Pick your Peaches for a Peck of Summer Flavor

During the summer heat, nothing is more refreshing than indulging in a succulent, juicy peach.  Eat’em in hand fresh from the tree, sliced over cereal or waffles, layered with whipped cream or yogurt in shortcake, whirled into a peach shake, stirred into vanilla ice cream, or baked into fresh cobbler or pie.  Extras can be canned, frozen, or turned into jam for later enjoyment.

Selection. Look for peaches that are firm to slightly soft and free from bruises with a fresh peach fragrance. Check for a creamy or golden undertone, often called "ground color." The rosy "blush" on a peach is not a good indicator of ripeness and differs from one variety to the next. On yellow-fleshed varieties, the undercolor changes from green to light green to yellow. On white-fleshed varieties, the undercolor changes from green to light green to ivory. For maximum flavor, pick peaches when all green color is gone around the stem end.
Unlike apples and pears, which easily ripen off the tree, peaches never improve in sugar content (or ripening ability) after harvest. Therefore, for greater flavor, allow peaches to ripen on the tree. Peaches that are picked green may develop more juice, but they will not become sweeter. Missouri peaches are available tree-ripened and sweet.
Avoid peaches with a green ground color as they lack flavor and usually shrivel and become tough rather than ripen.
Peaches are classified either as clingstone or freestone according to how difficult it is to remove the pit. 
Choose:

• Slightly underripe peaches for pickling

• Firm-ripe peaches for canning and drying

• Fully ripe peaches for freezing or eating fresh

• Very ripe peaches without any signs of mold or rot, for making sweet spreads

Storage. Firm ripe peaches, with good ground color will become fully ripe and soft in three to four days when kept at room temperature in a loosely closed bag or ripening bowl. Peaches are ready to eat when they give to gentle palm pressure. Peaches bruise easily if squeezed. Store fully ripe peaches in the refrigerator, and for best peachy taste, serve fragrant ripe peaches at room
temperature.

Peeling. If a recipe calls for peeled peaches, dip peaches into boiling water for about 30 seconds, then Plunge them immediately into iced water. The skins will slip right off. Fresh peaches darken quickly when exposed to air. Powdered ascorbic acid (vitamin C) sprinkled on peaches or mixed with syrup keeps them bright and fresh looking for recipes or preserving.

Freezing peaches
Peach halves or slices packed with sugar or in sweetened syrup remain plumper and firmer than peaches packed without sugar.  Store in the freezer at 0ºF for eight to twelve months.

One bushel (48 pounds) of peaches yields 32 to 48 pints for freezing.

Select well-ripened fruit and handle carefully to avoid bruising. Sort, wash and peel.

Syrup pack. Use 40 percent syrup (2 ¾ cup sugar per 4 cups water). For a better quality product, add ½ teaspoon (1500 mg) ascorbic acid per quart of syrup. Put peaches directly into cold syrup in container – starting with ½ cup syrup to a pint container. Press fruit down and add syrup to cover, leaving
1 to 1½ inches headspace. Place a small piece of crumpled water-resistant paper on top to hold fruit down. Seal and freeze.

Sugar pack. To each quart (1⅓ pounds) of prepared fruit add 2/3 cup sugar and mix well. Stir gently until sugar is dissolved or let stand for 15 minutes. To retard darkening, sprinkle ascorbic acid dissolved in water over the peaches before adding sugar. Use ¼ teaspoon (750 mg) ascorbic acid in 3 tablespoons cold water to each quart of fruit. Pack into containers, leaving ½-inch headspace. Seal and freeze.

Canning peaches
Use high-quality, firm-ripe peaches without any mold or signs of decay for canning. For a safe home-canned product, peaches must be processed in a boiling-water bath. Open kettle canning is not safe for any product and is not recommended.

Hot packing is recommended for all fruits because it is safer and makes fruit easier to pack in jars. Hot packed peaches are less likely to float than peaches canned by the raw-pack method.

It is safe to can peaches without sugar either in juice or water. Peaches canned in light or medium syrup are firmer and have better color and flavor, however.

Artificial sweeteners tend to turn bitter from the heat used in canning. If you are watching calories, it's better to can peaches in water or juice, and add artificial sweetener before serving. 

Directions for canning peaches can be found at The National Center for Food Preservation http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_02/peach_ sliced.html

  Or in GH1455, Quality for Keeps: Food Preservation - Fruitful Canning http://extension.missouri.edu/xplor/hesguide/foodnut/gh1455.htm

Peaches, halved or sliced
Quantity. For each 7-quart canner load, you need an
average of 17½ pounds of fresh peaches. For each 9-pint canner load, you need an average of 11 pounds of fresh peaches. A bushel weighs 48 pounds and yields 16 quarts to 24 quarts — an average of 2½ pounds per quart.

Quality. Choose ripe, mature fruit of ideal quality for eating fresh or cooking.

Procedure. Dip fruit in boiling water for 30 seconds to 60 seconds until skins loosen. Dip quickly in cold water and slip off skins. Cut in half and remove pits. Slice if desired. To prevent darkening, slice peaches into a mixture of water and ascorbic acid (use directions at beginning). Prepare and boil a very light, light or medium syrup, or pack peaches in water, apple juice or white grape juice. Raw packs make poor-quality peaches.

Place drained fruit and syrup, water or juice in a large saucepan and bring to boil. Fill jars with hot fruit and cooking liquid; leave ½-inch headspace. Place halves in layers, cut side down. Adjust lids and process as directed in table below.

Recommended processing times in a boiling-water canner

Product	Style of pack	Jar size	Processing time at 0-1,000 feet	Processing time at 1,001-3,000 feet
Peaches. halved or slices	Hot	Pint Quarts	20 minutes 25 minutes	25 minutes 30 minutes

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Freeze Garlic for Later Use
Question & Answers