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My mom makes the most amazing fruit preserves. We enjoy her garden fruit all year long this way. This peach preserves recipe takes a couple days; a longer process than most of the peach preserve recipes I’ve seen online but its worth the wait. It’s not watery like most of the recipes that rush the process.
This isn’t speed dating. You’ll get to know your peaches over a couple days and and be rewarded with some mighty fine preserves. If you are thinking about Christmas already (as I am), you can make preserves now, slap a label on in December and give them away as gifts to neighbors, co-workers, nursing directors (wink, wink) – I guess this means I can’t eat all of them myself.
Ingredients for Peach Preserves:
11 lbs peaches, rinsed (about 8 lbs after peeling and pitting)
4 cups granulated sugar, or more added to taste
1/2 cup lemon juice (from 3-4 large lemons)
What you will need:
- 5-6 pint-sized jars with lids. I purchased them at Walmart.
- Large Stock Pot (20Qt+) with Rack (or purchase a canner)
- Jar lifter to safely transfer the jars
How to Make Peach Preserves / Peach Jam:
To blanch the peaches:
1. Fill 2/3 of a large soup pot with water. Bring to a boil. Add peaches for 30 -45 seconds, then remove with slotted spoon or this OXO strainer
2. Peel the skin (most of them peeled easily by hand, but there were a stubborn few that required a knife), cut the peaches into quarters and remove pits.
Cooking the Preserves:
1. Place all peeled peaches in a large soup pot and squeeze in lemon juice. Drizzle well with 2 cups sugar, toss and drizzle again with the remaining 1.5-2 cups so the sugar reaches all the peaches. Here’s where you need to use your judgement.
If your peaches are very sweet, you may only need 3 1/2 cups of sugar total. You can add more sugar to taste while its cooking, so don’t panic at this step. You’ll do great!
2. Let peaches sit at room temp with the sugar for about 30min -1 hour, or until sugar is dissolved.
3. Place the pot over the stove uncovered and bring to a light boil, stirring to prevent scorching. Make sure if you see a light boil to stir because the whole pot may not be boiling, just the center. If it stops boiling after you stir it, continue boiling.
Once the whole pot is at a light boil, simmer for 10 minutes and turn off the heat. Let the pot stand uncovered until it is just warm to the touch or reaches room temp.
4. As soon as it cools, repeat step 3. You will bring it to a light boil a total of 5 times. This is why it takes 2 days to make. It’s really easy though. Definitely not rocket science to bring a pot to a boil and give it a few stirs :D.
You can go to work and come home then return it to a boil; there’s no “set” time that you need to be reboiling it. If 2 days doesn’t work for you, by all means, take 3 days. Preserves have plenty of sugar so they won’t spoil at room temp if you leave it on the counter overnight. If you want the preserves to have an even thicker consistency, you can boil it 6 times if you wish.
(Note: the fifth time you boil, bring it to a boil over a little lower heat and stir a few extra times to prevent scorching. Also, it thickens more as it cools.)
5. The last time you bring it to a boil you will want to transfer it to sterilized jars while it’s boiling hot.
To sterilize the jars:
- To sterilize your clean jars: wash them and let them dry in the oven at 215 for about 20 min or until completely dry. Boil the lids 5 min.
2. Transfer your boiling hot preserves to the jars using a glass measuring cup and a funnel (least messy method) leaving about 1/2″ space.
3. Screw the lids on enough to keep a tight seal in place but don’t over-tighten them since air bubbles need to be able to escape.
4. Place packed cans into the canning pot and cover with 1-2 inches of water. Bring to a boil and process 15 minutes. Remove from the pot with jar lifter and leave at room temperature undisturbed for 12-24 hours. You may hear a pop when the jars fully seal. After 24 hours, check that the seal has formed by pushing down on the center of the lid – it should not move at all. If the seal does not form, refrigerate preserves and enjoy within 3 months.
Tada!! You’ll make it and think “hey that wasn’t so bad.” Well, that’s what I thought the first time I made them.
Current Canning Guidelines:
Recipe updated in 2019 to reflect new canning standards. Previously we used the oven method. You can get up to date on the most recent canning guidelines here. It’s a great resource to answer frequently asked canning questions.
Country Peach Preserves
Ingredients
Peach Preserves Ingredients:
- 11 lbs peaches, rinsed
- 4 cups granulated sugar, or more to taste
- 1/2 cup lemon juice, from 3-4 large lemons
What you will need:
- 5-6 pint-sized jars with lids
Instructions
To blanch the peaches:
- Fill 2/3 of a large soup pot with water. Bring to a boil. Add peaches for 30 -45 seconds, then remove with slotted spoon and drain the pot. Remove peaches immediately to a large bowl of cold water.
- Peel the skin, cut the peaches into quarters and remove pits.
