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.

Fresh Peach Sauce

Peach season has finally arrived in Virginia and we've been enjoying them in so many ways. Today I made a quick peach sauce to serve with my Vanilla Dutch Baby (click here for recipe with step-by-step photos).  Mmmm, it was so good.  The sauce cooks in less than 2 minutes - everybody has 2 minutes, right?  Great on ice cream or pancakes too.

Start by slicing or dicing one ripe peach with a really sharp paring knife.  The peaches I had in my kitchen today were white peaches so I left skin on for color, but you can certainly peel your peach if you want to.  Place the peach in a good quality, heavy-bottom pan.

Add sugar, cornstarch, water, cinnamon, and salt (amounts listed in the recipe below).

Stirring constantly, heat the mixture until it boils; boil for one full minute.  Remove from heat and stir in 1/8 teaspoon pure almond extract (use the good stuff).  You can leave the almond extract out if you don't care for it, but I love it and think the two flavors go very well together.

That's it - it's ready to eat.  Wish you could taste it, but you're not here so I guess you'll have to make some for yourself.  Enjoy!

Items used to make this recipe:

(affiliate links)

• heavy-bottom sauce pan https://amzn.to/42Yay6l

• paring knife https://amzn.to/3NLDrOA

• pure almond extract https://amzn.to/3qWknUV

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Fresh Peach Sauce

makes 2-4 servings

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 medium ripe peach (5-6ounce weight)

• 6 tablespoons water

• 1 -2 tablespoons granulated sugar (depends on how sweet the peaches are)

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt

• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/8 teaspoon pure almond extract

Directions

1. Cut peach into slices or dice it into small pieces (I cut mine into 16 wedges); place in heavy-bottom saucepan.

2. Add water, sugar, cornstarch, salt, and cinnamon.

3. Stirring constantly, bring mixture to a boil and continue to boil for 1 full minute before removing from heat.

4. Stir in pure almond extract. Serve.