around the “X”.
3) Scoop out the peaches and dunk them in a bowl with ice so they cool down.
4) Peel off the skins, slice the peaches and discard the pit. You can keep the skins on them if you want, but I still would encourage you to slice them and get rid of the pit!
5) If you would like to freeze the peaches for a long time, you may want to consider bathing them in lemon juice and water with a ratio of 1 to 4. This won’t affect the taste but will help keep the peaches from turning brown. I did not do this step this year. I will let you know how it goes. They are holding their peach color.
6) Arrange the peaches on a cookie sheet and individually freeze the peach slices.
7) Use your spatula to gently remove the peaches and put them in a freezer container. I vacuum seal them with my FoodSaver.
I usually don’t defrost the peaches. I like to dice them while frozen or slightly thawed and add them to vanilla yogurt and vanilla granola and almonds – sooo yummy. Some folks use the frozen peaches for smoothies or making desserts. There are a lot of options!
