Freezing Sliced Peaches

A friend of mine whose parents have a beautiful orchard and garden on their place invited us over to pick peaches, apples, and tomatoes the other day.  We (along with several other friends) enjoyed the afternoon picking fresh homegrown produce and brought home a bountiful harvest.  

When we were driving away, I realized that I had a teachable moment to talk about being thankful with the boys so we said a quick prayer of thankfulness.    

Peaches and Tomatoes

We had two big bags of apples. Notice one of the boys took a bite out of one. I put the apples in our second refrigerator because they store well chilled and gave some to family since we had so much.

As the peaches have been ripening, there has been an invasion by a small army of fruit flies so I made another homemade fruit fly trap tonight which should do the trick.  

This recipe is condensed from a Ball Blue Book that my mother-in-law bought me.  The Ball Blue book is really helpful because it is for food preserving beginners like me and is easy to follow.  I used the sugar pack method for freezing peaches which is super easy.  

First, you wash and drain ripe fruit.  Next, peel, pit, and slice the fruit.  

Then mix together 2/3 cup sugar and 2 tsp. Fruit-Fresh.  Sprinkle 1 quart sliced peaches with the sugar mixture.  Toss gently to coat.  

Allow this to sit until sugar dissolves, about 10 minutes.  

Ladle fruit and syrup into freezer containers or freezer bags leaving some space for expansion.  Recommendation is 1/2 inch for freezer containers.  Label containers with date and contents then freeze.