How do I Freeze Peaches?

Freezing peaches isn't difficult and there are several different methods that can be used to freeze peaches. For example, peaches can be frozen in dry sugar or in syrup. It's also possible to freeze fresh peaches in water or fruit juice. Peaches frozen in water or fruit juice don't have the same color as those frozen with sugar added. It's a good idea to experiment with different methods of freezing peaches using specific recipes before making larger batches using your preferred method.

The dry pack method used to freeze peaches involves stirring in white granulated sugar before freezing the fruit. The syrup method takes longer as the sugar is cooked with water in a pan on the stove until the sugar dissolves to create the syrup. The syrup has to cool before it is added to the peaches. The amount of sugar and water needed not only depends on the amount of peaches being frozen, but also on how sweet a syrup is desired — lower sugar recipes for freezing peaches result in a thin, or light, syrup, while higher sugar versions create a thick, or heavy, syrup. Water or fruit juice can be used in place of syrup or granulated sugar to freeze peaches.

No matter which peach freeze method is used, the preparation is the same. Only ripe peaches should be used for freezing. If the peaches are too ripe they may turn out mushy after being frozen. If un-ripened peaches are used the flavor is likely to be weak. In preparing to freeze peaches, the fruit should be thoroughly washed before being placed into a pot of boiling water for about one minute to make the skins easier to peel.

The peeled peaches may be halved, sliced or chopped for freezing. If exposed to the air for too long, the peeled peaches will darken in color unless an anti-darkening agent is used. Lemon juice or ascorbic acid may be used to help prevent the peaches from darkening. Ascorbic acid is vitamin C and it's available in the fruit canning sections of many supermarkets. After sprinkling on the anti-darkening agent, the sugar, syrup, water or juice is added to the peaches.

The ready-to-freeze peaches are then placed into plastic containers, glass freezer jars or plastic freezer bags. Plastic containers should be heavyweight and not the thin containers that products such as cottage cheese and yogurt are sold in. Frozen peaches may be added to blender drinks or used as a topping for ice cream or plain cake. They may also be baked in fruit crisps and pies. A fruit crisp is sliced or chopped fruit that is topped with an oatmeal, flour, sugar and cinnamon mixture and then baked until the top is golden brown.