Preserving peaches?

[cristeen]

We just don't eat enough jam to justify jamming everything we have excess of... I made plum jam this week and cherry jam a few weeks ago - I have apricot/pineapple jam ready to go and i already promised someone I'd make strawberry. That's more than enough to get us through the year.

So other than jam, what can I do with this flat of peaches to make them last?

[Llyra]

I just finished putting up 30 pounds of peaches yesterday... So tired of peeling peaches...

You can can them in syrup or juice. Admittedly, it's a pain in the neck to peel and pit them, but the result is yummy.

You can also peel and pit, slice, dip them in lemon juice, dust them with sugar, and freeze them. The lemon juice keeps them from browning, and the sugar protects the texture so they don't go mushy when you thaw them.

You can make pie filling and freeze or can that.

[organicmidwestmama]

last year i had a half-flat i split ith my folks and i just peeled them, cut them and froze them in ziplock baggies. they didnt need sugar or lemon juice and didnt turn bron. they ere great for baking pies, smoothies, crisps ect.

[mamadelbosque]

You can cut them up and freeze them on cookie sheets (I cut them in half, pull the pit out and then slice them - never botherd to peel!!) - and then throw them into smoothies, or make them into pies or more jam through the year. Or you can slice them thin (like 1cm) and dry them - they are DELICIOUS!!! My DS (28 months) eats them like their candy - seriously, if he sees the jar he becomes obsessed!!

[Elecampane]

Pickle them! I haven't tried it yet but I'm going to as soon as I can get my hands on some good peaches.

[mommy2two babes]

Originally Posted by organicmidwestmama

last year i had a half-flat i split ith my folks and i just peeled them, cut them and froze them in ziplock baggies. they didnt need sugar or lemon juice and didnt turn bron. they ere great for baking pies, smoothies, crisps ect.

Yes I did this last year.
They are great fried up with a bit of butter and topped with vannila ice cream.:

[BetsyS]

I freeze them, and then we eat them half slushy for snacks, or I thaw them to make cobbler all year.

[kalisis]

I pit mine and then can them, with the skins on. I use them only for smoothies, no one actually eats them, so it's fine not to peel them. It totally cuts down on the work and makes it that much easier.

Yum! I love peaches.

[LemonPie]

I think jam makes a great gift, so you can always give some of it away at Christmas or whatever.

[painefaria]

We canned them last year and we are still eating them now. We used White Grape juice as the canning liquid. It was easy, our "first" canning experiment.

[noobmom]

Fruit leather! My son goes nuts over it. Here are some directions:

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/html/fs/fs232/

[lalemma]

I'm fascinated by the no-peel idea. I just blanched and peeled a bunch of peaches for crumble, and it got really old really fast.

[mamadelbosque]

Really, IME peeling most anything is optional... I canned 98 quarts and 18 pints of tomatoes last year and didn't bother to blanch them (which is how you usually remove the skin of tomatoes) - we just diced them up and packed them into jars! They turned out wonderful and it was SO much easier than trying to blanch them and remove all the skins!!!