Have a peach tree? Did someone give you a bounty of fresh ripe, juicy peaches? Did you wander past that idyllic farmer’s market stand during the peach season and decide you needed to buy all those peaches? I get you. I do. Fresh produce is my jam, I love growing it, and I enjoy preserving it for my family. This easy peach preserves recipe for canning is going to be your go-to way to use up your peach harvest.

If you like peaches, you’re going to love how easy and fantastic these deliciously sticky preserves are to make.

Plus, imagine pulling out a jar of golden sunshiny peach preserves on a cold winter’s morning to smear on your toast. Talk about idyllic!

If this is your first time making homemade peach preserves, you are in for a treat. Water bath canning isn’t at all difficult, and we have the whole process laid out for you.

Peach preserves canning with glass jar and silver lid.

How To Make The Best Tasting Peach Preserves

You have to start with fresh peaches. Folks will tell you that you can make preserves with frozen fruit, and while that is true, it honestly does not taste as good as preserves and jams made with fresh fruit.

Frozen is a close second because fruit is frozen at its peak ripeness, but frozen peaches – meh. I have yet to taste a frozen peach that didn’t make me wrinkle my nose in disappointment.

Grocery store peaches can work, too, so long as they are not overripe, dry, or, even worse, rotten. However, if your local grocery store recently got in a shipment that is local and in season, well, you might be in luck.

I honestly believe that the best canning comes from what you grow yourself. I love peaches so much that we planted two peach trees in our budding orchard this spring. Unfortunately, it will be a while before we get fruit, but in the meantime, I will keep hunting local fruit stands in the fall for my peach fix.

After you track down your peaches, the only other ingredients you need are sugar and lemon juice; everything else is optional!

Canning peach preserves Safely

Be sure to sanitize everything your peach preserves will come in contact with – from the jars to the tools that you will be using. This ensures that all your work will not spoil and go to waste.
You MUST use a boiling water canner. Flipping jars over to create a seal is not recommended; it can ruin your entire batch and, even worse, make folks very sick. It’s not worth the risk.
Don’t use less sugar than recommended in this canning recipe. Sugar is an important preservative. (see notes under “can you reduce the sugar”)

Ingredients required for Homemade Peach Preserves

The ingredients for this recipe couldn’t be simpler. Peaches, sugar, lemon juice, and ginger – that’s it!

10 tablespoons fresh lemon juice ( 4-5 plump juicy lemons)
8 lbs fresh chopped peaches
3 – 4.5 cups granulated sugar
1/2-inch knob of grated ginger (optional but amazing)
1 cinnamon stick

You can skip the ginger if it is not your thing, but it imparts a beautiful depth to these homemade peach preserves. The ginger adds warmth and zing and partners with the peaches beautifully.

Options: If you like your peach jam spicy but are not keen on ginger, add a whole cinnamon stick while cooking. Remove the cinnamon stick before ladling your hot preserves into your jars.

You can also add a half tsp of nutmeg with or without the cinnamon stick.

This recipe makes 4-5 pint jars ( 8-10 cups). You can make half the recipe, but you will need to reduce the cooking time to about an hour and a half.

I do not recommend you double the recipe.

Can you really make these preserves without Pectin?

Yup! Peaches have a moderate sugar pectin level, and cooking the preserves low and slow will help concentrate them. That’s what makes canning peach preserves so easy!

I have nothing against pectin, but sometimes it adds a texture that I don’t like. If the fruit is already moderate to high in pectin and you add more pectin, your jams or preserves may come out more like jello. We take the high road with peaches and skip the pectin but add additional cooking time.

Can You Reduce the Sugar?

Sugar is a vital ingredient in this recipe. Beyond helping the recipe thicken, it is part of the preservative required to make it shelf-stable. Therefore, I would not go below 3 cups of sugar.

With that said, you can make peach preserves without sugar, but you will need to use a sweetener replacement( such as splenda or allulose) and pectin like Pomona’s that is specially made to work with low to no sugar added canning recipes.

