How To Freeze Summer Ripe Peaches

There is nothing I love more than a fresh, ripe, rosy peach. The juice running down your arm as your teeth sink into the sweet flesh as you lean over the sink to catch the juice. Who wouldn’t want to preserve this yummy summer treat all winter? Here is how to freeze peaches.

How To Freeze Summer Peaches

What type of peaches freeze well?

The best type of peach for freezing is a freestone peach. A freestone peach has fruit that falls right off the pit. The freestone peaches are perfect for eating, canning, and freezing. Freestone peaches tend to be larger than clingstones, with a firmer, less juicy texture, yet still sweet.

What is a clingstone peach?

Can I use seconds when I freeze peaches?

I like to use ‘seconds’ from my local farmers market. My thinking is I can pinch some pennies by buying the not so picture perfect fruit for my canning and freezing needs. The fruit is not picture perfect.  But 99.9% of the rest of the fruit is perfectly good.

What do I do if the peach has a bump or a bruise?

There was one or two with a bump in them. But it can be easily cut out with a paring knife. Just be sure to remove the entire bruise.The bruise can lead to decay and you don’t want to have that in your frozen peaches.

How to blanch peaches for freezing:

Here is a little video tutorial on how to blanch your peaches. Blanching is the first step in freezing peaches.

1. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil.
2. Slice each peach just enough to pierce the skin. The slice should only be an inch or two long. There is not an advantage to having a longer slit.
3. Drop the peached into the boiling water.
4. After 15-30 seconds the skin where the slit is will separate. The peach if now blanched.
5. Plunge the peach into a bath of ice and water. This will stop the cooking process.
6. The peach skin will now easily slip off the flesh.

Can peaches be frozen with skin on?

Peaches can be frozen with the skin on but I often find that the recipes I am going to be using them in call for peeled peaches. It is easier for me to blanch and peel them from the beginning. But there is no reason not to freeze peaches with the skins on.

Here is a little video tutorial on how to blanch your peaches. Blanching is the first step in freezing peaches.

How to freeze peaches:

1. Blanch the leaches and remove the skin.
2. Slice the peach off of the pit.
3. Cut them as thin or as thick as you would like.
4. Spread them in an even layer on a sheet tray lined with a Silpat Non-Stick Baking Mat
5. Once frozen, package them in 2 cup portions in freezer safe containers.
6. For best results I use a FoodSaver to seal and vac my peaches. Be sure to have enough FoodSaver bags on hand if you are going to be freezing a bushel or more of peaches.

Frozen peaches just pop off the tray. No need to use a spatula to chip them off once they are frozen.

How do you keep frozen peaches from turning brown?

Ascorbic acid will keep the frozen peaches from turning brown. If you don’t have ascorbic acid, toss the peaches with a little sugar and lemon juice, let them stand about 15 minutes to dissolve the sugar, then freeze them. I don’t use either of these methods when I freeze my peaches. I found that working fast and in small batches will also keep the peaches from turning brown.

By freezing them this way the peaches are individually frozen and they won’t freeze in one big lump of peaches.

How long will peaches last in the freezer?

Properly stored, frozen peaches will maintain quality for about 12 months in the freezer, although they will usually remain safe to eat after that.The more air you can remove from the freezer container, the longer they will maintain their quality.

How do you thaw frozen peaches?

Place frozen peaches in the refrigerator and  let them thaw overnight. Drain the peaches into a bowl the next day, and save the juices to be thickened if you are baking a pie. Alternatively peaches can be thawed in the microwave in 50 second intervals at 50% power. Another method of thawing peaches is to run the container under continuing warm running water.

Recipes that use peaches:

• Peach gazpacho
• Spicy peach bourbon smash cocktail

originally published Sep 4, 2012