Cooking the Preserves:
- Place all peeled peaches in a large soup pot and squeeze in lemon juice. Drizzle well with 2 cups sugar, toss and drizzle again with the remaining 1.5-2 cups so the sugar reaches all the peaches. If peaches are very sweet, you may only need 3 1/2 cups of sugar total. Add more sugar to taste while its cooking.
- Let peaches sit at room temp with the sugar for about 30 min -1 hour, or until sugar is dissolved.
- Place the pot over the stove uncovered and bring to a light boil, stirring to prevent scorching. Once the whole pot is at a light boil, simmer for 10 minutes and turn off the heat. Let the pot stand uncovered until it is just warm to the touch or reaches room temp.
- As soon as it cools, repeat step 3. You will bring it to a light boil a total of 5 times. Preserves have plenty of sugar so they won't spoil at room temp if you leave it on the counter overnight. If you want the preserves to have an even thicker consistency, you can boil it 6 times if you wish. (Note: the fifth time you boil, bring it to a boil over a little lower heat and stir a few extra times to prevent scorching. Also, it thickens more as it cools.)
- The last time you bring it to a boil you will want to transfer it to sterilized jars while it's boiling hot.
To sterilize the jars: wash them and let them dry in the oven at 215 for about 20 min or until completely dry. Boil the lids 5 min.
- Transfer your boiling hot preserves to the jars using a glass measuring cup and a funnel (least messy method) leaving about 1/2″ space.
- Screw the lids on enough to keep a tight seal in place but don't over-tighten them since air bubbles need to be able to escape.
- Place packed cans into the canning pot and cover with 1-2 inches of water. Bring to a boil and process 15 minutes. Remove from the pot with jar lifter and leave at room temperature undisturbed for 12-24 hours. You may hear a pop when the jars fully seal. After 24 hours, check that the seal has formed by pushing down on the center of the lid - it should not move at all. If the seal does not form, refrigerate preserves and enjoy within 3 months.
Filed Under
Signs of Spoiled Canned Food:
With any type of canning, we follow this advice: “When in doubt, throw it out”
Discard and do not eat or taste any canned food if you notice any of the following:
- the jar is leaking, bulging, or swollen
- the jar looks damaged, cracked, or abnormal
- the jar spurts foam or liquid upon opening
- the canned food is discolored, moldy, mushy, slimy, or smells bad
Can we double or triple this method? It sounds like that’s what Mike did and it worked out.
Hi Colin, yes that would be fine, but you would probably have best results using 2 or 3 pots respectively or it would take much longer to boil it down.
I am on boil #4 and it is not thickening, even when I wait overnight in between. I do have a very large pot, probably a double batch, and added 2 lemons. Do I need more lemon or just more boil repetition or longer periods of boiling? Appreciate the feedback. — virginia
Virginia, if you doubled the recipe and put in one pot, you will have less surface area for the liquid to evaporate. I would add more boil repetitions to get it thicker.
Help!! I just flipped my jars and they leaked! I fingertip tightened until they wouldn’t tighten anymore, before put in oven. Are they going to be ok? Any suggestions?
Paula, it sounds like they could have been tighten them a little more. You can still tighten them and flip up side down to create a seal. When ready to enjoy the preserves, make sure the lid pops is noticeably sealed when you open it. This is what I would do but if you are really concerned, store them in the refrigerator.
Or take the lids off, clean the rims and seals, tighten a little more and try again with the same seals which, since they didn’t seal the first time should be fine.
I always water bath my jams and almost never make jelly.
Question: Can I use Fruit-Fresh in place of the lemon? It’s a produce protector to help fruit from browning. I typically use it with my apples & pears for canning. Just wondering if the lemon was more for flavor?
Hi Liz, the lemon was for flavor and it ads acidity for preservation so I’m not sure how it would work without it. We’ve always added the lemon.
I added one pineapple which I pulsed in the food processor to chop it up. Delicious combo with the peaches. I really like this recipe using no pectin. I love the purity of it.
Thank you Holly, I’m glad you liked the recipe 😀.
Have you used this slow method with any other fruit?
I’ve done it with plums with excellent results. Here is the tutorial.
Hi there, my sister and I are excited about canning peach preserves using your recipe. One question we have is, can we slice or dice the peaches instead of just quartering them before cooking? We prefer a preserve that has smaller pieces.
Hi Wendy, yes you can dice the peaches instead 🙂
After peeling gand depitting 13 pounds of peaches I came up with 6.5 pounds of peaches.
Sorry problem with my scale. Actually 8 pounds 12 oz. Thought someone might find that useful.
Thanks for the update! 🙂
Hi again Natasha,
BTW, just wanted to add that when I made the preserves (posted on July 28th) my batch was dark, probably because I used organic sugar, which is tan, not white like regular sugar. And I did use the slow, 3-day, 6 boil method.
-Susan
That’s great to know and it does make sense. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for this peach recipe. Just finished canning the first batch, the second one is only its second day…
Turned out great! Must say, that I think tha main reason it doesn’t turn dark is because the slow process. So, thinking that I believe that the amount of peach or sugar is less important than the way it is made. This year we had tons of peaches, and they are not freestone, so making anything but jam just doesn’t turn out as pretty as my grandma’s used to. We are going to have peach jam with peach jam, lol.
