Peaches in Syrup

Peaches might just be the easiest thing to put up.  On Wednesday I purchased one flat of peaches that consisted of 6 x 3 litre baskets.  They looked beautiful, freshly picked in the Niagra region by TR Jones Farm.

We use an extra light syrup for our peaches because we think the actual fruit is sweet enough.

RECIPE FOR EXTRA LIGHT SYRUP:

• 1 cup white sugar to 4 cups water
• bring to a boil stirring to dissolve sugar
• simmer to keep warm until adding it to the packed jars of peaches
• 4 batches will do 1 flat of peaches (a flat consisting of 6 x 3 litre baskets)
• Rum ~ 1 tbsp per 1 litre jar to be added at the end when you are jarring (optional)

Let’s get started…

1. Make your extra light syrup.
2. If you are doing a large quantity of peaches (1 flat or more) prepare two large bowls of lemon juice and water that you will place peaches in to prevent browning.  MIX: 1/4 cup of lemon concentrate to every 4 cups of water.
3. Blanch your peaches in a pot full of boiling water for 30 seconds.  The peaches that you put into your boiling water should be ripe but firm.  DO NOT use bruised fruit or seconds as this will make the removal of the skin very difficult! 
4. Place the peaches on a cookie sheet.  We found that it is better to put them on a cookie sheet than in a bowl because they continue to cook in  a bowl as you pile one on top of the other. 
5. Remove the skins (they should just melt away from the fruit). Cut in half and remove the pit from all peaches except 1.  You will want to place one peach with pit intact at the bottom of each jar.  This is what my mother always did and she swears that the years she did not do this the peaches were not as sweet or as firm.
6. Place the skinned cut peaches the bowl of lemon juice and water to cover. This will prevent them from browning.
7. Placing the peach with its’ pit ~ pit side down pack each jar until full leaving 1/2″ headspace.  Remember peaches will float up so pack the jars as tightly as you can without damaging or bruising fruit.
8. Add hot syrup and 1 tbsp of rum per 1 litre jar to 1/2″ headspace. Note: Rum is optional and can be added to all of the jars or just a few.
9. Remove all air bubbles and top up liquid to 1/2″ headspace. Note: peaches are one of the fruits that contain a lot of extra air so removing as many bubbles as you can is important.  The air contained in the peaches will cause some siphoning and although we raw pack ~ hot packing may be your preferred choice.  We use the raw pack method because we do not want our peaches to be too soft. 
10. Wipe rims and place your sterilized snaps and rings on each jar.
11. Process in a hot water bath.  Bring to a full rolling boil and process for 10 minutes.
12. After 10 minutes remove lid and turn off heat leaving the jars in the hot water bath to cool for 5 minutes before removing.  This important step will help to reduce the amount of siphoning because it allows the liquid to cool down more gradually.
13. Wait for the pop…they’ve SEALED.  Label and celebrate another success story!

We did have a little help from our apprentice….

Put up Total:

• 54 x 1 L wide mouth jars
• 1 x 500mL wide mouth jar

MmmmmMmmmmGOOD!!!