Freezing Peaches

I absolutely love when fresh peach season arrives.  Peaches make an appearance in my morning smoothies so here is the easiest and most simple technique I've found to preserve these sweet summer fruits.  

Start with clean, ripe peaches.  I find the less the peaches are handled, the nicer they look so I don't peel them, but you certainly can if you like (my favorite technique for peeling peaches can be found here).   

You'll need some freshly squeezed lemon juice to make an acidulated water dip that will help preserve the peaches color. 

The acidulated water is made of 1 part freshly squeezed lemon juice and 4 parts water. 

Simply cut the peaches into wedges and dunk them in the acidulated water. 

Then place the peach slices on a silpat lined sheet pan and pop them in the freezer for several hours until firm.

After the peaches have frozen solid, transfer them to a freezer bag for short-term storage, or a freezer-safe container for longer storage.

If you plan to use the peaches within a month or so, you can use a standard freezer-safe zipper storage bag.  For longer storage, use a sturdier freezer container or a vacuum sealer (here's the one I have).

An even quicker peach preparation to use in smoothies is to place the slices (not frozen) in a heavy duty blender and give them a blitz.  Then portion individual amounts into small freezer bags.  As you can see, the color has darkened a bit, but that's fine with me since the puree is going into this smoothie recipe.  

Note:  Freshly squeezed lemon juice can be added to help preserve the color, but that would change the overall flavor of the peaches so I opted to not do that.  

Items used:

(affiliate links)

• wusthof flat paring knife https://amzn.to/3NsttR7

• vitamix https://amzn.to/3r4FV1W

• silpat liner https://amzn.to/3NJ5Vsr

• half sheet pan https://amzn.to/35ZfEYe

• vacuum sealer https://amzn.to/42SqhUx

• short-term freezer storage bags https://amzn.to/3gy7Qi1

• long-term freezer storage container https://amzn.to/337r76Z

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Freezing Peaches

makes 8 servings

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 ripe peaches, washed and dried

• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

• 2 cups cold water

Directions

1. Peel peaches if desired.

2. Cut peaches in half and remove pit; cut peach halves into 8 wedges.

3. In a small bowl, combine lemon juice and water; dip peach slices into water and place in a single layer on a silpat lined half sheet pan.

4. Freeze for several hours or overnight; transfer to freezer-safe container for long-term storage.

Freezing Cherries

Fresh cherries are in season and I thought I'd show you how easy it is to freeze them for future use.  This technique works for sweet or tart cherries.  

Start with clean cherries.  Remove all stems and pits.  I like to use a nifty cherry pitter - it's kind of fun.... and as you can see, a little messy too.  Totally worth it though.

Actually, you can freeze cherries without pitting them, but I prefer to use a cherry pitter to get the pesky pits out before freezing.

Place the pitted cherries in a single layer on a sheet pan and pop them in the freezer for a few hours or overnight.  I've lined my pan with plastic wrap to keep the cherries from sticking and for easy cleanup.  Parchment paper would work too. 

If you have a side-by-side freezer, a quarter sheet pan should fit.

Here's how my cherries looked after they were frozen overnight.

Transfer the frozen cherries in a freezer-grade storage bag and place in freezer.  That's all there is to it.

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Items used:

(affiliate links)

• cherry pitter https://amzn.to/3gvE8tV

• quarter sheet pan https://amzn.to/3BbaN1t

• chic wrap https://amzn.to/3BbbBn1

• freezer bags https://amzn.to/3LmtkNa