Must mention, that I did the waterbath method.
Also made your peach cake, it’s still cooling.
Thanks, judith
I’m so happy you liked the preserves! I agree about the color and the slow cooking process :). I hope you love the peach cake!
Hi,
We just made this using almost 24 lbs of peaches. It yielded nearly 7, 32 ounce jars and I only wish we made more! I remember making preserves with my Grandparents years ago and this is a taste of good, old fashioned cooking. Store bought just doesn’t compare. Thanks for well detailed recipe, the preserves are delicious!
Mike, thank you for such a nice review, I’m so glad you like them 😀.
Hi Natasha,
I just made your recipe and the amounts were perfect! All the preserves fit exactly into 5 jars. The only problem I had was that when you said to “boil” the peaches, the pan bottom got scorched, so I stopped and poured it all from the 12 quart into a 20 quart stock pot I have. (BTW, we cooked it 6 times over 3 days.)
I re-read the recipe and I totally see how in step 4 where I say you will bring it to a boil 5 times could be misunderstood as a hard boil. I updated the recipe to say: “You will bring it to a light boil a total of 5 times” Thank you so much for sharing your review!
So approximately how many cups of peaches should I end up with after I cut 11 lbs? My peaches are small, so the pit and peel take up a lot of the weight.
Hi Lavonne, I’m sorry I never measured them that way so I’m not sure. I did weight them before I cut them so it was 11 lbs with the peel and pit. I know what you mean though about the peel and pit taking up alot of the weight. You might just add an extra pound of peaches if that is the case. Sorry I can’t give you a more specific answer.
Have you experimented with adding a small amount of pectin to the final cooking as a thickening agent?
Hi, I haven’t but you could if you wanted it thicker. I like the consistency without it but you can also use pectin to bring it to jam consistency faster.
Would this method work for apricot marmalade that includes lemon and orange juice and peel?
Hi Jan! I’ve never tried making marmalade so I really can’t say for sure. Sorry I’m not much help with your question. What you’re describing sounds delicious though so if you try it, let me know how it goes! 🙂
Natasha, what a great recipe! Thank you! 💖 I’m planning on canning my peaches tonight! I would like to do strawberry preserve and plum preserve. Any suggestions? Will I follow the same process in cooking as with peaches?
Hi Luda! I’m so glad you like it 🙂 For plum jam, I use this method. I haven’t tried this method with strawberries but I think it would work. You may not have to cook it down repeatedly – that is done with this recipe so it doesn’t turn dark which isn’t the concern with strawberry. Cook the strawberry until a small amount of liquid turns to gel on a plate after it cools.
My granny used to make peach conserve (what she called it). This recipe of yours took me basically a whole day to do, but what a result! This is some seriously delicious stuff! I actually added bits of almonds into the recipe like my granny did, and it’s so delicious. Peeps are going to flip over my Christmas presents! That is, if I don’t eat all of it before December!!! Thanks!
Lucia, thank you for such a great review, I bet your “peeps” would love them 😁.
at what point do you add the almond bits?
I basically put whole, raw almonds into a sturdy plastic bag and took a hammer to it; not grinding them into fine powder, but into bits big enough to be “toothy” in the preserves. I added them at the start. They held up beautifully throughout the 5 cookings/coolings. Good luck!
May I ask the amount of almonds you added to the recipe? That’s sounds like a delicious addition! Thanks!
Do I have to remove the skin to preserve the peaches this way? Isn’t the skin that holds most of the nutrients of the peach?
Hi Mike, I think it would be ok to leave them on. I like the texture without them but the preserves would still work with skins on.
This recipe sounds wonderful end easy. I have several recipes that call for peach preserves, I’ve tried using home made peach jan but it’s to thin. I can’t wait to try this. Can this be store in freezer rather than in jars on a shelf, or will it become thin when I thaw it.
Judy
Hi Judy, this should be ok for the freezer if you wish to store it that way.
How large is your large soup pot? I have a 12 qt stock pot but was worried 2/3 full of water may be too much to boil off…
Hi Georgia, the 2/3 water is only used to blanch the peaches to get their skins off easily. When you’re actually cooking the preserves, don’t add any water at all. They peaches will release plenty of juice from when you cover them with sugar and during cooking.
Natasha I am trying your recipe & my peaches look scrumptious after my first cooking. However, I do have white foam & have not seen this mentioned in comments. Is this normal & will it cook out or will I need to ladle it off before putting in jars! Thanks much!
Hi! The cooking takes care of it. No need to skim any foam 🙂
How long does it take for the pot to reach room temperature or how do you know when it’s room temperature? Thanks
How long does it keep?
If you can them, they can sit in a cool dry place for a year or longer (we haven’t tested it beyond that).