How to Freeze Peaches

Summer time brings peaches and nectarines by the barrel.  Prices on these fruits are falling and now is the perfect time to freeze some delicious summer fruits to enjoy in the dreary winter months.  While I was in college I helped my grandma and aunt “put up” peaches from a local orchard in Oregon.  Living in Georgia, the peach state, I am not quite sure where the orchards are.  Our local Whole Foods had peaches for 49¢/lb or $11.21/box last week so I bought two boxes and turned them in to a bunch of frozen deliciousness!  Here are step by step instructions on a simple way to freeze peaches.  The only thing you are likely to not have on hand is the Fresh Fruit.  Look for it near the canning supplies at your local grocery store.

Supplies:
Peaches/Nectarines
Pot to boil water
Large bowl with ice
Slotted Spoon
Cutting Board
Knife
Garbage Bowl/Garbage Can
Ziploc Bags (freezer variety)
Fresh Fruit (to prevent browning)

Step 1: Bring a pot of water to a boil.

Step 2: Wash your fruit as your normally would while you are waiting for your water to warm up.

Step 3: Add your peaches to the boiling water for 30-45 seconds.  I made a big mistake when I thought “Oh, if I keep them in longer it will be easier to get the skin to peel off.”  Wrong – that just makes for very mushy peaches.

Step 4: Retrieve your peaches from the water using a slotted spoon and put them in an ice bath for a few minutes

Step 5: Peel the skin off your peaches.  I was able to peel the skins off the firm peaches without the use of a knife, but it was much faster to use a knife on the mushy (over-boiled) peaches.

Step 6: Slice the peaches!  Cut off any brown pits and mushy areas.  Dispose of the pitt.

Step 7: Prevent browning.  Use Fresh Fruit to prevent your fruit from browning when exposed to air.  It is perfectly safe to use and contains 4 ingredients: Dextrose, Absorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Citric Acid, Silicon Dioxide (anti-caking).  You can also use a bit of lemon juice.  I didn’t trust myself that much and figured I would have lemony peaches if I went that route.  The Fresh Fruit cost less than $4 at Kroger.

Step 8: Fill your bags.  Be sure to squish all of the air out.  If you would like your fruit to be sweet you can make a sweetener solution out of sugar and water to add before filling your bags.

Step 9: Freeze!

I took a gamble when I froze the peaches.  I put foil on a few cookie sheets and placed sliced peaches on the foil to freeze.  I was not sure if the peaches would have terrible freezer burn.  I was pleased to find out that my experiment worked and the peaches did not burn.  We are huge fans of frozen fruit at my house and those bowls will not last long.  It was fun to peel the massive peach conglomeration from the foil.

Overall I froze 16 bags and three bowls full of peaches.  I had a lot of peach juice and two bowls of mush that I was going to turn in to jam.  I guess I need to look in to doing that!  It took me 3 hours to do this and I would definitely do it again.  There is nothing better than homemade frozen peaches in the middle of winter.

If you are new to freezing fruit and want to start with something simpler you could start with freezing grapes.