Canning Peach Slices

When I stopped in at the local farmer's market this week I found that the local farms were carrying some delicious fresh ripe peaches.  I wasn't planning on getting any more than I could eat for the next week, but I came across a flat of peaches that were so large and beautiful that I couldn't pass up the opportunity to save some of this warm summer flavor for the cold evenings of winter so I took it home.

I decided to save enough to eat fresh all week, so I picked out some that could stand to ripen a few more days, then got to work on preparing the rest for canning.  These peaches were the first freestone peaches of the season and that made them ideal for canning.  Free stone just means that the flesh of the peach doesn't stick to the pit very well so they tend to be easier to cut apart for canning.  One by one I blanched and peeled the peaches and then sliced them up into a lemon juice solution to prevent browning.  I decided to hot process this batch of peaches so once I got the syrup solution up to a boil I added peach slices to the syrup to let them warm up for a few minutes before I added them to the jars.  Each jar was topped off with the syrup and then sealed and put back into the water bath canner.

After boiling in the water bath for 35 minutes I let the canner cool down, then removed the jars one by one to cool on the table.  I ended up with seven pints of peach slices to add to my winter stores.  I will probably do another flat of peaches before the summer is over, but right now I am just trying to enjoy them as much as I can while they are still fresh.