1 tsp. ascorbic acid powder per gallon of water to prevent darkening. Rinse fruit well before processing. I find otherwise the acid leaves a bitter tang.

I wouldn't leave them to soak overnight. You'll lose flavor and nutrients and the texture will suffer (softening).

You can slice your peaches; the processing time remains the same. Just be sure you don't pack the jars too tight.

You may use a lighter syrup. It's not a safety issue. However, reducing the sugar will affect the peaches' keeping qualities. They will soften more quickly on the shelf and not be as flavorful over the long-term. Again, though, that's quality, not safety.

Carol

Thanks Carol! :)

msfuzz,

You are going to LOVE having those cans of peaches to open in the winter! It's like a little jar of sunshine.

I just did a bunch of peaches today myself. I had a lot of the same questions when I started canning fruit some years ago!

I agree with all Carol's answers. My BBB actually does say "slice if desired" or something like that, though it's easy to miss. The assumption seems to be you'll use halves. But the peaches I had were HUGE, and I like to can some of them in half-pint jars (for using as part of a fruit salad). I think I would have fit only half of one peach in a jar! ;-) So, I definitely slice. Usually I do sixths, but these peaches were so big I did them in eighths.

Like you, I wanted to use not too sugary of a syrup. I have tried peaches with the "ultra light" syrup and also have tried pears in juice. I admit I was disappointed. What I wanted was to preserve the original peach flavour without adding much sweetness; but I found that with the very low-sugar syrups there was definitely a much greater loss of peach flavour.

I've experimented a bit and found that, for me, the "light syrup" is the way to go---less sugary than the medium or heavy, but preserves more peach flavour than the ultra light or extra light. Of course flavour is a personal thing, and you might find a different answer! But if you are an experimenter, you might want to try a few jars in a slightly heavier syrup and compare them to see what you think.

Oh, and a final note---don't be surprised if the peaches float, leaving an inch or more of empty syrup on the bottom of the jar. They do that. Apparently it's not a safety problem. And they'll taste fine when you open them.

Have fun, and good luck!

Zabby

I agree that anything less sugary than the light syrup is a disappointment when opened.

Dave

I am so thankful for the advice, Zabby & Dave! I do believe I'll be using the light syrup. :) I'll let y'all know how it goes. The peaches were my husband's idea. This is my first year doing any major canning, and after all the jams & the pickles turned out yummy, all of a sudden my husband had all sorts of suggestions! Applesauce is up next when apples come into season in a couple of weeks. :) Thanks again!

msfuzz,

Same schedule up here! There are some nice early apples out, and pears, but they'll be around for two more months. The peaches will be gone soon so gotta get as many of them put up as I can. Eventually it'll be applesauce-o-rama.

I do like to put up some mixed peaches and pears when the season overlaps; I might try to do some next weekend.

I think your husband (and you) will be really pleased with the home-canned applesauce. It's SO much nicer than commercial --- I never used to bother to buy applesauce at all, but now that I make it we have it once or twice a week at breakfast in the winter alongside a slice of zucchini bread or a muffin, and it's just a burst of flavour.

I have told a bunch of times already on this forum a story about some friends who visited overnight with a toddler and they asked if we had any fresh fruit to give him at breakfast; we didn't, having just gotten back into town ourselves, but I offered applesauce. They said, sure, he'll usually eat a few spoonfuls of applesauce, and then their jaws hit the floor in amazement when he ate most of a jar, grinning the whole while.

Good luck with all the fall fruit, and keep us posted on your accomplishments.