Pomona’s is one of my favorite pectins to use with sugar-free jams and preserves because it does not contain anything except 100% pectin. I have used it in numerous jam recipes with great success using allulose as the sweetener. Allulose is one of the better sugar replacements because it acts a bit like sugar. It thickens, caramelizes, and it gels.

You can find a few great resources on sugar-free sweeteners and how to make sugar-free jams at Sugar-Free Sprinkles.

canned peach preserves in a line on a bright white background.

Prep The Jars and Canner

First, clean your mason jars and lids. Clean your jars in hot soapy water and rinse well. Set up a steamer rack in a 16-quart pot or water bath canner. Place the jars on the rack and fill the pot with water, enough to cover the jars. Do not let the jars touch the bottom of the pot, as the heat can cause the glass to crack.
Bring the water to a boil and boil the jars for 10 minutes. Remove the jars with tongs when you’re ready to use them.

Prepping your Peaches

Bring a large pot of water to boil.
Clean your ripe peaches in cold water and a splash of vinegar. I like to use a clean sink for this if I have a lot of peaches, but you can use a large bowl as well. Swish them around for a minute or two and then rinse with cold water. Give them all a soft pat dry with a clean tea towel or piece of paper towel.
Drop the peaches into the boiling water for 40-50 seconds. Remove the peaches from the water and let them cool for 5 minutes. The skins should pull right off. Peel the peaches buy slipping the skins right off!
Chop up the peaches into small pieces and add them to a large stockpot. You can also use a food processor to speed things along.
Add the sugar, lemon juice, and ginger to the pot and give the whole thing a good stir making sure to coat all the pieces of peaches with sugar.
Let the mixture sit. The sugar should pull out lots of juice from your peaches in an hour. If, after an hour your peaches have not juiced it is ok to add up to 1 cup water. This may or may not increase the required cooking time depending on how much juice your peaches release during the cook down.

Peaches being peeled on a rustic wooden cutting board.

Making Peach Preserves

Bring the mixture to a full rolling boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Once the reserves have boiled for a full minute, reduce the heat to medium heat (medium-low if your burners run hot) and allow to simmer for 2 + hours or until the liquid has reduced significantly and is thick and sticky.

Toward the end of the two hours, be sure to keep a close on the mixture. Stir the hot jam frequently not to burn or stick to the bottom of the pan. Skim foam as required.

The preserves should be dark golden orange, glossy and thick when the cooking is complete.

Dark golden peach preserves canning process.

Processing the Jars for canning peach preserves

Ladle the hot preserves into your hot jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace at the top.
Remove any air bubbles with a clean knife.
Use a clean damp cloth or paper towel to wipe jar rims clean before adding the lids.
Place lids on top of your jars and twist bands to the top of the jars and turn the bands until they are finger tight. Do not over-tighten.
Place the canning jars in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes.
Adjust time in the hot water bath canner based on elevation.
Remove the jars of peach preserves from the canner with tongs and place them on a cooling rack. Allow the preserves to cool at room temperature undisturbed for 24 hours.

Jar of freshly canned peach preserves against a bright white background.

How long do peach preserves last

You can store your peaches in a cold, dark, dry space for up to 18 months. Opened jars of peach preserves will last three weeks in the refrigerator.

Peach preserves are great served over cream cheese on a freshly toasted bagel (it is heaven). But you can smear this on just about anything you want. Canning peach preserves is one of my favourite things to do in harvest season, give it a try!

Can I Use Bottled Lemon Juice in this Recipe

For most canning recipes I recommend using bottled lemon juice rather than fresh as an important food-safety precaution, in order to ensure the preserves are acidic enough to be shelf stable. Because this recipe calls for a full 10 tablespoons of lemon juice, there isn’t a risk of low-acidity, and the flavour of fresh lemon juice is a thousand times better than bottled.

What is the Difference Between Peach Jam and Peach Preserves

Peach preserves typically have larger pieces of fruit than homemade peach jam, trading spreadability for that delicious fresh peach flavor that comes from the larger chunks.

Fresh peach preserves spread over a toasted english muffin with cream cheese.

Looking for More Ways to Preserve the Harvest?