Canned Peaches and Peach Butter

I've finally joined the canning club! For Christmas, I received some canning gear, including a water bath canner (a large pot with wire rack). Since we've arrived in the summer bounty season, I thought I'd start with peaches. Here's the half bushel of peaches I purchased from the peach/apple seller at the farmer's market.

Some of the peaches had black spots on the skin, but the peach flesh was not affected. Here's my end product: 4 quarts, 7 pints, and 3 8-oz. peach butters. I'm being patient and have not tried anything yet. How can peaches and sugar go wrong?

I used canning instructions and recipes from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.

Light Syrup
syrup yield: 6 cups (1.5 L)

2 1/4 cups (550 mL) granulated sugar
5 1/4 cups (1.3 L) water

In a stainless steel saucepan, combine sugar and water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Reduce heat to low and keep warm until needed, taking care not to boil the syrup down.


Peaches in Syrup
Makes about eight pint (500 mL) jars or four quart (1 L) jars

8-12 lbs (3.6-5.5 kg) peaches, peeled, halved, pitted, treated to prevent browning and drained
1 batch hot syrup

Raw pack method:

1. Prepare canner, jars and lids.

2. Pack peaches, cavity side down and overlapping layers, into hot jars to within a generous 1/2 inch (1 cm) of top of jar. Ladle hot syrup into jar to cover peaches, leaving 1/2 inch (1 cm) headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if necessary, by adding hot syrup. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.

3. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process pint (50 mL) jars for 25 minutes (30 minutes in my case) and quart (1 L) jars for 30 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.


Peach Butter
Makes about eight 8-oz (250mL) jars or four pint (500 mL) jars

4 1/2 lbs (2 kg) peaches, peeled, pitted and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup (125 mL) water
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
4 cups (1L) granulated sugar

1. In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine peaches, water and lemon zest and juice. Brint to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring occasionally, until peaches are soft, about 20 minutes.

2. Working in batches, transfer peach mixture to a food mill or a food processor fitted with a metal blade and puree just until a uniform texture is achieved. Do not liquefy. Measure 8 cups (2 L) of peach puree.

3. In a clean large stainless steel saucepan, combine peach puree and sugar. Stir until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens and holds its shape on a spoon.

4. Meanwhile, prepare canner, jars and lids.

5. Ladle hot butter into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch (0.5 cm) headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot butter. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.

6. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. (15 minutes in my case.) Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.