Zabby

I completely agree on using the light syrup as well. I've canned peaches for years and have tried using less sugar and it really isn't as good. I also wanted to share a tip that you may find useful if you do more than 18 lbs. in the future. I do 160 lbs. every summer and have found that clean up, because of the syrup and volume, goes a lot smoother if I tinfoil the stove top first and overlap it right onto the counter! That way no syrup drips down between the stove and no syrup gets baked on to the stove top! Enjoy!!

angelacan,

Wow, that sounds like a much better way to get a clean stove than to rely on water spilling out of an overfilled canner! Thanx! ;-)

Z

I don't really know the "definitions" of light vs medium vs ultra light syrup. But I'm also one who doesn't like to add a lot of sugar to my fruit. I make my syrup as a ratio of 6 parts water to 1 part sugar. A canner load of 7 quarts of sliced peaches - I make up 3 cups of water and 1/2 cup of sugar. Which means I have slightly more than a Tablespoon of sugar per quart jar.

I LOVE the cleanup idea, Angelacan!!! I will definately keep that in mind. Since this is my first year doing canning, I'm starting off slow until I really know what I'm doing. If it goes well, and I get a better idea for how much we eat, then I can plan ahead for how much to do next year.

Thanks for the encouragement on the applesauce, Zabby. I just got done reading the other thread on applesauce, so I'm already getting together some good ideas. Apparently, Colorado has some of the best apples in the nation, so I'll be ready to take advantage!

Pixie Lou, according to the BBB, light syrup is 2 1/4c sugar to 5 1/4c water. So that ratio is....Something silly. 1: 2 1/3 or 3:7 or something. I dunno. Silly math!! Just curious...Apx how many (or how much in weight) peaches does it take for you to do that one canner load?

Here are all the various levels of syrup recipes. Online at NCHFP.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Syrups for Canning Fruit

I don't know the weight. It's 8 peaches per quart - so 56 peaches. If I get a large peach, I balance it out by picking a smaller peach.

I've gone thru 80 lbs of peaches this year, and pretty much I have found that 2 peaches make a cup.

My last 20 lb. box - I got 1 load of sliced peaches in quarts (56 peaches), 1 load of diced peaches in pints (4 peaches per pint, so 28 peaches), I made 1 batch of peach salsa (needed 10 cups of peaches, so 20 peaches), and we probably kept about 20 peaches out on the counter to eat. You can try the math on that one!

Now that I've figured out how much "sugar" goes into my quarts of peaches, I'm thinking of forgetting making the syrup - just raw pack my sliced peaches, put a heaping Tablespoon of sugar in the jar, and then top off with boiling water. But peach season is done in my neck of the woods, so it will have to wait until next summer.

Thanks, Pixie! That helps immensely! I'll be curious how your method works next year. :D

I've also tried the "adding sugar to the jar" technique instead of making the syrup!! I added 1/4 cup to each quart just to see what would happen! In most of the jars the sugar just settled at the bottom which surprised me because I added boiling water and also water bathed them of course! However after some time on the shelves the sugar is dissolved but they don't look quite as nice (clear maybe?) as the ones using syrup and I don't think they'll keep their texture or color as long as the other ones. I don't think I'd do it again but I would like to hear how it goes for you!

Interesting! I have never tried raw pack; the BBB suggests that raw packing peaches doesn't produce as high-quality of a product, and since they turned out to be right about the too-light syrups (all in my own personal opinion, of course!), I decided to trust them. But it sure would be less trouble --- and mess!

mrsfuzz, the MSU site (which I find handy for looking stuff up quickly) says says 11 pounds will do a "canner load of 9 pints." Now, I fit 10 or 11 pints in my canner, since I don't use the rack it came with but a large, flat cake-cooling rack on the bottom.

I've also found, when I canned in halves or quarters, that I got about two peaches in a one-cup jar. (Perfect for adding to a sliced banana and a clementine or two to make a fruit salad to go with our breakfast in winter.)

Z, starting to enjoy peeking into her pantry and seeing all those filled jars on the shelves....

Here is a link that might be useful: MSU preserving food safely site

Well, they're done! I started with 41 largish peaches, and ended up with 10 pints, plus about 2 quart ziploc bags left over for the freezer. I peeled them with my OXO as mentioned in another thread, which went pretty well. I raw packed using light syrup (made a double batch, and shouldn't have), and they look awesome. I'll let you know in a couple of weeks how they taste! Thanks again everyone for your help, knowledge, and advice.