Hi - linked the current approved directions below just in case you haven't seen them. ;)

Honestly, I have never heard of pre-soaking them in just salt water - pickles yes, peaches, no. Salt and vinegar solution is mentioned in some recipes I know. Chemically, I can't really see how just salt it would prevent browning and I would think it would surely affect the taste but there is no safety issue that I know of.

Fruit Fresh, ascorbic acid, lemon juice all do well at preventing browning. We prefer the Fruit Fresh.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP - How to can peaches

Hello all,

I'm just getting back into canning & was wondering if the folks here prefer hot pack or cold pack for peaches.

I expect to be getting a beautiful case of fruit next week & would like to can them. My mom & I did peaches once when I was a kid but haven't done them since & can't remember which we used.

Thanks

seasyde - Please see these previous discussions on hot pack vs. cold pack of peaches. They will answer your questions.

Which is better for peaches?

Canning peaches - raw pack?

Thanks.

Dave

Salty peaches- UCK! Fruit Fresh or the common Ascorbic acid is the best thing to add to any fruits that tend to darken and turn brown. Its oxidation and can also affect flavor. I just saw jars of Fruit Fresh at K-Mart, amoung a few other canning supplies

digdirt - Thanks for the heads up on raw vs. hot pack.

Bonnie, I bet your getting memories mixed up. Your Mom probably used some sort of fruit fresh and as a young person you might have thought it was a salt bath.

No, I don't think she is. It's an old time method for keeping fruit from turning brown. I don't use it, but have heard of it and also still see it recommended on cooking sites occasionally. I don't know if it's effective or not. It may be. Of course I'd think the fruit would then be drained and probably rinsed. The amount of salt would be negligible to the taste buds, and may even improve the taste.

My mother was a stickler when she canned, and did use things like fruit fresh, but my MIL had an enormous quantity of goods to can for a family of eight on the farm, and frankly could not afford things like pectin and ascorbic acid. She got the job done, however. I can see her using salt to keep things from browning, or at least attempting to.

Thanks everyone for the replies.

Dave - I think it must've been vinegar & salt. I remember tasting them and thinking vinegar. Thanks.

Calliope - you're right, don't think I ever heard of Fruit Fresh until I was grown. There was no salty taste after they were canned - they were very good.

Thanks again everyone.

Thank you, pepfun1 - was beginning to think I was crazy to have written salt. There were a lot of different ways of doing things back then.

Can you use lemon juice to prevent browning of the peaches if you can't find ascorbic acid anywhere? Thank you if you know.

You can use lemon juice to slow (not prevent) the browning but it isn't as effective in my experience. Can't find Fruit Fresh? Our stores have it in the produce, the canning, and the spices section so be sure to check all 3 places.

Dave

You might want to check into American Spice. I really like their Vegetable and Fruit Whitener Powder (and their pickling spice). The powder is a whole lot cheaper than Fruit Fresh and if you have other things you need to buy you can easily recoup the cost of shipping. (Or put in a joint order with a friend.)

I find the Whitener Powder very effective, even using much smaller proportions than recommended. Cheaper than Fruit Fresh and I think it works better. What more can you ask?

If you prefer, enter the term as a search. I know there are other bulk suppliers out there who also sell it, so you don't have to buy from this company.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Vegetable and Fruit Whitener

Thanks everyone for your insights---my cousin looking high and low for ascorbic acid--funny how different items from different parts of the country can be a problem to obtain at different times of the year. We have lots of lemon juice here-
no ascorbic acid.(!)

daisy, I've used lemon juice and had good results. It's also an acid, works exactly the same way, just isn't as strong as the powdered citric acid.

Sprinkle it on them directly at full-strenght and toss to be sure they all get coated, or mix with cold water and drop them in it as you cut them. (I put in probably a good half-cup in a big bowl of water.)

Good luck, and go grab that lemon juice while it's available!

Zabby

I've always used lemon juice when canning, and it works just fine. I've also used salt to prevent browning for things like apples and pears if I wanted to cut them long before serving (as in fruit trays), and it works fine too. The water doesn't have to be so salty that it makes the fruit taste salty. A very light salting actually brings out the sweetness...many people salt their watermelon for that reason.

I imagine that the reason that using salt to prevent browning in peaches meant for canning does not result in salty peaches is that the salt would draw a certain amount of water from the peaches, which would be replaced during the canning process as the slightly "dehydrated" peaches "re-hydrated" in the syrup.

I do have another question to ask about canning peaches. I hadn't canned any for several years, and couldn't remember if I used the hot pack method or the cold pack method. So, I did half of them by each. This year, for the first time, I ended up with floating peaches! I'm pretty careful about packing them well, but in both batches I've got enough room that the top peaches are poking out of the syrup a little bit.

I have been turning them over every couple of days to try and prevent discoloration. Do I have to do this until we eat them or is it unnecessary? Also, this was the first time I had trouble with the skins not all slipping right off after being blanched. Many of them I had to peel with a vegetable parer even after blanching.

The peaches were from several different trees (different varieties), and some were more ripe than others.

rachelellen,

I find the skins don't come off easily if the peaches aren't really ripe, or at least reasonably soft (once they're picked I don't know if they technically "ripen" any further but they do soften and get easier to peel and juicier to eat).

Don't know if your poking-out peaches will discolour, but I don't think they'll be dangerous. I've had pears floating in spiced white wine that protruded from the syrup and they stayed white (and tasty!).

So, which did you like better, the hot pack or raw pack?

Zabby

I've used lemon juice, too, but lemon juice is getting rare around here this year. Shortage of lemons, you know. I used canning acid last night and could tell it worked a lot better for browning. Raw packign fruit will produce jars with shrunken fruit and lots of dead space at the top. Hot pack practically eliminates that.

@pepfun1 I know you wrote this 13 years ago but do you happen to know what the ratio of salt to water was?

Did you know that citric acid is sometimes called "sour salt"? May that is the "salt" that some have used. Just a thought.